Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. Heeds the Call of the Wild

Co-founders Jonathan Buford and Patrick Ware sit together on one of the few unfilled patio tables, pondering the next move for Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. They think about the brewery that has come so far so fast, with a future as bright as the Arizona sun. What’s next? It’s hard to say, but chances are Ware and Buford will choose the right path, as they have serendipitously done so many times before.

Growing up in Arizona, Patrick Ware developed a love for the outdoors – hiking and camping with his Dad. While studying at Arizona State University, he split time between his studies and homebrewing, eventually taking an internship at Gordon Biersch under the tutelage of Dieter Foerstner, who would soon help him land his first professional brewing position with SanTan Brewing in Chandler, Arizona.

Meanwhile Jonathan Buford was living in Ohio, though he longed to return west, where he first fell in love with the Arizona landscape. Ultimately, he decided to follow his heart. Armed with only his 1988 Chevy Nova and $300 ($100 of which went toward gas), he struck forth to the Copper State.

Buford’s entrepreneurial spirit initially led him to open a window-cleaning company, which he helmed for six years. All the while, though, Buford’s passion for craft beer was brewing. Listening to audiobooks about beer and brewing while washing windows, he was determined to one day open a brewery of his own. Once more, his true calling bubbled over.

A regular at local watering holes, Buford was often mistaken for some guy named “Pat.” When this became a regular occurrence, he determined to track down his doppelganger and get to the bottom of the situation.

Buford soon figured out that the mysterious “Pat” was none other than Ware, who had become the head brewer at SanTan Brewing Company. He introduced himself, and the two shared stories of their love of the Arizona countryside. After telling Ware of his goal to open a brewery focused on local terroir, Buford offered to make Ware head brewer of the venture, and Ware accepted.

Jonathan Buford and Patrick Ware founded Arizona Wilderness on a shared vision of a brewery that embodied the land it was built upon, such as the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness, shown here.

It took Buford’s life savings, a highly successful Kickstarter campaign and an outside investment to fund the brewery before Buford could set everything in motion. Unfortunately, things weren’t so peachy. Without warning, the investor got cold feet, and Buford was left scrambling to find a way to come up with the funds to complete the project.

Originally, Ware was to be an employee, not an owner, but the only way Buford could pay Ware was in shares of ownership. Now partners, they scrounged together every last penny to get the doors open.

When the doors did open on September 2, 2013, the pair still owed their contractor $36,000. Buford had 60 days to come up with the money or the contractor threatened to take possession of the brewery. It took until the final day before the contractor was paid, but Ware and Buford were now bona fide brewery owners.

Arizona Wilderness opened in Gilbert, Arizona as a traditional brewpub with one main dining room, a small bar and modest patio. The 17 employees were settling in and business was good. Not even six months into their existence, a national beer publication announced that Arizona Wilderness had been voted the “Best New Brewery in the World” for 2014. Their fortunes changed overnight.

Local Phoenix news stations appeared wanting interviews. Craft aficionados from all over wanted to experience the wunderkind brewery. They doubled, then tripled the workforce to keep up with demand. Two-hour waits at the door were the norm, and full serving tanks of beer became a pipe dream; at one precarious point their stock dwindled down to their final two kegs. Only through hard work and the divinity of the yeast would enough beer be produced for the thirsty public.

Imbibing Arizona’s wilderness is a way of life for both Ware and Buford – hiking, camping and enjoying nature is what they live for. Photographing nature is one of Buford’s biggest passions, and may have been his profession had the brewery not panned out. His striking photos are looped on the brewpub’s TV screens, and most beers have names that reflect the Arizona landscape.

The beers on tap at Arizona Wilderness represent the local terroir, along with Belgian and American brewing traditions its founders have absorbed in their time as brewers.

DC Mountain Imperial IPA, a highly hopped Double IPA and their second-biggest seller, and Superstition Coffee Stout, an oatmeal-based American stout brewed with seven pounds of local cold-roasted coffee and Madagascar vanilla beans are both named after local Arizona mountain ranges. The juicy, 7.2% Refuge IPA remains their best-selling beer and is arguably the best IPA produced in the state.

For Arizona Wilderness, remaining homegrown is key, a mentality that extends to building relationships with local farmers and businesses, which includes trading spent grain to farmers who provide beef for the brewpub’s extensive menu. The brewery’s incredible Blood Orange Gose is made from Arizona-grown blood oranges, Sonoran white wheat and locally sourced salt.

Because of the continued success of the brewpub, Arizona Wilderness recently opened an additional tasting room onsite. Within this room resides Ware’s baby – a new, humidity-controlled barrel-aging room to satisfy the pair’s fondness for Belgian-inspired brews.

In an unending quest for brewing knowledge, Ware and Buford have traveled extensively to learn from and collaborate with some of the world’s best brewers. Their travels have produced collaborations with Almanac of San Francisco, Way Brewing of Brazil and Lervig in Norway, among others. But none match the “star factor” of collaborating with Logan Plant, the owner of North London’s well-known Beavertown Brewery, who also happens to be the son of Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant. After collaborating in England, Plant came to Phoenix, the group traveled north to Sedona and they picked local pine cones, which were later smoked and added to a collaborative Gratzer beer.

Arizona Wilderness is the living, breathing embodiment of its founders’ spirits. There is an “it” factor there; an infectious energy that draws people back to the brewery again and again. Nature, artisanal craft beer and a passion for both – that’s a recipe for success in Arizona.

Photos Courtesy Michela Ricci (featured, bottom) Dave Clark (all body photos but Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness — Jonathan Buford)