New Mexico breweries clean up at 2 big beer competitions

Four New Mexico breweries combined to win six medals, including three golds, at the annual North American Beer Awards this past weekend. La Cumbre was not one of those breweries, but it did earn the trophy for King of the Can at the annual Burning Can Festival hosted by Oskar Blues. The NABA medals were…

Bosque serves up a new project with an uplifting twist

While doing a weekly perusal of pending small brewer licenses, the Crew stumbled upon a new one that threw us off for a minute. Restoration Pizza by Bosque Brewing was a new addition, but also one we had heard nothing about. After contacting the Bosque staff, they were also a bit surprised. That was due…

Blazin’ Brewfest features strong lineup from across New Mexico

The annual Blazin’ Brewfest is set for today (Friday) along Main Street in downtown Las Cruces. A total of 18 breweries will be present, some from as far away as Abiquiu, Clovis, Santa Fe, and Taos, to many of the Albuquerque breweries and the locals down south. Things kick off at 5 p.m., with tickets…

Southwest Grape and Grain shines in its new home

For anyone that was still unaware, Southwest Grape and Grain has moved to a new home at 3401 Candelaria Blvd NE on the north side of the street just west of Carlisle. As the Crew’s main home brewer at this point, I, Franz Solo, headed over to meet with owner Donavan Lane to get a…

Toad Fest boasts strong lineup of unique beers

Last year, the Crew was heading back from our tour of the southeast breweries when we made the rather crazy decision to suddenly head over to Silver City to catch Toad Fest at Little Toad Creek. This small-but-fun festival, run by the NM Brewers Guild, is a fun way for folks in the southwest corner…

New brewer seeks to unlock the potential of Red Door

A few months ago, the Crew was surprised to see an advertisement for a head brewer position at Red Door Brewing. We were less surprised by the identity of the person who eventually earned the right to succeed founding brewer Wayne Martinez. Matt Meier, formerly of La Cumbre and Marble, has taken the reins at…

Marble turns 10: Packing the week with one fun event after another

In case anyone has somehow missed it, Marble Brewery is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week. The first in a wave of modern craft breweries in New Mexico, Marble has set so many standards for the industry that we felt it would only be appropriate if we went out and put together a week’s worth…

Tart at Heart returns for a 4th go-around at Sister

Sour lovers can rejoice for the fourth time as Tart at Heart is set to return to Sister on April 14 from 2 to 5 p.m. To get the scoop, I sat down with organizer Angelo Orona of Craft King Consulting over beers this week. “It’s going to be a similar approach as the (three)…

The NMDSBC presents the 2nd annual Cask Festival at Blue Corn

This Friday, Blue Corn is hosting their second annual Cask Festival at the southside location, bringing together at least half of the operational breweries north of La Bajada hill. OK, Burqueños, that’s that big hill between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Blue Corn organized this special event with seven excellent breweries on the roster, including one…