As most of you probably know by now, our name does not derive from some Star Wars reference, but instead from our love of the darkest beers and blackest metal. So while many tend to fret and hide from the onset of a serious burst of winter weather, we are rather pleased with the gray skies, chilling winds, and everything that is set best to the finest in Scandinavian odes to the forest gods and Viking tales of yore. In order to truly express our love for this bleakest, most metal time of year, thankfully the New Mexico Brewers Guild’s WinterBrew is Friday, so hurry up and buy your ticket(s) and meet the Crew at the Santa Fe Farmers Market at the Railyard. We will have a full preview with beer lists later this week, Viking battle hymns not included, but available upon request.
New Draft:
Boese Brothers toughens up with Burly Brown. Bosque keeps the single-hop-plus-phantasm train rolling with Sabro Phantastic. Canteen will tap Wicked Raven Imperial Stout on Friday (we are unsure if there will be cans this time, so stay tuned … wait, just read on below). La Cumbre tapped a new German Pilsner. Palmer has some of that barrel-aged Cockness Monster, a 13-percent ABV Scotch ale created to drag you down into the depths. Quarter Celtic also goes big with the return of Irish Handcuffs Imperial Stout. Sobremesa released Duke’s Dunkel and Oralé IPAyy! (UPDATES) Gravity Bound tapped Push-Pull, a West Coast IPA, and Subtitles On, a Munich dunkel. Marble added Galax-C’s IPA.
Up in Santa Fe, Rowley Farmhouse Ales recently tapped Mountain of Light Blueberry and Notorious BdG, a bier de garde.
New Package:
Bosque rolled out Mr. Watermelon Gose to Work, which becomes their newest year-round canned beer. Bow & Arrow brings back Buffalo Plaid Baltic Porter in cans and on draft this Friday. Ex Novo was finally able to find room to release cans and draft of Mountains and Mountains Imperial Stout and Spin Move Hazy DIPA. (UPDATES) Boxing Bear rolled out cans and draft of Goblin Mode IPA. Canteen does indeed have cans of Wicked Raven now available. Ex Novo unveiled Dunkel Steve in cans, and the label is magnificent.
Notable Events:
Friday — Did we mention WinterBrew already? Well, we’re mentioning it again. VIP hour starts at 5 p.m., general admission starts at 6, and it ends at 9, just in time to catch the last Rail Runner back to Albuquerque.
If you are not up for the trek north, swing by Tractor Wells Park for Magic & Comedy Night at 8 p.m.
Saturday — As long as the weather cooperates, Rumor will host Drag Bingo and Comedy at 1 p.m.
Quick News Bits:
Stop us if this reads like a broken record, but Boxing Bear’s Corrales taproom is closed yet again for plumbing repairs. They hope to reopen Thursday, but check their social media for further updates.
Bathtub Row is in the midst of a major renovation in the back, with the concrete floor being replaced so they can install their new 7-barrel brewhouse and other equipment. Their lineup will soon be mostly guest taps, so be patient, and soon the beer will flow again, better than ever!
Albuquerque metro area breweries
Boese Brothers Brewery — Featured seasonal: Raspberry Sour (7% ABV), is pretty self explanatory, but it’s also the only seasonal at all four BBB locations, including Desert Dogs.
Bombs Away Beer Company — Featured seasonal: Anniversary IPA (6% ABV, 90 IBU), a red IPA that features the 2022 Yakima Chief Hops Veterans Blend. This year is comprised of HBC 586, Ekuanot, Idaho 7, Chinook, and Triumph hops. Well balanced hop flavor and aroma, tropical, citrus, and woody notes. YCH donates a portion of hop sales to the HunterSeven Foundation, and Bombs Away donates $1 from every beer sold to the EOD Warrior Foundation.
Bosque Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Jean Cuffs (8% ABV, 60 IBU), a double red with a hoppy kick.
Bow & Arrow Brewing — Featured seasonal: Dark Harvest Dunkelweizen (6.9% ABV, 14 IBU), available on draft for a limited time, this German-style wheat beer has a new recipe since the last time it was brewed as a collab.
Boxing Bear Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Scotch Rocket (8.1% ABV), a delicious wee heavy to keep you warm this winter, available on draft and in cans.
Brew Lab 101 Beer & Cider Company — Featured seasonal: BBA Singularity Stout (10% ABV, 45 IBU), a beast of a barrel-aged stout, now available in 16-ounce cans, 22-ounce bottles, and on draft.
