The masses have spoken, and the West Coast IPA has not lost its crown just yet. Boxing Bear Brewing won its third New Mexico IPA Challenge trophy in the past four years, with its Bear Knuckle II fending off a host of hazy competitors. Bear Knuckle racked up 102 votes to fly past Bosque (72)…
Category: IPA Challenge 2019
IPA Challenge: Survival guide for final round at Bow & Arrow
Every year as a public service, the Crew likes to provide a sort of survival guide for those who are new to the New Mexico IPA Challenge. The final round will be held at Bow & Arrow Brewing this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., and we highly recommend that you buy tickets in advance,…
A few thoughts on the Santa Fe round of the NM IPA Challenge
After all’s been done, there’s just a bit left to be said before we head on to the next and final round of the 2019 New Mexico IPA Challenge. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves on Saturday. There was a really nice turn out this weekend for the Santa Fe leg of the competition. Tumbleroot proved…
IPA Challenge: Boxing Bear extends its lead in Santa Fe
Our man Luke was at the second round of the New Mexico IPA Challenge on Saturday afternoon, but we will cut him some slack and let him enjoy all those hop-forward ales while we do a quick recap of the competition. Boxing Bear, which edged out Icebox 17 votes to 16 in the first round…
Tumbleroot digs deeper during their first year (Part 2) and hosts the IPA Challenge
For part two of Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery’s first year in Santa Fe story, it would be a huge disservice to only talk about the beer. Yes, we’re all about the beer in the Dark Side Brew Crew, but when we talk to a brewery and distillery, with its main taproom doubling as an upscale…
IPA Challenge: Boxing Bear barely fends off Icebox in 1st round
The results are in from the first round of the 2019 New Mexico IPA Challenge, held today at Picacho Peak Brewing in Las Cruces. Two-time past champion Boxing Bear garnered 17 of the 65 votes cast, one more than the only Southern New Mexico brewery in attendance, newcomer Icebox Brewing (16). Perhaps the biggest surprise,…
Brewery staff members choose final 15 combatants for NM IPA Challenge
A collection of 45 brewers and other brewery representatives gathered at Central New Mexico Community College on Saturday afternoon to judge the top IPAs in the state that will take part in the public rounds of the New Mexico IPA Challenge. The results were, well, surprising, with a few well-known breweries left off the list,…
NM IPA Challenge goes private before public gets to tally its own votes
The 2019 edition of the New Mexico IPA Challenge kicks off this Saturday with the annual preliminary round, but there are changes afoot. The biggest change is that the preliminary round is no longer open to the public. “This year, they wanted to make it a little more along the lines of GABF judging,” said…
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