Nexus warps ahead to fresh adventures with a new brewer at the helm

Posted: April 5, 2018 by Franz Solo in Look Back/Look Ahead Series 2017-18
Tags:
1

New head brewer Randy King is happy to be home and at the helm of Nexus.

Over the span of the past few months, Nexus Brewery has experienced the transition from head brewer Kaylynn McKnight, who is now with the forthcoming Toltec Brewing, to new head brewer Randy King. I sat down with Randy on a lovely spring evening over a few samples of what he had on tap, including our stalwart favorites and a few new recipes to boot. Irish Red was up first. We also talked about the transition and what else is to come for Nexus in 2018 and beyond in one of our final installments of the Look Back/Look Ahead Series for 2017-18.

Solo: Yeah, this is nice, crisp with just a hint of sweetness.

Randy: The idea here was to be as traditional as possible, nice and crisp and dry. I think it has turned out pretty well, nice and bright.

Solo: But, you do get that little bit of sweetness there, which is kind of that balancing act of lagers in general is finding that spot between too sweet and too bready or too dry. I think you did quite well with this.

Randy: The second one is New Mexico Snow (IPA), which is supposed to be a more aromatic beer with a good bit of citrus, some melon, and with a really light malt presence and color. On this one I’m really happy with how bright it came out.

Solo: That is super bright, very crisp, and easy drinking.

Randy: This one is the anti-kick-you-in-the-mouth IPA, the smooth IPA where you get all of the florals from the hops.

Solo: It has that resinous character to it rather than the bitter kick.

Randy: Those hop oils are really shining through. That was really the goal, to let the hops shine in this beer instead of having more malt presence, have the malts just in the background.

Solo: Doing later hop additions mostly? (Later additions tend to add less bitterness and more aroma and tropical flavors from hops as the oils are not all boiled out as you would get from a longer boil time.)

Randy: Yeah, a lot of late additions, a lot of Citra in this beer with a significant dry hopping as well. That one was inspired by 3 Floyds’ Arctic Panzer Wolf. (A ludicrous double IPA from the creators of Zombie Dust and Crew favorite Dark Lord.)

Solo: You kind of have to in order to get the aroma you are going for. That’s kind of the name of the game for a lot of these up-and-coming IPAs these days with super-late additions for hops, almost no bitterness. That stylistic shift is somewhat of a precursor you could say to the NEIPA style. This actually kind of reminds me of a beer that Stoutmeister and I had up at Comrade Brewing on the south side of Denver where they had a golden ale hopped with Citra, which gave this same sort of delightful crispness.

Randy: Nice, I know those guys are well known for their IPAs. You ready to try this next one? All right, so this is our Hot Chocolate Porter.

Solo: There is a helluva lot of chocolate in there, nice little kick in the back, too. You were going for something with a little bit of spice in it?

Randy: It’s got 20 pounds of cocoa and 30 pounds of lactose in there, and some cayenne to finish.

Solo: Cayenne does pretty well with spicing. I just did an imperial stout myself with a little cayenne and red chile, and the same thing with this porter, it gets that nice, warming tickle in the back of your throat, but it’s not overpowering in terms of flavor. This tastes just like Mexican hot chocolate, very good.

Randy: It is interesting to find the balance with the cayenne, because you can get too much in there pretty easily. I love New Mexico green chile, but I’ve had a hard time finding a green chile beer that I like.

Solo: It’s kind of funny because every time I meet a new brewer in town I say please give me a good green chile beer.

Randy: So have you found any yet?

Solo: Not anything that is regularly available, unfortunately.

Randy: So I’m actually really pleased with how all three of these seasonal beers turned out; of course the consumer is going to decide ultimately, but I’m really happy with them.

Solo: I can definitely sort of see your take on things in these, your own style coming through with your own nuances that differ a bit from Kaylynn before you. I think you are stamping out on your own pretty quickly which is excellent.

Randy: Kaylynn is awesome, she’s a super cool person. She did a lot of great things here and she’s been really nice to help me with questions and any problems I’ve had over here and really set a good base for me step into. I’m looking forward to trying her stuff out at Toltec Brewing.

The Hot Chocolate Porter is pretty much as advertised, and delicious, too.

We then turned somewhat to Randy’s background as a brewer and a bit about his take on everything from different styles to the Great American Beer Festival.

Randy: I was a hophead for a really long time, and I do love my IPAs, but the longer I’ve been a brewer, I’ve really started to appreciate lagers and pilsners more and more.

Solo: Yep, right there with you. I started off drinking Stone back in the early 2000s, but these days well, the last couple I brewed are a Schwarzbier and a Pilsner.

Randy: Something you can cruise with, rather than the hard and quick end-your-night beer, with those you can just cruise for awhile.

Solo: Yardwork beer is what I call it a lot of the time.

Randy: Like a lawnmower beer. You mentioned Stone. I used to live out there in San Diego, so we would visit Stone and Green Flash back in the day.

Solo: So where are you from originally?

Randy: I grew up in Belen and went to Belen High School, and then went off to college. I’ve been gone for about 20 years and moved back in January. My mom is here and I’ve got a brother and a sister, nieces and nephews that live here.

Solo: You’ve come full circle in a sense, returned to your original home. What brought you to Nexus specifically?

Randy: It was a great opportunity where I would get some creative license. Interviewing with Ken (Carson), he seemed to be a very reasonable person to work with and he’s turned out to be a really fun person to work with. And then, to be blunt, my mom’s health isn’t great, so it was really nice to be able to get back and help her and help the family. I was brewing at Angry Inch Brewing in Lakeville, Minnesota, that is part of the Minneapolis metro area. That was a lot of fun, I love those guys, they are super cool, it’s a little 7-barrel place. I was at a production facility before that at 612 Brewing right by US Bank Stadium (home of the Minnesota Vikings), which was a good experience as well.

I started my commercial brewing in Boise, Idaho, so I’ve really kind of gone around the states a little bit. I’ve got some Pacific Northwest training. Ron Thomas, my head brewer in Boise, was amazing, and then I got some really good experience in Minneapolis, so I have those influences from there. I actually took Tom Hennessy’s course years ago, so I do have some Albuquerque training as well because he was one of the original partners in Il Vicino. That’s my brewing history in a nutshell.

We discussed a bit on the topic of Nexus’s GABF medal-winning Honey Chamomile Wheat and Imperial Cream Ale (not to fear, these recipes will assuredly remain the same great beers you know and love) alongside our Brew Crew experience this past year, and Randy had this to say about GABF.

Randy: Speaking of GABF, I’ve got to say that I’m a veteran of GABF. Last year was my 20th year at GABF.

Solo: That is, well, impressive.

Randy: I know my way around there pretty well, it has been a lot of fun. I’ve got a group of friends that all go up together and we do all of the sessions and I plan on doing it again this year.

Solo: That’s quite the commitment.

Randy: Yeah, I missed one year out of 21 years. I figure I’ve got to be up there as far as attending since it is 36 years old now, so I’ve got to be in the top 10 percent of most attended at this point. I don’t know what that gets me, but hey.

Solo: You’ve gotten to see firsthand the changes over time of this whole industry, community, all of the different trends, coming and going.

As far as the look ahead and what we can expect from Nexus in the coming year, Randy and I covered everything from the upcoming anniversary, anticipated upcoming seasonal beer styles, and expansion.

Randy: So I do have some ideas for beers in the future, (including) a New England IPA. Ken really wants to do a big, nasty IPA, so a big, bitter, kick-you-in-the-mouth kind of IPA.

Solo: Kind of our state standard at this point.

Randy: Our anniversary party is coming up (in May), so we are talking about doing a smoked stout for that.

Solo: We haven’t had a good smoked stout in a while here. We’ve had porters that were good, but a stout would be nice as well.

Randy: The idea of it is kind of for our new location, which is Nexus Blue Smokehouse, which will be a barbecue smokehouse (that) I’m excited about. It is going to make my job harder keeping up with production, but I live down that way so I can eat more barbecue. That’s one of the best perks about working here is that the food is fantastic, so that’s a pretty good deal.

Solo: Yeah, we’ve been coming here for years and enjoyed the chicken and waffles and pretty much everything else that we’ve tried. (We are) definitely excited for the new location as well.

Randy: So those are on the radar, and then I want to do a gose, a lemon wheat beer, and a barleywine. Gose is a style that I have a real personal interest in making because I think it is a really fun style. It’s delicious and on a hot day there’s not much that is better. Your lawnmower beer is great, too, but to have a nice, tart beer on a warm day is fantastic. Those are kind of the ones on my radar right now. The new smokehouse is going to be great as well.

Solo: Is there an official date for the opening?

Randy: It is supposed to be around three months out.

Summertime BBQ and Smokehouse, you say? Count us in! If the standard offerings at both Nexus locations are any indication, we are in for a real treat with the prospects of brisket and ribs from the forthcoming Nexus Blue Smokehouse.

We then tackled the topic of the brewhouse, which Stoutmeister noted in his book, Albuquerque Beer: Duke City History on Tap, has had a long run since its first use at Assets Grille in the 1990s.

