Sneak Peek of the New South African-Inspired Cocktail Lounge — ‘Unicorn Zebra’

It’s a building that used to house the former Tucson Citizen newspaper and Citizen Hotel and has also received praise from The New York Times.

Now, the historic building in downtown Tucson at 82 S. Stone Ave. is welcoming a brand-new concept: Unicorn Zebra. The space is currently being renovated by Sandy and Lourens du Plessis, and are aiming to open the cocktail, wine, and beer lounge on Thursday, August 15 (subject to change).

Sandy and Lourens, both of who are originally from Cape Town in South Africa, have lived in Tucson for at least five years. The duo has been working for a while now to get Unicorn Zebra up and running (zoning, permits, etc.) and the time has finally come.

Ever wondered how a brewery could get a whimsical name like Unicorn Zebra?

“It’s funny because we’re from South Africa and we thought ‘Let’s name our brewery something that’s a little bit of it but not too South Africa,” said Sandy. “We thought we should name it after a zebra or something to do with a zebra, and my daughter — at the time she was eight years old — said ‘Yeah, but it’s gonna be a unicorn zebra.’ I thought that was so weird, but it’s cool. So, it was literally named by a small child.”

Little Bit of Cape Town in Tucson

The bar will have craft cocktails, wine, and beer. There will be a handful of gin-focused concoctions due to its presence in South Africa but will not be the only spirit used.

“We’ll have a vibe here,” said Lourens. “We’re bringing in a really talented mixologist. We’re going to introduce certain Cape Town-inspired cocktails as well as other really interesting drinks made with Rooibos tea.”

Once Unicorn Zebra’s brewery opens on the east side(keep reading to learn about that), Sandy and Lourens will have its brews on tap. In the meantime, expect to see some local and regional craft beers on hand.

You can bet on seeing plenty of South African wines at the bar, too.

The Path of the Unicorn Zebra

Buckle up, because the Unicorn Zebra Lounge is just one phase of the Unicorn Zebra legacy here in Tucson! There’s much more to come.

Phase One: The lounge’s first floor is expected to open on Thursday, August 15.

Phase Two: The lobby, which will have multiple seating options, and the upstairs, which can be seen from the ground-floor lounge, will soon follow in the coming months. The rest of the building is also being renovated — the hotel rooms will soon be Airbnb rentals.

Phase Three: The basement. You can see this from the ground-floor lounge.

Take a peek through the glass flooring (it’s thick enough so you won’t break through), you’ll notice a lifesize horse, I mean, a Unicorn Zebra.

Sandy, who’s an artist (she painted the zebra mural inside the lounge), and Lourens are in the process of turning the giant, white horse statue into a Unicorn Zebra.

The basement area is very spacious and they’re still deciding on how to utilize it.

Phase Four: Unicorn Zebra Brewing and “Cape Town” on the east side.

Big Plans on the East Side

Sometime in the last year, Sandy and Lourens purchased the Kappy’s restaurant at 2190 N. Wilmot Rd. The lot will become a brewery and local Foodie destination with multiple restaurants.

“It will open pretty much exactly a year from now,” said Lourens, referring to Kappy’s. “We bought the building, demolished the inside, and took everything out of the building. It’s an empty shell.”

You can see renderings of the Unicorn Zebra Brewing facility as well as Cape Town online.

“We were very specific about the areas we wanted to open the brewery and we wanted it near the east side,” Sandy added. “It’s going to be anchored by the microbrewery and it’s also going to have these little micro-restaurants outside — kind of like the MSA Annex.”

Are you a local business interested in operating a micro-restaurant at Sandy and Lourens’ “Cape Town?” Email sandy@zebrabrew.com for more information — spaces are filling up fast.

The beer will also be South African-inspired — lager-based but not limited to.

“Lots of lagers out there,” said Lourens, as I picked his brain about South African beers. “Kind of dry and some go toward the Swedish taste profile. Then, the bigger beers! They are usually dark beers — stouts. But, the thing is that Tucson is really hot and parts of South Africa have a very similar climate. This is when you don’t want a stout and IPAs taste good. So, we’re going to make IPAs and introduce southern hop profiles in there — it’s going to taste a lot like New Zealand styles of beers. That’s the South African vibe.”

Recap

Unicorn Zebra is opening in the former Citizen Hotel building at 82 S. Stone Ave. on Thursday, August 15. Unicorn Zebra Brewing and Cape Town are set to open in August 2025.

Unicorn Zebra is located at 82 S. Stone Ave. Unicorn Zebra Brewing and Cape Town will open in 2025 at 2190 N. Wilmot Rd. To keep up with the latest, visit zebrabrew.com.