There were just enough little news items popping up on our radar to encourage a Friday edition of Beer Notes. Let us dive in, shall we? More license renewals On the one hand, we thought we would see a lot more than we have so far. On the other hand, it’s just January 31, and…
Month: January 2025
The Week Ahead in Beer: Feeling fly at High and Dry anniversary time
Last week, we highlighted the anniversary event for one of our top small neighborhood pub breweries, Sidetrack. Well, these anniversaries tend to roll over in bunches, and this week it’s another neighborhood pub’s turn, as High and Dry celebrates “seven years of pour decisions.” You gotta admit, that’s a damn fine slogan. As Sidetrack means…
New owners of Marble Brewery already hard at work during transitional phase
Meet the new bosses, not the same as the old bosses, but not too different, either. At least that is the sense I picked up on when I met up with the new owners of Marble Brewery, Jarrett Babincsak and Bert Boyce, to talk about where we were in the transition last Friday. The duo…
February 28 license renewal deadline will show state of NM brewing industry
The end of every February is a fairly normal stretch of time for most people. No major holidays or events, spring break is still a way off, and so on and so forth. For breweries and other businesses that are licensed by Alcohol and Beverage Control, a division of the Regulation and Licensing Department, the…
The Crew’s mostly complete guide to WinterBrew 2025
Well, that was short-lived. And no, I’m not talking about the record-breakingly short government ban on TikTok. I’m talking about my dreams of attempting Dry January, as soon as I realized that my favorite New Mexico Brewers Guild event, WinterBrew, is just around the corner. This Friday, WinterBrew returns to the Santa Fe Farmers’ market…
The Week Ahead in Beer: A very fine nine years for Sidetrack
The beginning of 2016 might have seen the greatest number of brewery openings ever concentrated into a three-month stretch. Five breweries would debut in Albuquerque between January and March, giving us all a bit of whiplash. One that has stood the test of time and become a favorite among beer geeks and the general public…
Boxing Bear bounces back from pair of bittersweet taproom closures
Whenever we set out to do a Look Back/Look Ahead Series article, at some of the larger breweries it can simply be about availability when it comes to which person or persons we interview. Of late, our Boxing Bear interviews have typically been with co-owner/director of brewing operations Justin Hamilton and/or events coordinator Astrid Galarza….
Rumor Brewing doubles down on family friendly in more ways than one
If the public has already declared that you are a family-friendly place, even if you are a brewery, your choices are simple — defy it, or go along with it. Rumor Brewing has gone along with it, and now they are starting a project to provide a dedicated area for all those rambunctious youngsters to…
JUNO doubles production thanks to Edgewood taproom and more
In a year where breweries around the country pulled back, Albuquerque’s JUNO Brewery expanded and more than doubled production, finding success even in a difficult environment. Co-owner Jason Marks sat down with us for the annual Look Back/Look Ahead Series last week to discuss all of the positive developments for his brewery. “The big news…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Saving the breweries from the slow season
The Brew Crew quietly turned 13 a few days ago, which means we have been doing editions of Week Ahead for a very long time now. That also means we repeat some of these lead-ins from year to year, based on seasons, events, releases, and so on and so forth. Once again in January, we…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 