Randy: Me stepping here and learning this brewhouse, I’ve been here two months and I’m starting to get in a much better groove now to understand this brewhouse.

Solo: There is always going to be that learning curve. Every system has its own little tweaks, its own little changes, and you ever have to change a piece of equipment you are going to have to go through that same learning process again. You really get to know the ins and outs, the nuance.

Randy: Yeah, for sure, we’ve been talking about upgrading a lot of this (brewhouse equipment) and that could happen in the next year. We might go to 15 barrels instead of all of those 7-barrel fermenters we’ve got back there. Of course if we go to 15s then all of the 7-barrel brite tanks would be outta here, and we’d do 15-barrel brite tanks all around the brewhouse. The brewhouse itself could get upgraded to a 15-barrel as well. That might actually be the first piece, (but) we will see. There’s talk of those upgrades so it will be fun.

* * * * *

It all sounds like fun indeed, from some tasty sounding seasonal brews, a possible brewhouse upgrade, and the upcoming opening of Nexus Blue Smokehouse. We are excited for the delicious offerings that will assuredly be coming our way in all forms of delectable smoked meats and the requisite accoutrements to boot. Rest assured, Nexus is in great hands with Randy and we in the Crew cannot wait to see what he’s got coming our way in the remainder of this year. So dear reader, when the need for soul food and some fine beverages strikes your fancy, you simply cannot go wrong with a day spent in the Nexus.

Live long, and prosper.

— Franz Solo

Advertisements

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

Posted: April 4, 2018 by Luke in Beer in Santa Fe, Events, News
Tags: , , , , , ,
1

My Post-42

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 brand-new, not-yet-open (as of the writing of this article) place, Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery. Blue Corn has always been a great host for beer dinners. If you’ve read my articles, you’d already know it’s going to be an excellent way to spend your Friday night.

Why cask ales, you ask? Well, we all have mixed opinions about cask ales. Some of us enjoy them, some of us are indifferent. Some brewers don’t like to serve beer in them, but they’re a part of the industry, and some would argue it’s draught beer at its best. And, though the process has been around for ages, it’s not likely to go away any time soon, because it’s a part of beer history, and another interesting way to experience something we love.

With cask ales, something else is going on in the beer that makes it different and special, not just a foamy pour from a tap. You see, the active yeast used to carbonate the beer in these metal vessels continues to age the beer all the way until it has been tapped. As the beer ages and conditions, the CO2 created by the yeast will dissolve into the beer, smoothing out the flavors, blending as a painter does colors, and toning down the sharpness of the hops.

Oftentimes, and in a few of the cases below, brewers will add special ‘extras’ to these beers to give them a significant change in flavor profile, something they (as businesses) couldn’t do on a much larger scale, such as additions of fruit, extra dry-hops, honey, and so on. These flavors continue to condition with the beer, and give it more complexity than it had at the outset. Perhaps it loses something in the mouthfeel and in the warmer temperature, but it is still a fun way to test your palate with new flavors. Just imagine, for a minute, that if you could just cut straight through some of the high rocky peaks, you could discover the dense and beautiful vegetation at the bottom of the valley. And, there’s a history lesson in the process, if you really want to get into it. But, let that be your icebreaker at the event.

fullsizeoutput_288

Casks from the first Cask Festival at Blue Corn Brewery last year.

Blue Corn Brewery is no stranger to cask beers. As the title of the festival suggests, it’s not the first rodeo for the brewery. In fact, it’s not even the second. Blue Corn has held a few of these sorts of events in the past, and to great success. At one time, the brewery even used to release cask beers every Friday at the Draft Station in downtown Santa Fe. (Ah, the good ole’ days.) The best part of this event is that seven breweries are coming together on one night, to chill out, to laugh, to talk about everything from brewing process to mash paddle size … er, you know, brewer stuff. And, they’re totally accessible to you, the customers, if you’re not shy.

IMG_9326

Dave “Merkin,” head of R&D at Santa Fe Brewing Co., pours us a beer.

Go up to the guys with beards, glasses, or fruit-forward shirts. You’ll find them in the corners of the event — they’re the ones laughing the loudest, and having the most fun because they’re all buddies. They know how to enjoy these things, but, it’s not an exclusive club. These guys are friendly and will absolutely tell you about their favorite beer styles, favorite (other) breweries, favorite brewed beers, and so on. And, if you’re not feeling as chatty as I am after a couple beers, just ask them which brewery they brew for, and thank them for the hard work they do. Not all heroes wear capes, my friends.

fullsizeoutput_28a

An appetizer from last year’s event.

Included in the price of these seven cask ales are seven appetizers of Blue Corn’s chef’s creation. In my experience, these bites have always been worth the price of admission, even without the beer.

Menu:

Blue Corn Brewery: Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with Cherries

            -Black Cherry Mousse with Chocolate Shavings

Santa Fe Brewing Co.: 7K All Day IPA

            -Marinated Pork Taco with Pickled Onions, Lime Cabbage and Cilantro

Duel Brewing: Fiction Belgian IPA with French Oak and Kaffir Lime Leaves

            -Salmon Ceviche with Habanero and Mango

Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery: Dry Irish Stout with Honey

            -Traditional Irish Stew

Second Street Brewery: XX ESB dry-hopped with Chinook and EKG

            -Beer Battered Alaskan Cod with Malt Vinegar Crisps

Bathtub Row Brewing Coop: Hoppenheimer IPA with Lemondrop Hops

            -Apple-Lemon Mini Cupcake with Mint

Rowley Farmhouse Ales: Biere de Garde with Brettanomyces

            -Gorgonzola Grilled Cheese with Herbed Portobello

Blue Corn was gracious enough to host this event, and we have a good number of participating breweries, but one is so new, that they haven’t sold a single beer in public, to my knowledge. Friday night at Blue Corn Brewery will be your first guaranteed chance to try a beer from Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery. I reached out to Jason Fitzpatrick, co-founder and manager of business operations, and asked him a few welcome-aboard questions.

DSBC: What does it mean to Tumbleroot to officially join the Santa Fe (as well as the whole New Mexico) beer scene?

Fitzpatrick: Joining the ranks of the talent brewers and operators in New Mexico is quite an honor. (Jason) Kirkman and I hatched the idea that was to become Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery two-and-a-half years ago, and the road was tough to get to this point. After many ups and downs throughout the process, we certainly have a greater appreciation for all of those who paved the way.

DSBC: What do you look forward to most about becoming part of this very vibrant scene? And, what are your hopes for your new establishment?

Fitzpatrick: We look forward to bringing something new and exciting to Santa Fe and New Mexico. We are inspired by bits and pieces of our experiences at taprooms, bars, restaurants, cocktail parties, family gatherings, concerts, and travels, and aim to bring all the best of those into one community-centric space. With a capacity for 400 people, our taproom can serve many different experiences at once. We hope that we have succeeded. We hope to become a second home for Santa Feans, and to inspire others to explore and connect with the community.

IMG_5810

Tumbleroot is here, as we saw with Jason Kirkman at Winterbrew 2018.

Why you should go?

For one thing, it’s always fun to taste a beer that’s exclusive to one event. It’s not something everyone can say they’ve had. And, it’s not something you’re likely to find again. The cask beers are usually very interesting, and certainly on the ‘extra’ end of the spectrum.

The food will be excellent and inspired, as it always is, because Blue Corn has a reputation to uphold for its beer dinners. I haven’t been let down yet.

Finally, this is a great opportunity to actually go up to and speak with brewers about what they do, how they make your beer, and what kind of beers they might be making next. Who knows? Your crazy suggestion might just end up in one of their fermenters and on the chalkboards. Or, as in my case, you might convince the brewer to brew something you once loved that’s no longer in the rotation.

The second annual Santa Fe Cask Fest is THIS Friday at 6:30 p.m. The cost of $30 per guest gets you a pour of each cask ale and seven appetizers, and a chance to shake the hand of most of the Santa Fe brewers. It’s a ticket with a built-in VIP pass, and you’re cordially invited. I look forward to seeing you there! To more beer beer events in Santa Fe, and a rapidly growing independent craft scene, we raise them up, cheers!

For reservations call 505-984-1800, or email manager@bluecornbrewery.com.
Address: 4056 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87507

— Luke

2017NMIPACround2-3

If you see me at the event, say, “Hey!” I promise to be on my most reasonable behavior.

The Week Ahead in Beer: Charities, brunches, and belly dancers abound

Posted: April 4, 2018 by cjax33 in The Week Ahead in Beer
Tags: , ,
1

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 six breweries, one in Los Alamos, one in Moriarty, and one in Las Cruces also joining the party.

Stoutmeister puts on his serious face to handle The Week Ahead in Beer.

Stoutmeister puts on his serious face to handle The Week Ahead in Beer.

