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Visual Aid: Best New Bars and Craft Drinks of 2020 in Greater Phoenix

By New Times Staff

Monday, December 21, 2020 at 6 a.m.

Charles Barth The Hedonist from Reap & Sow Coffee Bar inside The Rebel Lounge. 1/37

Charles Barth The Rebel Lounge is now also Reap & Sow, a coffee house and bar. 2/37

Charles Barth The White Beast (Reap & Sow's White Russian cocktail). 3/37

Charles Barth The lounge serves craft cocktails during all business hours. 4/37

Courtesy of Greenwood Brewing Greenwood Brewing owner Megan Greenwood opened her brewery and beer garden on Roosevelt Row this year. 5/37

Natasha Yee Greenwood Brewery on Roosevelt Row. 6/37

Natasha Yee Freshly painted taps and bright florals at Greenwood Brewery. 7/37

Natasha Yee Patios abound at Greenwood. 8/37

Natasha Yee Check out the week's offerings on the new beer board. 9/37

Lauren Cusimano The lounge area at Rift Wine + Tap, a new wine bar and bottle shop in south Scottsdale. 10/37

Lauren Cusimano Inside Rift Wine + Tap. 11/37

Lauren Cusimano Rift is where we scored a four-pack of Goldwater Brewing Co.'s CoRn — American Adjunct Lager. 12/37

Lauren Cusimano A pour of CoRn — American Adjunct Lager. 13/37

Chris Malloy Jeff and Jen Herbert, owners of Superstition Meadery, opened Superstition Downtown this fall. 14/37

Chris Malloy Five meads that just medaled at the Mazer Cup in Denver at Superstition Downtown. 15/37

Chris Malloy Superstition's bar will has two dozen taps of mead and cider. 16/37

Chris Malloy Mead fermenting in onsite demijohns at Superstition Downtown. 17/37

Chris Malloy A glass of barrel-aged melomel, meaning mead made with fruit, by Superstition Meadery. 18/37

Chris Malloy Forbidden Fruit takes on a russet, coppery color in the sun. 19/37

Lauren Cusimano The Sidebar space is now Highball, a sleek new cocktail lounge. 20/37

Lauren Cusimano Shoutout to the ice cubes with the H on them. 21/37

Lauren Cusimano The minty, coconutty, incredible Shogun Powder cocktail at Highball. 22/37

Lauren Cusimano Inside the dim lounge at Highball. 23/37

Chris Malloy One of Arizona Sake's 2020 bottles was infused with the herb known as Navajo Tea. 24/37

Chris Malloy Sallow lengths of Navajo Tea, also called greenthread, lean in the bottle. 25/37

Chris Malloy Big Marble packs bubbles and a pleasant, intense ginger zing. 26/37

Chris Malloy A rum-heavy Dark and Stormy made with Big Marble ginger beer. 27/37

Chris Malloy You can make a ginger beer ice cream float after one trip to Sweet Republic. 28/37

Chris Malloy Randall D. Ordovich Clarkson and Justin Slusher, founders of Absinthe Minded. 29/37

Chris Malloy Absinthe Minded Gold. The distillers use opaque bottles to block sunlight, preventing browning. 30/37

Chris Malloy Demonstrating absinthe's looshing with the guys from Absinthe Minded. 31/37

Chris Malloy About to gin up a gin drink using this Arizona-made spirit. 32/37

Tombstone Brewing Company In 2020, east Phoenix got a little more tough with the second location of Tombstone Brewing Company. 33/37

Juan Hodgers Tyler Goolie and Hilda Cardenas plan to open The Wayward on Grand Avenue in late October. 34/37

Lauren Cusimano The patio at The Wayward on Grand Avenue. 35/37

Lauren Cusimano Inside The Wayward on Grand Avenue. 36/37

Benjamin Leatherman Hanging out (pre-COVID) at one of Roosevelt Row's newest bars — Killer Whale Sex Club. 37/37

Visual Aid: Best New Bars and Craft Drinks of 2020 in Greater Phoenix

Despite you-know-what, many new breweries, bottle shops, and cocktail lounges descended upon the Valley this year.

But in the barstool-traded lore of drinking culture, this year will go down as a supreme outlier. People have been drinking more at home, killing time and enjoying the sheltered life with tasty beverages.

Here's a slideshow of all the best new bars and breweries, as well as recently released Arizona spirits and craft drinks, that 2020 had to offer.

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