Arizona State Parks and Trails has partnered with Historic Brewing Company to bring outdoor enthusiasts a series of park-themed custom brews. If you love to pull up a chair by the campfire or enjoy a refreshing beverage after a hike or mountain bike ride, these custom beers will delight you! Plus, 10% of the sales of these specialty brews will benefit Arizona’s state parks. The partnership engages the community with our state parks, the outdoors, and the history of Arizona.

Check out the info below on the Historic Brewing Company + Arizona State Parks and Trails custom brews. The first, released in fall 2024, was a Mexican lager featuring Oracle State Park and the historic Kannally Ranch House. Coming this spring, celebrate Slide Rock State Park with a blonde stout!

The Slide Rock State Park Blonde Stout

The red rocks and swift, refreshing creek at Slide Rock State Park are world-renowned. This collab brew celebrates the beauty of the park, engages community partnerships, and gives back to this much-beloved place. Released in the late winter-early spring of 2025, the can's artwork features a snowy winter scene of Slide Rock, a sometimes overlooked season at Slide Rock that is prime for birding, nature photography, hiking, homestead history lovers, and wildlife watching.

The blonde stout will be a delightful surprise for craft beer enthusiasts: it's light in color but dark in flavor. The brew is a fuller-body blonde ale that tastes like a stout, with a thicker mouthfeel than a normal blonde ale. The unique brew features flavors of vanilla, chocolate, and coffee from local FreeForm Coffee Roasters.

Excited to have a taste? Stay tuned for local tasting events and distribution locations, and follow @HistoricBrewingCompany, @AZStateParks, and @SlideRockStatePark on social media for updates.

About the Park

Sedona is practically synonymous with the famous Slide Rock, but there is even more to love about this park than meets the eye! Visitors come from far and wide to slide down the slippery sandstone natural water chute in Oak Creek for which the park is named. While there, guests discover not only the thrill of this beloved swimming hole but also the magic of the 100+ year old historic Pendley homestead that the park preserves.

As one of the few homesteads still standing in the area today, Slide Rock State Park brings the agricultural development of the red rock canyon off of the history pages. Displays of the homestead are found throughout the park, from the apple orchard which park rangers still tend to today, to the antique farming equipment exhibits, the original irrigation system still in use by the park, and the historic buildings including the apple packing shed, rustic vacationer cabins, and two main houses: the Brown House, built in 1926, is now used as the ranger station, and the green-trimmed homestead house built in 1927.

In addition to preserving the history of the Pendley homestead, Slide Rock State Park maintains recreational access and amenities to this popular spot on Oak Creek while working to conserve its natural resources through visitor education and partnership with neighboring agencies and nonprofits on environmental stewardship.

Partners in the Slide Rock Blonde Stout

Check out the amazing partners who teamed up to bring this collab brew to life: Historic Brewing Company, Freeform Coffee Roasters, and Saywells Design Company.

Historic Brewing Company

Meet Historic Brewing Company, the makers of craft beer and awesomeness! The company’s owners, John and Tami Kennelly, and head brewer Zack Stoll like to create beers and partnerships that connect with local communities and align with their values. As their company name suggests, the group is passionate about preserving and giving new life to historic places that deserve to be in the spotlight. Historic Brewing Company also jumps at the chance to craft specialty brews that tie into their employees’ interests, making a collaboration with Arizona State Parks and Trails a perfect fit for this group of adventurers and outdoor enthusiasts. 

Historic Brewing Company began in 2013 in Flagstaff, AZ with a strong purpose and drive to bring an unparalleled experience to the market. Historic Brewing Company built its brand by expanding production and distribution capabilities, elevating its taproom, and establishing the company’s Barrel + Bottle House concept in both Flagstaff and Williams. Throughout their locations, you will experience mainstay brews such as their beloved Piehole Porter, seasonal favorites like Undercover Cucumber and unique limited-release brews like the Slide Rock State Park Blonde Stout and the Kannally Ranch House Mexican Lager that have a fan base of their own. As Historic Brewing Company continues to write its own history, its team strives to stay true to their core values that will drive the company forward. Learn more about Historic Brewing Company at HistoricBrewingCompany.com.

 FreeForm Coffee Roasters

FreeForm Coffee Roasters is more than just a coffee company—it's a celebration of exceptional coffee, environmental stewardship, and community. Nestled in the stunning landscapes of Sedona, Arizona, FreeForm spent over two decades cultivating a love for coffee that began on humble college coffee carts. In 2020, FreeForm Coffee Roasters was built to share that passion with the world. Through every cup, FreeForm hopes to honor the people and land producing world-class coffees and the spectacular Northern Arizona environment we call home. Learn more about FreeForm Coffee Roasters.

Saywells Design Company

Saywells Design Company is the small design studio name of Ryan Trayte, located in Tucson, Arizona. After completing a bachelor's degree in Music and Business from the University of Arizona, Ryan’s path led through managing shows and creating posters for The Historic Rialto Theatre, into using design to resonate with and connect to desert dwellers in Tucson. For nearly 15 years, Ryan has been collaborating with business owners and other creative professionals to build beautiful brand stories for local businesses, initiatives and organizations. Inspiration comes from a shared passion for craftsmanship and purpose. And each relationship is built on pride of work, community, and environment. Learn more about Saywells Design Company.

Previous Collab Brews

We came, we saw, and we tasted some amazing flavors! Check out the previous collaborative beer we've partnered with Historic Brewing Company to make, and watch this list grow as more limited-release beers enter the scene.

The Kannally Ranch House Mexican Lager

Oracle State Park has more than 15 miles of trails to explore in the northern foothills of the Catalina Mountains. The 4,000-acre park is also a wildlife refuge and Arizona's first designated International Dark Sky Park. Within the beautiful landscape sits the historic Kannally Ranch House, which showcases the lives of 1900s ranchers and artisans.

The 5,000-acre ranch was developed by five Kannally family siblings who built the ranch house in 1929-1932. The one-of-a-kind property, now on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in the Mediterranean Revival Style with Moorish influences and patterned on Italianate villas of the 1920s. Today the ranch house is prominently featured on the custom can label of Historic Brewing Company and Arizona State Parks “Kannally Ranch House Mexican Lager.”

The thoughtful selection of a Mexican lager for this specialty brew was an intentional choice by Historic Brewing Company. Around the time the Kannally ranch house was built, this style of beer would have been enjoyed in the Tucson area. It combines traditional Mexican ingredients with the European influence of Austrian immigrants in the area at the time who brought their brewing traditions with them, resulting in a blend of cultures and flavors.

Beer enthusiasts with a keen palette will detect the beer’s European hops and malts, including a Pilsner malt traditional of Germany and a Vienna malt traditional of Austria. These malts, plus maize (corn)—a traditional ingredient used throughout Mesoamerica—and a special strain of yeast from a Mexican brewery, result in an authentic flavor.

The recipe melds together, creating a golden, crisp, and refreshing beer with a backbone of malty sweetness, perfect for fall days after time on the trail and evenings around the campfire.

Thank you to those who came out to the fall 2024 tasting events at Tap + Bottle in Tucson and Oracle State Park! We also thank volunteers from the community and with our partners Historic Brewing Company and Sonoran Insiders for their hard work on the trails and in the historic Kannally Ranch House during a stewardship event on November 2, 2024. See photos from the production of the Kannally Ranch House Mexican Lager, tasting event, and volunteer day at the park below.

 

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