There is something almost eerie about a brewery taproom being so quiet before it’s open. Such was the case when I stopped by Tractor Wells Park on Wednesday morning. It won’t be the case the next time I’m there Saturday night. That’s because Saturday is Tractor’s Quincenera, a 15th anniversary party for the ages. There…
Month: October 2014
Oktoberfest in Red River: It’s like a party in the Alps
Every year, around the middle of October, we take the short trip up to Red River for their Oktoberfest celebration. Set in the small Northern New Mexico mountain resort town, Oktoberfest is an ideal excuse to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life and spend some time drinking beer amid nature, as…
Ted Talks: Marble’s owner opens up on a busy and award-winning year
Ted Rice is a busy man these days. Marble Brewery’s co-founder/co-owner/brewmaster has barely had a chance to catch his breath since 2014 began. It didn’t get any easier, but sure was rewarding, when he and his team brought home two gold medals and the Small Brewery of the Year Award from the Great American Beer…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Pumpkins upon pumpkins upon pumpkins
Greetings, New Mexico craft beer lovers. Stoutmeister here with the reunified edition of The Week Ahead in Beer. This column covers all the breweries in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, with Santa Fe’s four breweries and one newcomer down in Socorro also joining the party. We tried hard to keep the state edition going, but without…
Best of the (Brew) Fest plus other notes from one wild afternoon
No one got sunburned! Well, that’s how we all looked back on NM Brew Fest 5 after a long, rough Sunday (our football teams, real and fantasy, didn’t help our hangovers, either). OK, we also looked back at the many great beers we drank and how much fun we had. From the VIP barrel-aged beginning…
Blue Grasshopper jumps into local beer fray this weekend
On this sometimes dreary Friday, Jason from the Bullpen and I trekked over to Rio Rancho to visit Blue Grasshopper in advance of their weekend-long grand opening. We met with brewer Peter Apers around midday and chatted about everything regarding this small but potential-laden local brewpub. First off, where is Blue Grasshopper? Well, hop on…
More fun than a barrel of monkeys, er, beer, it’s NM Brew Fest 5
Beer festival season wraps up (sniff) in our state with the fifth annual NM Brew Fest at Expo New Mexico (the fairgrounds) this Saturday. It promises to go out with a bang, thanks to a special early event admission where you get to taste multiple barrel-aged beers brought in by the NM Brewers Guild. Yes,…
New brewers bring gold home to New Mexico from GABF
Among the six different New Mexico breweries who won medals at the Great American Beer Festival last weekend, Blue Corn and Chama River sit slightly apart from the rest. Both breweries brought in new head brewers this year, meaning for Blue Corn’s James Warren and Chama’s Zach Guilmette it was the first time either had…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Basking in the post-GABF glory
Greetings, New Mexico craft beer lovers. Stoutmeister here with the reunified edition of The Week Ahead in Beer. This column covers all the breweries in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, with Santa Fe’s four breweries and one newcomer down in Socorro also joining the party. We tried hard to keep the state edition going, but without…
Mr. Oktober(fest) steps to the plate and goes deep
The Brew Crew gathered at Franz Solo’s house this Sunday for our first Oktoberfest challenge. Like our previous challenges, it was a blind taste test (thanks to our wonderful beer maiden, Taylor). This was the first time we felt there were enough marzen-style beers on tap at the same time to hold this sort of…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 