It has been busy with all the events lately coming right on the heels of the World Beer Cup and Craft Brewers Conference, so we missed a few items of note.

For instance, Second Street and Steel Bender combined to win five Crushies at the Craft Beer Marketing Awards, which were also announced during CBC.

It’s hardly the first time that Second Street has won, with previous trophies earned in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Creative director Mariah Cameron Scee probably had to build another shelf at home by now, or another shelf at the brewery, depending on where she prefers to keep the awards.

This time around, Second Street won a Global Crushie for its Dubstep Donuts bottle design, and also a Gold Crushie for Rod’s Best Bitter cans.

Then, in two separate categories, Second Street and its collaboration partners Steel Bender and Sierra Blanca won Crushies for the One for 5 IPA. It took home a Global in Best Can Design/Collaboration and a Platinum in Bigger Than Beer: Cause-Related Beer Project or Campaign.

CORRECTION: So, if we get this right — and the CBMA folks didn’t really, so bear with us — the Global for design of the One for 5 cans goes to Mariah and Second Street. The Platinum for Bigger Than Beer goes to Steel Bender, and that was for the initial campaign onward (not the design), so the folks at SBB also wanted to add in their additional partners as receiving a part of the award in Albertsons Market, 94 Rock, and Admiral Beverage.

While Steel Bender gets to share in those awards, it also earned a Gold Crushie for the design of its Mañana Hazy IPA cans.

A big tip of the cap from the Crew to the victorious breweries.

Quarter Celtic’s banner year continues

After taking home gold at the World Beer Cup, Quarter Celtic stuck with the international theme and submitted its beers to the Australian International Beer Awards competition, bringing back two medals for two past winners.

Capri-derhosen, which won that gold award at WBC, took silver in the Franconian-Style Rotbier category in Australia. Kill or be Kilt, which won a bronze at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival, earned a bronze in the Scotch Ale category.

Congrats to the QC brewing team on this one. It turned out that the short video they did, an homage to a scene from the movie Major League, proved to be just the ticket to ensure victory. If there is any sort of Canadian beer competition, we recommend using a scene from Slap Shot. If there is a Swedish competition, just record a video of everyone singing along to Amon Amarth’s “Raise Your Horns.”

Draft Station quietly says good-bye

Long ago, after Marble said farewell to its second-story offsite taproom overlooking downtown Santa Fe, the folks at Santa Fe Dining decided to turn it into a craft beer bar called the Draft Station.

There was a short-lived second Draft Station in Albuquerque (it closed in 2017), but the one in Santa Fe seemed to be hanging in there thanks to a lot of loyal locals and the many tourists stopping by as they walked to and from the Plaza.

The pandemic lockdown period changed all of that, and unfortunately, Draft Station never really managed to rebound, or so it seems after it was quietly closed this spring.

It was a good, chill spot to enjoy some views and brews from places around New Mexico, but alas, the day of the craft beer bar is largely over in New Mexico. It’s a good thing we still have 90-plus breweries and their many, many offsite taprooms, but sometimes it was nice to go to a single place to sample beers from multiple breweries.

The mysterious mystery of Enchanted Circle in the 505

UPDATE: It turns out that the taproom is still open. They finally posted on Facebook for the first time in two months that the new days/hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m.

Original post continues below

A while back, Crew member Brandon noticed that the Enchanted Circle Brewing taproom on San Mateo NE appeared to be closed in the afternoon, during what would normally have been the lunch rush. We checked online, and there had not been a new post on the taproom’s Facebook page since April 6.

After repeatedly forgetting to go in closer and have a look, I stopped by this week and found that it might be closed, or it might still be open. It was impossible to tell looking from the outside. The tables and chairs were still positioned like you would normally expect. There was no signage on the doors indicating that it was closed.

But, it was also almost noon, when the taproom’s Facebook page has it opening up (it should be noted that said FB page’s listing of days/hours of operation has not been updated in two years). There did not appear to be anyone inside working to set up the place, and the door was locked.

So it might still be open, perhaps just opening later in the day. Weekday lunch traffic may have dwindled down to the point of where it did not make sense to open at noon anymore. Or, it might have quietly closed and was just left to look the way that it does.

Enchanted Circle opened its taproom in May 2019, which of course means that less than a year later, it was shut down along with everything else by COVID. The owners added a patio, and did their best to generate business in a crowded market coming out of the lockdown phase.

If anyone out there knows for sure if the taproom is open or closed, please let us know.

Doobie’s finds a home next to a friend

If you have ever had the good fortune of walking up to High and Dry on a day when Doobie’s Smokehouse has its smoker and pop-up tent on the patio, you might have dreamed of a day when it had a permanent brick-and-mortar location for its delicious BBQ.

Well, dream no more, as Doobie’s will be taking over the restaurant space of the building occupied by Public House, High and Dry’s sister location at 201 Hermosa NE, a block east of the Carlisle/Copper intersection.

They will have a soft opening this Friday at noon, so make sure to stop on by for lunch or dinner. If you have not had Doobie’s meats before, trust us, you will be happy and full after you do.

On that note, we conclude another edition of Beer Notes. Got any additional beer news that you would like to share? DM us via any of our social media platforms, or email us directly at nmdarksidebrewcrew@gmail.com.

We will have previews of this weekend’s multiple beer festivals later this week, plus some features on the breweries of Ruidoso, and next week we will hopefully have a full preview of a forthcoming brewery in Albuquerque.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister