Beer lovers are expected to flood downtown Phoenix for the third-annual Urban Ale Trail Saturday with deals on beers at 29 bars and restaurants in downtown and uptown.
“They explore and check out the neighborhood, discover new restaurants,” said R.J. Price, vice president of marketing for Downtown Phoenix Inc., the host of the event. “We’re fortunate that downtown keeps adding new restaurants.”
Price said the event, which will be held from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m, is expected to draw between 5,000 and 8,000 people, based on previous years. There’s no ticket or admission price for the self-guided walk, and participating restaurants offer $1 or $2 samples of three 4-ounce beers. Restaurants are also encouraged to provide snack samplers, Price said.
All the restaurants are supposed to be within three or four blocks of the light rail. Price said the event is in part supposed to highlight how walkable and transit friendly downtown is.
“People bring their friends, and we love it because we get the residents and we get people who frequent downtown a lot, but we also get people who don’t come downtown as often,” Price said. “This event is an opportunity for them to get acclimated with downtown and see how much downtown has changed.”
The participating restaurants are a mix of new participants and veterans including District American Kitchen and Wine Bar, Jobot Coffee and Diner, Coach’s Corner, Carly’s Bistro, Phoenix Public Market Cafe and The Grand Central Coffee Company. Phoenix Public Market Cafe, located on Central Avenue and Pierce Street, has been involved since the beginning.
“It’s gotten busier every year. It’s been awesome,” owner Aaron Chamberlin said. “We’re looking to get the community into our doors, to have people try some of the beers, to have a good time.”
Coach’s Corner, located near Chase Field at Fourth and Jefferson streets, will be participating for the first time.
“It’s a fun, busy weekend,” said manager Garrett Hackitt. “We have a handful of craft beers on draft, and it’s a good way to give the entertainment to the people coming down to experience downtown Phoenix.”
The event started as a spinoff of DPI’s Urban Wine Walk event, which originally was every spring and fall. Now the Urban Wine Walk is every spring, and the Urban Ale Trail is every fall.
“We were getting a lot of feedback saying ‘what about beer?'” Price said. “We have all this great craft beer; why don’t we do something to celebrate that?”
Price said this year’s walk has already gained a lot of traction on social media, thanks in part to the restaurants promoting the event themselves. Downtown Phoenix Inc. has held three “growler giveaways” by hiding growlers in public locations and posting photos of the area where they’re hidden on the group’s Facebook page. A fourth giveaway is scheduled for Friday at noon.
The growlers can also be picked up by the first 300 participants who enter the District American Kitchen and Wine Bar Saturday. Bonus Round in uptown will be giving out 100 pint glasses as well.
Contact the reporter at kara.carlson@asu.edu.
