Stoutmeister

The Week Ahead in Beer: Options abound for St. Patrick’s Day fun

Greetings, New Mexico craft beer lovers. Stoutmeister here with The Week Ahead in Beer. This column covers all the breweries in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, with Santa Fe’s six breweries, one in Los Alamos, and one in Moriarty also joining the party. We noted last week that there might be a few possibilities for some…

Steel Bender goes big for its 1st anniversary

The good folks at Steel Bender Brewyard are fond of pointing out the fact that they never technically had a grand opening last year. To make up for it, they are stretching out the one-year anniversary of Los Ranchos’ brewpub over four days this week. Here is the lowdown of what is happening on each…

National IPA Challenge: Only 2 New Mexico entries remain

The many brackets of the National IPA Challenge are down to just a few remaining hop bombs, with only two New Mexico entries advancing to the fifth round. Bosque’s Scale Tipper, a two-time past champion, and Canteen’s Hop Baller are all that remains from the original list of 42 local beers that started the competition….

Northwest by Southwest: Ex Novo Brewing coming to Corrales

A big Northwest brewery is coming to a small Southwest town. Ex Novo Brewing of Portland, Oregon, will open a new location in Corrales, which happens to be the hometown of its owner, Joel Gregory. Joel and I sat down over lunch and brews at Steel Bender a while back. He just got the green…

Sierra Blanca looks to carry one golden year over into the next

Sierra Blanca Brewing put itself back on the map in 2017 and has no intention of disappearing again this year. The big/little brewery in Moriarty took home a number of medals and began to repackage and relabel many of its long-time beers. To catch up on this buzz of activity east of the Sandias for…

The Week Ahead in Beer: Calm before the Irish storm

Greetings, New Mexico craft beer lovers. Stoutmeister here with The Week Ahead in Beer. This column covers all the breweries in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, with Santa Fe’s six breweries, one in Los Alamos, and one in Moriarty also joining the party. The calendar does not lie, as one of the biggest drinking holidays of…

Bosque North inching closer to completion in Bernalillo

Bosque North has been a long time coming. After numerous delays, fits and starts, and plenty of headaches, the old Jackalope Building on Highway 550 in Bernalillo is finally taking shape. I took up brewmaster John Bullard on his invitation to stop by for a visit on Friday. We grabbed our hard hats and headed…

Scale Tipper prevails in all-New Mexico showdown at National IPA Challenge

The results of the third round of the National IPA Challenge popped up a little early online this weekend, with five New Mexico entries advancing in three brackets. Bosque’s Scale Tipper, which claimed the title in 2015 and 2016, advanced to the fourth round at the expense of Quarter Celtic’s Mor-Buck. I actually had the…

The Big Apple likes the big brews from Quarter Celtic

A social media photo crossed our desks on Tuesday of the Quarter Celtic staff happy as can be in the wake of the New York International Beer Competition naming their brewpub the best of the best in New Mexico. We had never heard of this competition before, so I braved the traffic on San Mateo…

The Week Ahead in Beer: Celebrating the downtown art (and brew) scene

Greetings, New Mexico craft beer lovers. Stoutmeister here with The Week Ahead in Beer. This column covers all the breweries in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, with Santa Fe’s six breweries, one in Los Alamos, and one in Moriarty also joining the party. The City of Albuquerque is celebrating its vibrant downtown with an Artwalk the…