Culinary Prescott

Prescott not only is a great destination for history buffs and outdoor freaks, but also for „foodies“. The culinary scene is superb. For example, this town of only about 50,000 people has two local breweries, half a dozen or so of saloons and some nice restaurants.

Superstition Meadery was one great discovery. Never tried mead (honey wine) before and always thought of it as super-sweet. Not so at this meadery where we not only were treated to a couple of tasting flights, but also met with the highly successful owners, Jenn and Jeff Herbert. Founded in 2012, the couple was just recently named „2019 National Small Business Persons of the Year“ and invited to Washington, DC. Also, they were already pouring their products all-over the world in competitions and during events. With the mission “to reintroduce the world’s oldest fermented beverage to mankind“ ” they create a huge portfolio of mead and cider - off-dry traditional hard cider aged on oak, tropical session meads and barrel aged meads among many other fancy concoctions. Right now, there is only this tasting room in downtown Prescott, in the basement of the Old Capitol Market with „Spice Traveler“ on the first floor, but soon there will be the first mead and food pairing restaurant opening in downtown Phoenix.

On the first evening we had dinner at Farm Provisions, a restaurant owned by a husband and wife team as well. Their slogan is “ simple food elevated“ and their menu consists of seasonally changing dishes, utilizing local farmers and ranchers to not only serve delicious fresh food, but to also support the local community in Prescott. Also, their offers of vegan and gluten-free dishes is extensive. We had a delicious salad with goat cheese, beets, walnuts, etc. (a full meal!) and a burger with blue cheese and sweet potato waffles. Never before we had the choice between a „grass-fed local“ or „corn-fed“ beef patty for the burger.

Prescott Brewing Company - where we had a plate of „fully-loaded nachos“ - is a full-service restaurant, founded in 1994, whereas Granite Mountain Brewing is only about eight years old. It’s a „nano brewery“, with a three barrel brewing system right behind the bar plus two seven-barrel fermenters in a back room, where mostly wine barrel-aged Belgian dark ale is produced. No canning or bottling (yet). We had a tasting there, but stayed afterwards and got to love their barrel-aged Bootlegger Imperial Brown. A local country band was doing a Hank Williams Tribute and it was a great atmosphere.

Thumb Butte Distillery is a little further apart from downtown, but it was an easy walk for us, though there was no real walkway for pedestrians. We joined a tour and tasting and met with the owners: he a former artist and furniture maker and she a baker. The warehouse is pretty unusual, with lots of artwork on the walls and distilling equipment inbetween tables, with a little stage for live entertainment on weekends and a bar for tastings and cocktails. They produce whiskey, scotch, vodka, and gin in small batches.

Enough of eating and drinking. We were fortunate and stayed on Historic Whiskey Row - a perfect location. We didn’t need the car for two days and enjoyed the historic ambience of the Grand Highland Hotel. The two-story Grand Saloon & Hotel building opened in 1903. Originally, there was a store on street level, the hotel on the first floor. In the 70ies a fire damaged the building and it was completely redone in 2012, with 12 newly created historically themed rooms, each with a private bathroom and an old-fashioned bathtub. Breakfast is delivered to the room in the morning, there is a guest lounge and the rooms are tastefully and modern equipped, though with a historic flair. Excellent hotel!