The Stumbling Steer starts to rumble to life

It has been a while, over a year in fact, since a new brewery (Bosque) opened in Albuquerque. After a long drought, there are some new breweries on the horizon, the biggest and most ambitious of which is The Stumbling Steer. The Steer is located in the old west side Quarters near the intersection of…

The Week Ahead in Beer: Old man winter comes knocking

Greetings New Mexico craft beer lovers, this is E-Rock back to bring you this installment of The Week Ahead in Beer. This column is hand-crafted to keep you up to date on all of the seasonal beers, news, and events served up at breweries and tap rooms in New Mexico. Beer festival season is largely…

Hopfest in Review: A proper farewell to festival season

There was a bittersweet feeling as the Crew left Hopfest on Saturday afternoon. It stemmed not from any disappoint in the event — it was quite the opposite, in fact — but instead it came with the realization that beer festival season in 2013 was coming to a close. Even though the year itself is…

To properly tackle Hopfest everyone needs a battle plan

Hopfest is big. There are 62 breweries serving up samples for thousands of beer lovers. In other words, it is not the place to just walk into and wander about. Nope, you need a plan, a battle plan. Luckily, the Dark Side Brew Crew is here to provide one. It’s what we do. In terms…

Bosque prepares to celebrate one year of great beer

Bosque Brewing is growing up right before our eyes. This Saturday the north side brewery will celebrate its one-year anniversary with a party for its loyal customers and anyone else who wants to join. I sat down with brewers Gabe Jensen and Ryan Jameson to talk about Saturday’s festivities, as well as looking back to…

The Week Ahead in Beer: Preparing for Hopfest

Greetings New Mexico craft beer lovers, this is E-Rock back to bring you this installment of The Week Ahead in Beer. This column is hand-crafted to keep you up to date on all of the seasonal beers, news, and events served up at breweries and tap rooms in New Mexico. Hopfest will be taking over…

The history of Hopfest: Brew it, and they will come

As craft brewing has exploded in New Mexico, so have the size and popularity of our beer festivals. Look no further than Albuquerque Hopfest, which kicks off its sixth annual run this Saturday at Isleta Casino. Thousands of beer lovers will descend upon the festival to try beers from over 60 breweries from New Mexico…

Beer Battle: The greatest pumpkin ale of them all is …

Way back in the spring the Brew Crew staged a mini-beer battle between the four varieties of Irish Red that were on tap around town. Here in the fall, pumpkin beers have become the predominant seasonal of the moment, even rising above Oktoberfest-style beers. A few years back I, Stoutmeister, wanted nothing to do with…

Duel Brewing making progress in its early days in Santa Fe

Welcome to part three of our three-part series on Santa Fe’s non-distribution breweries. You can find our recap of Blue Corn here and Second Street here. Franz Solo and I, Stoutmeister, visited these three breweries on Sunday afternoon, grabbing sampler platters at each so we could make it home in one piece. Duel Brewing has…

The Week Ahead in Beer: The classics are back!

Greetings New Mexico craft beer lovers, this is E-Rock back to bring you this installment of The Week Ahead in Beer. This column is hand-crafted to keep you up to date on all of the seasonal beers, news, and events served up at breweries and tap rooms in New Mexico. A lot of old favorites…