History

Gentle Ben's Brewery has been around since 1971 and started brewing award winning beers in 1991. The original brewing house was located under what is now the Marriott hotel lobby. It was built in 1908 as a private residence to the Hilton family. Throughout the years, it was used as the University President's house, a house for multiple fraternities, and a boarding house. The name "Gentle Ben's" was chosen through a contest. The winner of the contest was a university professor who thought the manager of the restaurant looked like Dan Haggerty from the television show "Grizzly Adams". His co-star was a bear named Gentle Ben. The show was about a man who roamed around Northern California in the 1920s to 30s. The man had two bears named Benjamin Franklin and Martha Washington. Martha was the mean bear and Benjamin was the gentle bear, which gave him the nickname Gentle Ben.

Behind the Beer

In 1991, Dennis Arnold bought the house and installed, at the time, the only brewery in Tucson. They started off with three beers: Tucson Blonde, Red Cat Amber, and Copperhead Pale Ale. In 1994, the Marshall Foundation informed Ben's about their plans on building the Marriott hotel. They offered to rebuild the brewery at what is our current site, and what was the U of A center for Architectural Landscaping. They decided to save the foundation of the old one story building and tripled the original red brick walls into a three story house. In 2005, they moved the brewery to their sister site, Barrio Brewing, so they can expand and create more beers. They're currently able to offer a dozen beers on tap and the old brewing house is now their prep kitchen.

Gentle Ben's Today

Today, Gentle Ben's serves as a casual restaurant that provides great food options, craft cocktails, and a large selection of local beers on tap. Being just steps away from the University of Arizona, it is also a favorite hangout spot for students.