Stoutmeister

Beer Notes: New Mexico claims 3 of final 8 spots at NIPAC again

Once again, the little items added up, so for the second week in a row we have a notebook to empty. NIPAC domination continues The fourth round of the National IPA Challenge, hosted by The Brewing News, is complete with three of the five remaining New Mexico entries advancing to the quarterfinals. This marks the…

Bosque announces second Insider event for next week

It has been a little while since the first Bosque Brewing Insider event back on December 2. Fear not, it shall not be the last of those events, as they have just announced a new Insider event for Thursday, March 10. Bosque general manager Jessica Myers invited me over to chat about it. The cool…

The Week Ahead in Beer: Santa Fe doubles up on the release parties

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 four breweries and a pair of newcomers, one down in Socorro and the other in Los Alamos, also joining the party. Santa Fe Brewing has always been…

R.I.P. Chama Microbar, our tiny trail blazer of a taproom

A little piece of Albuquerque’s craft beer history died on Monday. The Chama River Microbar, the tiniest little taproom attached to the back (west) side of the Sunshine Theater, abruptly closed its doors for good. There was just the sad sign pictured above, plus a few messages from the staff letting longtime patrons know that…

Beer Notes: New Mexico keeps rolling at National IPA Championship

Lots of little news tidbits demand a roundup, thus, Beer Notes is back! Locals keep rolling at NIPAC Five of the six remaining New Mexico entries advanced to the fourth round of the Brewing News National IPA Challenge. Of course, only five could advance since Bosque’s Scale Tipper and Boxing Bear’s Uppercut were going head…

The Week Ahead in Beer: A big blast of barleywine at Blue Corn

Quarter Celtic shines at their soft opening

All of us in the Crew get some variation of the question, “Why do all of this without getting paid?” on a pretty frequent basis. Well, mostly it is because we just love craft beer and supporting our local scene. But, let’s face it, there are certain fringe benefits. One of these was the fact…

Bow & Arrow hits the mark with their initial beer lineup

While I was away in Arizona, Bow & Arrow Brewing threw open their doors and welcomed the thirsty masses up here in Albuquerque. They became the fourth new brewery to open since the start of 2016, joining an increasingly crowded scene. Once I got caught up on everything (mostly sleep), I trekked over to Bow…

How to run a better fest courtesy of our neighbors in Arizona

After returning from my weekend beer sojourn to Phoenix, I struggled to come up with some sort of follow-up post. Some sort of review involving a slew of beers that cannot be acquired in New Mexico seemed pointless, so I almost let the memories of the Arizona Strong Beer Festival fade away. Then it occurred…