The Best Breweries in Flagstaff

We love visiting cities that give us a wide variety of things to do— so there are few cities in the West we love more than Flagstaff. There’s skiing, there’s hiking, there’s camping. There are nearby lakes for boating, there are museums for exploring. And, of course, for those who love to sit around drinking local craft beer on vacation like us, there are several outstanding breweries in Flagstaff.

Our first visit to Flagstaff was after the COVID shutdown, so many of the breweries we visited had limited indoor options, were undergoing renovations, or generally operating under different circumstances than they normally would. We’ll update this article when we return to Flagstaff next month, in hopes of getting even more of a “normal” craft brewery experience there… but regardless, we had a fantastic enough time and drank enough beer to feel like we could share with the world our favorite craft breweries in the city.

Dark Sky Brewing

For those of you that don’t know, Flagstaff is a “Dark Sky City,” meaning light pollution is kept by law to a minimum so residents can enjoy the stars at night. Before sitting outside and taking in the constellations, you should grab some cans from Dark Sky Brewing. This small micro brewery puts out a never-ending stream of limited releases and barrel-aged products to keep you coming back for more. Indeed, every time we casually peruse what they’re serving, they are *very* few beers overlapping— they value experimentation here and are always trying something new.

When we visited last fall, the last of their available IPAs had just sold out both in cans and on tap— so we’re hoping to update this article later this month, as we’ve heard great things about their IPAs. What we did get to have, though, was fantastic. The Bake Sale Blueberry was the best sour beer in Flagstaff during our stay— it’s a fruited mixed fermentation sour packed with blueberries that delivers a serious pucker-inducing punch. For those into the pastry stouts, the Don’t Stop Believing was a sugary fluffernutter dessert delicacy that would please anyone who likes them sweet. Finally, in the warm afternoon sun of our visit, the Weight of Sound with Amarillo was a crisp, clean pilsner we could’ve sipped all day.

Historic Brewing

This is going to be a tough one to write, because as we started to write this article, we discovered Historic Brewing‘s eastside brewery taproom is closing for dine-in services early May 2021. We haven’t visited their downtown spot yet, but best believe it’s on our list for our next visit, because we believe the terrific time we had at Historic will carry over to any of their locations. Any spot with people this friendly and with flight boards that go eight pours deep will always be held in high esteem by us. (And we had two full flight boards during our visit to Historic, which should tell you the type of afternoon we were having.)

Their most popular beer is the Piehole Porter, and we understood pretty quickly upon our first sip why it’s so popular. It’s a beer for anyone who digs cherry vanilla soda, as the sweet fruitiness here hits the spot. They also put out a number of Piehole variants– our favorite on our visit was the SpeedHole, a Piehole Porter made with Single Speed Coffee cold brew. (Regular readers know how much we love a good coffee beer.) We also enjoyed much of their easy drinking fare– the Deer Lord was a clean, malty altbier, and the Salt River Lager was a salty limey crusher that would be great for any outdoor activity. Finally, we have to give love to their smoky, toasty Russian Imperial stout, Bear Arms.

Mother Road Brewing

Mother Road is the craft brewery that will likely be the most different when we next visit. They were planning a total taproom overhaul when we arrived, so everything was outdoors not just due to the pandemic but due to exciting updates and expansions of their indoor area. That said, no matter the changes, we’re confident in one thing: Mother Road will serve you some of the finest, if not *the* finest, beer in Flagstaff. From quality of product and consistency of execution to the sense of community their taproom fosters, Mother Road Brewing left us asking, “… how can we get them to open another location in LA?”

For starters, get some Tower Station, the highest-selling independent craft beer in Arizona. It sells for a reason: it’s one of the most wonderfully balanced unfiltered craft IPAs on the market. If you tend to like your beers a little lighter, Mother Road has you covered there too, as the Daily Driver session IPA is one of the best canned sessions we’ve had in years. It has that sessionable crushability, but it also packs serious IPA flavor. Finally, we give a strong recommendation for Lost Highway, a terrific black IPA. We’re still waiting for the Black IPA Renaissance to take the country by storm, as we love the style— and if any could lead the way in Arizona, it’s this rich, toasty masterwork.

Wanderlust Brewing

When we told people we were going to visit Flagstaff and asked for recommendations, everyone said the same thing: “If you like Belgians, go to Wanderlust.” Now, here we are, about to give the same recommendation to you. They have a great and well-earned reputation in the area for their sour beers, their saisons, and their barrel-aged beers. Most breweries in the area are canning their IPAs, but not too many will cheerfully offer you their newly canned Belgian pale ale. It’s *that* kind of place. And we’re very much into that kind of place.

The aforementioned Belgian pale, Chateau Americana, has a nice clean hop profile but still sparkles with that Belgian yeasty spiciness– it was one of our favorite beers of the trip. Their flagship saison, the 928 Local, was also smooth and refreshing, so clearly they’ve figured out how to get the most of their house yeast. For those looking for something less Belgian, never fear: the Pine Flat IPA is a very pine-heavy (as you’d expect) West Coast IPA that transported us to the Pacific Northwest. Finally, the Pan American Stout was our favorite stout of the trip: an oatmeal stout with strong coffee vanilla flavor, straight-forward yet beautifully executed. We also tried the Pan American on Nitro and found it even creamier and more delicious in that format.

Drinking Horn Meadery

Okay, so Drinking Horn Meadery isn’t a brewery. So what? We at the Beer Travel Guide love a good meadery as much as the next person, so when we discovered Flagstaff had its own Nordic-themed mead hall, we decided we had to give it a try. The decor inside is delightful, with long tables, helmets on the wall, and, of course, a variety of large drinking horns on display. You can even order a full pour of mead with a horn, and you get to choose your own horn to take home with you. Did Russell do this? You bet he did.

On top of the fun experience, it’s also home to a number of fantastic meads. The Lemon Ginger is a sweet lemon mead with a real blast of ginger— we love ginger flavored drinks, so this was an early favorite. Merica was another winner of the night, with blueberry and hibiscus flavors that made it sweet but not *too* floral. That said, Russell’s a root beer connoisseur (in addition to a craft beer connoisseur!), so the Root Bee Ah called his name. That’s the mead he ordered for his horn pour, and boy, was it worth it. It tastes just like a boozy glass of IBC Root Beer, and it made the perfect nightcap— or should we say nighthorn?

BEST PLACE FOR IPAS:
Mother Road (Runner-up: Wanderlust)

BEST PLACE FOR SOURS:
Dark Sky (Runner-up: Wanderlust)

BEST PLACE FOR STOUTS:
Wanderlust (Runner-up: Dark Sky)

BEST PLACE FOR LAGERS:
Dark Sky (Runner-up: Historic)

BEST TAPROOM:
TBD (lots in flux post-pandemic)

BEST PLACE TO EAT:
Dark Sky (Runner-up: Mother Road)

SPECIAL AWARDS:
Best Belgian Ale: Wanderlust (duh)
Best Porters: Historic
Best Session Ale: Mother Road
Best Mead: Drinking Horn (also duh)

Which is your favorite of these breweries? Are there any breweries in Flagstaff that you love that we neglected to mention? Please shout them out in the comments below! Also check out our list of all the Flagstaff breweries here. Cheers!