Editor’s note: Franz Solo actually wrote this one a while back, but it got lost in the shuffle of a busy week. Nonetheless, much like the beer itself, a good review is timeless. On a whim, I cracked open this terror of the meek after a rather dull Thursday and wowza, what a hellish treat…
Month: March 2014
Nexus’ new brewer aims to keep a good thing going
For the finale of our series of interviews of new brewers around the Albuquerque metro area, I visited Nexus on Wednesday morning before they opened. Kaylynn McKnight, formerly an assistant brewer at La Cumbre, is in the process of taking the reins from Manuel Mussen. She will be the first female head brewer in the…
Turtle Mountain’s new brewer prepares for some big changes
Back during the holiday hustle and bustle, I sat down with Turtle Mountain owner Nico Ortiz and talked about his plans for his soon-to-be-15-year-old brewery in 2014. One thing he mentioned was a desire to push the beer forward to a level that could compete with metro area heavyweights like La Cumbre, Il Vicino, and…
Nexus moves closer to selecting second location
While I was over at Nexus to talk to new head brewer Kaylynn McKnight (the full interview will be posted Friday), I also chatted with owner Ken Carson about Kaylynn’s hiring and another rumor that had been passed along to the Crew. We had been told that Nexus was close to settling on a location…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Biere de Canteen
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 taprooms in New Mexico. If you haven’t made a pilgrimage…
Chama River’s new brewer intends to make his own mark
The last few weeks have seen a slew of movement among brewers in the Albuquerque metro area. It has also seen a lot of high school basketball state tournament games, so yours truly was a tad busy when it came to tracking down all those brewer moves. Fear not, for now I have a week…
Week Ahead in Beer: Bosque SMASH!
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 taprooms in New Mexico. As many of you have already…
La Cumbre’s Project Dank ranked No. 1 IPA in all the land
The good folks over at Brewing News have been holding their own version of March Madness for the last seven years, pitting the best IPAs across the country against each other in a tournament that started with around 30 entrants and now has 128. As our headline states, the 2014 champion is La Cumbre’s wildly…
Irish Red Challenge: The champion still reigns
The Crew, well half of us, gathered last year a week after St. Patrick’s Day to select the best Irish Red Ale that was being poured in the ABQ metro area. There were three of us choosing among just four reds, so it worked as basically a scaled-down version of our annual Super Bowl Stout…
Jubilation comes through again with Stone’s finest offerings
On a fine spring afternoon, Stoutmeister, Mrs. Solo, and I, Franz Solo, went to Jubilation for a tasting event featuring a strong selection of beers from Stone Brewing Co. The offerings included the brand new Go to IPA, Stochasticity Project: Grapefruit Slam IPA, Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean, Matt’s Burning Rosids, and…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 