Whiskey Del Bac: How a Patio Conversation in Tucson Built the First Mesquite-Smoked Single Malt — and Where to Taste It This Week

Most Tucsonans have driven past 2106 N. Forbes Blvd. without realizing the building tucked between West Grant Road and the Santa Cruz River produces the first commercial mesquite-smoked single malt whiskey in the world. Hamilton Distillers' Whiskey Del Bac was conceived on Stephen and Elaine Paul's barbeque patio in 2006, incorporated in 2011, and is now the largest whiskey producer in the Tucson metro and the first craft distillery established in southern Arizona since Prohibition. The Spring 2026 Distiller's Cut released March 14, the tasting room is open seven days a week, and a $25 production-floor tour runs Wednesday through Sunday. Here is a fully sourced spotlight on the brand, the building, and how the surrounding Menlo Park / 85745 corridor reads as a submarket.