Back before he left Thirsty Eye, head brewer John Kofonow told us that his final days would be spent working with other breweries on some new collaborations for all to enjoy. Well, two of those collabs dropped this week, and with a three-day weekend ahead, there is no time like the present to check them out. First up, Thirsty Eye and Ponderosa released The Last Dance, a Mexican-style black lager that checks in at a sessionable 4.2-percent ABV. It’s on tap at both breweries. Arriving just after that is the unique Viridis Vita, a cucumber/basil/key lime gose that is an equally ABV-light 4.3 percent. That one is on tap at Thirsty Eye and Flock of Moons. Thanks for the parting gifts, John! And, if everyone is a little patient, another collab between multiple breweries will drop soon. If you love fresh-hop beers (it’s that time of year), then you’ll all be pretty delighted with this one.

New Draft:

Starr Brothers tapped Therewolf, their Oktoberfest märzen. Steel Bender will release Billy and The GOAT Pale Ale, a fresh-hop beer whose proceeds will benefit Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (big high five to the SBB staff for that), this Friday.

Up in Los Alamos, Bathtub Row’s website had been static for a while, but now a whole new lineup of beers is listed including Oz’s Oatmeal Stout, Ctrl-Alt-Repeat (Altbier), Hop Freeze Cold IPA, Noble Pils, Summer Blooms Pale Ale, and Sir Bramling’s Golden Ale. Down south, Truth or Consequences Brewing brings back True Moon, their orange wheat ale, this Thursday.

New Package:

Ex Novo, amid all the Lagerhosen hullabaloo, released Fresh Hop Mass Ascension IPA in cans and on draft, and let us tell you, it’s damn good this year. Gravity Bound brought back their classic West IPA, Pistola, in cans and on draft. Downshift released their Oktoberfest lager in cans and on draft.

Notable Events:

Today (Wednesday) — Poetry & Beer is back at Tractor Wells Park at 7 p.m.

Thursday — Painted Lady has back-to-back events with Pints for Pink, benefiting Pink Warrior House, at 5 p.m. and Brains & Brews at 6:30 p.m.

Friday — ArtWalk is back downtown, and both Ex Novo (centered at Sammy’s Cafe & Deli) and Sidetrack will have vendors, art openings, and of course Adobe Disco will perform at the latter from 6 to 11 p.m. on the patio.

Author Cody Polston returns to Painted Lady for another edition of New Mexico’s Most Haunted at 7 p.m.

The First Fridays Comedy Contest is back again at Tractor Wells Park at 8 p.m.

Saturday — Tractor Wells Park hosts the second annual For the Love of Lymphoma, benefiting Blood Cancer United Light the Night, from 2 to 9 p.m. There will be vendors, live music, and more.

Sunday — The First Sunday Market returns to Tumbleroot Agua Fria from 2 to 6 p.m.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales will celebrate their 10th anniversary with a huge party all day, and fear not, our man in Santa Fe will have a full preview (and some big additional news) later this week.

Monday — La Cumbre will co-host the Labor Day Patio Party at ABQ Press Club starting at 5 p.m.

Quick News Bits:

Painted Lady will be closed Saturday for a private event. Sidetrack will be closed Monday for their annual staff camping trip.

Canteen has a case sale going on this Friday and Saturday. Grab a full case and get $10 off, or if you just want a six-pack, you get $2 off. Also this Friday, Canteen will give anyone with a teacher’s ID pints for just $5. They will keep this going every first Friday going forward at both taprooms.

If anyone missed the news, this weekend is the grand finale for Blue Heron Brewing on Highway 68 in Northern New Mexico. After 16-plus years in business, the owners have decided to retire from brewing.

Albuquerque metro area breweries

Boese Brothers Brewery — Featured seasonal: Zeus Juice White IPA (8.3% ABV), loaded with Citra and Centennial hops, it is a big and flavorful seasonal IPA.

Bombs Away Beer Company — Featured seasonal: N/M38 Lager (4.8% ABV, 30 IBU), a Mexican-style lager made with all locally grown malts.

Bow & Arrow Brewing — Featured seasonal: I Like Big Buttes (8% ABV) not only has arguably the best beer name of the year so far, it’s also an outstanding classic DIPA available in cans and on draft.

Boxing Bear Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Old Grizzled Bear (5% ABV), an English-style pale ale, made for fans of the old school hop-forward brews.

Brekki Brekki/Cantina Craftworks — Featured seasonal: The beers made at Brekki Brekki are for the entire restaurant collective under the Cantina Hospitality Group banner. Contact each location for what’s on tap.

Brew Lab 101 Beer & Cider Company — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Calavida Cantina — Featured seasonal: Celtic Hermano (6.1% ABV, 42 IBU), this stout (not this batch) was the first one they brewed on the system in the old Boxing Bear space.

Canteen Brewhouse — Featured seasonal: Dangerous Goods (6.2% ABV, 40 IBU), a modern take on an IPA, courtesy of the combined forces of Canteen and Boxing Bear, and available in cans and on draft.

Casa Vieja Brewery — Featured seasonal: Duke’s Red Irish Ale (5% ABV), a brewery original back on tap for a limited time.

