Phantom Fox, a 13-Hour Downtown Mesa Beer Crawl, and Burritoholics...? OK!
A birthday beer crawl through Downtown Mesa brings us back to Phantom Fox, where Ceviche—a double dry hopped cold IPA—helps prove the brewery has found its groove. Add Bone Haus, Trevor’s, Chupacabra, Oro, Beer Research and soul-touching chicharrones from Burrito Holics, and our supposedly relaxing outing somehow becomes a 13-hour lesson in Craft Beer. Food. Fun.
Adam & Dedra
8/27/20268 min read
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Phantom Fox, Burrito Holics & a 13-Hour Downtown Mesa Beer Crawl
Sometimes the best beer adventures are the ones you barely document.
For our birthday weekend, a friend offered to drive us around the east side of the Phoenix area, which meant we could do something unusual: stop worrying about photos, tasting notes, Untappd check-ins, and whether we remembered every single detail correctly. Instead, we could just hang out, drink some good beer, eat some good food, and see where the day took us.
Apparently, where the day wanted to take us was on a roughly 13-hour beer and food crawl through Bone Haus Brewing, Trevor’s, Downtown Mesa, and eventually our featured brewery of the episode, Phantom Fox. Along the way there were IPAs, a beer named Ceviche, ridiculously fresh chicharrones, arcade games, a chance encounter with a brewery owner, and a Czech-style foam pour that disappeared before we remembered cameras existed.
And naturally, we started the episode by cracking open another souvenir from our recent San Diego trip: Sky Riot from Original 40, a double dry hopped West Coast IPA.
So much for taking it easy.
Sky Riot: Back to a Classic West Coast IPA
Before getting into the birthday crawl, we needed a beer for the show.
Sky Riot from Original 40 Brewing in San Diego came home with us from our recent visit to North Park. At 7% ABV, it was considerably more reasonable than some of the beers we’ve opened lately—which explains why Dedra immediately needed confirmation that this one wasn’t secretly 9% or higher.
We’ve apparently developed trust issues with ABV.
Sky Riot delivered exactly what we expect from a classic West Coast IPA: clean, hop-forward and noticeably bitter without much malt sweetness getting in the way. Dedra found it light and easy to drink, while Adam appreciated that it leaned firmly into the traditional West Coast side.
A nice, perfectly reasonable 7% beer.
See? Growth.
Starting the Birthday Tour at Bone Haus
Our first stop was one we’ve talked about before: Bone Haus Brewing.
There are breweries you visit because they happen to be nearby, and there are breweries you would happily drive across town for. Bone Haus falls firmly into the second category for us—which is unfortunate considering it’s roughly 65 miles from home.
One way.
We love the place because it feels like a neighborhood brewery even when it isn’t technically our neighborhood. You sit down, start talking with the bartenders and people around you, and suddenly you realize you haven’t looked at a television because there really isn’t a reason to.
Since this was only stop number one, we attempted something resembling restraint and ordered tasters.
Adam worked through several beers, including Breaking These Bones, before finding himself especially impressed by a Czech-style amber ale. For a guy who normally attacks an IPA list first, discovering that the amber was his favorite beer in the flight was a nice reminder that occasionally expanding your horizons works.
Dedra, meanwhile, stayed completely unpredictable by ordering a flight of hazies.
Shocking.
She chose Bone Haus’ Honor Flight, something we especially appreciate because of the brewery’s support for veterans and the military community. Oasis Canyon became one of the favorites of the flight and earned Adam another pour.
But the most memorable drink at Bone Haus wasn’t really a beer choice at all.
Our First Mlíko Pour
Bone Haus introduced us to something neither of us had tried before: a Mlíko-style Czech pour.
Instead of receiving a normal glass of beer with a foam head, most of the glass arrives as dense, wet foam with only a small amount of liquid beer. The idea was to drink it fairly quickly before everything settled.
So we each ordered one.
And because apparently we temporarily forgot that we make a show about these experiences, we cheersed and drank them without taking a picture or recording a video.
Perfect content creators.
The pour was creamy with a subtle sweetness, and the experience was completely different from simply drinking a normal pint. Dedra expected to feel ridiculously full afterward but instead came away pleasantly surprised.
Adam burped twice.
Professional analysis.
We’d absolutely do it again.
Trevor’s, Pizza and a 10% Decision
From there, the tour eventually took us to the South Scottsdale location of Trevor’s, another place we’ve visited before.
Trevor’s was packed. Between the Saturday crowd and an event happening that day, there wasn’t much chance of finding a seat inside. Fortunately, the patio had shade and misters.
When it’s 115 degrees in Phoenix, shade and misters can bring the temperature down to a refreshing 95.
Basically sweater weather.
The pizza was once again excellent, and Trevor’s beer selection gave both of us plenty to work with.
Dedra spotted a Beer Babes collaboration with Pinnacle in the cooler and immediately knew what she was drinking. Adam showed the same impressive level of restraint he had displayed throughout the day by selecting Saturated Solutions from North Park Beer Co.
That would be a triple dry hopped hazy triple IPA.
