Something new is coming to downtown.
In a nearly abandoned house next door to the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum, there’s a lot of hard thinking, creating, hammering and painting going on.
Elliott Morse and Kellner Brown, co-owners of the tavern Juniper, along with Jesse Marden, mixologist extraordinaire according to his bosses, are the brains, hands and backs behind the front door.
“What we’re really trying to do is design an offering that will appeal to an audience beyond the UA crowd, which is what I think a lot of businesses try and target,” Morse said. “Juniper is meant to make that strip of downtown Tucson feel more appealing for the 25 to 45 (years old) demographic that is us.”
That offering is Brandylion, a concession of the museum. The pair named it a bit in honor of the former occupant, Dandylion, which moved across the street next to Jojo’s.
As Morse has gotten older, he has come to realize that there are many others in his age group who still want to go out but might be looking for something different.
“We want to bring that demographic, the 25 to 45, that is moving to Tucson and is looking for things to do, we want to bring them to the Presidio,” he said. ”The goal is ultimately not to have people say, ‘Let’s go to Brandylion.’ We want them to say, ‘Let’s go the Presidio.'”
It’s part of a plan, at least for Brandylion, to become part of a different downtown entertainment district.
“We think that all it takes to turn this into a night or early evening district is to have a triangulation where someone can start somewhere and go to two other places before they end up back at their car,” Brown said.
For this they mentioned Jojo’s, El Charro, the Tucson Museum of Art, Old Town Artisans and now Brandylion as a foundation and a fun place to be.
For Amy Hartmann-Gordon, executive director of the Presidio Museum, she sees this as completing the circle of Tucson’s evolution.
“Tucson has gone through this full circle experience of figuring out what it is,” she said. “We went through 50 years of urban renewal, removing our history and destroying some of our neighborhoods. Now we realize that, wait, the stuff that makes us the best and most unique and special are these amazing neighborhoods.”
Brandylion’s interior pays homage to this.
As a student of history, Morse knew he wanted to reflect Tucson’s past with its interior, as did Brown. To that end, the color scheme mimics what is found in the museum next door, which is as authentic as possible colorwise and architecturally. Brown has designed and is making ceiling medallions that give a nod to Tucson’s past, present and future.
He is also making and painting trim for the doorways in the style of Aztec art deco such as might be found at Hotel Congress or the Fox Tucson Theatre. Because they don’t want to damage the building in any way, the decorations will be placed on a foundation, then gently attached to the door frames and ceiling.
As its name suggests, Brandylion will be all about brandy but there’s more than brandy afoot at Brandylion. Marden is in charge of that.
“There will be three types of menu shells that are created specifically for this, that all have their dedicated menu,” he said. “There will be the spirit menu. We’ll have our tea menu during the day and then we are going to have our own exclusive, dedicated menu for all of our nonalcoholic cocktails and products that are not just an afterthought to the other programs. They are their own independent program that will be stocked and treated with the same curation and diligence as the other two that we have.”
The menu will feature eight nonalcoholic drinks for now and then grow it to more than 20.
“Nobody likes spending $15 and getting a cup of juice,” Morse said. “We intend to use the quality products that are being distilled that are 0.0% that have that real mouth feel, the taste, the bite of spirits so that people can really enjoy, like they’re being included.”
Tea will be a major feature for Brandylion, including afternoon high tea.
“I’m very excited to take a bartender’s approach to tea,” Marden said. “It’s really wine. Tea and wine are one for one in terms of the agricultural practices and regional restrictions about (naming ingredients).”
He said he is also excited about combining tea and spirits and using tea as the foundation for nonalcoholic drinks. Then, if anyone wants to learn more about tea, he’s ready to teach. It turns out there’s more than black and green tea.
Then there’s the brandy. Marden came in with a solid base knowledge of brandy and cognac but still had to find sources. He was successful as there will be varieties from all over the world. The bar will boast more than 50 bottles of fine, ultrapremium stuff for a brandy and cognac lover’s pleasure.
“We do plan to open with the largest selection of brandy in the Southwest,” Morse said.
Of course, there will be all the brandy drinks. Some are exotic, such as a quince and butter-washed brandy smash, for example. There will also be the iconic brandy drinks such as sazaracs and sidecars.
However, just because brandy is a specialty, that doesn’t mean patrons cannot get other spirits. Brandylion’s mixologists can whip up a watermelon margarita, an old fashioned or Manhattan with the best of them.
Morse and Brown are planning live entertainment and DJs, both inside the bar and on a pleasant evening once a quarter, outside in the Presidio’s courtyard. There will be eats — mostly snacks — brought over from Jojo’s and local artisans and crafts vendors. It will be all ages and dog friendly. The idea is to drive traffic to the museum.
“We’re going to try to drive in the young people who would choose to go Downtown to make a stop here first,” Morse said.
In the future look for morning and after-work wellness activities such as yoga and pilates.
“They’re all things that would have been happening inside of these walls 100, 200 years ago and they should still be happening now,” Brown said.
Brown, Morse and Hartmann-Gordon all hope to have Brandylion open and ready to roll on Saturday, Feb. 14. At the very least it will be a soft opening with a grand opening at the end of the month but they are still shooting for a grand opening on Valentine’s Day. Either way, it is meant to be in conjunction with the celebration of Arizona’s Statehood Day the Presidio is hosting.