There are a whole lot of unique events going down this week. It all kicks off Friday, which is of course the first Friday of the month, meaning the Downtown Art Walk is back. As in the past, the downtown breweries and taprooms will participate, including Duel and Sidetrack. That same night, the Desert Darlings are celebrating the second anniversary of Sirena World Dance Studio at Kaktus in Bernalillo. The free show kicks off at 7 p.m. There are three events going down Sunday. This Saturday, Second Street will be donating a share of every beer sold in Pints for Parkinson’s at all three locations. First up is a brewers brunch at Marble Heights starting at 11 a.m. The cost is $30 per person, which gets you plenty of food, beers to pair with it, and a chance to chat with the Marble brewers in a more intimate setting. Tickets are available at the taproom. Up in Santa Fe, Rowley Farmhouse Ales is hosting another Pulls 4 Pups, this time featuring a tap takeover by Santa Fe Brewing, starting at 11:30 a.m. Sales benefit Street Homeless Animal Project. To wrap it all up, Duel ABQ is hosting a double charity event from 4 to 7 p.m. Kids Supporting Kids NM is a charity that helps children fighting cancer, while NMDOG supports freeing chained dogs throughout the state. There will be live music and raffles with prizes in a family-friendly setting.

On the new beer front this week, there are a few options to check out. Bosque hops to Standing on Giants IPA and goes sweet with Not Your Average Latte. Bow & Arrow rolls out Desert Rambler Hefeweizen on Thursday. Dialogue tells everyone to Stay Golden Gose on Friday. Kaktus has fresh batches of Pub Ale, Blond Ale, Oatmeal Stout, and Irish Red. Ponderosa deals out some Triple IPA and Peach Wheat Ale. Sidetrack brings back its popular Pilsner just in time for the warmer weather. Starr Brothers resurrects Don’t Fear the RIPA while also adding Peppy Redlocks. Steel Bender teams up with High & Dry for some Zest Out. Turtle Mountain will tap some Bocky Mountain High later this week.

Up in Santa Fe, Blue Corn goes dark with some fresh Black Thought IPA.

Continue reading for all the news that is fit to blog for the week of April 2.

To break down each “capsule,” I listed the brewery (with Web page linked), its phone number and hours of operation. Under “Beers” are the new or seasonal beers on tap for this week.

Albuquerque metro area breweries

Ale Republic — (505) 281-2828

(Mon–Thurs 2–10 p.m., Fri–Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: Brune, Blonde, Strong Dark and Handsome, Eagle Claw, Tokyo Black, Single and Ready to Mingle, Bernalillo Weisse, Best Coast IPA. The Bernalillo Weisse is the most recent addition, and a tremendous name.

Alien Brew Pub — (505) 884-1116

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–2 a.m., Sunday 10 a.m.–midnight)

Beers: Call the number above for details on any small-batch beers currently available. They change frequently. The rest of the lineup is from the Sierra Blanca/Rio Grande family of beers.

Bistronomy B2B — (505) 262-2222

(Mon–Tues 4-9 p.m., Weds noon-9 p.m., Thurs–Sat noon-9:30 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

The Blue Grasshopper — (505) 896-8579

(Noon to 11 p.m. most days, call for more info)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

Live Music: Bands perform from 6 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday through Saturday. Click the link for the schedule.

Boese Brothers Brewery — (505) 382-7060

(Hours: Mon–Thurs 3 p.m.–midnight, Fri 3 p.m.–2 a.m., Sat noon–2 a.m., Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: La Onza White Ale, Dr. Strangehop XPA, Duke City Lager, Washington’s Hatchet, Double Dead Red, Super Kreak, TruBlu Pilsner, Black IPA. The current seasonals include the Super Kreak, TruBlu, and Black IPA.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Boese will have a happy hour from 3 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with $3 pints. You can also get $3 pints all day Tuesday and $6 growler fills all day Wednesday.

Bombs Away Beer Company — (505) 554-3204

(Hours: Mon–Sat noon–10 p.m., Sun noon–8 p.m.)

Beers: BABC IPA, Willie Pete Wit, Low Order Porter, Operation Single Hop, Proximity Pilsner, Actuator IPA, Boom Stick Brown, SNAFU Oatmeal Stout, Hazy Chain DIPA, M1A1 ABQ Common, Imperial Session IPA, High Speed Low Drag Lager. The most recent addition is the Operation Single Hop, but get ready, Wild Card, a new saison, and The RED Ale debut this Friday.

Bosque Brewing Company — (505) 750-7596 (main brewery), (505) 508-5967 (Nob Hill Public House), (575) 571-4626 (Las Cruces Taproom)

(Main brewery on San Mateo: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-midnight, Sun noon-8 p.m.; Nob Hill: Mon–Weds 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Thurs 11 a.m.-midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-1 a.m., Sun noon-11 p.m.; Las Cruces: Sun–Thurs noon-11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon-midnight)

Beers: Driftwood Oatmeal Stout, Scale Tipper IPA, IRA, Standing on Giants IPA, Down in the Hollow, Not Your Average Latte. The malt-forward beers are in charge for a while, with Down in the Hollow, a brown ale, back for another run.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Bosque has a happy hour running from 3-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and all day on Sunday. Look for special menu items and get $1 off your favorite pints.

Bow & Arrow Brewing — (505) 247-9800

(Mon-Weds 3–10 p.m., Thurs 3–11 p.m., Fri 3 p.m.-midnight, Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–9 p.m.)

Beers: (House) Sun Dagger (Saison), True Aim (Scotch Ale), Denim Tux Lager, Nomadico IPA, Savage Times Sour IPA, Visionland Amber Ale; (Seasonal) Cosmic Arrow Brett Saison, Way Out West Sour Sumac, Thirsty Land: Foraged Series (Grisette), Saison de Blanc, Roam Free DIPA, Cake Bandit, Desert Rambler Hefeweizen. Bottles of Dark Mesa, a barrel-aged quad with brett, are still on sale at the brewery, but the supply is limited. Bottles of Cosmic Arrow will be released this week as well. Cake Bandit, an imperial German chocolate cake stout, was the most recent addition on tap. Desert Rambler will be added to the taps Thursday.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Bow & Arrow has happy hour every Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Get $1 off pints.

Boxing Bear Brewing Company — (505) 897-2327

(Sun-Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-11 p.m.)

Beers: Low Rye-der IPA, Featherweight Session IPA, Sucker Punch DIPA, Bear Trap Hoppy Ale, Bear Knuckle IPA, Red Knuckle Irish Red, Tropic Thunder IPA, The Red Glove. The most recent additions are The Red Glove, Tropic Thunder, Red Knuckle, Bear Knuckle, and Bear Trap. The Chocolate Milk Stout is on the regular and nitro taps.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 8-10 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Every day at lunchtime (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), for just $10 you can get a pint and a panini of your choice.

Broken Trail Brewery & Distillery — (505) 221-6281

(Mon-Thu 3-9 p.m., Fri 3-10 p.m., Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.-8 p.m.)

Beers: Otero ESB, Lone Pine Pilsner, Sancho Saison, Pepe the Mule, Double Black, Raspberry Kolsch. OK, fine, Pepe the Mule counts as a beer, even though it is basically a Moscow Mule, but it was made with beer. Double Black and Raspberry Kolsch are the most recent additions.

Canteen Brewhouse — (505) 881-2737 (brewery), (505) 200-2344 (taproom)

(Brewery: Sun–Thurs noon–10 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–midnight; Taproom: Open daily 3–10 p.m.)

Beers: Irish Red, Tuttle IPA, Obey the Darkside, Marzen, Schwebock, Super Smalls Session IPA, Oat Brown, Steel Can Stout. Steel Can is a collaboration with Steel Bender, if the name was not a dead giveaway. The Oat Brown will run out Thursday, when Pop’s Pilsner returns just in time for baseball’s opening day. Get a pint of Pop’s with chips and a hot dog for just $7 while watching America’s pastime.

Live Music (Brewery): Thursday—Dust City Opera, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—TBA, 4-7 p.m.

Live Music (Taproom): Saturday—TBA, 5-8 p.m.

Cazuela’s Seafood & Mexican Grill — (505) 994-9364

(Open daily 8 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Papacabra (Double IPA), Acapulco Gold (Mexican Lager), Chupacabra IPA, Piedra del Fuego Stoned Cream Ale, Beer for My Horses (Oatmeal Stout). These are the regular house beers. Call the number above for an updated seasonal list.

Dialogue Brewing — (505) 585-1501

(Mon closed, Tues 4-9 p.m., Weds 4-11 p.m., Thurs-Sun noon-midnight)

Beers: Belgian Citrus IPA, Berliner Weisse, Sour Raspberry, Idiot Sauvin, Belgian Cherry Wheat, Coffee Lager, 505 Lager, Moloko Plus Milk Stout, Micro Hands Session IPA, Munich Dunkel, Blood Orange Gose. The most recent additions are the Dunkel and Blood Orange Gose, at least until Stay Golden Gose joins them on tap this Friday.

Live Music: Friday—Sloan Armitage, 6 p.m.

Other Events: Saturday—We Are This City Wrap Party, 8 p.m.-midnight

Weekly Events: Monday—Service Industry Night, 6 p.m.

