In my mind, you can’t have a good microbrewery without good food. It just can’t work. Therefore, I headed to Arizona Wilderness in Gilbert, a brewery with a rustic theme getting a lot of regional traction, to see if it could churn out food on par with the its beer reputation. But of course, I had to start of off with a beer before diving into the menu.

From the food side of the menu, Arizona Wilderness is known for its fries. Thus, we kicked things off with an order of When Pigs Fly Fries, fried in duck fat and topped with pulled pork and wilderness beer cheese. These were nothing short of savory deliciousness. They were not only packed with great flavor, but the toppings were plentiful. I would say that I was left wanting more, but in fact I was more interested in perhaps ordering more fries.

But I didn’t. I instead waited patiently for my burger. That burger was the After the Hike Burger (rustic, right?) and was topped with white cheddar, pork belly, bacon, avocado, a fried egg, an onion ring and LTO. I ordered without the LTO and stuck with the chips instead of upgrading to fries because I already had an ungodly amount of fries inside me. The burger was a thing of love, and certainly the kind of burger you would want to eat after a hike (or before it). Assuming, of course, that you don’t have to cook it yourself over an open flame because ain’t nobody got the energy for that. Thus, it’s good that Arizona Wilderness doesn’t make you cook your own food.

The chips, though, were really not great. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but they were just…vapid. It’s possible that they simply paled in comparison to the fries, but I am confident that they simply weren’t great.

In all, Arizona Wilderness was a pretty fantastic microbrewery. The beers were great, the fries were more than great and the burger was solid and meaty. Next time I find myself in the real wilderness, I may be wishing I was hanging in a brewery in Gilbert instead.

Burgers and brews go together like Forrest and Jenny, which is why my eyes generally shoot to the burger menu when I check out a brewery. It’s also why they always have burgers on the menu or, well, I question judgment. I did not have to question any judgment about burgers when I paid a visit to Four Peaks in Tempe, at least not at first.

I ordered the Popper, which is attempt at a jalapeno popper-style burger. It has the cream cheese and the jalapenos, but also fried onion strings. And unbeknownst to me until arriving in front of me, it also had the dreaded lettuce and tomato.

Fortunately, it was easy to remove the veggies, but it would take a lot more effort to restore my trust. The burger didn’t exactly do that. It’s not that it was bad by any means, it was actually fine. Just not much more than that. Fries were good, beer was good, and the burger went well with the beer.

The thing is, though, I wouldn’t go to Four Peaks for the burger. I would probably go for beer, and let the burger take the backseat. There are worse things than that, but there are a lot better as well.

Is there anything better in the world for two brothers to do than to build a brewery? Well, that’s what one pair of brothers thought (allegedly) when they put together Two Brothers Brewery, a microbrewery with locations mostly around the Chicago area, but also one in Scottsdale because Chicago places seem to feel welcome here.

There was plenty of beer to choose from, and, like all good breweries, there was a menu flush with burgers, pizzas and for some reason even a schwarma plate. I focused on the burgers, as I tend to do in such places, and found the Pork Belly BBQ Burger to be up my alley. It consisted of a Niman Ranch patty, fried pork belly, house BBQ sauce and cheddar cheese. No more, no less. And I chose the truffle parmesan fries for my side because that’s how I roll.

When the burger arrived, it delivered on the ingredients, but felt like it had been hastily cobbled together. Not like in a cool, artisan way, but in a way that implied a degree of nonchalance. Did it taste good? Sure. I mean, it’s really hard to mess up this combination and the only thing missing was a little more BBQ sauce to keep things moist because the pork belly was fried pretty hard. Plus, the fries were pretty killer.

My overwhelming feeling as I polished off this burger was that it had done just enough. No more. No less. That’s really just fine when you’re going out for drinks and need something to eat. But when you’re going out to eat, and just want to have a drink with that meal it can be a bit underwhelming. But, since Two Brothers is a brewery first and foremost, I think I know what they had in mind.