E-Rock and Stoutmeister’s Excellent (Beer) Adventure

As some may have read in our Beer Weekend post, E-Rock and I (Stoutmeister), have set off on a road trip of epic epicness to our neighboring state of Arizona. While E-Rock, brilliant in music and math but slow in typing, works on a review of Flagstaff’s landmark Beaver Street Brewery (it was his first…

Beer Weekend—On the road again

This week has been just a tad chaotic. At least for the sports writer in this group, who has barely had a chance to breathe while spending hours at the Pit and Santa Ana Star Center. The good news is the weekend is almost upon us, which means the high school basketball tournament is almost…

Finding beer throughout New Mexico

The current roster of the Dark Side Brew Crew is based in Albuquerque, but we put that NM before our name to show that while we love our hometown microbreweries, we also enjoy all the fine styles from around the state. With the weather warming up, but the economy still scuffling along, more and more…

Finding beer throughout New Mexico (part two)

Author’s note: This post got a bit big, so I split it in two. For the Northern New Mexico beers, see above; this half covers the breweries that are all located in towns and cities south of the ABQ metro area. Socorro Springs Brewing: Now technically none of the in-house beers here are made in…

Shadow boxers, milk mustaches and more midweek beer joy

It’s been a busy week already, but before I became a semi-permanent resident of both The Pit and the Santa Ana Star Center for the state basketball tournament, I managed to trek out to try a couple new beers here in ABQ. First up was the Shadow Boxer Black IPA at Chama River. It appears…

Beer Weekend—Finding time for beer amid the chaos

This is the first of what we hope will become a weekly feature in which all the members of the Crew try to figure out what they are doing for the upcoming weekend, beer-wise. We hope to inspire others to set forth and explore our local breweries, or in some cases those locations outside the…

Turtle Mountain: A reason to visit Rio Rancho

Folks here in Albuquerque like to make fun of Rio Rancho. They tend to use the famous quote “there’s no there there” when describing the sprawling suburb (which, by all accounts, hates to be called a suburb). RR residents probably snipe away at ABQ every chance they get, probably while stuck in traffic on Coors…

The Belgian Invasion Begins

Well, it’s that tough time of year for dark beer lovers. The invasion of the white ales has begun. Those super-sweet, high ABV beers, usually just called Belgians, have begun to arrive at local breweries. The Professor Emeritus and I were hanging out at La Cumbre on Thursday afternoon when the first arrived. The Professor…

Lazy afternoons at Il Vicino

Stopped by the Il Vicino Brewery Canteen with E-Rock, Shilling, and the Professor Emeritus of Beer on a quiet Monday afternoon. There is something about the Canteen that just lends itself to a slow-down-and-enjoy-a-pint kind of day. Located at 2381 Aztec Rd. NE, the Canteen sits just about a block north and then a block…

Tractor Update: One Step Forward

Tractor Brewing got some good news at the Nob Hill Neighborhood Association meeting on Thursday night. The governing panel voted on whether or not to push through an amendment to the ordinance that prevents packaged liquor sales in Nob Hill, which keeps Tractor from selling growlers out of its taproom. In a show of support…