Drafty Kilt Brewing — (505) 881-0234

(Sun 11 a.m–10 p.m., Mon closed, Tues–Thu 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–midnight)

Beers: Groundskeeper Willie Cream Ale, Wee Beastie Scottish Ale, Campbell Toe IPA, Outlamber Amber, Obliviscaris Oatmeal Stout. The Obliviscaris is back, having replaced the Covfefe Hefe, and boy does it taste good, as we proved with a fourth-place finish at our Stout Challenge. Take note, Drafty Kilt is now closed on Mondays.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—X-Ile Open Mic and Acoustic Jam, 7 p.m.; Saturday—Karaoke with Tobyriffic, 6-10 p.m. (every other week); Sunday—Karaoke with Tobyriffic, 3-7 p.m.; Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: $1 off pints and 20-ounce pours, Mon-Fri, 3-6 p.m.; “Just Because We Love You Club,” happy hour prices at all times for teachers, first responders, law enforcement, and military with ID; Growler Fill Days on Thu and Sun, $2 off new growlers, $1 off refills

Flix Brewhouse — (505) 445-8500

(Open daily 11 a.m.-midnight)

Beers: Nebulas New England IPA, Dr. Brownstone, Stuntman Light Lager, Say It Loud Coffee Stout. The Dr. Brownstone, Stuntman, and Say It Loud are the most are recent addition. Go try them out while watching Black Panther for the first (or 10th) time.

High and Dry Brewing — (505) 433-5591

(Mon closed, Tues-Thurs 2-10 p.m., Fri-Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Ghost of a Moon Pale Ale, Hurry Sundown Wheat, Freedom Cage IPA, True Horizon Red Wheat, Freedom Cage with Mandarina Bavaria. Welcome to the listings, High and Dry! It has been a busy first few weeks for the new brewery at 529 Adams St. NE, just south of Lomas. All five of the beers listed should be available as High and Dry gets its lineup set.

Hops Brewery — (505) 369-1378

(Sun-Thurs noon-10 p.m., Fri-Sat noon-midnight)

Beers: Dad Joke (California Common), Tipsy Cow (Milk Stout), Warm Scottish Nights, An Irish Tan (English Bitter), Honey Wheat, Chica (Pale Ale), Hop Hill IPA. Hops has started out with these seven beers on tap, but they also have 31 more guest taps, just in case you don’t find one to your liking. The Hop Hill (7.1% ABV, 69 IBU) was the most recent addition.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Open Mic, 7-9 p.m.; Friday—TJ the DJ, 9 p.m.-midnight; Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.

Kaktus Brewing — (505) 379-5072

(Mon-Thu 2-9 p.m., Fri-Sat 11:30-10 p.m., Sun 11:30-9 p.m.)

Beers: Helles Lager, Puddle Stomper IPA, Doppelbock, California Common, Pub Ale, Blond Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Irish Red, Cider, DjinnJar Kombucha. The most recent additions include the Pub Ale, Blond Ale, Oatmeal Stout, and Irish Red.

Live Music: Sunday—Sunday Fun Day Jam Sesh, 3 p.m.

Other Events: Friday—Sirena Studios 2nd Anniversary with The Desert Darlings, 7 p.m.

Weekly Events: Sunday—Brunch, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., The Desert Darlings, 6-8 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Kaktus has several new weekday specials, including $3 pints on Monday, $9 growlers on Tuesday, $6 bison nachos on Wednesday, and $8 Frito pie and beer on Thursday.

Kellys Brew Pub — (505) 262-2739

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sat 8 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun 8 a.m.-10 p.m.)

Beers: (house) Apricot Ale, American Lager, IPA, Lobo Red Ale, Session IPA, Sleeping Dog Stout, 35 N Coffee Porter, Common; (seasonal) German Pilsner, Capspackler DIPA, Dortmunder, Oak-Aged Natalia. The lineup got a bit of a makeover, with American Lager and Common joining the regulars, bumping out the Blonde. The Natalia was originally made at Chama River and dear lord it was dark decadence in a glass. Get some quick before it runs out!

Live Music: Every Wednesday 6-9 p.m. and Sunday 3-6 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Thursday Pint night $1 off pints.

La Cumbre Brewing — (505) 872-0225

(Open every day at noon)

Beers: Helles Lager, Cascade SMASH, Black Berry Briar, Orange Choco Nitro Milk Stout. Make IPA Clear Again, the collaboration with Denver’s Comrade Brewing, has already come and gone. There are still cans of Helles Lager and Black Berry Briar available at the brewery.

Lava Rock Brewing — (505) 615-2802

(Sun-Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-midnight)

Beers: All guest taps for now. Welcome to the listings, Lava Rock! We just wanted everyone to know that the kitchen is up and running and some unique guest taps from other local breweries are available now at 2220 Unser Blvd. NW. When the house beers appear, we will let everyone know.

Lizard Tail Brewing — (505) 717-1301

(Mon–Weds noon-9 p.m., Thurs–Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-7 p.m.)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Lizard Tail’s happy hour runs seven days a week from 3 to 6 p.m. You get $1 off food, flights, and pints.

Weekly Events: Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 8 p.m.; Thursday—Karaoke, 8-11 p.m.

Marble Brewery — (505) 243-2739 (downtown), (505) 508-4638 (Westside), (505) 323-4030 (Heights)

(Downtown: Mon–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10:30 p.m.; Westside: Mon–Thurs noon–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10 p.m.; Heights: Mon–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10:30 p.m.)

Beers: Chocolate Pinky, Stout Americano, Smoked Helles, Jarrylo Red Ale, Cholo Stout, Passionate Gose, Paddy McNitro, Session White, From the Wood Saison (Downtown and Westside only), Session IPA (Downtown and Westside only), El Gabacho (Heights and Westside only), Imperial Red (Heights and Westside only), White Out (Heights and Westside only), Double IPA (Heights and Westside only), Nitro Pub Ale (Westside only), Marble Pale Ale (Westside only). There are so, so many beers between the three locations. Don’t feel bad if you can’t get to them all. The Double IPA, From the Wood Saison, Session IPA, Nitro Pub Ale, and Marble Pale Ale are the most recent additions, plus White Out is back. You can also get a Black & Tan made from Paddy and the Amber at all locations. Stout Americano is back at all locations, on tap and for sale in bottles. Remember, too, that Cholo Stout, Double IPA, and Imperial Red are now available in six-packs!

Live Music (Downtown): Today (Wednesday)—Eugene, 6-9 p.m.; Thursday—Big News, 7-10 p.m.; Friday—Cordova with Smokin’ Blue, 8-11 p.m.; Saturday—Groupe Therapy, 8-11 p.m.; Sunday—STIG, 3-6 p.m.

Live Music (Heights): Friday—Tres Pendejos, 7-10 p.m.; Saturday—Jade Masque, 7-10 p.m.

Live Music (Westside): Friday—Underground Cadence, 8-11 p.m.; Saturday—Picoso, 8-11 p.m.

Other Events (Heights): Sunday—Brewer’s Brunch, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Weekly Events (Downtown): Saturday—Brewery tours, 2 p.m.

Nexus Brewery — (505) 242-4100 (brewery), (505) 226-1055 (Silver Taproom)

(Brewery: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; Silver Taproom: Mon–Fri 4-10 p.m., Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: New Mexico Snow IPA, Hot Chocolate Porter, Irish Red. New brewer, new seasonals as Nexus has Snow IPA and the cayenne-infused Chocolate Porter available now, plus Irish Red is back for another run.

Happy Hour/Discounts (Brewery): Monday–Friday, $5 appetizers, 3-5 p.m.

Weekly Events (Silver Taproom): Saturday—a live DJ will perform; Sunday—a live band will perform at 2 p.m.

Palmer Brewery and Cider House — (505) 508-0508

(Tues–Sat 3–9 p.m.)

Beers: MWA (Malt With Attitude), Guero (Belgian Wit), Pool Session Pale Ale, Cockness Monster (Scotch Ale), Switch Stance Stout. Palmer shares a building with Left Turn Distilling on Girard south of Candelaria. This batch of Cockness Monster is fresh and tasty.

Ponderosa Brewing Co. — (505) 639-5941

(Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: Hefeweizen, Gold Medal Pilsner, Triple IPA, Toasted Cinnamon Stout, Peach Wheat Ale. Yes, the Toasted Cinnamon Stout was made with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal made in collaboration with the local General Mills facility. Triple IPA and Peach Wheat Ale are the most recent additions.

Quarter Celtic Brewpub — (505) 503-1387

(Sun–Thurs 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.)

Beers: Coco Orastie (Orange) Stout, Clark IPA, Test Batch #1 IPA, Dark Pedro, Kill or be KILT. The Clark and beastly-but-good Test Batch both advanced to the third round at the National IPA Challenge. Dark Pedro and Kill or be KILT are the most recent additions.

Red Door Brewing — (505) 633-6675 (brewery), (505) 990-3029 (downtown taproom)

(Brewery hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri 11 a.m. to midnight, Sat 7 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Downtown taproom hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Wyoming taproom hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

Beers: Putin on the RIS, Strong Scotch Ale. The Strong Scotch is back on tap. Putin on the RIS is a Russian Imperial Stout, in case you couldn’t guess, and it’s quite tasty.

Weekly Events (Brewery): Monday—The Draft Sessions, 7-9 p.m.