Differential Brewing — Featured seasonal: Matcha Ginger Blonde (5% ABV) is the current seasonal on tap.

Dripline Brewery — Featured seasonal: Super Bloom APA (5.4% ABV), a sweet, floral pale ale that goes quite well with the new lineup of tasty smash burgers from the kitchen.

Ex Novo Brewing — Featured seasonal: German Overalls (5.8% ABV), the traditional märzen is back in cans and on draft.

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

Flock of Moons Brewing — Featured seasonal: Neumond (4.7% ABV, 26 IBU), an absolutely brilliant interpretation of the German schwarzbier (dark lager) style.

Gravity Bound Brewing — Featured seasonal: Night Hike (5.4% ABV), a delectable Czech dark lager.

High and Dry Brewing — Featured seasonal: Unbalanced Breakfast (4.8% ABV), an oatmeal stout with a low ABV that still boasts a lot of flavor.

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: Lion Hearted IPA (5.9% ABV, 60 IBU), a quaffable English-style hoppy ale.

La Cumbre Brewing — Featured seasonal: Oktoberfest (5.9% ABV, 32 IBU), basically the local gold standard for a märzen, available in cans and on draft.

Lasso Brewing — Featured seasonal: Kolsch, which has recently been released for the first time in cans and on draft.

Marble Brewery — Featured seasonal: Lager Du Blanc (5.3% ABV), a single-hopped lighter lager that will help finish off summer.

Nexus Brewery — Featured seasonal: Kyoto Gold Summer Lager (4.9% ABV), described by the brewery as a “Japanese-inspired refreshing (lager), Kyoto Gold combines flaked rice with subtle Lemondrop hops for a delicate citrus finish.”

Painted Lady Bed and Brew — Featured seasonal: Boogedy Boogedy Boo!, a robust porter that’s excellent for spooky nights, now with Indonesian vanilla added for a limited time.

Ponderosa Brewing Co. — Featured seasonal: Bellamah Detour (6.7% ABV, 30 IBU), an imperial brown ale named for the recent road construction in the Sawmill District.

Quarter Celtic Brewpub— Featured seasonal: Vienna Lager, the most awarded one-off that keeps coming back because, well, it brings all the medals to the brewery.

Rio Bravo Brewing — Featured seasonal: Somos Brewnidos (5.2% ABV, 18 IBU), a New Mexican lager perfect for patio days or United games, with a portion of the proceeds from draft and can sales going to the Somos Unidos Foundation.

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: Dimestore Cowboy (7% ABV, 90 IBU), a delightful, kinda old-school hop bomb.

Starr Brothers Brewing — Featured seasonal: Tamale Wood Nights (4.8% ABV, 27 IBU), an international amber lager that goes great with World Cup matches this summer.

Steel Bender Brewyard — Featured seasonal: Oktoberfiesta (7% ABV), because autumn is a state of mind, and this beer will get you there early in cans and on draft.

Sunday Service Motor Company — Featured seasonal: Still closed for renovations.

The Tatted Bee Brewhouse — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

Thirsty Eye Brewing — Featured seasonal: Shut the Front Dort, a good lager with one of our favorite beer names of all time.

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

Tractor Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Old Wizard Fingers Doppelbock (7.2% ABV), a delectable dark lager.

Turtle Mountain Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Turtle Claw Hard Seltzer (7% ABV), and yeah, they requested we highlight the seltzer, so that’s what we’re doing because we’re nice. It’s not our thing, but it might be yours.

Unhinged Brewing — Featured seasonal: A Ton of Fruit, a prickly pear wheat ale.

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.”

Nuckolls Brewing — Featured seasonal: Coal Car (5.5% ABV), an oatmeal stout that’s just one of 11 house beers now available.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales — Featured seasonal: Second-String Loser (9.6% ABV, 26 IBU), a Belgian golden strong ale.

Santa Fe Brewing Company — Featured seasonal: Oktoberfest (6% ABV), the classic German-style lager is back in cans and on draft.

Second Street Brewery — Featured seasonal: Butterfly IPA, a true session IPA with an ABV under 4 percent, available in cans and on draft.

Travel Bug — Featured seasonal: A reader tipped us off that this brewery in a travel bookstore has started rotating beers now, and currently on tap are Suelo Red Ale, Flaxon Ale, and Pale Ale.

Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery — Featured seasonal: Festbier (6.6% ABV), a traditional German lager that was just tapped earlier this week.

Other breweries you need to visit

Bathtub Row Brewing — Featured seasonal: Oz’s Oatmeal Stout (5.4% ABV), one of a whole slew of new(ish) beers on tap.

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.

Jemez Mountain Brewhouse — Featured seasonal: Señor Lager, which as you may have guessed from the name is a Mexican-style lager.

Open Space Brewing — Featured seasonal: Hidalgo (5.5% ABV), a classic hefeweizen to tide you over while waiting on certain other German-style beers to arrive on tap.

Red River Brewing and Distilling — Featured seasonal: Contact the brewery for an updated list of seasonals.

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

Truth or Consequences Brewing — Featured seasonal: La Bete (15% ABV), a monstrous yet beautiful imperial brut saison.

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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