At 10%.
Outside.
In Arizona.
The beer was thick, hazy and strong, and Adam loved it with the pizza. Was a 10% triple IPA the most refreshing possible beverage for a 115-degree afternoon?
Absolutely not.
Was that going to stop him?
Also absolutely not.
Downtown Mesa: Park Once, Drink Everywhere
Eventually we reached the area that became the centerpiece of the day: Downtown Mesa.
One of the best parts was how easy the area was to explore. We found parking without a major production, then discovered several places within what felt like seconds of each other.
That turned the rest of the afternoon into essentially a beer-hopping intersection.
First came Chupacabra Taproom, a smaller taproom with a wraparound bar, a good selection of beer and one design feature that immediately caught our attention: its metal entrance doors.
The cutout artwork transforms depending on which side you’re viewing it from. From inside, with sunlight shining through the metal, the design almost had a stained-glass effect.
We sat right near those doors, drank a couple beers and appreciated the kind of detail someone obviously spent a lot of time creating.
Then it was on to Oro, which had more of a relaxed, dive-bar feel.
And we have absolutely nothing against a good dive bar.
While there, Dedra spotted someone wearing a Homeland Brewing shirt and did what we normally do: started a conversation.
Turns out he owned Homeland Brewing.
We had previously visited Homeland and had great things to say about the brewery, its veteran program and—very importantly to Dedra—its popcorn machine.
The owner apparently has a slightly more complicated relationship with that popcorn machine because kids tend to spread popcorn everywhere.
Adam is fairly certain when he said “kids,” he actually meant Dedra.
Burrito Holics Had Us at the Name
Eventually, beer needed some backup.
We found a place called Burrito Holics, and sometimes a restaurant name is all the marketing required.
Adam had seen it earlier and decided we needed to go simply because it was called Burrito Holics. No elaborate research. No detailed review comparison.
Burrito. Holics.
Done.
We ordered a classic carne asada burrito because if you want to know whether a burrito shop has its fundamentals down, carne asada seems like a pretty good place to start.
The seasoned meat, rice and beans delivered exactly what we wanted.
But then came the chicharrones.
Fresh from the fryer, they arrived at the table still audibly crackling. Add lime and the house-made salsa, and Dedra was basically finished evaluating the restaurant.
The chicharrones had “touched her soul.”
Apparently we could have ended the birthday weekend right there and sent everyone home.
Thankfully, we didn’t.
Beer Research, Arcades and One More Stop
Across the street we continued on to Beer Research, now operating as a taproom and arcade.
The setup immediately stood out: a central bar surrounded by pinball machines and arcade games. We met up with more friends, found more beer and continued accomplishing absolutely nothing productive.
Which was exactly the point of the day.
By this stage, we had stopped at Bone Haus, Trevor’s, Chupacabra, Oro, Burrito Holics and Beer Research.
A normal couple might have begun considering going home.
We went to Phantom Fox.
Phantom Fox Has Found Its Mojo
Phantom Fox became our featured brewery for this episode because the difference from our earlier visit was impossible to ignore.
We had visited before when the brewery was still finding its rhythm. The beers we tried at the time didn’t completely connect with us, but we continued seeing Phantom Fox collaborate around the Arizona beer community. More recently, we had enjoyed its collaboration with Sana Sana.
This time, we wanted to see what had changed.
Quite a bit, apparently.
The brewery immediately changes the feeling of the surrounding area when you walk inside. There’s a full bar and restaurant operation, additional seating and a particularly cool Phantom Fox logo installation with dark surroundings and yellow backlighting.
Most importantly, the beer has clearly progressed.
Dedra immediately found one called Ceviche.
This is important because Dedra loves ceviche.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) it was not fish-flavored beer.
Instead, Ceviche was a double dry hopped cold IPA, and Dedra loved it. The name got her attention, but the beer kept it.
Adam went with Goose Suits, a hazy IPA, and instead of turning the moment into a full tasting session, we did what this entire birthday outing was supposed to be about.
We sat down.
We talked.
We drank beer.
And we enjoyed being there.
The narrow table where we landed actually made it easier for everyone to talk, and before long we were doing exactly what we love most about breweries—meeting people, having conversations and sharing the experience.
Phantom Fox had absolutely found its mojo.
Final Pour
This wasn’t the kind of episode where we obsessively recorded every beer, every tasting note and every moment.
And that may have been why we enjoyed the day so much.
We started at Bone Haus, worked our way through Trevor’s, wandered around Downtown Mesa between Chupacabra, Oro, Burrito Holics and Beer Research, and finished the story with a return to Phantom Fox that showed us just how much the brewery has developed.
There was a 10% hazy triple IPA in Arizona heat. There were chicharrones that nearly ended the day on the spot. There was a beer called Ceviche that thankfully contained no seafood. And there was a Czech foam pour that two people who host a beer show somehow managed to drink without documenting whatsoever.
Most importantly, there were friends, conversations and a full day spent doing exactly what this show is about.
Craft Beer. Food. Fun.
Cheers Everyone!!
