Borderlands Brewing Company

I purchased a Groupon for my husband and myself to come here (two flights and a 4-​pack to take home was the Groupon offer) and I am SO very happy that I did. The building itself is very cool and there is a train that passes by the back of the bar — which I thought was fun to watch. The ambiance is really nice though, very comforting.
Adam was our bartender and with two flights he suggested we try all 10 beers they had on tap. That was a great suggestion, because we were able to try all of their amazing beers. I am a huge fan of the Citrana Sour and the Elderberry Sour. They also have a really nice prickly-​pear and my husband enjoyed their IPA. I think that if you like Horchata they have a nice beer that has hints of horchata and vanilla. The coffee flavored beer is strong, but if you want a good beer with some hints of coffee, it was quite good. Basically, there was not a beer there that we didn’t enjoy. We both ended up ordering more. All the while, Adam told us the story of each beer, etc., and he was a great bartender.
My husband says «this is my new bar» as we are leaving — this place is great. Cannot wait to come back (which says a lot, because I’m not a beer drinker, normally).

Just finished a 5 gal keg of the Dolce Noche Vanilla Porter and got a new 5 gal keg of the Elderberry Sour — complete opposites of each other in flavor and aroma but oh my goodness… the touch of sour making it almost taste like a sweet wine is amazing. I am sure this keg will not last long before we bring home something new!

One of the 1^st breweries I have visited in Tucson… and have been back often since. Its a large space, just north of Congress St in downtown. They make excellent Nolce Dulce porter, now in cans too! The Citrana sour is light and refreshing and great in summer. I have a love/​hate relationship with the prickly pear wheat… I get it every time they offer it, but even though I want it to be, its not my personal favorite. They used to have a lavendar hefeweizen that was amazing. They offer flights and pints. They typically have a live band and a food truck on site. I also love the building!

This Tucson Brewery gets the #1 slot for favorite location in town. The space is created out of an of downtown warehouse and the recycled wood walls gives off a great aesthetic. Perfect Brewery style. The large wrap around bar seats a ton of people and they also have a few tables as well that can seat small or large parties with a view of the beer tanks. While the inside has a great feel, the outside patio is where I like to spend my time. They have a few tables out front, with a wall on one side making this space feel enclosed even though its pretty open to the surrounding area. There is a space to play bocce and often you will find a food truck or 2 ready to serve delicious food. This all sounds fantastic, right?! Well let me get to the beer, its not my favorite. Its not bad, I am just not sure I have found the one classic beer from them that is always on tap. Their Noche Dolce, which is a Vanilla Porter is my favorite and does win the Tucson Beer Cup Specialty beer award every year is a solid porter but it is sweet and so about half a beer does me good. The Prickly Pear Wheat is a solid wheat, its just not my style of beer. I feel like I can say good and bad about each of their 6 or so beers, definitely worth a stop in to try, maybe you will find more good than bad to say! I will say, however, that if they have the Stout brewed with Yellow Brick Coffee (this was a specialty, they werent sure if it would continue) get it, drink it and enjoy, HANDS DOWN my favorite Borderlands beer and maybe in the top 5 of favorite all-​time Stouts, this should get a forever tap. This beer alone should give them 5 stars but taking everything into account I had to only give 3.

Been to Borderlands twice now and I love this brewery. Located just north of downtown and west of 4^th its kind of off of the beaten path. Love the old building next to the train tracks. It’s very unique and very neat to check out.
When you arrive at the brewery they have plenty of seats. Thy have a nice outdoor beer garden and plenty of room inside. On the two occasions that I came they had live music playing inside. Very cool.
As for the beer I really love their vanilla Porter. It’s amazing. Tried their other beers and not really to my preference but I give them credit for brewing the sours and horchata beer.
I liked this brewery so much I bought a metal growler that looks like a mini keg. I get so many complements from the growler if they have any in stock go ahead and get on.
Overall this is a great addition to the growing Tucson and state of AZ breweries. I will be back for sure!

We went here for Hues and Booze tonight and it’s great! Ask for a Dulce Corozon– horchata ale and porter mixed! Yummy! They have a large area for events and art. They had a good band and pleasant service.