Weekly Events (Downtown Taproom): Today (Wednesday)—Paint it Black Open Mic Comedy, 7-9 p.m.; Thursday—Art at the Bar, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; Sunday—Parents’ Day Out, noon-3 p.m.; Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7-9 p.m.

Rio Bravo Brewing Company — (505) 900-3909

(Mon noon–10 p.m., Tues–Thu noon–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–1 a.m., Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Rio Bravo Amber, Weizen, Dirty Rotten Bastard IPA, Snakebite IPA, Roadkill Red Ale, La Luz Lager, Barrel-Aged Porter, Vanilla Porter, NM Pinon Coffee Porter, Oatmeal Stout, Level 3 IPA, Lemongrass Wit, Blueberry Mint Gose, Imperial Kolsch, Razberry Sour, Belgian IPA, Pink Boots Pale Ale, Marzen, Grapefruit Launcher IPA, Schwarzbier, Cherry Cuvee, Cascade Pale Ale, Porter 4 Humanity, Grab ‘Em By the Putin (Russian Imperial Stout). There are two barrel-aged beers on tap in the Porter and Putin. The Blueberry Mint Gose is the most recent addition. There are also guest taps featuring beers from around the state now available.

Live Music: Saturday—Lonn Calanca Band, 8 p.m.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Loungy Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m.; Friday—Headliners Comedy presents Friday Night Fools ($5 cover, event only), 9:30 p.m.; Sunday—Pints & Planks with Yoga Zo; Family Funday, 2-5 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Happy hour Monday-Friday, 2-6 p.m., $1 off pints

Sidetrack Brewing — (505) 832-7183

(Mon–Thurs 3–11 p.m., Fri 3 p.m.–midnight, Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–6 p.m.)

Beers: Co-Mo IPA, Railhead Red, Guera American Blonde Ale, Dark Engine Stout, Buzz Bomb, Pilsner. The Pilsner is the most recent addition. Buzz Bomb is a delicious coffee pale ale made in collaboration with the folks next door at Zendo.

Cask: The Pilsner and Railhead, with orange zest, are in the firkins.

Starr Brothers Brewing — (505) 492-2752

(Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day)

Beers: Starrstruck IPA, L.A. Woman (Blonde), Red Zepplin, Lampshade Porter, Brown Chicken Brown Cow, Starrphire Pilsner, Phantom Limb Black Rye IPA, The Green Manalishi, Don’t Fear the RIPA, Peppy Redlocks. The most recent additions are Don’t Fear the RIPA and Peppy Redlocks.

Steel Bender Brewyard — (505) 433-3537

(Sun–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: (house) Skull Bucket IPA, Red Iron Red, Sparkfitter Amber, Lloyd’s 3 O’Clock Kolsch, Blue Bullet Stout, Steel Bender Lager, The Village Wit; (seasonals/specialties) Skull Crusher DIPA, Centorado XPA, Manana Tropical IPA, Out to Pasture (Saison). The most recent additions are the Out to Pasture, Steel Can, Centorado, and Manana. This Thursday will feature the arrival of Zest Out, an orange coffee beer made in collaboration with Humble Coffee and High & Dry Brewing. There are still bottles of The Judy, a peach saison aged in Chardonnay barrels, along with the anniversary beers, Ingenio and Bullet Reserve, for sale at the brewery.

The 377 Brewery — (505) 934-0795

(Open noon-11 p.m. most days)

Beers: (house) 377 IPA, Dieterhosen Hefe, El CuCuy (DIPA), Fat Brown Guy (Porter), Red Horse NM Lager, Schwarzbier, Berliner Weisse, Naked Ale (Pale); (seasonals) Loonies Lime Saison, Short Wee Heavy, Milk Stout, Peach Wheat, Kolsch, Scottish Ale, Say Juan Saison, Skin Walker Triple IPA, Plum Cherry Sour, Imperial Cream Ale, BBA (Barrel-Aged Dark Lager). A trio of new additions hit taps this week with Plum Cherry Sour, Imperial Cream Ale, and BBA, which is made with coffee, cocoa, and vanilla.

News: Bottles of Bourbon Barrel-Aged Milk Stout aged with dark cherries and Scottish Wee Heavy aged with sweet cherries are still available.

Weekly Events: Sunday—Open Mic/Jam Session, 5 p.m.

Tractor Brewing Company — (505) 433-5654 (Nob Hill), (505) 243-6752 (Wells Park), (505) 243-6752 (Four Hills)

(Nob Hill: Sun–Weds noon–midnight, Thurs noon–2 a.m., Fri–Sat noon–2 a.m.; Wells Park: Mon–Thurs 3 p.m.–close, Fri–Sun 1 p.m.–midnight; Four Hills: Sun–Thurs 11 a.m.–midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–2 a.m.)

Beers: Dry Gulch IPA, Pete’s Porter, Blood Orange Cider, Explora G&T Cider, Tupac Cali Red Ale, Lemon & Honey, Nitro Milk Stout (Wells Park only), Oud Bruin (Wells Park only), Ghost Ranch IPA (Wells Park and Nob Hill only), Spiced Cider (Wells Park and Four Hills only), 2016 Stein Wine (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Jack the Sipper (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Belgo American Pale Ale (Wells Park and Four Hills only), American Wild Ale (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Barrel-Aged Leche de Luna (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Chocolate Milk Stout (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Three-Two Amber (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Imma Pale Ale (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Turkey Drool (Four Hills only), Cascara Cider (Four Hills only). Barrel-Aged Leche de Luna is an imperial chocolate milk stout with a serious kick, but the supply is running low. All proceeds from the G&T Cider go to the Explora Science Center. Blood Orange Cider and Tupac have returned, plus the new Lemon & Honey is available.

News: Do not fret, Berry Cider is still on tap, but since it is now a year-round offering, we will no longer be listing it with the seasonal/specialty brews and ciders here.

Live Music (Wells Park): Thursday—The Timewreckers, 8 p.m.; Friday—A Tribute to Merle Haggard, 5 p.m.; Saturday—The Duke City Riots & Evan Woodward, 8 p.m.

Live Music (Nob Hill): Today (Wednesday)—Tara Shupe, 8:30 p.m.; Saturday—RJ Perez, 5 p.m.

Live Music (Four Hills): Saturday—Nathan Fox, 7 p.m.

Other Events (Wells Park): Today (Wednesday)—Poetry & Beer, 7 p.m.; Thursday—The Great Ape-ril, 5 p.m.; Saturday—Brake Light Clinic, noon

Weekly Events (Wells Park): Monday—Super Tractor Gamers Night, 5:30 p.m.; Tuesday—Kamikaze Karaoke, 7 p.m.

Weekly Events (Nob Hill): Today (Wednesday)—Writing Wednesdays, 5 p.m.; Monday—Tractor Tune Up, 7:30 p.m.

Weekly Events (Four Hills): Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Tractor now has a late happy hour from 9 p.m. to midnight on Mondays with $2.25 classic beers and $3.25 seasonals. Also, every first Monday of the month at both Tractor locations is Beer for a Better Burque night. For every pint you buy $1 can go to one of four charities that have partnered with Tractor.

Turtle Mountain Brewing Company — (505) 994-9497

(Kitchen hours: Mon–Tues 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Wed–Thurs 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Sun 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Reminder: TMBC closes early when business dictates. Please call.)

Beers: Ahmnata Khappa Pale Ale, Total Malarkey IPA, Marzen, Snakedriver Dry Irish Stout, Amnesia Ale. The Total Malarkey, Amnesia, and Snakedriver are the most recent additions. As the Ahmnata is nearly out, Bocky Mountain High will soon be available to replace it.

Cask: Tuesday—Peanut Butter and Chocolate Amnesia

Santa Fe breweries

Blue Corn Brewery — (505) 438-1800

(Open daily 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: SMASH Pale Ale, Katabatic Kolsch, Black Thought IPA, Peaches ‘n Cream Ale. The Black Thought Katabatic are the most recent additions.

Chili Line Brewing — (505) 500-7903

(Mon–Sat 4–11 p.m., Sun 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: El Jefe (Rauchweizen), Antonio Bandito (Dunkelweizen), Llorona Lager, La Bamba (Rauchbier), Stara Baba (Oak Smoked Polish Gratzer), Jacona Stout, P.G. (Pinche Guey) IPA. The Jacona and P.G. are the most recent additions.

Live Music: Every night at 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Reverse happy hour after 9 p.m. includes $1 off pints, $6 appetizers, $10 entrees and pizzas.

Duel Brewing Company — (505) 474-5301

(Brewery: Mon–Sat open at 11 a.m., Sun open at 1 p.m.; ABQ taproom: Mon–Thurs 2 p.m.–midnight; Fri–Sun noon–midnight)

Beers: Bad Amber, Marcel, Fantin (Double Pale Ale), Duchamp (Sour Wit), Cezanne Magnifique, HMWWA FIACFW, Cezanne Verite, Fiction (IPA), Lourd of Funk, Titian, Dark Ryder, Grunewald, Goya. This batch of Cezanne Verite is barrel aged and it is also for sale in bombers. The Titian, Dark Ryder, Grunewald, and Goya (13.3% ABV) are the most recent additions, available on tap and in bombers.

