Our continuing journey to get to know our brewery owners and staff members on a more personal level has led us to Steel Bender Brewyard in Los Ranchos. We had a lovely tête-à-tête with Ethan Chant (co-owner with his brothers Chris and Greg), Shelby Chant (co-owner and marketing director), April Varela (general manager), and Bob…
Month: October 2020
Boxing Bear shakes up the collaboration game with a new artist-inspired series
Plenty of breweries have collaborated on beers over the years here in Albuquerque and parts beyond. Now it may be time for a new sort of collaboration, and not just something involving beer writers like us. Boxing Bear Brewing and local glass-blowing artist Rashan Jones of High Desert Flameworks have teamed up for a collaboration…
Second Street picks up a well-deserved win with a gold medal at 2020 GABF
Restaurants and breweries have had it rough this year, as everyone knows. With the pandemic, most of these businesses haven’t been the same since early March. Morale has often dipped as low as the temperatures these days. But, the consensus seems to be that the beer industry folks are still hanging in there, as they…
The Week Ahead in Beer: The big malt-forward brews roar to life just in time for colder weather
Greetings, New Mexico craft beer lovers. Stoutmeister here with The Week Ahead in Beer. This column covers all the breweries in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, with Santa Fe’s eight breweries, one in Los Alamos, one in Moriarty, one in Red River, one in Silver City, and one in Truth or Consequences also joining the party….
All hail the power of the Pastry Slayer
The Crew went and made another collaboration beer with one of our local breweries. The twist? Well, this one is going in cans, and we finally made use of Derek’s professional filming skills to shoot this full video. Pastry Slayer Imperial Stout: A collaboration with Bow and Arrow Brewing and Dark Side Brew Crew The…
Ex Novo Brewing celebrates its first GABF medal across two states
Ex Novo Brewing is unique among local breweries in that it has a twin sister brewery located more than a thousand miles away in Portland, Oregon. During the online-only 2020 Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony last week, it was the Portland brewery that was credited for what turned out to be the first medal-winning…
Double-medal win at GABF gives Quarter Celtic a lift amid tough times
The brewpubs have not had the fallback of mass can distribution alleviating at least some of the financial strain during the pandemic of 2020, so finding uplifting moments has been a bit of a chore for many of them. Quarter Celtic is one of those brewpubs, enduring the tough ups and downs of having limited…
The Week Ahead in Beer: All the GABF winners are available on tap right now
Greetings, New Mexico craft beer lovers. Stoutmeister here with The Week Ahead in Beer. This column covers all the breweries in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, with Santa Fe’s eight breweries, one in Los Alamos, one in Moriarty, one in Red River, one in Silver City, and one in Truth or Consequences also joining the party….
La Reforma Brewery finds a bright spot in the form of its first GABF gold medal
The virtual version of the Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony caught more than a few people by surprise. In the case of La Reforma Brewery co-owner John Gozigian and head brewer Robert Buskirk-Lechner, it ended up being a rather pleasant surprise when they captured a gold medal on Friday night. “So I’ll be perfectly…
ReSource Brewing ready to open its doors in the Northeast Heights
Bright spots are hard to find amid all the gloom of the pandemic these days, but the craft brewing industry in New Mexico continues to move along even under difficult conditions. Any time we hear of a new brewery still coming to fruition, it gives us a small moment of joy. The newest addition to…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 