Loved the space, the service, and the beers. They had a special horchata beer that they’d run through a filter with Mounds candy. Having it side by side with their regular horchata, you can really taste the difference and the guy behind the bar was cool enough to let my SO and I peek around the back to look at the set up. Honey Kolsch and Horchata cream ale were my favorites. They also had wines and snacks and a food truck schedule. Overall, really liked the atmosphere :)

Found this place thanks to fellow Unilocal-​er reviews. Visiting Tucson for the week and love checking out local breweries. The vibe in this place is very rustic chic. Old warehouse with lots of exposed brick and wood beams. Beers were pretty good. Liked almost all of them in the flight. Ended up ordering the imperial IPA and the hermitage. Both were delicious. Also need to give a shout out to the food truck in the courtyard. Probably the best pulled pork sandwich I have ever had. Very relaxed here. You can get food from the truck and bring in to compliment your beer. Would definitely recommend this place and visit again on our next trip to Tucson.

Totally the best brewery in Tucson without a doubt. The location is a bit strange at first, it is right next to a kids place. The inside is super cool however, it is open, airy, has local art and a cool view of trains flying by on the tracks right outside the back. The service here was the best we found at any local brewery in town. They guys working were very friendly and knew tons about beer. Now for the best part, the beer. We got a flight of all the beers they had and every single one was amazing. Other places may have a few good ones but I loved all the beers here. My favorites were the Noche Dulce and the Citrana Gose. in fact the beers were so good that when they told us that they would have another sour on tap in a few days were made another visit on our way home so we could try it. If I lived in Tucson this would be the brewery you would find me at on a regular basis.

We really love this place! It’s in like a warehouse part of town in Tucson. The size of this place is amazing! We thought they didn’t serve food, but they have a great food menu. We ordered the Chicken Wings and a whole bunch of other items. The Chips & Salsa are to die for.
I have not even mentioned the Beer yet. They have a great extensive collection of Arizona Brews and other top brands. We were there with a group of people for an after event party (about 20+ total). The wait staff was excellent and accommodated everyone very well. If you love Beer and great food served hot, then you will love this place!

Borderlands has a really cool vibe and a nice, big courtyard too. They have a live band on Sunday that’s very good and other live music on various nights too in addition to food trucks on occasion.
While they don’t serve food like most breweries in town, I do like that they serve some local beers on tap besides their own. The prickly pear wheat is very unique and tasty with a little bit of sour tang. If you go on the right day, you might even run into the house dog, a very fluffy friend to accompany a cold pint.

The beer is decent, I do like a couple of the other local brewery’s better though. The train directly behind the brewery is pretty loud. We tried the sampler — I enjoyed the flavor of the prickly pear wheat the best. The atmosphere and service was good, and they have a nice courtyard. It was nice to get some food to go with our beer from the Lucky Girl food truck — yummy tacos!

This place makes me wish I was a local. Great vibe, great building, great beer. Would love to hang in the courtyard when things get a little cooler. A train came by and laid on the horn, almost caused my wife to go into AFib. I was looking right at her and thought she got shot. Scared the bejesus outta me. Haven’t laughed that hard since the 80’s. Super nice/​knowledgeable bartender. Music was perfect.
This is what Barrio should be like… very interesting comparison between the two buildings/​businesses. Couldn’t wait to get out of one, didn’t want to leave the other.

What a marvelous place! My friends and I went here last night, not knowing fully what to expect. After receiving our flights, we knew this place was going to be awesome. The bartender (Adam) was hilarious and completely on point with his descriptions of all the beers.
Normally, I don’t like every beer in a flight — in fact, I normally will only finish a stout and/​or a porter. Everything in the flight was wonderful! My favorite was distinctly the vanilla porter, but the sour was just lovely! After telling Adam this, he went and mixed two beers together to create a mind-​blowing sample.
Their guest tap beers were excellently selected (1055, Papago, and two others I don’t remember). This place truly knows their beer.
As for the place itself, the open warehouse feel of it made it completely comfortable. Trains would pass by on occasion (so exciting!) that would lead to all sorts of hooting and hollering throughout the place. They had live music (and not the bad kind) for the first hour. When the band finished, they switched to RHCP — my mind of place!
In short, we left this place gloriously happy (partially due to the fact that we were nicely tipsy) and ready to come back for more.

This place is one of my favorite tap rooms! They have an awesome courtyard out front with plenty of space and there’s pretty much always an awesome food truck set up in it. The beers are tasty and most of the time when I stop by here there’s live music or small events of some sort, which makes almost everytime a different experience, it’s great!

