Good News in the Desert

I don't know how many years I've been visiting Palm Desert but in the years since I've discovered craft beer, there have been woefully few craft breweries there - only three: Babe's Bar-B-Que and Brewery, Coachella Valley Brewing Co., and La Quinta Brewing Co. The good news was that all three breweries turned out award winning beers - nothing to complain about there. In a way, it was a comfortable contrast to the the ever-shifting landscape of the craft brewing scene in larger markets.

Well, things are shifting in Palm Desert.

On a recent visit, I utilized a map app and searched for "brewery." I didn't expect to see anything new but you never know. Every once in a while, the map app finds a brewery that's not in my Brewery Passport app which is my go-to app for finding local breweries. Although, it's been a while since anything new has popped up in Palm Desert.

On this occasion, I was directed to a brewery I'd yet to discover: St. Arnulf Brewing located in Boucheé Café & Deli near the west end of El Paseo. A home brewer of several years, Boucheé owner Tim DeGross moved his brewing operation to the restaurant only months ago. We are glad to see craft brewing expanding in Palm Desert and look forward to seeing more from St. Arnulf in the future.

After sampling beers from St. Arnulf, we found ourselves running errands in La Quinta. As we traveled along Hwy 111 towards Costco, we looked up to see a sign that read, "Pizza Brewery." We maneuvered through several lanes of traffic and changed course. Could there be two new breweries in the Palm Desert area?

The "Pizza Brewery" sign belonged to newly opened Tuscano's BrewQuinta a collaboration between Yucaipa's Tuscano's Pizza & Pasta and Brewcaipa Brewing Company. Opened earlier this year, they are still waiting for permits to begin brewing onsite. In the meantime, they are serving brews from Brewcaipa.

Imagine my good fortune, to find two new breweries! This was on the heels of a recent article I read in Coachella Valley Beer Scene, by Andrew Smith, announcing La Quinta Brewing would be expanding to a larger location near I-10 & Cook Street in Palm Desert. But there's more: La Quinta Brewing opened a Palm Springs location last year! How could I have missed this? I was just there two months ago! Obviously, I must go back.

But then I came across this - another article from Andrew Smith of Coachella Valley Beer Scene, published just days ago - announcing the opening of another craft brewery in Palm Desert: Desert Beer Company. This one will be near the corner of Country Club and Washington, very near Alps Village where I had lunch just a few days ago!

This is getting to be too much - new breweries popping up everywhere I go!

A) I can't wait to get back to try them all.
B) Am I following Palm Desert breweries or are they following me?