Chupacabra owners to open brewpub in ex-Desert Eagle building in Mesa

It didn’t take long for someone to grab the downtown Mesa space made available by the closure the Desert Eagle Brewing Company on July 30.

Eric Cady and Trent Smith, who launched the nearby Chupacabra Taproom in 2019, are taking over the Main Street building and launching Urban Legend Beer Company.

The name: The new brewpub’s name continues the taproom’s theme. A chupacabra is a vampire-like creature from Latin American legends.

The timeline: Cady says they will fully gut the space – which Desert Eagle occupied for nearly a decade – and completely rebuild, a process he expects to take six to nine months.

The beers: He and Smith plan to install a new 7- or 10-barrel brewing system. The brewpub will serve only Urban Legend beers, a few of which will be available at Chupacabra.

A head brewer has not been hired yet.

The food: The pair are teaming up with the Goat and Ram pizza truck, a regular at kitchen-less Chupacabra. It will have its own in-house kitchen at Urban Legend.

The setup is similar to Cider Corps, which provided an in-house kitchen for the formerly mobile Myke’s Pizza at its downtown Mesa location.

The decision: Cady says the decision to take over the Desert Eagle space was somewhat unexpected but happened after plans fell through to open a second Chupacabra in downtown Chandler.

The quote: Cady and Smith don’t think having a brewpub and taproom just a block apart will be redundant.

‘‘With the recent growth and expansion in downtown Mesa, it won’t be a deterrent,’’ Cady says. ‘‘The two will be complementary.’’