Angels Trumpet Ale House will open in summer, serve craft beers

Sharry and Mat Englehorn plan to offer specialty beers at Angels Trumpet Ale House, opening this summer. (Lillian Reid/DD)

Angels Trumpet Ale House will be ready to open in mid- to late summer at 810 N. Second St., across the street from FilmBar and a few blocks away from the Downtown campus.

Mat and Sharry Englehorn, owners of Angels Trumpet Ale House, share a love for quality beers.

“We are beer connoisseurs,” Mat Englehorn said. “Craft beer has so much more character than other alcohols. It pairs better with food than wine because its flavor profile is so much more varied.”

Mat and Sharry met while they were both studying recreation and tourism at ASU, and they have been married for 13 years. Mat was born and raised in Phoenix, while Sharry moved to Phoenix from Illinois in 1979.

Mat has been in real estate for half of his life, and Sharry has been in the corporate world and has owned her own property-management company for the past five years.

“We have worked for ourselves for so long, (opening an alehouse) won’t be different,” Mat said.

The Englehorns have been thinking of opening an alehouse for years, but they officially started planning it about two years ago.

“The bulk of the two years was tons of research and development,” Mat said. “We had to consider a design that fit our financing, while including all the right tools to treat the craft beer with respect. Sharry and I are total planners and hands-on people, which may have added a little more to the timeline.”

Angels Trumpet Ale House will have 31 craft beers on tap, more than 100 types of bottled beer and six draft wines. The alehouse will also have a variety of food on the menu. It will have a “mom and pop” feel to it, the Englehorns said.

The Englehorns will be using a lot of local vendors, including some beers brewed by Four Peaks.

Patrons won’t have to worry about picking just one beer if they can’t make up their mind, said the Englehorns. The alehouse will serve a sample flight consisting of six small glasses of any beer of choice, which will cost about the same as a pint of beer.

“Part of our job will be to educate guests about all the different beers we will be serving,” Sharry Englehorn said. “Once we start hiring, we will be educating our staff, so they will also be able to answer any question a guest has about a particular beer.”

Because of their location near the Downtown campus, the Englehorns are expecting an influx of ASU students, along with business people and a big lunch crowd.

“When there are more people walking around, it’s good for all businesses,” Mat Englehorn said. “People can enjoy a beer here, then go across the street to watch a movie at the FilmBar.”

Businesses surrounding the location of the alehouse are excited about the opening.

“I think the alehouse will encourage more people to come to this area, which is good for all businesses that are around here,” said Derlin Macaber, a bartender at FilmBar. “A lot of people don’t even know about most of the places down here until something motivates them to come to this area.”

Harvey Frutkin is an attorney at a law firm just a few blocks away from where the alehouse will open. He was excited to hear about the future opening of the ale house.

“As soon as they are open and I’m looking for a lunch spot or after-work stop, I will be there,” Frutkin said. “I am not likely to get through all 31 craft beers in that visit, but I’m sure I’ll return until I have sampled them all. It is nice to know that they are going to be close by the office.”

There will be a 3,000-square-foot patio to accompany the 4,000 square feet inside. The patio will have tables with umbrellas and a lot of bike racks, said Mat Englehorn.

“The ingredients of beers are relative to their region and can handle a host of great spices,” Englehorn said. “It is endless and exciting. There is a beer for everyone out there.”

Contact the reporter at cdkoch@asu.edu