232 FOOD & DRINK BEST BREWERY WREN HOUSE BREWING CO. 2125 N. 24TH ST. 602-244-9184 WRENHOUSEBREWING.COM Wren House Brewing Co. has won this award several times over, for good reason: It’s the clear choice as Phoenix’s strongest, most consistent brewery. We’re partial to the orig- inal retrofitted bungalow on 24th Street, where tiny plastic dinosaurs dot the bar and a cat named Gravy sits in any available beer box. But expansion has put Wren House brews into more hands across the Valley. In Ahwatukee, the Südhalle pairs pints with a carb- and cheese-heavy menu of drinking food. Meanwhile the taproom at the PV development specializes in cask ales. The brews are also mainstays at Valley grocery stores and bottle shops. Wherever you happen to pull a tab, the first sip of a crispy Valley Beer on a hot day is an essential Phoenix experience. IPA fans love the award-winning Spellbinder series, sour- heads love the rotating Las Frescas and anyone can celebrate the colorful, Insta- grammable, instantly recognizable artwork on the cans. Wren House does it all. BEST NEW BREWERY SANA SANA CERVECERÍA 915 N. FOURTH ST. 480-284-5982 SANASANACERVEZA.COM In just over a year, the small Roosevelt Row brewer Sana Sana has become one of the Valley’s most essential places for a pint. From the jump, friends and founders Daniel Castro and Johnny De Luna resolved to make exceptional beers with an emphasis on crisp, crushable Mexican lagers suited for desert heat. Greg Suschsland, who worked at renowned breweries, including California’s Bottle Logic, has crafted impressive pours that extend far beyond lagers. Hopheads will find a slate of IPAs, playful fruited sours and other styles infused with chiles, mole and cinnamon-laced coffee. Good beer is just the baseline. The magic of Sana Sana lies with its celebration of Latino culture, which comes to life when almost everyone in the compact bar starts singing and dancing along to a ranchera song the DJ spins. That reverence roared to a fever pitch as Mexico sprinted to the Round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup. El Tri fans flooded the brewery for watch events that evolved into full-on block parties. The tournament has come and gone, but not before Sana Sana cemented itself as a vital piece of the Valley’s beer culture. BEST BEERS WITH A VIEW GOLDWATER BREWING CO. 3608 N. SCOTTSDALE ROAD, SCOTTSDALE 480-350-7305 GOLDWATERBREWING.COM Old Town Scottsdale’s splurgy restaurants, cocktail bars and night-owl clubs are a banquet of excess. Amid the madness, Gold- water Brewing Co.’s mothership serves great craft beers and stands as a beacon of chill. Order a pink prickly pear fruit-infused Desert Rose Kolsch, a milky golden Hop Chowda hazy IPA or malty Machine Gun Teddy. Then, choose your view. A seat at the bar lets you scope out the mash tuns through floor-to-ceiling windows. Or, out on Goldwa- ter’s picnic table-dotted patio, you’ll have top-tier people and dog watching. Take the stairs for an aerial view of the beer garden and Old Town. This rare brewery rooftop patio sits atop the building like a bird’s nest. From a seat on this shotgun-style rooftop, you’ll be literally above the fray, with a cold pour and a view to match. BEST TAPROOM CHUPACABRA TAPROOM 14 N. ROBSON, MESA 480-751-5566 CHUPACABRATAPROOM.COM With a half-dozen breweries and beer bars within a two-block radius, downtown Mesa is crawl-ready for craft beer nerds. When Chupacabra Taproom started pouring pints in 2019, it was among just a handful of options. Even today, no visit to Main Street is complete without a pint there. The taps in the small post-war brick building are filled with fun, funky and hard-to-find brews from around Arizona and the country. Yet Chupa- cabra drinkers guzzle one beer in particular: Montucky Cold Snacks. The taproom claims to sell more of the sky-blue cans than any other bar, and gets fans to chug beers and horse around during the boisterous, annual Montucky Mile. Start your tab with a Cold Snack, which you can order for less than $4, then move on to something headier. Check Chupacabra’s social media for the food vendor schedule, which includes solid and up-and-coming cooks.