Congrats to The Shop Beer Co. The four-year-old Tempe brewery, which until last year was known as Cartel Brewery, has signed a distribution deal with Valley-based Hensley & Co.
The Shop’s current offerings include its flagship Coffee Brown nut brown ale, F.Y.I.T.M. (Fight ’Em) double IPA, The Nines red ale, limited-release Galactic Porter Patrol imperial porter, and the new Circus Bandit ‘‘juicy’’ pale ale.
‘‘We are really happy with this partnership,’’ says Scott Kirkpatrick, Hensley’s director of brand management. “Sometimes you just know when something is right. There is no question, more Arizonans need to be drinking these beers, and Hensley is committed to making sure they can.â€
The Shop’s beers will be available to restaurants and bar on draft.
‘‘We are super excited to take what we have been doing in Tempe for four years and give it a statewide reach,’’ The Shop owner David Arnce says.
Adds head brewer Matt Johnson (pictured above, on left, with chief of operations Jason Calhoon): ‘‘I grew up in the north valley of Phoenix. It is exciting to know that I will now be able to drink my beer with friends and family close to home.’’
The Shop began as a spinoff of popular Cartel Coffee. Last year, the two businesses were formally separated; the brewery moved into a new 20-barrel brewhouse and taproom near the northeast corner of Hardy and First Street and changed its name.
Earlier: The Shop Beer Co. debuts Saturday in Tempe
The Shop becomes the eighth Arizona brewery represented by Hensley. Others are Four Peaks in Tempe, Barrio in Tucson, Lumberyard and Mother Road in Flagstaff, Mudshark in Lake Havasu City, Oak Creek in Sedona, and Prescott.
