After a really busy week, just about every member of the Crew is looking forward to this weekend. Anyone that reads this blog probably realized that, considering we did not come with a single post since the previous Beer Weekend entry that went up last Friday. Rest assured, Shilling and Cryptogrind will have multiple posts up soon (or so their editor hopes).

Rather than just hang around ABQ all weekend, I, Stoutmeister, will accompany E-Rock to Northern New Mexico, where four breweries have been crying out for us to visit. Well, maybe not crying out, but we like to think that the beer gods do sometimes summon us to take beer treks beyond the metro area.

Before anybody starts screaming “don’t you love ABQ breweries anymore?!” I would like to point out that I have visited La Cumbre, Tractor, and Il Vicino while also enjoying Marble Monday at Old Town Pizza Parlor since I returned from Arizona. This weekend, though, represents one of the last opportunities for some time to trek northward to the Taos area to check out the breweries there (I cover the Isotopes in addition to the Lobo baseball team, and the season opener is next week, which tends to cut into my weekend availability). So E-Rock and I will hit the winding road Saturday morning to visit Blue Heron Brewing, which sits along Highway 68 en route to Taos, before a side trek to Comanche Creek Brewing north of Eagle Nest, and finally stops at Taos’ two in-town breweries, Eske’s Brew Pub and the Taos Ale House. I have never had beers from either Comanche Creek or the Ale House, so I am very much looking forward to trying both. Blue Heron’s online menu lists the La Llorona Scottish Ale as being back on tap; Shilling and I voted it our favorite, not just in that style, but overall at Marble’s Septemberfest last year. A growler or at least a 22 oz. bottle will be coming home from that stop. We look forward to trying all four breweries and hope that they will come down to ABQ for the Blues & Brews mega-event that caps Beer Week on May 27.

Taos Ale House, the area’s newest brewery, will have an Imperial IPA, a Dunkelweizen and an English pale ale on tap, along with something that sounds so intriguing we just have to try it: a honey raspberry porter. Brewer/owner Jesse Cook said he hopes to have it on tap when we are there, but we understand if he was not able to get it ready in time (fatherhood takes precedence over beer). If it is on tap, man, we’ll just have to sample that curious mix of flavors.

Comanche Creek has an IPA, amber, and a pale ale listed on the Web site, but if any surprises are in store, well gosh we will just have to live with drinking those, too.

As for Eske’s, the “grandaddy” brewery of the region, their last Facebook photo of their beer board (cheaper and more efficient than constantly updating their Web site) showed some intriguing beers like Victory Bitter, Black Cat Ale, Turbinator, Doobie Rock Heller Bock, and Seco Stout. Eske’s also has a tendency to display lots of photos of their culinary creations on Facebook, so Saturday might very well mark a great time to indulge in some food as well.

The rest of the Crew will be around town, visiting local breweries and trying the latest creation, a homebrewed chocolate stout, from our good friend Derek. We are also happy to report the return to health of Franz Solo, who will be back posting soon after a long beerless drought.

Stay safe and have fun this weekend!

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister