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 alike has been Sidetrack Brewing, which will be the first of those four still remaining to celebrate a ninth anniversary with a party this Saturday. We have said more than once that Sidetrack is the chillest brewery in town, with a perfect laid-back atmosphere just blocks from the hustle and bustle of Central. It is a true neighborhood pub, often home to the same faces who walk and bike over from their homes and apartments. Though the wheel of styles has expanded brewer by brewer, Sidetrack has stayed true to their English pub roots, almost always keeping one or two beers on cask. They have never desired growth beyond their existing footprint, with just about the biggest move to date was adding that small canning machine so folks could more easily take their favorite lagers and ales home. This Saturday, starting at 1 p.m., Mouse Hole Cheese Shop will have a Rachette pop-up on site. There will also be a new TBA anniversary beer on tap. And, that’s about it, just nice and simple, nothing extravagant. It’s not like we would ever expect anything wild and crazy from Sidetrack, where the mellow vibes and tasty brews are what will forever keep it among our local favorites.

New Draft:

Brew Lab 101 tapped Guatemalan Express, a Mexican-style dark lager with coffee added for a kick. Canteen recently added a new version of their Social Capital, this one a pink guava/mango kettle sour. Differential tapped a Dark Pale. Starr Brothers brought back their oatmeal stout, Foggy Monocle. Turtle Mountain tapped a new batch of Koi No Yokan, their Japanese-style rice lager.

Up in Santa Fe, Second Street recently tapped a West Coast-style Amber Lager. Over in Los Alamos, Bathtub Row added Red Hammer DIPA.

New Package:

Bow & Arrow will release Sunshine Believer, an international-style pilsner, in cans and on draft this Friday. (UPDATE) La Cumbre will release Tonal Bliss Hazy IPA in cans and on draft this Friday.

Notable Events:

Today (Wednesday) — Trivia for a Cause: Friends kicks off at Bosque Nob Hill at 6 p.m.

Friday — Gin & Jazz: Speakeasy Edition is back at Tractor Wells Park at 5 p.m.

Saturday — Canteen will again hold Blind Date with a Book at the brewery at 1 p.m.

Sunday — Canteen will host the latest edition of the Six-Pack Running Series at 11 a.m.

Quick News Bits:

The names have been named when it comes to the new owners of Marble Brewery. We are scheduled to sit down and interview them this Friday before we head up to WinterBrew in Santa Fe (which sold out this morning, FYI).

Rumor Brewing has launched a Kickstarter campaign to build a new playground for all the children of their customers who could use a fun place to play. Check out this link for more information.

New winter hours at Flock of Moons are noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, noon to 11 Thursday, and noon to midnight Friday and Saturday.

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.

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: Chuck’s Pilsner (5.4% ABV), a single-hop and single-malt lager made with malt from Schwebach Malz in Estancia.

Bosque Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Potato Cannon (6.3%), a sweet potato porter that won’t take a door off a car.

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: Frosty Mesa (5% ABV), a crisp German-style pilsner, is now available in cans and on draft.

Boxing Bear Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Scotch Rocket (7.5% ABV), a classic wee heavy, now available in cans and on draft.

Brekki Brekki — Featured seasonal: Cherry Stout, on draft for a limited time.

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: Mint Porter (4.7% ABV, 35 IBU), which is way better than those little mint and chocolate candies they leave in fancy hotels.

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. Only the Grand Cru and Pecan Pie are still on tap in Corrales.

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

Flock of Moons Brewing — Featured seasonal: Tomorrow Begat Tomorrow (10.2% ABV), a big, sweet, not too yeasty Belgian dark strong.

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: Winter Doppelbock, a hefty lager to get you through the chilly season.

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: La Madera Mild (5.5% ABV, 22 IBU), a chewy little biscuit of an English-style brew that is perfect before or after a day on the hiking trails around Cedar Crest.

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: Wakin’ Bacon (7.2% ABV, 20 IBU), a smoked maple brown ale brewed in collaboration with Boxing Bear, it’s quite the dessert ale.

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: Red Velvet Cake Stout (8.2% ABV), a not-too-sweet dessert beer that hides the ABV rather well.

The Tatted Bee Brewhouse — Featured seasonal: Tatted Stout, a nice and chewy dark ale of decadence.

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: Tatooine Spring (7.8% ABV), the imperial amber is back for another run.

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: Last Chair Pale (5.1% ABV), a limited-release collaboration ale with Wanderlust Brewing of Flagstaff.

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