Another Friday, another sad closing announcement for a local brewery. This time around, B2B Garden Brewery was the one sharing an abrupt, final farewell on Facebook. It followed in the footsteps of Lava Rock closing on a Friday in December. The brewery shared this message: Dear B2B Garden Brewery Community,We’re sad to announce that after…
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.
Rio Bravo hones in on what works and sees some considerable growth
Just as there is in life, there is a desire for balance at a brewery. Whether it is simply knowing how many events are too many, or focusing on a few beers instead of trying to brew every style imaginable, success can often come down to finding that balance between ambition and practicality. For Rio…
The Week Ahead in Beer: At least the stouts aren’t scary at Tractor
The good folks at the Wells Park location have been running Tractor of Terror, a weekly horror/sci-fi movie screening, every Thursday for quite a while now. This week they picked out the movie that I, personally, was scared of more than any other as a child. My dad showed me The Thing when I was…
The Year in Beer: The Crew picks our favorite local brews of 2023
We are not beer critics. Oh, sure, we will review a beer every now and again, but our mantra from the beginning has been information over opinion. Still, toward the end of every year, we will often talk to one another about what our favorite local beers were over the prior 12 months. Sometimes we…
The director’s chair: Edmonston reflects on her 1st year with NM Brewers Guild
To kick off the 2024 portion of the current run of Look Back/Look Ahead Series articles, I managed to catch up with New Mexico Brewers Guild executive director Ebbie Edmonston over the phone before things start to get a bit crazy for her up in Santa Fe. After all, she has a key board of…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Ex Novo adds new option for Dry January
Last year at this time, we suggested it was still possible to support breweries during the slowest month of the year for business, even without drinking, by doing things like just buying food or merchandise. Dry January is and will continue to be a big thing for some folks, even those who spend much of…
The Thunder From Dortmunder Cup: Picking the best beer name of 2023
Many breweries love to come up with clever names for their seasonal and specialty beers. We love reading those names, and then drinking the beers. Over the course of the past year, we jotted down a list of our favorite beer names, and after double-checking that we didn’t miss any by going back through every…
The mostly complete guide to New Year’s hours at NM craft breweries
As we do for most significant holidays, as a public service we attempt to compile all the brewery hours of operation for whatever is up next. In this case, it is New Year’s Eve and Day, which leads to some odd hours and closings, as breweries debate staying open late, closing early, or closing entirely…
The Year in Beer: Breaking down a wildly inconsistent 2023 for breweries
It was a weird year. Yeah, we could probably say that a lot about past 12-month stretches in New Mexico, but for some reason, 2023 just felt strange. Only one new brewery opened in Albuquerque. Two closed, one with the intent of moving to Moriarty, and a fan-favorite taproom will bid adieu this weekend. Two…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Closing out 2023 with a farewell to a taproom
Just when we thought this would be a quiet week, an old rumor was proven true when Boxing Bear announced that this weekend will mark the final days of its West Downtown taproom. The location at 1710 Central Ave. SW will close its doors after a two-day farewell party this Friday and Saturday. The first…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 