Bright spots are hard to find amid all the gloom of the pandemic these days, but the craft brewing industry in New Mexico continues to move along even under difficult conditions. Any time we hear of a new brewery still coming to fruition, it gives us a small moment of joy. The newest addition to…
Author: Stoutmeister
Four New Mexico breweries bring home five medals from 2020 GABF
The fastest Great American Beer Festival Awards ceremony in history — these things happen when it is all virtual — saw four New Mexico breweries claim five medals on Friday night. Two golds, two silvers, and one bronze are all coming home from the annual competition, which was still held even as the festival itself…
Only a handful of New Mexico breweries enter the GABF competition in 2020
Though the actual festival part of the Great American Beer Festival did not happen this year in Denver, the competition for medals still went on, albeit with far fewer New Mexico breweries participating than in years past. As of the time of publication of this article, only 10 breweries (UPDATE: now it’s 12) told us…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Rio Bravo concludes Oktoberfest season with a feast
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 eight breweries, one in Los Alamos, one in Moriarty, one in Red River, one in Silver City, and one in Truth or Consequences also joining the party….
Nexus Brewery boldly goes to the next frontier — canning its beers
The news that Nexus Brewery was preparing to can its own beers had slowly trickled out over the last few months, but there was still nothing 100-percent official as to when those cans would arrive at both locations. Well, the cans have landed, and are officially on sale now, with a big release party on…
High and Dry Brewing finds a novel way to keep local bands performing
All of us in the Crew have been missing live music since the pandemic put a halt to concerts, big and small, at our breweries and other music venues. We have, at times, watched internet broadcasts of some of our favorite metal bands from overseas, and we have also taken notice of many local bands…
The Week Ahead in Beer: The first bounty of the foeder is ready at Bow & Arrow
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 eight breweries, one in Los Alamos, one in Moriarty, one in Red River, one in Silver City, and one in Truth or Consequences also joining the party….
Aluminum can shortage begins to hit NM breweries where it hurts
The buzz about a nationwide aluminum can shortage has been getting louder in the last couple of months. We have been waiting and wondering when it was truly going to hit our craft breweries in New Mexico, and starting late last week we started asking around via email. It is not something that will hit…
Beer Notes: Ex Novo makes a big change to its year-round lineup
While working on some longer features, a bunch of beer notes materialized on the proverbial desk that are in need of publication. Here we go … Ex Novo replaces one of its staples Every week, I receive a copy of the New Mexico Brewers Guild’s newsletter via email. Down at the bottom are brewery classifieds,…
Rio Bravo wins the 2020 NM IPA Challenge by the closest of margins
We kinda figured that the take-home edition of the 2020 New Mexico IPA Challenge was going to produce some surprises. The big surprise was the first-time winner, beating out two stalwarts of the hop-forward part of our local beer scene. Rio Bravo Brewing took home the trophy with 22 votes, followed closely by two-time past…