The official line is the new Pedal Haus Brewery in downtown Tempe will open Sept. 25. That’s what the Valley’s TV stations and newspapers have been reporting.
The actual opening will be much sooner. Three days of “friends and family” practice sessions start tonight. Doors likely will open to the public this weekend.
Pedal Haus is the latest project by Mill Avenue nightlife entrepreneur Julian Wright (Handlebar Tempe, La Bocca Urban Pizzeria & Wine Bar, and Gringo Star Street Bar).
With 8,000 square feet in the interior and another 4,000 on the patio, it’s a big brewpub with three bars, a double-sided kitchen plus a remote kitchen, and a 15-barrel brewing system with nine fermenters.
With workers scurrying to finish the detail work, I dropped by Monday for a look:
An assortment of bicycle rims adorn the entrance to Pedal Haus, which abuts the AMC Centerpoint 11 theaters on Seventh Street, just west of Mill. It’s a theme shared with its nearby bicycle-and-beer-garden sibling Handlebar.
Just inside the entry, you start to see the architectural elements that define Pedal Haus’s European feel – an arched brick ceiling, natural wood soffits, and wrought-iron light fixtures.
The 48-tap indoor-outdoor bar just inside the doors is actually the secondary bar. You can sit and enjoy a beer or grab a growler to go without entering the restaurant portion of the brewpub.
This is the main bar at the center of Pedal Haus. Since Pedal Haus won’t have any of its own beers brewed until the end of the month, it only will serve “guest” beers from other breweries in the beginning.
Here’s a closer look at the main bar’s cool-looking industrial-strength draft tower with 24 taps. Although Pedal Haus will have a combined 96 taps at its three bars, it will serve just 24 beers most of time. All three bars will have the same beer lineups.
The two guys in charge of food and drink: Brewmaster Derek “Doc” Osborne (left) was director of brewery research for the BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse chain. Chef Matt McLinn’s resume includes stints at Methode Bistro, BLT Steak, and The Grind.
McLinn’s menu will offer creative twists on comfort foods. Instead of a regular corn dog, for example, Pedal Haus will serve a tempura-coated sausage on a stick with creamy gouda. See the rough draft (not yet spell-checked) of the dinner menu here.
The heart of the brewing operation still has the protective white plastic on the stainless steel. Pedal Haus will specialize in European-style beers, particularly those from Germany, Belgium, and England.
Osborne plans to have just a half-dozen or Pedal Haus beers among the 24 beers on tap. “We had 14 beers at BJ’s and I think we ended up cannibalizing ourselves,” he says.
Osborne (shown working on the grain silo) plans to have a half-dozen Pedal Haus beers on tap by the end of the year, including a Bavarian Pilsner, a Bohemian (Czech) Pilsner, a Bavarian Helles, a Kölsch, and rotating seasonals like an Oktoberfest in the fall and a bock in the winter.
Although he doesn’t plan to brew an IPA, Osborne is thinking about a “massive” double India Pale lager.
Here’s the third bar, located on the patio and protected by an arched wood ceiling. The patio concrete is being covered with wood planks to create a deck. There’s also a small stage off to the right side of the bar.
The wood decking (which you can see in the photo below) will match the wood on the patio benches, which also are waiting to be installed.
The patio also will have a remote kitchen in a refurbished shipping container located on the fence line. There’s also a window on the other side to serve people walking by on the sidewalk, especially during big events like the spring and fall art walks.
Pedal Haus will be open for lunch and dinner daily.
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