Beer Voyeur: Visiting the Historic Bottle + Barrel House in Williams, AZ
Often times visiting breweries in tourism-oriented towns is a hit-and-miss situation. But a visit to the Historic Barrel and Bottle House in Williams, Arizona was a hit both nights that I went there.
After all I always like trying a beer that wins an award at the Great American Beer Festival and that’s just what I did, plus adding a few more beers to my collection.
The beers
There are a lot of beers available on the menu that were brewed by the company itself plus a few more from others in the area. My typical thing is to try the house product, of course, and that’s just what I did.
The first thing I tried was their Marzen, dubbed Mission to Marzen, as it’s Oktoberfest season and that’s the time of year to drink this style of beer. Honestly I wasn’t significantly impressed although this is a very mild beer that people who like traditional American pilsners will like quite a bit.
Next up I tried the Pumpkin Pie Hole Porter and this was right up my alley. This was a rich, malty and wonderful beer with just enough hint of traditional pumpkin spices to let you know that, yep, it’s October. The pumpkin wasn’t overwhelming at all and this is a great, rich porter coming in at six percent alcohol by volume (ABV) and 18 International Bitterness Units (IBU).
Our pizza had arrived by this point so I called out the Salt River Lager which was the awarded beer at the American Beer Festival. This would be a great beer for the summers in Arizona which I would imagine to be quite hot. This had just a hint of lime but was delightfully refreshing and paired very well with the pizza. This beer is also only 18 IBUs and has only four percent ABV.
See? A great summer beer. But the slight lime and salty flavor just nail it.
The second night I went back the bartender, whose name I unfortunately never got, remembered my name and was just as cordial and swift at her job as the first night. All the staff there were really friendly in fact.
Since I didn’t try any of the IPAs the first time I sought to rectify that situation the second with a Moon Juice IPA which had a kick at 7.3% ABV. Despite the rating of 65 IBUs I thought this was a surprisingly mild IPA.
However the Jack Wagon IPA was a home run with me again. While it has their rating of an IBU of just 27 I thought the hoppy nature of this beer was just terrific.
Lastly, you won’t want to miss their Blueberry Spaceship Box hard cider. Peggy got this and it was so incredibly flavorful it almost came across as a concentrate. The blueberry flavor had a tartness to it but not overly so and there was no doubt at all that this was a blueberry cider. There’s no “hint of” anything here, it’s blueberries in your face.
The food
The first night we were there it was all about the pizza because who doesn’t love pizza and beer.
Their wood-fired pizza was outstanding with a very thin crust prepared in their wood-fired oven.
We chose the Romeo & Juliet pizza which featured red peppers, pepperoni, and black olives (which we chose to forego). What a great pizza with thick, melty cheese that was delicious and not greasy or oily at all.
Unfortunately the crust didn’t stay crispy during the time it took Peggy and I to devour an entire 14” pie but it was still deliciously flavorful.
The second time we went we weren’t as hungry and just had the pretzel bites which came with a side of queso. The pretzel bits were a bit overdone but still decent.
In summary
The delightfully pleasant service and really good beers made me glad I went here. Writing this I’m still drooling over that pizza which paired so well with the Salt River Lager.
If you find yourself in Williams, which is the gateway to the Grand Canyon, and you appreciate a good beer with pleasant service I would absolutely recommend a trip to the Historic Barrel + Bottle House.
