Let’s face it, 2024 was a lot. We lost some breweries, there was that whole election thing, Gojira played at the Olympic opening ceremony, and a lot of great metal tours skipped Albuquerque. But there’s still beer, and there will be more beer in 2025. We hope for a better year for all of our breweries, but that means we have to get out there and keep supporting them as much as possible. As one might expect after a couple big holidays, things are a little light this week, but that’s OK. Grab a friend, or a dog, or a book, or all of the above, and go chill at your favorite brewery this weekend. Just relax and have a craft brew.

The Crew will have our belated favorite beers of 2024 later this week, a recap of all the big stories in the past year, and of course the Thunder from Dortmunder Memorial Cup winner for 2024 will have to be selected. It will be hard to top what Painted Lady created this year when it comes to the best beer name of 2024.

New Draft:

Boese Brothers has a new English-style Brown Ale on tap. La Cumbre recently added Fudge It!, a chocolate ale, and brought back Jet Pilot Pale Ale. Marble tapped Cereza Cerveza, a barrel-aged sour cherry amber lager. Steel Bender will release Shimmy to the Bee Gees Rice Lager on Thursday. Tractor will (UPDATE) release Midnight Cowgirl Coffee Stout on Friday, which contrary to our original post is not a returning beer, but a new brew made in collaboration with Flying Star Cafe/Satellite Coffee. (MORE UPDATES) Casa Vieja tapped That’s My Jamboozey, a raspberry fruit ale. Sunday Service Motor Company felt downright decadent with the release of Red Velvet Cake Stout.

Up in Santa Fe, Nuckolls recently tapped Solstice Express, a juniper pale ale, and Apple Pie Love Express, an imperial gose. Over in Los Alamos, Bathtub Row added Sugar Plum Gose. Down south, Truth or Consequences Brewing tapped Organica IPA.

New Package:

Boxing Bear brought back the delightful Coconut Chocolate Milk Stout in cans and on draft. Steel Bender will release Pineapple Dynamite in cans and on draft this Thursday. (UPDATES) Ex Novo dropped a double release of There’s no ‘I’ in Steam and Silk Pajama Day, a new hazy IPA, in cans and on draft.

Notable Events:

Today (Wednesday) — The Resolution Maker and Breaker 5K fun run starts at Canteen at 1 p.m.

Friday — Tractor Wells Park will host the First Fridays Comedy Contest at 8 p.m.

Sunday — The First Sunday Market returns to Tumbleroot Agua Fria at 4 p.m.

Quick News Bits:

Painted Lady Bed and Brew shared their new hours for the Ghost Light Saloon. They will be open 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays, 5 to 10 on Fridays and Saturdays, and 5 to 9 on Sundays.

After a reader tipped us off that Palmer Brewery beers are no longer on tap at Left Turn Distilling, we removed their entry below. We hope to have more on this story soon. And before anyone asks, Rob is fine. Nobody panic on that front.

Kaktus is taking their annual holiday hiatus from this past Monday through January 6.

Quarter Celtic’s Vienna Lager (returning soon) won another gold medal, this time at the European Beer Star competition. It previously won at the Great American Beer Festival in October. Congrats, again, to the QC brewing team!

Albuquerque metro area breweries

Boese Brothers Brewery  — Featured seasonal: Brown Ale (5% ABV), an English-style, sessionable brown.

Bombs Away Beer Company — Featured seasonal: T50 Vienna Lager (5.4% ABV, 25 IBU), a tasty amber lager that will help you get over the last of the delicious Oktoberfest running out.

Bosque Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Driftwood (5.9% ABV, 35 IBU), the classic oatmeal stout is back in cans and on draft for a limited time.

Bossfight Brewing (formerly Kilt Check Brewing) — Featured seasonal: Dark Magic Baltic Porter, a beer so good it will double your usual pinball score. Well, maybe not, but it’s good.

Bow & Arrow Brewing — Featured seasonal: Buffalo Plaid (7%), the annual Baltic porter release is back in cans and on draft, and we think this is the most flavorful version yet.

Boxing Bear Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Metal Head Stout (6.66% ABV), one of our seasonal favorites, back in cans and on draft.

Brekki Brekki — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Brew Lab 101 Beer & Cider Company — Featured seasonal: Singularity BBA Imperial Stout (11% ABV), the annual barrel-aged beast is back on tap.

Canteen Brewhouse — Featured seasonal: Grundy Thunder Porter (6.2% ABV, 25 IBU), a robust porter perfect for the season, available in cans and on draft.

Casa Vieja Brewery — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Cazuela’s Seafood & Mexican Grill — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Differential Brewing — Featured seasonal: Chai Stout (5% ABV, 24 IBU), a darker way to enjoy your favorite tea spice.

Echoes Brewery — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Ex Novo Brewing — Featured seasonal: Kill the Sun, the annual release of four Russian imperial stouts in bottles and on draft, with the adjunct-free Grand Cru, and the decadent trio of variants — Pecan Pie, Almond Coffee, and Biscochito.

Flix Brewhouse  — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery/movie theater for an updated list of seasonals.

Flock of Moons Brewing — Featured seasonal: Dark Side of the Moons (7.7% ABV, 88 IBU), a little black IPA collaboration that the Crew brewed, benefiting Ruidoso.

Gravity Bound Brewing — Featured seasonal: Subtitles On, the classic Munich dunkel is back for a limited time, just like every other beer tends to be at GB.

