This article has been updated with new information, including the opening date for this new taproom.
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Cask beers get a bad rap, says Wren House Brewing Co. co-owner Drew Pool. “In the U.S., people think it’s warm, flat beer," he explains, "and that’s not the case.”
Wren House’s third Valley brewpub is set to debut at the site of the former Paradise Valley Mall at noon on Thursday. There, the local brewing powerhouse plans to challenge that stigma and introduce drinkers to a style popular in the U.K.
The new taproom is “a celebration of cask ales,” Pool says, as well as an outpost serving Wren House’s full portfolio of beers.
The award-winning brewery is one of a bevy of new eateries, bars and cafes that will open at PV, the dining, entertainment, housing and work hub taking shape on a 100-acre site near Cactus Road and Tatum Boulevard.
Wren House has been a favorite in the Valley since opening its Phoenix bungalow brewhouse on 24th Street in 2015, with award-winning and cult-favorite sips, such as Spellbinder Hazy IPA, the playful fruited sour series Las Frescas and big seasonal brews such as the autumnal wheat wine, Pie Thief.
This is the second satellite Valley location from Wren House, which opened the European-inspired beer hall and restaurant, Wren Südhalle, in Ahwatukee in August 2023. Like that location, Pool says he and the team wanted to introduce a new experience.
“Every location we do, we want it to stand on its own and be its own unique thing,” Pool says. “Also, we really enjoy the different worlds of beer.”
This latest location allows the team to lean into English beer styles, though it’s not completely new territory for the brewers, who won a bronze medal for Hooks and Dun, an extra special bitter, in 2023.
Wren House Brewing Co. took home two bronze medals at the 2023 Great American Beer Festival awards, including one for its extra special bitter, Hooks and Dun.
Arizona Craft Brewers Guild
Wren House Paradise Valley has a nano-brewery on site to create and condition its cask ales, which will be served from four beer engines.
Cask beers are typically unfiltered and, when transferred to a cask, the yeast continues to ferment and condition the beer. Because of this, cask ales are sometimes referred to as "living beers." They're also a little different because of how they're served. These naturally carbonated ales are hand-pumped through a beer engine, as opposed to a traditional kegged beer that is pulled through a tap line with the aid of carbonation.
Pool says the beers served on cask will rotate, highlighting the nuance the process can create in beers that may be familiar to drinkers, such as Spellbinder.
"The cask nature actually adds an incredible mouthfeel to the drinking experience. It’s almost like that nitro vibe without being on nitro,” Pool explains.
While not ubiquitous in the U.S., he recalls visiting the Deschutes Brewery's Public House in downtown Portland, Oregon, where he sipped a dry-hopped cask-conditioned version of the brewery's pale ale, Mirror Pond. Tasting whatever is rotating on cask "gives you an opportunity to have truly one-off experiments from the brewery," he says.
Pool also emphasizes that beers will be chilled to their traditional serving temperature, not served at the warmer temps people may associate with cask ales.
The PV taproom has about 20 standard taps, a large to-go selection of Wren House beers and an array of seating inside and out.
Customers are encouraged to bring in food from one of the several restaurants in the area, which currently includes Flower Child, Blanco Tacos + Tequila and The Melt, among others.
Pool describes the interior of the taproom, which is designed by House of Form, as “Arizona meets English pub.” Think rich woodwork, plaid tile patterns and snug-like booths. That will be paired with Southwestern flair and fabrics adorned with desert graphics created by Lauren Thoeny, the same designer who crafts the brewery’s can art and is married to Wren House's head brewer, Preston Thoeny.
The Wren House team was interested in PV not only because many members have roots there (Pool, for example, attended middle school nearby) but also because there aren’t many craft beer options in the area.
“We like to go to places that are kind of underserved,” he says. “We thought the new development was a great opportunity to get back into the area.”
And Pool is looking forward to introducing, and hopefully converting, Arizona beer drinkers to cask ales.
“It’s something new for us, something new for Arizona and something that’s going to be something super unique that we’re excited about,” he says.
Wren House Brewing Co.
Opens Thursday12650 N. Tatum Blvd., #106
