Tucson is all about the unique and the experimental. At 1702, the restaurant and brewery named for its Speedway Boulevard address, they seek to resonate that search for individualism within their food and beer.
1702 serves up behemoth slices that are made to order, and yes, it’s acceptable to use a fork and knife to conquer the slice.
But you can’t use just any regular knife. A pizza cutter is supplied with each slice to allow for easy handling as you work through layers of mozzarella, pepperoni and sausage, bell peppers, and sautéed onions toward the satisfyingly crisp crunch of the crust. Each slice is one-sixth of a 32-inch pizza.
Julie Fagg, manager at 1702, stated that the original vision was, “to put really good ingredients together and make pizza that tastes good and can be served in giant, individual slices. We create cool, personalized slices that we can make to order.” A single slice can satiate the hungriest of pizza eaters.
Although 1702 opened in 2007, it wasn’t until 2011 that they began brewing and selling their own beers, naming their brewery The Address Brewing. Austin Santos is one of the owners of 1702. His love for the combination of a slice and a pint inspired him to turn 1702 into a place where people could come for both.
Super-sized slices & more
The Philly Cheesesteak Slice is a specialty slice composed of a mozzarella “white” base, covered in thinly sliced beef steak, sautéed yellow onions, bright red and green bell peppers, and a choice of provolone, cheese whiz sauce, or both.
The Roman is the most popular slice available at 1702. It features a tangy red sauce covered in melted mozzarella, pepperoni and sausage, green bell pepper, red onion, tomato, and mushroom. Though very similar to a supreme-style pizza, 1702 substituted black olives for mushrooms, giving the Roman an individualized taste of its own.
While it’s hard to imagine someone who doesn’t enjoy a slice of pizza big enough to take a nap on, 1702 offers many sandwich and salad options to cater to those who like something a little different. The House Cobb Salad is packed full of earthy, green lettuce, hard-boiled egg, a blue cheese/gorgonzola crumble, diced chicken, bacon, rich and creamy avocado slices, tomato, green pepper, and red onion.
Punk rock brewing
Offering their own twist on tradition, 1702’s The Address Brewing aims to incorporate untraditional and experimental infusions into traditional brew recipes, creating tastes that allow your flavor palate to wander through the process behind each brew.
As part of the vanguard for Tucson craft breweries, The Address Brewing uses their unique infusions to stand out among the growing population of breweries in the area. JP Westenskow is the head brewer and mind behind these interesting infusions.
The St. Fud Barrel Aged is a Belgian Quad-style beer, aged in a local Whiskey Del Bac barrel. Using the local barrels allows for the regional mesquite-smoked whiskey flavors to resonate within the beer. The flavor profile is bold, malty, and sips smooth like a fine, barrel-aged whiskey.
After spending just under a year in the barrel, the beer holds a dark brown and partially cloudy SRM (standard reference measurement). The ABV (alcohol by volume) measurement is a steep 9 percent, due to the deep whiskey infusion, and it has a smooth 22 IBUs (international bitterness units), allowing all of the rich flavors to surface without being disrupted by an overpowering hoppy presence.
American Wheat in Tucson is a standard American wheat beer recipe with a bit more malt than you would typically expect from a wheat beer. This gives the brew a noticeable caramel note, finishing with sweeter flavors as opposed to the more evident wheat flavors in a standard wheat beer. It has a golden, cloudy SRM, an ABV of 5.2 percent, and an IBU rating of 22.8. It is sweet, light, and a nice change of pace from a typical American wheat.
Miguel Negro is an American Porter. With a dark and heavy SRM that looks like a dark chocolate ink, this porter is heavily hopped from the beginning and then dry-hopped later in the brewing process to add more of the hoppy aromatics that the beer carries. It features a rich, hoppy flavor that’s a pleasant mix of chocolate and earthy esters. Miguel Negro beer has an ABV of 7.4 percent and has 63.7 IBUs.
1702 steadily rotates The Address Brewing beers on tap to showcase Westenskow’s ability to infuse flavors in varied styles of beers. They also host frequent tap takeovers to allow other local brewers to feature their beers in the restaurant. The brewery is looking to expand at some point in the near future, granting them more space to work with food and beer.
If you like to drink but beer isn’t your thing, 1702 also offers a hard kombucha, sangria, hard seltzer water, and a fridge full of non-alcoholic teas, giving customers the option to drink something besides beer.
1702 is located at 1702 E. Speedway Blvd. and open Monday and Tuesday from 11 am to 9 pm, Wednesday-Friday from 11 am to 11 pm, Saturday from 12 pm to 10 pm, and Sunday from 12 pm to 9 pm. For more information, visit 1702az.com.
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