Canteen Brewhouse — Featured seasonal: Pond Hopper (6.3% ABV, 24 IBU), an English ale made in collaboration with Malteurop Malting.
Casa Vieja Brewery — Featured seasonal: Tripel Threat, a hefty Belgian-style brew.
Cazuela’s Seafood & Mexican Grill
Differential Brewing — Featured seasonal: Red Corn Rye Lager (4.8% ABV, 16 IBU) is a summer lager with a nice rye bite to it.
Downshift Brewing at Outpost 1706 — Featured seasonal: Gratitude Session IPA (4.2% ABV, 40 IBU), brewed to support local charities, right now $1 from every pint sold goes to the Shelter Fund of the Community Foundation of Lincoln County.
Echoes Brewery — Featured seasonal: Echoes IPA, their first beer is a hoppy, but not too hoppy, introduction to the new brewery on Gold in the old Burt’s Tiki Lounge space.
Enchanted Circle Brewing Taproom
Ex Novo Brewing — Featured seasonal: Between the Spreadsheets (5.2%), a hoppy lager, it’s still available on tap and in cans, so get over there and help clear room for the next seasonal!
Flix Brewhouse — Featured seasonal: Contact the theater to find out what’s available.
Gravity Bound Brewing — Featured seasonal: Crumbling Blues (5.7% ABV), a blueberry crumble cake inspired sour.
Harmon Lane Brewing at Southwest Grape and Grain — Featured seasonal: Pumpkin Porter (6.9% ABV, 21 IBU), a darker take on a traditional pumpkin ale.
High and Dry Brewing — Featured seasonal: Rusalka’s Kiss (3.6% ABV, 20 IBU), a Polish-style grodziskie (smoked wheat beer) made in collaboration with the Worthogs homebrew club.
Hops Brewery — Featured seasonal: Killer Bee Pale Ale (6.3% ABV, 23 IBU), this beer is made with actual honey from killer bee hives in Southern New Mexico.
JUNO Brewery — Featured seasonal: Vienna Lager, a smooth amber lager with a touch of sweetness.
Kaktus Brewing — Featured seasonal: Helles Lager, which is pretty much the closest beer they have to being a year-round offering, because the regulars in Bernalillo demand it all the time.
La Cumbre Brewing — Featured seasonal: Gilded Age Porter (5.7% ABV, 35 IBU), a most metal porter, available on draft only now, and we tested that metal status by consuming only this beer during the recent Wayfarer/Wake/Heretical Sect show at Sister. Hails!
La Reforma Brewery — Featured seasonal: Copper Canyon Pale Ale (6.9% ABV), which benefits two children’s orphanages in the Copper Canyon region of Northern Mexico. It is also available at Santa Fe and Tractor.
Late Shift Lager House at The Craftroom — Featured seasonal: Hop Villain (6.8% ABV, 102 IBU), a beastly IPA that is a change of sorts from the lager-dominated lineup.
Lizard Tail Brewing — Featured seasonal: Long Nosed Tripel (9.2% ABV, 30 IBU), the biggest beer on the menu.
Marble Brewery — Featured seasonal: Turkish Coffee Stout (7.5% ABV), a spiced coffee stout that will keep you warm inside. Click on the different taprooms in the menu for the updated beer lists for each location.
Nexus Brewery — Featured seasonal: New Mexico Snow Storm IPA (7.2% ABV, 36 IBU), the runner-up at the 2021 New Mexico IPA Challenge had another strong finish at the 2022 NMIPAC, coming in fourth.
Palmer Brewery and Cider House — Featured seasonal: 2 Robs Make a Rita, an annual collaboration with Starr Brothers Brewing.
Ponderosa Brewing Co. — Featured seasonal: Italian Pilsner, the winner of back-to-back gold medals at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival and the 2022 World Beer Cup, is available on draft and in cans.
Quarter Celtic Brewpub— Featured seasonal: My Bock is Killing Me (7.25% ABV, 30 IBU), a summer bock with a great name, but since it’s a summer bock, it’s time should be up by now. Help clear a tap for something more seasonal.
Red Door Brewing — Featured seasonal: Hibiscus White IPA is still available on draft for a limited time.
ReSource Brewing — Featured seasonal: Christmas Bloody Christmas, a cranberry imperial stout, is still available in bottles for a limited time.
