Broken Trail shakes things up with new brewer

My running joke with Matt Simonds, owner of Broken Trail Spirits & Brew, is that at least once a year he has to totally change up some part of the operation. Recently, Matt needed more space at the original location on Stanford for his increased production — especially for contract production of a nationally distributed, canned Moscow…

Boese Brothers’ Los Alamos taproom quietly opens its doors

Los Alamos is a pretty small town, so most people here are probably already aware that Boese Brothers’ latest taproom opened two weeks ago. I was out of town and missed the grand opening, and I finally made it over last Wednesday. It’s about what you’d expect: a cool vibe, a few big screen TVs,…

Ullrfest signals the end to summer at last

After a long, hot summer that’s still pretty hot, it may seem strange to have a beer festival dedicated to snow, but it’s happening at Pajarito Ski Area near Los Alamos this Saturday. Ullrfest is an annual tribute to Ullr, the Norse God of Snow. The hope is that with enough people dressed in Viking…

Marvelous Marblefest features a slew of new brews of a German variety

Long ago, Marble Brewery used to hold Septemberfest in its back parking lot downtown, featuring other breweries from around the state offering up their autumn beers. As the brewery grew and expanded, eventually swallowing that parking lot, Septemberfest disappeared into the memory of festivals gone by. Then along came Marblefest, a full-on German-themed beer event…

Cantero Brewing goes all out with 1st anniversary block party

The past chronicles of Cantero Brewing have noted that going from concept to opening was not an easy process, so please excuse the folks there if they want to throw one jumbo-sized party to celebrate a year in business. “Honestly, all the things we went through this year, it was definitely a challenge,” co-owner Kane…

New-look Nob Hill Bar & Grill aims to become a craft beer haven again

It was only a few years ago that Nob Hill Bar & Grill was regularly packed with beer geeks, there to enjoy a special tapping, tap takeover, or a giant introductory event for an out-of-state brewery new to town. Quietly, though, those nights seemed to fade away, until most events moved elsewhere. Well, if the…

An ode to the season of the wet hop beers in New Mexico

The other day a series of videos were posted by the folks at Bathtub Row Brewing in Los Alamos that showed the harvesting of the fresh, wet hops for their Ancones Wet Hop IPA. That was followed by Wednesday’s surprise arrival of Fresh Hop Eliot IPA at Ex Novo Brewing in Corrales (it was made…