After a really busy week, just about every member of the Crew is looking forward to this weekend. Anyone that reads this blog probably realized that, considering we did not come with a single post since the previous Beer Weekend entry that went up last Friday. Rest assured, Shilling and Cryptogrind will have multiple posts…
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.
Beer Weekend—We drink our own
Stoumeister here, on the eve of a big event for the Dark Side Brew Crew. Saturday will mark the world debut of Cryptogrind’s homemade ESB. The Crew will gather at his house for food and the first tasting of his first beer. I will let him take you through the plans below, but let it…
Quick review: La Cumbre gets its Irish on
La Cumbre is at it again. Just when beer lovers thought the hops were in full command of the brewery, Jeff Erway and company flipped the script and concocted an Irish red ale and an oatmeal stout, perfect for March. With Shilling and the Professor Emeritus of Beer in tow, I dropped on by LC…
Arizona Adventure: Back in the Old Pueblo
Stoutmeister here. My last major stop during the Arizona spring break getaway was my old college haunt of Tucson. I attended the University of Arizona from 1996 to 2000, celebrating a national basketball championship and spending far too much time drinking instead of going to class. Remarkably they gave me a degree, and even more…
Arizona Adventure: Baseball and Beer
While E-Rock has returned to ABQ, Stoutmeister kept busy visiting spring training ballparks and stopped by some of the remaining breweries in the Phoenix metro area. Ballparks are not exactly bastions of the craft-brewing movement. They tend to stick to the same, dull macro-brews found at convenience stores and supermarkets across America. With E-Rock in…
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…
