It was around this time last year when a fan of the Brew Crew told us that we should write up a post about all the brewery memberships/mug clubs around town. To us that sounded like a great idea and then, well, something happened. We got busy and 2012 sprinted to such a sudden end…
Author: Stoutmeister
Former sports writer in Tucson, LA, and Burque. Now I write about craft beer, which is a totally reasonable way to support my hobby of spending afternoons and evenings indulging in the finest stouts, lagers, and more.
Stout (Day) philosophy: What makes a great dark beer
Howdy, all. It’s Stoutmeister. My personal holiday that I totally came up with is upon us. Yes, Friday is International Stout Day. Wait, you mean I don’t get credit for that? Oh. Well, can I get a free pint of stout? Please? Pretty please? Anyway, it really is International Stout Day, so get on out…
Roosevelt Brewing well worth the trek to Portales
Editor’s note: While working on a film crew recently, Porter Pounder was in the Clovis-Portales area in Eastern New Mexico and asked all of us if there was anything to do there. I told him to stop by Roosevelt Brewing and check it out. He did that and wrote up a full review of the…
Beer Notes: A festival for Cruces, Dead pints, Hopfest winners
Happy Friday everyone. Stoutmeister here with a grab-bag of beer news and notes. I would ask if you all had a fun Halloween, but it seemed strangely quiet out there. Save for a show at Sister Bar and the kids trick-or-treating, putting the great holiday on a Thursday meant a lot of folks put it…
The Stumbling Steer starts to rumble to life
It has been a while, over a year in fact, since a new brewery (Bosque) opened in Albuquerque. After a long drought, there are some new breweries on the horizon, the biggest and most ambitious of which is The Stumbling Steer. The Steer is located in the old west side Quarters near the intersection of…
Hopfest in Review: A proper farewell to festival season
There was a bittersweet feeling as the Crew left Hopfest on Saturday afternoon. It stemmed not from any disappoint in the event — it was quite the opposite, in fact — but instead it came with the realization that beer festival season in 2013 was coming to a close. Even though the year itself is…
To properly tackle Hopfest everyone needs a battle plan
Hopfest is big. There are 62 breweries serving up samples for thousands of beer lovers. In other words, it is not the place to just walk into and wander about. Nope, you need a plan, a battle plan. Luckily, the Dark Side Brew Crew is here to provide one. It’s what we do. In terms…
Bosque prepares to celebrate one year of great beer
Bosque Brewing is growing up right before our eyes. This Saturday the north side brewery will celebrate its one-year anniversary with a party for its loyal customers and anyone else who wants to join. I sat down with brewers Gabe Jensen and Ryan Jameson to talk about Saturday’s festivities, as well as looking back to…
The history of Hopfest: Brew it, and they will come
As craft brewing has exploded in New Mexico, so have the size and popularity of our beer festivals. Look no further than Albuquerque Hopfest, which kicks off its sixth annual run this Saturday at Isleta Casino. Thousands of beer lovers will descend upon the festival to try beers from over 60 breweries from New Mexico…
Beer Battle: The greatest pumpkin ale of them all is …
Way back in the spring the Brew Crew staged a mini-beer battle between the four varieties of Irish Red that were on tap around town. Here in the fall, pumpkin beers have become the predominant seasonal of the moment, even rising above Oktoberfest-style beers. A few years back I, Stoutmeister, wanted nothing to do with…