Live Music (ABQ taproom): Thursday—Jacob Chavez, 8 p.m.; Saturday—The Rudy Boy Experiment, 9 p.m.; Monday—Beats and Beers, 7 p.m.

Live Music (SF brewery): None this week

Other Events (ABQ taproom): Friday—Low Rez Art Exhibit with Masta Ace, 8 p.m.; Sunday—Kids Supporting Kids & NMDOG Fundraiser, 4 p.m.

Weekly Events (ABQ taproom): Tuesday—Bike-In Brew, 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts (Brewery): Happy hour Mon–Fri, 4-6 p.m. (discounts for all draft beer), Growler Saturdays ($3 off growler fills).

Happy Hour/Discounts (ABQ taproom): Happy hour Mon–Fri, 5-7 p.m.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales — (505) 428-0719

(Open all week from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

Beers: Fields of Rye, Agent Scully – Season One, Episode Five (IPA), Germophile (Berliner Weisse), Fruhschoppen (Hefeweizen), Little White Lies (Belgian Blonde), Conduit (Belgian IPA), Bosco P. Coltrane (Chocolate Brown), Petit Blanche – Amarillo, Sarlacc First Order (Imperial Saison), Notorious BdG, Aromatherapy IPA. The Agent Scully is a series of IPAs which will vary by hop combinations. Episode Five is the most recent iteration. The Notorious BdG, aged in apple brandy barrels, is the most recent addition to the lineup and is also available for sale in bottles.

Santa Fe Brewing Company — (505) 424-3333

(Main taproom: Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 2-8 p.m.; ABQ taproom: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–11 p.m.; Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–midnight; Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Hipster Union IPA, Lustgarten Lager, Imperial Pastry-Free Porter, Twisted Root, Schneeball Imperial Pilsner. The most recent additions are Schneeball and Twisted Root, the latter a blonde ale with ginger and lemongrass. You can also find Twisted Root and Lustgarten in six-pack cans.

Happy Hour/Discounts: $1 off growler refills in the tasting room on Mondays. $2 pint Tuesdays at the Eldorado Taphouse. On Wednesday, there is a $2 pint special in the tasting room. On Thursday, there will be $1 off growler refills at the Eldorado Taphouse.

Second Street Brewery — (505) 989-3278 (Railyard), (505) 982-3030 (original location)

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sunday noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Kolsch, IPA, Cream Stout, 2920 IPA, Low Winter Sun Sour, Summer Rain Sour, Outlier Special Bitter, Vienna Lager, Diablo Canyon Pale Ale, British Mild, Bone Breaker Bitter, XX ESB, Winter Warmer, Agua Fria Pilzner. The benefits of having two brewhouses are now apparent as Second Street is loaded with more beers than ever. The Winter Warmer and Agua Fria Pilzner are the most recent additions.

Live Music (Original location): Friday—The Bus Tapes, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—The Barbwires, 6-9 p.m.

Live Music (Railyard): Friday—TBA, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—TBA, 6-9 p.m.

Live Music (Rufina): None this week

Other Events (all locations): Saturday—Pints for Parkinson’s, all day

Weekly Events (Railyard): Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 8 p.m.

Other breweries you need to visit

Bathtub Row Brewing — (505) 500-8381

(Mon–Weds 2–10 p.m., Thurs 2–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–11 p.m., Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: Hoppenheimer IPA, Wit Rock, Pennsylvania Swanky, Dunkel Bock, Flat Cap Brown, Little Bird Blonde, Lichtenhainer. With a new brewer in place, BRB shakes up the lineup. Old favorites Hoppenheimer, Wit Rock, and Little Bird are joined by some fascinating newcomers in the Dunkel Bock, Flat Cap, and Lichtenhainer, a sour ale.

Picacho Peak Brewing — (575) 680-6394

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sun closed)

Beers: Picacho Lite, Keller Hefeweizen, Twisted Windmill IPA, Old Crawley, 575 Scotsman, Irish Xtra Stout, I Heart Porter, Smooth and Stout. Welcome to the listings, Picacho Peak! For the first time in a long, long time we have a Las Cruces brewery in here. Make sure to check it out the next time you are down south.

Sierra Blanca Brewing — (505) 832-2337

(Mon–Thurs 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Fri –Sat 11 a.m.–9 p.m.)

Beers: Interstella Vanilla, Cherry Wheat, Single Hop IPA, Natalie Portman. The Natalie Portman is a, well, you can probably guess. It is the newest addition to the seasonal lineup. Cherry Wheat is available in bottles and won a gold medal at GABF in 2017.

Live Music: Friday—Brandon Leinen, 6 p.m.

* * * *

That’s all for this week! If you have any questions or comments, leave them below or contact us on our Facebook page.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister

Clear vs. Haze: Debating the future of the IPA style

Posted: March 30, 2018 by cjax33 in Beer Polls, Commentary/Analysis, News
Tags: , , ,
2

The haze craze is alive and well in nearby Tucson, but is it here to stay, or just another passing phase among craft beer drinkers?

An interesting article about craft beer trends was shared to the New Mexico Lets Talk Craft Beer page on Facebook this morning. It asked if a brewery could be considered a sellout if it goes all-in too heavily on hazy IPAs, putting profit ahead of variety and quality.

Well, leaving out the fact that the entire article is purely regional to the New York City/New England area (save for one quick mention of Monkish Brewing in Torrance, California), it does raise the point of whether or not it is a good thing for breweries to follow the current popular trends. I recall years ago at a Marble Septemberfest (yes, a while ago) when someone told me that saisons/farmhouse ales would supplant IPAs as the most popular beer styles. Then we all heard how sour ales were the future, and would likewise replace IPAs. Now, in essence, we have (hazy) IPAs replacing (clear) IPAs as the new great standard of craft beer.

Are hazy IPAs truly ascendant over their clearer brethren? Well, maybe yes, maybe no. New Mexico craft drinkers are a different breed than those on the East Coast. We have long been a much more hop-forward-loving bunch, and by sales figures alone, we are still an IPA-centric bunch. Other than Marble, where Double White is number one, the other major breweries in New Mexico all still feature IPA as their top selling brand.

Then again, down in Tucson, hazy IPAs are all the rage. Some of that can be attributed to the younger population centered around the University of Arizona, which is larger than UNM and armed with wealthier students more willing to spend on craft. Crooked Tooth Brewing only featured hazy IPAs and pale ales, as did Pueblo Vida Brewing (both had non-IPAs, too, it should be noted). Dragoon Brewing, the largest in Tucson by barrel production, still features a classic West Coast-style IPA that remains its top seller, even in the face of the cloudy competition. Conversations with the customers and staffs at the various breweries showed a clear divide, with a mostly younger, trendier crowd favoring the haze. There were few people who seemed to like both styles.

In that regard, then, one could argue that the hazy IPA trend is not an IPA trend at all. Rather, it is another style, with distinct differences in flavor as well as appearance. The Brewers Association has now created hazy categories for pale ales, IPAs, and double IPAs. It will be interesting to see if the National IPA Challenge creates a separate bracket for haze next year, as those were mixed in with the regular ones this year.

All of this really just comes down to personal preference. It is fun (sometimes) to debate the merits and qualities of various craft beer styles. It is all subjective in the end, and that goes for the hazy IPAs as well as just about every other style that has come across our palates. The Crew has lots of varied opinions about the haze craze, ranging from mild annoyance to downright dislike. We are not trendy types, favoring music that has largely disappeared from the mainstream. As beer writers, though, we are obligated to try everything and give it a fair shot. Sometimes we do like the hazy IPAs, when done well, just like any other beer. Other times we would rather just stick to the originals.

Today (Friday), La Cumbre is releasing Make IPA Clear Again, a collaboration made with the excellent Comrade Brewing of Denver. This comes after La Cumbre released a popular series of hazy, single-hop, double-dry-hopped DIPAs. Whether this all sparks some renewed local debate about the haze-vs.-clear, or people just take it all in stride, we are intrigued to know what do all of you think. Take the poll below and leave a comment as to why you feel the way you do.

See you all at La Cumbre.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister

The Week Ahead in Beer: The Easter Beer Egg Hunt returns downtown

Posted: March 28, 2018 by cjax33 in The Week Ahead in Beer
Tags: , , , ,
1

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 six breweries, one in Los Alamos, one in Moriarty, and one in Las Cruces also joining the party.

Stoutmeister puts on his serious face to handle The Week Ahead in Beer.

Stoutmeister puts on his serious face to handle The Week Ahead in Beer.

It looks like the Easter Beer Egg Hunt is going to become an annual tradition. Back for a second year, the event will feature five downtown breweries/taprooms — Boese Brothers, Duel, Monks’ Corner, Red Door, and Sidetrack. That quintet will be hiding colored plastic Easter eggs all over downtown. Inside the eggs will be special prizes that can be redeemed at the different locations. This year there will be more eggs than last year, so no one should be left out. The rules are rather simple. No one starts before noon, and it will run until 5 p.m. Start at any brewery/taproom and head out. No more than three eggs can be redeemed at any location, so bring friends just in case you find a fourth egg for Sidetrack, for example. Let them redeem it. Everyone involved must be 21, of course. There is a map on the event’s Facebook page showing the area in which the eggs will be located. It basically runs from Second Street to Seventh Street, mainly around Central. Head on down and have fun this Saturday!

