By Jenna-Lee Neff
One of the Valley’s most anticipated concepts in the local craft beer scene is about to open their doors for craft beer aficionados in the North 32nd neighborhood. Here’s what to know when you go out to Fire + Fury Brewing Company for the first time.
Co-owners Steve Goodman and Michael Mathis want to make the upcoming brewery a friendly space for members of the community to come together and connect.
“We’re going to try to make this as exciting a place as could be for our community,” Mathis says. “I think breweries really bring communities together and there nothing like this on this street currently. We’re hoping we can just bring some positivity out here.”
The new brewery won’t have a kitchen right away but, according to Mathis, adding one is in the plans.
In the meantime, he says they plan to bring trailer smokers out every couple of weeks to give patrons the opportunity to taste Goodman’s barbecue creations. The menu includes briskets, pork shoulder, caramelized pork belly, and more. It was developed by Goodman and his wife, Lindsay, originally as part of a catering company the two run together.
“We refer to it as Arizona-style barbecue,” Goodman says, “It’s not Texas, St. Louis, Carolina or Georgia. We’ve taken a lot of hints from those areas. But as Arizona itself is a melting pot of people from everywhere, we’ve combined the strategies of those into one cohesive style.”
Fire + Fury Brewing Company is opening at the former location of Joe’s Grotto.
Mathis describes finding the location as a “being a right place, right time situation.” The original venue owned by Joe Grotto operated from 1994 to 2019 and hosted hundreds of local and touring metal and hard rock gigs throughout its 25-year history.
Though live music won’t be a featured part of Fire + Fury Brewing Company, Mathis shares that they’ve kept some features of the former venue, including two large mirrors on the northwest wall that are adorned with stickers from the many bands the building has seen over the years.
“When we came in, we decided that was without a doubt one of the elements that we’re going to keep,” Mathis says. “It’s kind of one of those tradition things. He [Joe Grotto] created something that was awesome here for a long time and for a lot of different bands. We wanted to make sure we kept that.”
He says the existing bars and walk-in cooler that were left when Joe’s Grotto closed were also appealing when looking at the 5,000 square foot location.
As of press time, the team at Fire + Fury Brewing Company say they expect to open their doors by the end of December.
To keep up with the latest news and updates, follow along on Facebook and Instagram @fireandfurybrewing.
Jenna-Lee Neff is a freelance journalist, digital audience analyst, and public relations professional. Learn more about her work at jennaleeneff.com.
