Tap That AZ Podcast
Ep. 7 Crooked Tooth Brewing Company
Me: "I'll do #'s 1, 6, 7, 8, and......" Dude at Crooked Tooth, without hesitation: "3!" Me: "Huh?" Dude at Crooked Tooth: "If you like those 4 you'll love #3" Me: "Well alright, alright" That was my first interaction with Ben Vernon from Crooked Tooth Brewing Company (http://crookedtoothbrewing.com/) in Tucson. And you know? #3 was my favorite. I knew right then that Ben was a cool dude who truly cared and knew a lot about beer and how to make his guests feel welcome. In this episode I sit down with Ben and talk about the challenges/joys of transforming an old service shop into a fantastic brewery and whatnot. A little while back I took a trip down to Tombstone to visit Matt Brown at Tombstone Brewing Company which was a great place making great beer. But I also had a secondary objective that day: get back to Tucson ASAP and grab chimichanga at the place that apparently invented it and just a bad ass Mexican food joint in general. The story about the chimichanga is great. But they had me at “fried burrito”. I had even skipped 2nd breakfast to make room for this legendary treasure. So we made the trip back to Tucson and walked into El Charro at around 2:30. “The wait is about 45 minutes”. My heart sank which is probably preferable to what that chimichanga would have done to my heart had we possessed the patience to wait that long. But 45 minutes was much too long for me to wait in my fragile state so we decided to go with Plan B: take the 0.3 mile walk to Borderlands Brewing Company to come up with Plan B. Borderlands Brewing Company was a really badass place too. Located in an old brick warehouse right by the railroad tracks this place has character for days and some marvelous beers. The bartender was cool as hell and when we expressed a desire to check another brewery without hesitation she said "Crooked Tooth. You gotta check them out. Cool people making great beer". It was decided: Crooked Tooth would be the next stop. Another 0.3 mile walk (by the way, I was burning WAY more calories than was necessary at this point) and we were there. On the journey over we noticed hoards of people stumbling around the streets and realized we were right in the middle of a pub crawl. Lots of people wandering aimlessly trying to find the next place to find a great craft beer? I can relate to that. We came around the corner and there is was: another great Tucson brewery in a brick building that looked like it had been there for a hundred years. As soon as we walked in I knew I was going to love this place. Right when you walk in there is an old payphone with vines on it sitting beside an old ass safe filled with board games. And the place was beautiful inside. Exposed brick everywhere and the huge wooden tables were heavy duty as hell. The place just had a cool vibe to it. And then I saw what they were serving flight tastings in: wooden skateboards with 5 holes in them to hold the tasting glasses. Heck yes! That when I first met Ben (see beginning of this article). I knew right then I had to cool this dude on the show. And he was totally down. Plus their beer is the shit. Especially the It's Always Sunny in Amarillo (and such a great name). A few weeks later I was back in Tucson with mics in hand to record this episode. It was on a Saturday before they opened for the day during "Crooked Yoga" where people come in for an hour of yoga and then have a pint, all for $5. Yoga is just one of the events they are known for. Don’t forget about speed dating, live music, stand up comedy, the list goes on. So in the background of the episode you'll hear the Zenful music of the yoga in the background as Ben tells me the story of Crooked Tooth Brewing Company thus creating "Ben The Beer Zen Master". Has a nice ring to it. Enjoy the show. And go have a beer there. Today. Intro/Outro music is "La Negra Tomasa" by Arizona's own Fayuca ----------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music! TapThatA
All Episodes
09/08/2020
Ep. 53 Sinagua Malt | Tap That AZ Video Podcast08/18/2020
Ep. 52 Sinagua Malt Extra Scene | TTAZ07/21/2020
Ep. 51 Pour of the Week | Pedal Haus - Tempe, Arizona06/16/2020
Ep. 50 Pour of the Week | 12 West Brewing - Mesa, Arizona05/19/2020
Ep. 49 Fireside Chat (Yule Log & Goldmine Edition) - Tap That AZ Video02/12/2020
Ep. 48 12 West Brewing | Tap That AZ Video Podcast10/16/2019
Ep. 47 Pour of the Week | Beer Research Institute09/25/2019
Ep. 46 Beer Research Institute | Tap That AZ Video Podcast03/12/2019
Ep. 45 Pedal Haus | Tap That AZ Video Podcast02/12/2019
Ep. 44 Helton Beer School | Tap That AZ Video Podcast - Highlight01/22/2019
Ep. 43 Festival de Beer y Musica - Phoenix Children's Hospital Charity Event11/16/2018
Ep. 42 Adventurous Stills11/12/2018
Ep. 41 Cider Corps. (Audio Only)11/11/2018
Ep. 40 Cider Corps. | Tap That AZ Video Podcast - Full Interview11/11/2018
Ep. 39 Cider Corps.11/01/2018
Ep. 38 Earn Your Booze Event10/31/2018
Ep. 37 North Mountain Brewing10/31/2018
Ep. 36 Earn Your Booze | Tap That AZ Video Podcast - Extended Interview10/30/2018
Ep. 35 Valley of the Sun Foodies10/30/2018
Ep. 34 North Mountain Brewing10/29/2018
Ep. 33 Craft6410/28/2018
Ep. 32 "Something's Brewing" w/Justin Cross Part 210/27/2018
Ep. 31 C.R.E.E.M. | North Mountain Brewing - The Pour of the Week10/27/2018
Ep. 30 Dark Sky Brewing Company10/26/2018
Ep. 29 Mesquite River Brewing Company10/25/2018
Ep. 28 The Classy Alcoholic10/24/2018
Ep. 27 Huss Brewing Company10/23/2018
Ep. 26 Scottsdale Beer Company10/23/2018
Ep. 25 McFate Brewing Company10/22/2018
Ep. 24 Fayuca and Helio Basin Collaboration "Fayuca Rizing"10/21/2018
Ep. 23 AZ Distilling Company10/20/2018
Ep. 22 Helio Basin Brewing Company10/19/2018
Ep. 21 The Pour of the Week - Goldwater Brewing Company | Marvin the Marzen10/18/2018
Ep. 20 Real Wild and Woody Festival w/Arizona Craft Brewers Guild10/17/2018
Ep. 19 "Somethings Brewing" with Justin Cross, Part 110/18/2018
Ep. 18 Behind the Scenes #2 @GoldwaterBrewingCo10/17/2018
Ep. 17 Freak'N Brewing Company10/16/2018
Ep. 16 Saddle Mountain Brewing Company10/16/2018
Ep. 15 Goldwater Brewing Co.10/16/2018
Ep. 14 Season 2 Premiere - Goldwater Brewing Co. | Tap That AZ Video Crowler Series10/15/2018
Ep. 13 Hamilton Distillers10/14/2018
Ep. 12 Richter Aleworks10/13/2018
Ep. 11 Birdfish Brewing Company10/12/2018
Ep. 10 Helton Brewing Company10/12/2018
Ep. 9 BTS #1 Raw Edit at Goldwater10/11/2018
Ep. 8 Dubina Brewing Company10/02/2018
Ep. 7 Crooked Tooth Brewing Company09/29/2018
Ep. 6 Goldwater Brewing Company Preview09/26/2018
Ep. 5 32 SHEA09/22/2018
Ep. 4 Tombstone Brewing Company09/15/2018
Ep. 3 Press Coffee Roasters09/09/2018
Ep. 2 The Shop Beer Co.09/01/2018
Ep. 1 8-BIT ALEWORKS