Greenwood sets her sights on Chandler. New taproom to open this fall

When Megan Greenwood first started brewing craft beer, she thought she’d only distribute her brews to other restaurants and bars. Now, more than five years later, the engineer-turned-brewer has grown Greenwood Brewing into a popular Roosevelt Row destination. Later this year, she hopes to do the same in the East Valley city where her passion for brewing began.

Greenwood Brewing is planned to open in downtown Chandler this fall. The taproom will be inside The AJ, a building located just outside Chandler Park, at the southeast corner of Arizona Avenue and Buffalo Street. 

The woman-owned brewery has attracted devotees of its unique sips, including a Rosemary IPA and seasonal Harvest Diem Spice Ale served with a honey and cinnamon-sugar rim. Adding another taproom and beer garden doubles down on what the brewery does best, Greenwood says: serving fresh brews in intimate, boutique spaces. 

“What we do really well is the guest experience,” Greenwood says while sitting in her stylish downtown taproom. “And creating really just beautiful, welcoming, approachable environments for people to have a pint, have great conversation, enjoy themselves.”

Greenwood opened in downtown Phoenix in 2020. Its owner says people often comment that they can tell the space was designed by a woman. Where many brewery taprooms can lean industrial and masculine with dark wood tones and iron, Greenwood’s taproom is filled with natural light, warm butcher block counters, stone backsplashes, shiplap and forest green barstools and shelves.

“Women aren’t always considered when creating a space,” Greenwood told New Times last year. “When they are considered, you can really tell.”

On Roosevelt Row, the brewery is also a lush spot to knock back a pint and people watch. Double doors on both sides lead to beer gardens where tables and bright yellow chairs sit below trees and strings of Edison bulbs.

The Chandler outpost will feature modern interiors, akin to its flagship Phoenix space, with a bit of a “glow up,” Greenwood says.

The expansion is a full-circle moment for the brewery owner, who made her first beer in her Chandler garage. A five-gallon homebrew kit for a Belgian tripel, gifted to her by a roommate, sparked a new hobby. Within a year, she’d grown her homebrewing habit, expanding her setup and pouring as many as seven beers from her kegerator.

In 2017, she launched her business and began contract brewing in Peoria at the since-shuttered Freak’N Brewing Co. Intent on building a place of her own, Greenwood crowdfunded, chipped in her own dollars and got financing to open in Phoenix. That buildout took two-and-a-half years and Greenwood Brewing opened in the middle of the pandemic and a scorching Phoenix summer.

“That was really a hard place to start,” Greenwood says. “Finally, I feel like we’re out of survival mode. We know who we are, we know what our brand is and we know where we’re going — and it’s go time.”

As she and her team get ready to open a second taproom, it feels like a homecoming.

“I think this is something we can scale, and there’s no better place than Chandler,” she says. 

What to expect at Greenwood Brewing in Chandler

The new 2,700-square-foot taproom will have an indoor-outdoor feel, thanks to three garage doors that open to a 2,500-square-foot beer garden and the park.

“It will literally be our beer garden, a sidewalk and Chandler Park,” Greenwood says. “We’ll wheel out some Frisbees and soccer balls and some activities for people to go be in the park and be able to come have a pint after.”

The Chandler Greenwood will have expanded offerings alongside its pints of Inbloom Blueberry Wheat, Purpose Pilsner and flagship Herstory Pale Ale (which is also poured at Phoenix Mercury games). That includes wine, small bites and take-away picnic baskets. Greenwood won’t yet say who she’s teamed with on those additions, but teases, “we’re partnering with some really, really cool people that we’ll be announcing soon.”

No beer will be brewed at the Chandler location, as Greenwood says the Phoenix brewery has the capacity to supply two to three taprooms. 

This isn’t the only place that beer nerds may soon see Greenwood Brewing. The brewery is also among a slate of new local additions poised to join Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. 

The craft beer industry has seen a downturn in recent years, driven by changing preferences and rising costs. The Valley has lost some breweries, while others have shifted to focus solely on distribution. Greenwood is an example of those poised to expand.

Weathering the headwinds of the last few years, “it’s time to sharpen your pencils and to understand your business,” Greenwood says. For her brewery, that means curating great spaces centered around their craft pours. While Greenwood can whet the whistles of First Friday revelers along Roosevelt Row, soon families may park their bikes outside the Chandler taproom.

“I couldn’t have thought of a better next spot for Greenwood,” she says. “I’m excited to be in a totally different market 20 miles away.”

The owner is hopeful this growth is just the beginning.

“I think that Arizona in general is still in her adolescence,” she says. “I think that’s the fun part about being in the industry right now, especially in Arizona. There’s a lot of opportunity.”

Greenwood Brewing

Opens this fall: 55 N. Arizona Place, Chandler
Now open: 922 N. Fifth St.