On the new beer front this week, there are a few options to check out. Ale Republic puckers up with Bernalillo Weisse. Bombs Away drops Wild Card and The RED Ale on Friday. Bosque brings back Down in the Hollow. Bow & Arrow is releasing its Cosmic Arrow Brett Saison in bottles. Canteen has Pop’s Pilsner back Thursday. Dialogue dials up some Munich Dunkel, with Blood Orange Gose returning Friday. La Cumbre has Orange Choco Nitro Milk Stout on now, plus its awesome collaboration with Denver’s Comrade Brewing, Make IPA Clear Again, is out in cans and on tap this Friday. Marble has more White Out available, plus Session IPA, Double IPA, Nitro Pub Ale, and From the Wood Saison. Sidetrack has a fresh batch of Railhead Red. Steel Bender goes Out to Pasture with a new dry-hopped farmhouse ale, and Manana Tropical IPA returns Friday. Tractor is feeling summery with the new Lemon & Honey. Turtle Mountain is going the zero IBU route with its new Total Malarkey IPA this Sunday. Take note, this Saturday will also mark the arrival of Rosie the Riveter Session IPA, brewed by the local chapter of the Pink Boots Society at Tractor, but the beer will actually be available at multiple participating breweries.

Up in Santa Fe, Second Street has fresh batches of Agua Fria Pilzner and Winter Warmer on tap.

Continue reading for all the news that is fit to blog for the week of March 26.

To break down each “capsule,” I listed the brewery (with Web page linked), its phone number and hours of operation. Under “Beers” are the new or seasonal beers on tap for this week.

Albuquerque metro area breweries

Ale Republic — (505) 281-2828

(Mon–Thurs 2–10 p.m., Fri–Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: Brune, Blonde, Strong Dark and Handsome, Eagle Claw, Tokyo Black, Single and Ready to Mingle, Bernalillo Weisse, Best Coast IPA. The Bernalillo Weisse is the most recent addition.

Alien Brew Pub — (505) 884-1116

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–2 a.m., Sunday 10 a.m.–midnight)

Beers: Call the number above for details on any small-batch beers currently available. They change frequently. The rest of the lineup is from the Sierra Blanca/Rio Grande family of beers.

Bistronomy B2B — (505) 262-2222

(Mon–Tues 4-9 p.m., Weds noon-9 p.m., Thurs–Sat noon-9:30 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

The Blue Grasshopper — (505) 896-8579

(Noon to 11 p.m. most days, call for more info)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

Live Music: Bands perform from 6 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday through Saturday. Click the link for the schedule.

Boese Brothers Brewery — (505) 382-7060

(Hours: Mon–Thurs 3 p.m.–midnight, Fri 3 p.m.–2 a.m., Sat noon–2 a.m., Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: La Onza White Ale, Dr. Strangehop XPA, Duke City Lager, Washington’s Hatchet, Double Dead Red, Super Kreak, TruBlu Pilsner, Black IPA. The current seasonals include the Super Kreak, TruBlu, and Black IPA.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Boese will have a happy hour from 3 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with $3 pints. You can also get $3 pints all day Tuesday and $6 growler fills all day Wednesday.

Bombs Away Beer Company — (505) 554-3204

(Hours: Mon–Sat noon–10 p.m., Sun noon–8 p.m.)

Beers: BABC IPA, Willie Pete Wit, Low Order Porter, Operation Single Hop, Proximity Pilsner, Actuator IPA, Boom Stick Brown, SNAFU Oatmeal Stout, Hazy Chain DIPA, M1A1 ABQ Common, Imperial Session IPA, High Speed Low Drag Lager. The most recent addition is the Operation Single Hop, but get ready, Wild Card, a new saison, and The RED Ale debut this Friday.

Bosque Brewing Company — (505) 750-7596 (main brewery), (505) 508-5967 (Nob Hill Public House), (575) 571-4626 (Las Cruces Taproom)

(Main brewery on San Mateo: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-midnight, Sun noon-8 p.m.; Nob Hill: Mon–Weds 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Thurs 11 a.m.-midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-1 a.m., Sun noon-11 p.m.; Las Cruces: Sun–Thurs noon-11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon-midnight)

Beers: Driftwood Oatmeal Stout, Camp Waconda, Simcoe Pils, Public House Pale, One Man’s Helles, IRA, Down in the Hollow. The malt-forward beers are in charge for a while, with Down in the Hollow, a brown ale, back for another run.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Bosque has a happy hour running from 3-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and all day on Sunday. Look for special menu items and get $1 off your favorite pints.

Bow & Arrow Brewing — (505) 247-9800

(Mon-Weds 3–10 p.m., Thurs 3–11 p.m., Fri 3 p.m.-midnight, Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–9 p.m.)

Beers: (House) Sun Dagger (Saison), True Aim (Scotch Ale), Denim Tux Lager, Nomadico IPA, Visionland Amber Ale; (Seasonal) Cosmic Arrow Brett Saison, Way Out West Sour Sumac, Desert Dynamo IPL, Sweetfetti Weizenbock, Thirsty Land: Foraged Series (Grisette), Savage Times Sour IPA, Saison de Blanc, Roam Free DIPA, Cake Bandit. Bottles of Dark Mesa, a barrel-aged quad with brett, are still on sale at the brewery, but the supply is limited. Bottles of Cosmic Arrow will be released this week as well. Cake Bandit, an imperial German chocolate cake stout, is the most recent addition on tap.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Bow & Arrow has happy hour every Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Get $1 off pints.

Boxing Bear Brewing Company — (505) 897-2327

(Sun-Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-11 p.m.)

Beers: Low Rye-der IPA, Featherweight Session IPA, Sucker Punch DIPA, Bear Trap Hoppy Ale, Bear Knuckle IPA, Red Knuckle Irish Red, Tropic Thunder IPA, The Red Glove. The most recent additions are The Red Glove, Tropic Thunder, Red Knuckle, Bear Knuckle, and Bear Trap. The Chocolate Milk Stout is on the regular and nitro taps.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 8-10 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Every day at lunchtime (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), for just $10 you can get a pint and a panini of your choice.

Broken Trail Brewery & Distillery — (505) 221-6281

(Mon-Thu 3-9 p.m., Fri 3-10 p.m., Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.-8 p.m.)

Beers: Otero ESB, Lone Pine Pilsner, Sancho Saison, Pepe the Mule, Double Black, Raspberry Kolsch. OK, fine, Pepe the Mule counts as a beer, even though it is basically a Moscow Mule, but it was made with beer. Double Black and Raspberry Kolsch are the most recent additions.

Canteen Brewhouse — (505) 881-2737 (brewery), (505) 200-2344 (taproom)

(Brewery: Sun–Thurs noon–10 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–midnight; Taproom: Open daily 3–10 p.m.)

Beers: Irish Red, Tuttle IPA, Obey the Darkside, Marzen, Schwebock, Super Smalls Session IPA, Oat Brown, Steel Can Stout. Steel Can is a collaboration with Steel Bender, if the name was not a dead giveaway. The Oat Brown will run out Thursday, when Pop’s Pilsner returns just in time for baseball’s opening day. Get a pint of Pop’s with chips and a hot dog for just $7 while watching America’s pastime.

Live Music (Brewery): Thursday—Julian Dossett Trio, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—TBA, 4-7 p.m.

Live Music (Taproom): Saturday—Johnny Azari, 5-8 p.m.

Cazuela’s Seafood & Mexican Grill — (505) 994-9364

(Open daily 8 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Papacabra (Double IPA), Acapulco Gold (Mexican Lager), Chupacabra IPA, Piedra del Fuego Stoned Cream Ale, Beer for My Horses (Oatmeal Stout). These are the regular house beers. Call the number above for an updated seasonal list.

Dialogue Brewing — (505) 585-1501

(Mon closed, Tues 4-9 p.m., Weds 4-11 p.m., Thurs-Sun noon-midnight)

Beers: Belgian Citrus IPA, Berliner Weisse, Sour Raspberry, Idiot Sauvin, Belgian Cherry Wheat, Coffee Lager, 505 Lager, Moloko Plus Milk Stout, Micro Hands Session IPA, Munich Dunkel. The most recent additions are the Dunkel and Blood Orange Gose, which returns Friday.

Weekly Events: Monday—Service Industry Night, 6 p.m.

Drafty Kilt Brewing — (505) 881-0234

(Sun 11 a.m–10 p.m., Mon closed, Tues–Thu 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–midnight)

Beers: Groundskeeper Willie Cream Ale, Wee Beastie Scottish Ale, Campbell Toe IPA, Outlamber Amber, Obliviscaris Oatmeal Stout. The Obliviscaris is back, having replaced the Covfefe Hefe, and boy does it taste good, as we proved with a fourth-place finish at our Stout Challenge. Take note, Drafty Kilt is now closed on Mondays.