Harmon Lane Brewing at Southwest Grape and Grain — Featured seasonal: Oktoberfest-ivus (6.9%), a hefty lager that everyone needs to help drink up, darn it!

High and Dry Brewing — Featured seasonal: Date Night Disaster (5% ABV, 10 IBU), a simple, no-frills stout that’s perfect for this weather.

Hops Brewery — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

JUNO Brewery — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Kaktus Brewing — Featured seasonal: Sweet Darkness Milk Stout, a nice treat for dessert after your pizza.

La Cumbre Brewing — Featured seasonal: La Negra (14.1% ABV), the beautiful beast of a Russian imperial stout is back in bottles and on draft.

La Reforma Brewery — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Late Shift Lager House at The Craftroom — Featured seasonal: We were told that they are currently not brewing, with no timetable for that resuming.

Marble Brewery — Featured seasonal: Turkish Style Coffee Stout (7.5% ABV) is once again available in cans and on draft.

Nexus Brewery — Featured seasonal: Beam Me Up (Higher) Scotty (9.3% ABV), the two-time World Beer Cup medal winner is back for the season.

Painted Lady Bed and Brew — Featured seasonal: To The Brim With Fright, a dark Christmas ale that will keep the spooky in the season.

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: Super Stoop Malt Liquor (6.5% ABV, 18 IBU), which does not have to be consumed on a stoop or in a paper bag.

Rio Bravo Brewing — Featured seasonal: Very Demure (6.7% ABV, 19 IBU), an apricot wheat with a clever name.

Rumor Brewing — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Sidetrack Brewing — Featured seasonal: Stay Wild (5.3% ABV, 15 IBU), because sometimes you need a refreshing American lager as a break from (or warm-up to) all these big beers.

Sobremesa — Featured seasonal: Stout Seco, an Irish dry stout is now on tap.

Starr Brothers Brewing — Featured seasonal: Nuts and Nibs (6% ABV, 27 IBU), a special barrel-aged version of the peanut butter porter collab between SBB and Boxing Bear.

Steel Bender Brewyard — Featured seasonal: Italian Stallion (6.1% ABV, 65 IBU), a bigger, stronger, hoppier version of Esmerelda, now available on draft.

Sunday Service Motor Company — Featured seasonal: Cosmic Wave IPA (6.2% ABV, 67 IBU), a West Coast-style hop bomb with some fruity hops up front and a clean, bitter-free finish.

The Tatted Bee Brewhouse — Featured seasonal: Game On, an old-school pale ale that is one of the first house beers now on tap.

Thirsty Eye Brewing — Featured seasonal: Biscochito Liquido, the annual holiday favorite is back on tap for a limited time.

The 377 Brewery — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Tractor Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Turkey Drool (8.2% ABV), the Crew’s favorite seasonal from this brewery is an amazing holiday concoction.

Turtle Mountain Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Scarlet Letter (12.5%), the brewery’s first seltzer is an imperial one, made with cranberry and sage.

Unhinged Brewing — Featured seasonal: Los Muertos Porter (12% ABV), a collaboration between the brewery and the Worthogs homebrew club, available on draft and there might be a little left of the special barrel-aged version.

Vision City Brewstillery — Featured seasonal: Winter Lager, a season-appropriate seasonal if we ever saw one.

Santa Fe breweries

Beer Creek Brewing — Featured seasonal: Temporada (6.1% ABV), a Belgian saison brewed with 100-percent New Mexico-grown pilsner malt and Neomexicanus hops. Described by the brewery as “crisp and dry with hints of bubblegum. Not a Brett beer.”

Chile Line Brewing — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Nuckolls Brewing — Featured seasonal: Hoppy Wife, Hoppy Life, a hazy pale ale and a possible contender for Beer Name of the Year.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales — Featured seasonal: Sin Barreras – Colkegan Barrel ’24 (13.5% ABV, 50 IBU), a little of this barrel-aged beast of an imperial stout is still on tap after Blackest Friday, so get it while it lasts!

Santa Fe Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Starter Fluid (9.5% ABV), a hazy DIPA with a kick, now available in cans and on draft.

Second Street Brewery — Featured seasonal: Superior Porter (6.3% ABV, 34 IBU), a seasonal-appropriate robust porter, available in cans and on draft.

Travel Bug — Featured seasonal: This bookstore/cafe only has two beers on tap, Rough Draft Ale (4.5% ABV) and Second Draft English Bitter (6% ABV), but if any seasonals ever pop up, we will list them here.

Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Other breweries you need to visit

Bathtub Row Brewing — Featured seasonal: Oz’s Oatmeal Stout (5% ABV), it’s back on tap after a short absence, because you need a stout after skiing at Pajarito, right?

Downshift Brewing — Featured seasonal: Gratitude Pale Ale (5.4% ABV, 40 IBU), brewed to support local charities, and right now $1 from every pint sold goes to helping in the recovery efforts from the South Fork and Salt fires.

Little Toad Creek Brewing and Distilling — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Red River Brewing and Distilling — Featured seasonal: Russian Imperial Stout (10% ABV, 30 IBU), which proves you just have to head north into the colder regions of New Mexico to find the big stouts.

Sierra Blanca Brewing  — Featured seasonal: Pecan Brown Ale, a classic offering from the brewery.

Truth or Consequences Brewing — Featured seasonal: Rio Rojo Red Ale (4.5% ABV, 30 IBU), a nice malty treat similar to the Irish red, but made with different malts and a German ale yeast that produce some distinctive differences.

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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