USA, AZ: Dillinger Brewing Company aiming at early July opening

Eric Sipe turns 26 this week.

He is celebrating the occasion by working on what he hopes will become his legacy in Tucson, Arizona Daily Star reported on May 26.

In early July, Sipe and his business partner Eric Rosas plan to launch the Dillinger Brewing Company at 3895 N. Oracle Road, less than a mile south of the Tucson Mall.

The 2,400-square-feet of industrial space, once home to an embroidery shop and a dry cleaning business, will soon house a commanding 10-barrel system, which will sit just east of a taproom, offering up to six taps of Dillinger deliciousness to thirsty patrons.

The brewery will give craft beer enthusiasts somewhere to stop on their way from Pueblo Vida, Borderlands and Thunder Canyon downtown to Catalina Brewing in Marana and Thunder Canyon’s original location, north of Tucson (if they opt to take the Oracle Road corridor over Interstate 10).

“Thousands of people drive Oracle every day,” Sipe said. “Hopefully, some of them will want to stop in for a pint.”

Sipe and Rosas are Tucson natives. Sipe went to Catalina Foothills High School and Rosas to Palo Verde.

They met as members of Alpha Kappa Psi, the professional business fraternity, at the University of Arizona.

“We would have cigar smoking nights, sit around and come up with ideas,” Sipe said. “That’s where the idea for a brewery formulated.”

After graduating from the UA in 2013, Rosas went to San Antonio to work for the United Services Automobile Association. Sipe took a couple of years off to see the world, Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, but the two never forgot their plans.

Sipe, who has spent the last year working at a cigar bar in Scottsdale, moved back to Tucson to make the brewery work. Rosas will be back in town, tentatively by the end of next January, to help Dillinger grow. He plans to continue working remotely for the USAA.

Like many other local brewery owners, their initial idea was to open downtown, but “we couldn’t find anything suitable,” Sipe said. “All the places we tried required grandiose ideas, where we’d have to rent 10,000 square feet of basement space and reinforce the floor. It wasn’t practical.”

The new spot on Oracle suits their purposes, Sipe said.

Sipe wants to make this a long-term project.

“This is hopefully the way I leave my mark on Tucson,” he said. “When people think of what to do in Tucson, I want Dillinger to be on their list.”

26 May, 2016