Hello there, Burque. Stoutmeister here to try and recap a wildly entertaining weekend for the Crew. With WinterBrew on Friday night and our first-year anniversary party on Saturday night, we were busy little beer drinkers.

First up, WinterBrew, a fun little event up in Santa Fe that took place Friday night. Along with a slew of other Burquenos, including Josh from Be a Hoptimist, we all hopped on the RailRunner and endured the long, slow trek (at least it felt that way) up to the state capital. Once we disembarked around 6:10, we made our way to the Santa Fe Farmers Market building, which is basically a long warehouse at the southern end of the Railyard area. Inside were a whole lotta beer lovers, multiple breweries and a slew of restaurants offering up some tasty treats, ranging from pizza to bratwurst to donuts to just about anything you could think of.

I was there for the beer, however, and while the plan was to hit all the non-ABQ breweries first, well, Tractor was right on the way in and Dave and Skye spotted me. They did have some new beers on tap, including the 2Pac Red Ale, a California-style red with a little more hoppy bite than the Farmer’s Tan Red. The 2Pac still has a smooth finish, crowning it as another crowd-pleasing entry from Tractor.

Next up was quite possibly the beer of the night, the Imperial Porter from Blue Corn. Aged in bourbon barrels, this porter has the requisite hard-liquor bite, but with a sweet vanilla flavor in the middle that came as a pleasant surprise, before the roasted porter finish one comes to expect. Next time you’re in Santa Fe, seek out Blue Corn and hope this first in their new series of barrel-aged beers is on tap.

We jumped over to Las Cruces’ High Desert, which brought a long list of beers to WinterBrew. I went with the Imperial Stout, which was of the dry stout variety and was not barrel-aged. I could have used a bit more flavor, but after the Imperial Porter it would hard for almost any beer to measure up. I meant to circle back to High Desert, but the train had already limited our time at the event, as most breweries stopped pouring between 8 and 8:30 (and we had to take the train back at 9).

Realizing our time constraints, we motored to the north end of the building to try Duel Brewing, which is still pushing forward to its grand opening later this year. Duel brought two beers, both Belgian styles that checked in at a hefty 11-percent ABV. I went with the Dark Ryder, which is a super-sweet, yet burly dark ale. This was the biggest rival to Blue Corn’s Imperial Porter. I look forward to the full opening of Duel, but lordy, all beer drinkers will have to use caution with their high ABV styles.

Right next to Duel was 2nd Street, which brought an event-high eight beers to the party. I sampled the Outlier, a special new double ESB. Made with a new kind of yeast (the name of which I forgot to write down), it comes out as a drier version of a usual ESB, with a flavorful kick at the back end. The Outlier is the first in a series of beers that 2nd Street has planned to make with their new yeast. It should be interesting to see how it affects other genres. My second sample from 2nd Street was the Alternator, their double alt. It is smooth, sweet, and very much in the line of “comfort beers” that you can sip slowly on their back patio. The third beer I sampled was one of their regulars that I have been aiming for, the Cream Stout, which is every bit the sweet, smooth stout that I expected.

After this I played the role of tour guide for my small group, taking them to Nexus for the Chocolate Porter, Turtle Mountain for the Ironman Black IPA, and Bosque, where I think everybody sampled something different. I went with the new Boss Pale Ale, which is made with Cascadian hops grown right here in New Mexico at De Smet Farms. The Boss offers up a hoppy, aromatic opening, with a clean finish. It fits in well with the best pale ales we have in our state, comparable to Santa Fe Brewing’s popular version. The crowd, in general, seemed to embrace Bosque.

Due to a combination of time constraints, conversations with random people (I am no longer anonymous at these events; this newfound celebrity will cause my ego to easily triple in size), and the like, I was unable to hit up any additional breweries. Of course, La Cumbre, Marble, and Santa Fe were not sporting anything I have not sampled before. The only one I regret missing was Chama River for its Serenity Milk Stout, but then again I can drive there anytime this week and indulge myself, while comparing it to the 2nd Street’s Cream Stout.

Thanks to everyone involved in WinterBrew, it was a well-organized, smoothly-run event, which is what I think we have all come to expect from all of the beer festivals in our great state. One thing is for sure, I plan to make my way up to Santa Fe more often to spend time at all of the capital’s breweries.

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Despite a slight hangover, I picked myself up and joined the rest of the Crew for our first anniversary party at Back Alley Draft House on Saturday night. We met for a while to discuss our upcoming Beer Battle for Super Bowl Sunday, which will feature a rematch of the stouts. Marble won last year’s event, but will have plenty of competition this time around. We all agreed that we will do it as a blind taste test this time around (like the IPA Challenge), just to snuff out any bias for or against any specific brewery.

All the local breweries that have stouts regularly on tap (imperials are out) are eligible. As of right now that includes Broken Bottle, Chama River, Il Vicino, La Cumbre, Marble, Nexus, and Tractor. At last check, Turtle Mountain does not currently have a stout on tap. We weren’t quick enough to ask Bosque to save us some of their Oatmeal Stout before the public drank it all up. If Farside puts a stout on tap this week, we will add them to the roster. We are also looking into the possibility of trekking up to Santa Fe to bring their three breweries’ stouts down. As much as we would love to drive even further and bring more breweries into the battle, time and money are not on our side.

Anyway, once we dispensed with business we got down to business, namely consuming some tasty food and drinking some tasty Back Alley and Goat Head beers. Majin brought us the first batch of his new Imperial Coffee Stout. As the name might imply, it was a very powerful coffee flavor. Majin plans to let this beer settle and age a few more weeks before it returns to the Back Alley roster. Other crowd favorites included the Goat Head Imperial Red and Barley Wine.

It was not a huge gathering of people — it’s OK, we still love all of you that read and follow us but could not make it down — but in the end we were happy to celebrate with those who could come out and drink with us. It’s been a wild, sometimes bumpy ride in this first year. We are cooking up some new ideas — video! — for 2013. We will be setting out in search of beer across the state and maybe even some more trips to breweries beyond New Mexico. For the most part, though, we will continue to focus on our state’s great brewing efforts.

We will be at the New Mexico Cup as “celebrity judges” on Feb. 16, and of course we will cover ABQ Beer Week in late April/early May, culminating with Blues & Brews on my birthday (May 4).

Thanks as always for reading. We could have not have done this without all of you and your support. To another great year of beer in 2013!

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister