OK I must preface by saying that I never made it to Dragoon Brewery because they weren’t open on Sundays (really stupid if you ask me) but my experiences at Barrio Brewing in Tucson were the best in town. The beers were overall very good and so was the food at atmosphere.

I started my experience with Barrio while at El Charro Cafe which serves an amber ale brewed by Barrio exclusively for them. El Charro is a great Mexican restaurant and the food was superb. The beer didn’t disappoint either.  The Barrio 1922 Amber Ale was a good amber with sweet malt flavor. It didn’t have much nose, though. However, it paired very well with Mexican food. My husband got the Blonde here, which was also on the menu.  I was not as impressed with this one. It didn’t have any of those traditional herbal undertones and tasted much more like a plain wheat.

We had the Blonde again aft the brewery so I wanted to give it a taste without the Mexican food interfering.  It still didn’t have much nose and was still more malty than anything else. I was able to get a bit more sweetness on the finish without the food though.

Barrio Rojo was a decent beer with not much nose and a bit of toast on the finish. Since I am not a huge red fan, I would say this was average.

The Hefeweizen had a good nose of banana and clove but it was a bit too lemony in taste. The banana was still good and overall this was a solid hefe.

TJs Raspberry was very raspberry with a raspberry nose and taste like raspberry iced tea. The wheat flavor still comes through so it remains a good beer. However, it was a bit sweet for me.

Copperhead Pale Ale has a nice nose and a good balance of hops and malts. A very well balanced and easy drinking pale ale!

Barrio IPA was also a good solid beer with a great nose.

Barrio Blanco was a white IPA.  I got a little flaw of butter in the nose of this one and was a bit disappointed by the lack of hop.

Nolan’s Porter is a good solid porter with tastes of coffee and a  hint of sweetness.

Mocha Java Stout had a great coffee nose.  The taste was a bit of ground coffee and cigarettes but it was still quite good just not as sweet as the name would suggest.

NCAAle Bourbon Aged Oak didn’t have much bourbon on the nose but did finish with great bourbon flavors. This was very, very similar to Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.

The Pumpkin Porter also seemed to be similar to another beer, Warlock. The nose was definitely very similar to Warlock and it was also heavier on spice than on pumpkin.  The slight pumpkin flavor was masked by the nutmeg.

Again, I have to give Barrio kudos for location and atmosphere. Located in another warehouse district in Tucson, it was a bit difficult to find. Inside, it was minimalistic with concentration on the beer not the furnishings. This brewery did have a menu but the food was simple (mostly sandwiches and the like). The food was good and satisfying but you definitely felt like you were still in a brewery.