The bars, the main lounge Quartz and the aptly named hidden counterpart The Cave, mine inspiration from the natural world. Quartz was founded by Instrumental Hospitality, bar owner Chuckie Duff and mixologist Maxwell Berlin, and opened in April 2023.
The Cave, the reservation-based hidden rose gold crystal room, will serve its last desert-inspired tipples after service on Monday, Sept. 8. Quartz, whose equally whimsical, eye-catching cocktails are inspired by crystals and stones, will close after last call on Sept. 15.
“We set out to create a space that pushed the boundaries of cocktail culture in Phoenix, and we feel like we accomplished that with Quartz,” Duff said in a statement provided to Phoenix New Times. Duff also co-owns downtown's Cobra Arcade Bar and Ziggy's Magic Pizza Shop. “While it’s time to close this chapter, we are proud of the concept we built and all the creativity that made Quartz truly one of a kind.”
In the bar’s brief tenure on Van Buren Street, it quickly received accolades for crafting inventive cocktails such as the vodka-based Bamm Bamm Beryl, inspired by the cereal Fruity Pebbles, and the electric blue coconut rum drink Sea of Aquamarine.
Since opening, the two-bars-in-one concept has been named New Times' Best New Bar and among the Valley's Top 100 Bars. The Cave is among our favorite hidden bars around the Valley.
Berlin’s We Call It Home, an inventive riff on a margarita that layers sweet, smoky, spicy, funky and sour flavors of tomato, fish sauce, citrus stock, prickly pear, chiltepin and more, was one of our favorite sips of 2024. The bar also led a trend of gemstone-named bars in downtown Phoenix.
Berlin, Quartz's bar director, announced the coming closure on Instagram on Sept. 2. In the post, Berlin thanked the staff and customers who have supported the bars.
“I am beyond grateful to all those that have shared an experience in this magical bar with us and I am so incredibly proud of everything we’ve brought to the Phoenix cocktail scene,” Berlin wrote. “Our little bar was blessed with so many honors, but my biggest honor was creating a space that broke the mold and was on the bleeding edge of Arizona’s culinary and cocktail scene. Quartz is truly a gem of a bar.”
The Bamm Bamm Beryl draws on inspiration from its namesake pink crystal and its nostalgic properties.
Quartz
Followers expressed shock and dismay at the news, along with gratitude for the times they had at the bar.
“Oh man this one hurts!” wrote Jennifer Akin. “Such an amazing bar you’ve built.”
Vert Plantworks called the forthcoming closure “another hit to downtown Phoenix.”
Berlin did not immediately respond to requests for comment but issued a challenge to followers in his post.
“Times are tough these days, so please go out and support all your favorite local businesses,” he wrote, adding that Quartz “will surely go out with a bang.”
And, the mixologist isn’t done yet.
“Quartz may be over,” he wrote, “but I will not stop pushing to make Arizona a destination for the best cocktails in the country.”
