Superstition Meadery Eyes Downtown Phoenix Expansion

Superstition Meadery is in the process of finalizing an expansion to downtown Phoenix. Since opening six years ago, the Prescott-based meadery has made more than 170 kinds of mead. Last year alone, Superstition turned out 29,000 gallons of honey wine. Superstition is seen as one of the state's great craft producers.

"We're looking to do something in downtown Phoenix, and we're really psyched to reach out to the place where most of our fans are," owner Jeff Herbert says.

You can already find Superstition's meads and ciders in metro Phoenix. Typically, they are offered at restaurants and better bottle shops and craft beer bars, like The Wandering Tortoise. (There are about 150 places that carry Superstition libations.) But if you want a taste of Superstition's grooviest small batch stuff and flights, you have to head to the Prescott tasting room.

The tasting room Herbert has planned will bring the funkier stuff to Phoenix.

"If you ever come to Prescott, to our tasting room, we always have small one-offs," he says. "That sort of stuff never goes out to distribution. Whatever we do in Phoenix, we'll have certain products that people will only have there, like in Prescott."

Superstition uses Arizona honey for all its meads, and has since opening. Often, the meadery will flavor mead made from local honey with standout foreign ingredients, like Spanish saffron or vanilla from Tahiti. Herbert and his team will go even further with local ingredients, too. Recently, they harvested saguaro fruit for incorporation into a future fermented beverage.

But craft hounds, honey heads, and Vikings will have to wait thirstily for this spot to open. Assuming papers go through, construction will still have to happen. Herbert is eyeing a fall 2019 opening.