Episode 118: Justin Evans - Taproom Guru

If you are a part of the Arizona craft beer scene, you know Justin Evans. And if you somehow don’t know Justin, you know his bar, The Wandering Tortoise.

Oh, and if you don’t know the Tortoise, you may have heard of The Sleepy Whale, which Justin and some others are opening in Chandler in April. If none of that rings a bell, then Hops on Birch, a craft beer institution in the pines of Flagstaff, should.

Recently, Justin and his group purchased that spot, too. Not bad for a guy who at one time thought he would go into law after attending Anthem College.

“I got a paralegal degree from there,” Evans told TapThatAZ. “That’s when I thought my career path was going to be being a lawyer.

“Then I got through two years of school and I realized that’s not what I wanted to do.”

Evans went on to say he had been in the food and beverage industry before, and the idea of sitting behind a desk just didn’t appeal to him.

He said the “freeness” of the food and beverage industry did, but across various stops in that field came to the realization that he wanted to one day have his own spot.

Following stops at OHSO Arcadia and the Pig’s Meow (now The Whining Pig Arcadia), Evans – along with Shay Gau, whom he met at the Pig’s Meow – looked to open what became the Tortoise. Many people have at one time considered the idea of starting a business, but Evans, Gau and the other partners, put up their own money, took out the loans and started looking for a place.

They found one in the Sprouts parking lot, but that fell apart due to the grocery chain not wanting another beer seller in their area.

“So we wasted about three months trying to negotiate that deal, we were really drug around on that,” Evans said of the Sprouts lot. “And we rushed to find something else with a couple of stipulations: We wanted to be on Indian School, we wanted to be west on Indian School.

“And somewhere still appealing to my customer base at Pig.”

Eventually, Gau found on a location off of 24th Street and Indian School with about 1,200 square feet of space. Evans was uneasy at first because of its lack of parking, but after about three days the lease was signed.

Within a year they expanded even more, and since then they added a parking lot. All of it proved to be necessary because of not only the atmosphere created in the space but the amazing beer list that has been consistently provided.

That, of course, does not happen by accident, with Evans and his team building relationships not only across the Valley but throughout all of Arizona and even into other markets.

“You know, the first time we got Pueblo Vida in there…it still blows my mind to this day,” Evans said.

If Evans is amazed by the beers he can get, imagine what everyone else thinks. Much of that success is directly due to the relationships Evans and his team have built. Be it Pueblo Vida, Arizona Wilderness or Dark Sky, or others like Modern Times, Pure Project or Bottle Logic, if it’s highly thought of, there’s a good chance you’ll see it at the Tortoise.

And lately you are even starting to see beers named after the Tortoise’s pets, such as King Koda, Super Duper King Mr. and Good Girl Pearl, which are named after Evans’ and Gau’s dogs and made by The Shop and Wren House, respectively.

Those are not the only collaborations the Tortoise has been a part of. They even had one with Modern Times, Technodrome, which was the first collaboration the brewery had ever done with a beer bar.

“We did it on the L.A. system,” Evans said.

Indeed, it’s not just about Central Phoenix. As noted, the Tortoise will soon be joined by the Sleepy Whale and Hops on Birch, with the former being in the East Valley and the latter in Flagstaff.

“That was a space that I was approached about,” Evans said of the Whale. “I looked at it and was like, ‘this is just fantastic.’ I couldn’t say no to that.”

Evans said he wasn’t in any rush to open another place, but instead this was just a matter of something seeming right.

As for Hops on Birch, Evans said that was a “dream come true” but one he said he took advantage of only after he got his wife’s approval. That last line came with a laugh, but Evans – who also has a new baby daughter -- admitted there is plenty on his plate these days. 

But if history is any indication, while it may mean a lot of work for Evans, it will also mean plenty of good beer for even more people who live in the 48th state.