When Rebecca and Scott Safford opened their first Tap & Bottle location at 403 N. Sixth Avenue in 2013, the plan was to one day add a large-scale craft beer festival to their regular stable of events.
After launching Westbound last year, an outdoor bar in the heart of the MSA Annex west of downtown, the husband-and-wife team turned that aspiration into a reality.
Made up of shipping containers, converted into small shops and restaurants, the annex came with a stage and a liquor license that allowed guests the ability to roam the grounds with their beers of choice.
鈥淲e wanted to take what we loved about beer events and do it on a bigger scale,鈥 Rebecca Safford said. 鈥淭here are only so many people you can fit into our Tap & Bottle locations.鈥
The Saffords held their first T&B Invitational Beer Festival at the MSA Annex in November of last year, with positive results.
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鈥淲e were beyond excited with how it turned out,鈥 Rebecca Safford said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 sell out, but it was a rocking party.鈥
The evening was such a success, that they鈥檝e opted to bring it back for Year 2. The T&B Invitational returns this Saturday, Nov. 9.
With the lessons of Year 1 under their belts, the couple has planned the event with several factors in mind.
The check-in process is being streamlined this year, and attendance is being capped at 500, to help keep beer waits short.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want people to spend their entire evening in lines,鈥 Rebecca said. 鈥淵ou hear about the lines at beer fests; people going from line to line who are not able to enjoy the night. We want people to be able to get their beer and talk to the brewers.鈥
They also wanted to offer craft beers that you couldn鈥檛 find every day in Tucson.
La Cumbre Brewing out of Albuquerque, for example, will be offering a Talent Show IPA that it created in collaboration with Tap & Bottle.
More than 16 breweries, as well as purveyors of cider, wine and spirits, including Tucson鈥檚 own Whiskey Del Bac, will be pouring at the Invitational.
Participating Southern Arizona breweries include Harbottle Brewing, Dragoon Brewing, Tombstone Brewing and MotoSonora Brewing, which is slated to open on South Park Avenue early next year.
The event will have music provided by local mariachi groups, Wooden Tooth Records and Hey, Bucko, which was the first band to ever play Tap & Bottle鈥檚 downtown location.
In addition to the annex鈥檚 Japanese restaurant Kukai and the plant-based burger joint, Beaut Burger, being open for business, the food trucks Black Market BBQ, Pop鈥檚 Hot Chicken and Ciao Down will also be on-site.
Rebecca said with the cancellation of this year鈥檚 Great Tucson Beer Festival, a large-scale beer festival and fundraiser for Sun Sounds of Arizona, beer fans might be looking for something to fill the void.
鈥淭heir cancellation definitely affected the decision to hold ours for a second year,鈥 she said. 鈥淟ast year, they had their festival a few weeks before ours, but they were very different. They brought thousands of people and we brought hundreds. But maybe, if people were looking for a festival, this is one that they can go to.鈥
Rebecca said that they have put a lot of thought into the beers being offered at this year鈥檚 invitational.
鈥淧eople are going to be pleasantly surprised when they come and see what鈥檚 available,鈥 she said.