Rio Bravo Brewing — Featured seasonal: Black Sparrow (13% ABV, 60 IBU), a rum-barrel-aged imperial stout.
Rumor Brewing (formerly Ale Republic) — Featured seasonal: Love (4.4% ABV, 12 IBU), a smoothie sour with sweet and tart cherries.
Sidetrack Brewing — Featured seasonal: Side-Eye Peppermint Porter, a collaboration with Thirsty Eye.
Sobremesa — Featured seasonal: Dos Años, a barrel-aged Baltic porter brewed for the brewpub’s recent second anniversary.
Starr Brothers Brewing — Featured seasonal: War Face (9.6% ABV, 100 IBU), a behemoth DIPA.
Steel Bender Brewyard — Featured seasonal: SereniTEA Now! (6.5% ABV, 10 IBU), the annual collaboration with Canteen and High and Dry benefits Agora Crisis Center.
Sunday Service Motor Company — Featured seasonal: No Brainer, a very tasty coffee stout, is the first beer made at the new brewery to reach the taps.
Thirsty Eye Brewing — Featured seasonal: Biscochito Liquido, a winter brown ale brewed with cinnamon and anise, it hits all the right spots for the season.
Tractor Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: El Dorado Gold (5.8% ABV, 50 IBU), a slightly hop-forward ale featuring El Dorado and Wai’iti hops, it offers up an alternative to the big beers of winter.
Turquoise Trail Brewing — The brewery is closed at its original location, but is looking for a new home elsewhere in Albuquerque, as we covered here.
Turtle Mountain Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Mandy Pale Ale (5.1% ABV, 38 IBU), a pale built around the tasty Mandarina Bavaria hop variety.
Unhinged Brewing — Welcome to the listings to this new brewery at 98th Street and Central! We wrote a short preview, so go check out the opening lineup, which includes Non-Linear IPA, Jest-a-Lager, Foolin’ Around Brown, ScRew lOose StOuT, and Off the Rails (Red IPA).
Vision City Brewstillery — Featured seasonal: Double Vision (7.1% ABV), a strong Belgian wheat, is one of several beers on tap at this new brewery/distillery, which we already previewed.
Santa Fe breweries
Beer Creek Brewing — Featured seasonal: Black Wedding, a black IPA, if you could not guess, is available for the winter months.
Chile Line Brewing — Featured seasonal: A Huevo (5% ABV, 20 IBU) is a Yerba Matte-inspired beer.
Hidden Mountain Brewing (formerly Blue Corn Brewery) — Featured seasonal: Naughty or Spiced, a winter warmer with mulling spices, nicely balanced for the holidays.
Rowley Farmhouse Ales — Featured seasonal: Sepia Effect (5.3% ABV, 30 IBU), a tasty Vienna lager.
Santa Fe Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Adobe Igloo is back in cans and on draft for the winter months.
Second Street Brewery — Featured seasonal: Boondock Skye (4.8% ABV, 35 IBU) is a crushable session IPA that everyone needs to drink up to make room for new seasonals. It’s down to the last of it at the Railyard only.
Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery — Featured seasonal: White Rabbit Wit, the first in a series of new witbiers.
Other breweries you need to visit
Bathtub Row Brewing — Featured seasonal: Owl Peak Blue Corn Lager (5.4% ABV, 14 IBU), a collaboration lager with Owl Peak Farm in La Madera.
Little Toad Creek Brewing and Distilling
Red River Brewing and Distilling — Featured seasonal: Steam Coffee Porter (6.5% ABV, 30 IBU), from the brewery: “Smooth and malty with a solid creamy head. Roasted grains are well balanced with base malts and just enough hops to offset any residual sweetness. Add in some coffee from Steam and it’s winter in a glass.”
Sierra Blanca Brewing — Featured seasonal: Peanut Butter Porter, because let’s face it, there aren’t many NM breweries using peanut butter in their beers, but it’s still a very popular adjunct.
Truth or Consequences Brewing — Featured seasonal: Mastodon (12.6% ABV), a Belgian-style quad with flavors of banana, dried fruit, and caramel, then aged in whiskey barrels to add hints of toasted oak and rich honey, available in bottles and on draft.
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That’s all for this week! If you have any questions or comments, leave them below or contact us on our Facebook page.
Keep supporting local!
— Stoutmeister
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 
Please mention nitro beers, if there are any around. Thanks !