Stoutmeister and E-Rock spent the last day of March in the Taos area in Northern New Mexico, which is now home to four breweries with potentially more on the way.

After hitting two breweries just outside of Taos, we took the loop from Comanche Creek near Eagle Nest, up through Red River and then back down to Taos itself. A mile or so into town we spotted the Taos Ale House across the street from the main U.S. Post Office. Located at 401 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, the Ale House occupies the building that was formerly the home of the Ek-Lek’-Tic gallery (yes, really, they spelled it that way). The Best Western Kachina Lodge and the El Pueblo Lodge are just up the road, providing plenty of thirsty tourists in addition to a good number of locals.

Owner and brewer Jesse Cook and his staff just opened the Ale House this past fall, but it has quickly emerged as a go-to destination in Taos. The building itself is spacious inside, with a bar at the center, two rooms somewhat set off from the main room for semi-private gatherings, plus a big old deck outside that people can gather on. There is also a couch in front of a fireplace for those cold winter, and apparently April, days in Taos. There are plenty of sweet high-def TVs to keep sports fans entertained. We caught Kentucky’s win over Louisville and began to set a line of 12 months until the Wildcats will be found in violation of every NCAA regulation and thus forfeit the title. I did not tell E-Rock that this would cause John Calipari to bolt for the NBA and potentially coach the Knicks, because E-Rock has suffered enough with his bumbling Big Apple basketball team.

Anyway, getting back to the point here, the Ale House may be large in size but it remains a smaller operation in terms of brewing its own beers. There are usually four in-house brews, plus four guest taps, which on this day included three from Marble (of course) and one from another of the breweries we visited on this day, Blue Heron’s La Llorona Scottish Ale. When we arrived, however, there were just three in-house beers listed — a Dunkelweizen, an English Pale Ale, and a Mogul Imperial IPA, a 9.6-percent ABV behemoth.

Rather than announce ourselves to Shane, the bartender who was filling in while Jesse was spending time with his family, we opted to just order a couple of pale ales and take a breather after a long day of driving around. When I went back up to ask for samples of the dunkelweizen and the Mogul, I finally mentioned we were from the NMDSBC. Shane promptly poured me a sample from an unmarked tap, a beautiful, black elixir that I fell in love with at first site. It turns out the Ale House had just enough Nitro Patty Stout left from St. Patrick’s Day that they saved it for us. Who says blogging about beer doesn’t pay? (They did then put it on the menu board and we and some other patrons then finished off what was left in that keg.)

Going back to the individual beers, the pale ale was a solid entry into that style. It had a nice balance of hops, offering up a fair amount of bite at the tip of the tongue before settling into a smooth ale at the back. Unlike a lot of English versions it was not especially dry, which was nice. While drinking the ales E-Rock ordered a barbecue chicken personal pizza. The brewery makes the crust with the dunkelweizen, offering up a slightly sweet flavor. The pies are made in advance, kept in the freezer and then warmed up in the in-house pizza oven. Pizza and beer, possibly the greatest food/drink combination in the history of mankind.

The Mogul, on the other hand, was a beer we only sampled, mostly out of self preservation. It offers up a swift kick to the face, followed by some straight-up Bruce Lee moves to other parts of your body. While I went with the kung-fu metaphor, E-Rock went with a more local reference: “The Mogul is to a double IPA as a habanero is to jalapeno — it just takes it to that next level.” I did like the flavor, but you could definitely taste the alcohol in just a couple of sips.

As for the dunkelweizen, which as the name implies is the love child of a German dunkel (dark ale) and a hefeweizen, it struck me as the type of beer you would want for dessert. That thick, overly wheaty flavor that most American hefs have was not present here; it was much more German in style than, say, Widmer’s or Pyramid. Instead it was a sweet, syrupy kind of beer, dark red in color, though very dissimilar from most red ales. E-Rock pointed out that there is a slight banana flavor, while I found it to be something closer to a berry flavor with hints of flowery notes from the hops. E-Rock noted that this delicious beer alone is worth the drive to Taos.

Then came the stout. Oh, the stout. It was magnificent. Brewed in the best dry Irish traditions, it tasted like what I imagine Guinness tastes like fresh from the brewery in Dublin, as opposed to the aged version we get here when it makes the long trip across the Atlantic and then half the country. The flavor is powerful, with hints of smoked malts, but none of those oatmeal or chocolate flavors that many stouts have. It was so smooth you could freeze it and use it for the bobsled track at the next Winter Olympics. But that would be a terrible waste of a great beer.

So the next time you are in Taos, venture north of the Plaza and make your way to the Taos Ale House. You will not be disappointed, though I cannot promise they will save you a beer, too.

Until next time, when we close our tales of Taos with a stop by Eske’s Brew Pub and Eatery.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister and E-Rock