I have been to Borderlands a few times over the years. When they first opened in 2010 (I think that is when I first tried it) they only had one beer to try. I think it was the prickly pear beer. The brewery was basic, just one tap and a bar to stand at, tucked in among all the brewing equipment. I remember not liking the beer.
The brewery has expanded. They now have five beers on tap and a barley wine. On a recent visit I had the sampler. I hate to have to say this, but I still don’t like Borderland’s beer. It just isn’t my thing. The beer is flavored with a lot of extra ingredients, Mexican cinnamon, Mexican vanilla, hibiscus, prickly pear, and more. I think it makes for some odd tasting beer.
I do love the building the brewery is in. It is an old brick warehouse and it is beautiful. I love the big wooden tables. They always have local art to enjoy and the lighting at night is very nice. I enjoy the trains going by right behind the bar. The location is good.
Last night I stopped in because I was walking around downtown looking for free live music. There was a band playing and the brewery wasn’t crowded. I tried a couple of tasters of beer and settled on the hibiscus wit beer. The beer was ok, fine for a pint, but I wouldn’t make a special trip to drink it again. The band was also just ok. After a pint I moved on.
The brewery scene in Tucson is really expanding. We now have some amazing local beer options. Unfortunately, I don’t think Borderlands has kept up with the competition. If you are only in town visiting, I wouldn’t recommend this brewery as the best place to go. If you are more about the ambiance than the beer then it is a good enough spot. However, with such a beautiful brewery there is potential for so much more.

Fun place nice friendly workers, beer is great! It’s downtown great change of pace. I had bought a groupon and that’s how we tried it, I will go back.

Borderland features a bunch of unique beers, like horchata ale, citrana wild ale, prickly pear ale. Cool space and live music just about every week

Go here now. Go, I say! Get yourself a Borderlands sour and thank me later. It is a party in my mouth. Say it three times, Citrana wild ale, Citrana wild ale, Citrana wild ale and the heavens will part.
Their menu rotates and so keep your eyes peeled for their newest creations. Sour beer aside, their pumpkin ale was also delightful. But the sour spoke to me.
Now if I can just taste the prickly pear! Hey, we all have to have goals. I’m a go-​getter.
Borderlands opens their doors for fundraiser events and gives a portion of the proceeds to your group. Imagine the beer connoisseurs surprise walking in to find 50 of my friends wearing their babies. It must have been a sight, I admit.
Plus, Borderlands frequently partners with Unilocal sharing their libations at many events, and for that I thank them.
I’m still lamenting on not picking up the 25^th Anniversary All Souls Procession Tile by CarlyQuinnDesigns. Next year it’s on!
Their growlers look like mini kegs and they are so cute that they make up for their small stature.
Not only do they have micobrewed beer, they host food trucks. This combines two of my great passions. Bless them.
Wait! There’s more!!! They are sustainable using solar power to heat their water, non-​toxic cleaners, and using their gray water in the garden because they know how precious water is out in the desert. Therefore, I’m doing my part my not drinking the water and opting in for their beer.
They also put on their own par-​tays, like the upcoming ugly sweater party. I’m tempted to rock out in my ugly sweater and fetch me a cantina club membership. Benefits Include:
Key-​ring bottle opener (your «membership card»)
20oz mug for 16oz price everyday for you and a guest
$ 0.50 off beers in the tap room for you and a guest
$ 2 off growler fills everyday
10% off merchandise everyday
July and January special events
Early notice of special beer releases and special events

Recently checked out Borderlands during a fundraiser event for a local non-​profit organization. Must say I’m shocked I’ve never been before. I tried their Prickly Pear Ale which had a great wheat/​hoppiness to it with only a lil kick of fruit, in my opinion juat right! I also had the Vanilla Porter, holy delicious dark beer batman, it was out of this world. Delicious and full bodied without being too heavy.
I even took home a growler! Their metal growlers are a bit on the small side but big on personality. They’re cute and look like kegs. The vanilla porter was great for the next week.
Somw other awesome tidbits: They have their own parking lot, plus for being downtown with difficult parking. They also have a space which can accommodate food trucks and often does. Another huge bonus for those of us who need food with our brews. So for a bottoms up that you’re sure to enjoy get your booty to Borderlands today!