Beer at the Pinnacle Peak Patio

After two places with bottled beer only, we decided to go have one last beer at the Pinnacle Peak Patio.  The steakhouse has been around since 1957.  For me, that is forever and then some.  The Pinnacle Peak Patio has decent steaks, but it is really a tourist place.

I lived in Scottsdale, Arizona during my high school years, but as a “local” it didn’t have much draw for me.  It was just another “authentic old west steakhouse”.  The steakhouse has a very casual atmosphere, and if you come in wearing a suit and tie they threaten to cut your tie off.  There are hundreds of neck tie corpses hanging from the ceiling as “proof”.  I can name at least 5 places in Colorado, Arizona, and Texas which have the same “no tie” rule.  The Traildust Steakhouse in Denver used to cut your tie off too, before the restaurant bit the dust.  I am sure there are many more “authentic and original” steakhouses who share this violence against neck ties.

I forgot to bring a tie for the wedding, and this weekend is the only time I planned on wearing a tie this summer.  My usual casual dress means I will always be “safe” in these restaurants.

We decided to go to the Pinnacle Peak Patio because we were not ready to call it a night, and we wanted to go some place that accepted my credit card.  I was expecting another “bottled beer joint”.

Then I saw the sign (cue hosanna music).  Apparently things have changed since I was last in Arizona.  They have a brewery now.  I can’t find out when the brewery was added, but they produce beer onsite for the restaurant and a few other local establishments.  The brewery is owned by the Sonoran Brewing Company.  The brewery was established in 1996, so I’m assuming some time around then is when the brewery was added.

The brewery has a wide variety of standard and seasonal ales.  Their website claims they don’t make a pepper beer because “We make real beers for real beer drinkers. No novelty beers here.”  They do however make a sour cherry ale, a mandarin orange Hefeweizen, and a white chocolate ale.  Go figure.

I ordered a “Barbed Wire Brown” ale.  It was ok.  The beer was smooth and flavorful, but I was expecting nut brown ale and got something more like a porter.  The beer wasn’t a bad porter, so maybe the fault is just the name.  I also tried the sour cherry ale and the mandarin orange Hefeweizen.  The sour cherry ale was quite good.  I was expecting to be overwhelmed by the cherry flavor since cherries are so strong and difficult to work with.  The taste was quite mellow, and reminded me of some good Belgian sour ales.

The mandarin orange Hefeweizen was really good.  So good in fact, I’m going to try to replicate the beer when I get home.  The Hefeweizen had a really smooth creamy mouth feel, and the orange flavor was well balanced with the rest of the beer.  I’d never thought about putting mandarin oranges in beer, but it makes sense since most people add oranges to the Hefeweizens.  The citrus flavor goes well in the beer.  The mandarin oranges go even better in the beer.  I highly recommend the beer.

The Pinnacle Peak Patio has good beer and live music.  If you’ve made it out to Greasewood Flat , you should also make a stop at Pinnacle Peak Patio and try their beers.  I’ll be back to try the other beers, but for now I can recommend the mandarin orange Hefeweizen.