Weekly Events: Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.; Saturday—Karaoke with Tobyriffic, 6-10 p.m. (every other week); Sunday—Karaoke with Tobyriffic, 3-7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: $1 off pints and 20-ounce pours, Mon-Fri, 3-6 p.m.; “Just Because We Love You Club,” happy hour prices at all times for teachers, first responders, law enforcement, and military with ID; Growler Fill Days on Thu and Sun, $2 off new growlers, $1 off refills

Flix Brewhouse — (505) 445-8500

(Open daily 11 a.m.-midnight)

Beers: Nebulas New England IPA, Dr. Brownstone, Stuntman Light Lager, Say It Loud Coffee Stout. The Dr. Brownstone, Stuntman, and Say It Loud are the most are recent addition. Go try them out while watching Black Panther for the first (or 10th) time.

High and Dry Brewing — (505) 433-5591

(Mon closed, Tues-Thurs 2-10 p.m., Fri-Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Ghost of a Moon Pale Ale, Hurry Sundown Wheat, Freedom Cage IPA, True Horizon Red Wheat, Freedom Cage with Mandarina Bavaria. Welcome to the listings, High and Dry! It has been a busy first three weeks for the new brewery at 529 Adams St. NE, just south of Lomas. All five of the beers listed should be available as High and Dry gets its lineup set.

Hops Brewery — (505) 369-1378

(Sun-Thurs noon-10 p.m., Fri-Sat noon-midnight)

Beers: Dad Joke (California Common), Tipsy Cow (Milk Stout), Warm Scottish Nights, An Irish Tan (English Bitter), Honey Wheat, Chica (Pale Ale), Hop Hill IPA. Hops has started out with these seven beers on tap, but they also have 31 more guest taps, just in case you don’t find one to your liking. The Hop Hill (7.1% ABV, 69 IBU) was the most recent addition.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Open Mic, 7-9 p.m.; Friday—TJ the DJ, 9 p.m.-midnight; Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.

Kaktus Brewing — (505) 379-5072

(Mon-Thu 2-9 p.m., Fri-Sat 11:30-10 p.m., Sun 11:30-9 p.m.)

Beers: Helles Lager, ESB, Puddle Stomper IPA, C-Thru Stout, Rauchbier, Doppelbock, California Common, Czech Pilz, Cider, DjinnJar Kombucha. The most recent additions include the Czech Pilz, Rauchbier, Doppelbock, and California Common. The C-Thru is what it sounds like, a pale blonde stout with a heavy coffee aroma and flavor.

News: We are sad to report that Kaktus has closed its Nob Hill taproom. Try as the staff might, the location on Monte Vista simply could never get going. Thankfully, the main brewery is still going strong in Bernalillo!

Live Music: Friday—Chris Livingston, 6:30 p.m.

Weekly Events: Sunday—Brunch, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., The Desert Darlings, 6-8 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Kaktus has several new weekday specials, including $3 pints on Monday, $9 growlers on Tuesday, $6 bison nachos on Wednesday, and $8 Frito pie and beer on Thursday.

Kellys Brew Pub — (505) 262-2739

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sat 8 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun 8 a.m.-10 p.m.)

Beers: (house) Apricot Ale, American Lager, IPA, Lobo Red Ale, Session IPA, Sleeping Dog Stout, 35 N Coffee Porter, Common; (seasonal) German Pilsner, Capspackler DIPA, Dortmunder, Oak-Aged Natalia. The lineup got a bit of a makeover, with American Lager and Common joining the regulars, bumping out the Blonde. The Natalia was originally made at Chama River and dear lord it was dark decadence in a glass. Get some quick before it runs out!

Live Music: Every Wednesday 6-9 p.m. and Sunday 3-6 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Thursday Pint night $1 off pints.

La Cumbre Brewing — (505) 872-0225

(Open every day at noon)

Beers: Helles Lager, Cascade SMASH, Black Berry Briar, Orange Choco Nitro Milk Stout. The Orange Choco will be the most recent addition until Friday, when Make IPA Clear Again, a huge hop-forward beast made in collaboration with Denver’s Comrade Brewing, makes its debut on tap and in cans.

Lava Rock Brewing — (505) 615-2802

(Sun-Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-midnight)

Beers: All guest taps for now. Welcome to the listings, Lava Rock! We just wanted everyone to know that the kitchen is up and running and some unique guest taps from other local breweries are available now at 2220 Unser Blvd. NW. When the house beers appear, we will let everyone know.

Lizard Tail Brewing — (505) 717-1301

(Mon–Weds noon-9 p.m., Thurs–Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-7 p.m.)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Lizard Tail’s happy hour runs seven days a week from 3 to 6 p.m. You get $1 off food, flights, and pints.

Weekly Events: Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 8 p.m.; Thursday—Karaoke, 8-11 p.m.

Marble Brewery — (505) 243-2739 (downtown), (505) 508-4638 (Westside), (505) 323-4030 (Heights)

(Downtown: Mon–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10:30 p.m.; Westside: Mon–Thurs noon–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10 p.m.; Heights: Mon–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10:30 p.m.)

Beers: Chocolate Pinky, Stout Americano, Smoked Helles, Jarrylo Red Ale, Cholo Stout, Imperial Red, Passionate Gose, Paddy McNitro, From the Wood Saison (Downtown only), Session White (Downtown and Westside only), Jabroni Exxxtra (Heights only), El Gabacho (Heights and Westside only), White Out (Heights and Westside only), Double IPA (Heights and Westside only), Caffe Roggenbier (Westside only), Session IPA (Westside only), Ginger Kid (Westside only), Nitro Pub Ale (Westside only). There are so, so many beers between the three locations. Don’t feel bad if you can’t get to them all. The Double IPA, From the Wood Saison, Session IPA, and Nitro Pub Ale are the most recent additions, plus White Out is back. You can also get a Black & Tan made from Paddy and the Amber at all locations. Stout Americano is back at all locations, on tap and for sale in bottles. Remember, too, that Cholo Stout, Double IPA, and Imperial Red are now available in six-packs!

Live Music (Downtown): Friday—Lonn Calanca, 8-11 p.m.; Saturday—St. Range, 8-11 p.m.

Live Music (Heights): Friday—Chuck and Jimmy Unplugged, 7-10 p.m.

Live Music (Westside): Friday—Kitty Jo Creek Band, 8-11 p.m.; Saturday—Vintage Brew, 8-11 p.m.

Weekly Events (Downtown): Saturday—Brewery tours, 2 p.m.

Nexus Brewery — (505) 242-4100 (brewery), (505) 226-1055 (Silver Taproom)

(Brewery: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; Silver Taproom: Mon–Fri 4-10 p.m., Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: New Mexico Snow IPA, Hot Chocolate Porter, Irish Red. New brewer, new seasonals as Nexus has Snow IPA and the cayenne-infused Chocolate Porter available now, plus Irish Red is back for another run.

Happy Hour/Discounts (Brewery): Monday–Friday, $5 appetizers, 3-5 p.m.

Weekly Events (Silver Taproom): Saturday—a live DJ will perform; Sunday—a live band will perform at 2 p.m.

Palmer Brewery and Cider House — (505) 508-0508

(Tues–Sat 3–9 p.m.)

Beers: MWA (Malt With Attitude), Guero (Belgian Wit), Pool Session Pale Ale, Cockness Monster (Scotch Ale), Switch Stance Stout. Palmer shares a building with Left Turn Distilling on Girard south of Candelaria. This batch of Cockness Monster is fresh and tasty.

Ponderosa Brewing Co. — (505) 639-5941

(Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: Hefeweizen, Gold Medal Pilsner, Saphir Single-Hop Pale Ale, Toasted Cinnamon Stout, Bernalillo County Stout. Yes, the Toasted Cinnamon Stout was made with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal made in collaboration with the local General Mills facility. Prior to that, the Pilsner and Hefeweizen were the most recent additions. Triple IPA will replace the BC Stout soon.

News: You can now find India Pale Lager 2.0 for sale in cans at the brewery and at local liquor stores, including Total Wine, Bird of Paradise, Jubilation, Kelly’s, and Quarters!

Quarter Celtic Brewpub — (505) 503-1387

(Sun–Thurs 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.)

Beers: Coco Orastie (Orange) Stout, Beag IPL, Clark IPA, Test Batch #1 IPA, Dark Pedro, Kill or be KILT. Beag is a little brother to the Mor-Buck IPA. The Clark and beastly-but-good Test Batch, both advanced to the third round at the National IPA Challenge. Dark Pedro and Kill or be KILT are the most recent additions. Irish Handcuffs returns Friday.

Red Door Brewing — (505) 633-6675 (brewery), (505) 990-3029 (downtown taproom)

(Brewery hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri 11 a.m. to midnight, Sat 7 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Downtown taproom hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Wyoming taproom hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

Beers: Putin on the RIS, Strong Scotch Ale. The Strong Scotch is back on tap. Putin on the RIS is a Russian Imperial Stout, in case you couldn’t guess, and it’s quite tasty.

Weekly Events (Brewery): Monday—The Draft Sessions, 7-9 p.m.

Weekly Events (Downtown Taproom): Today (Wednesday)—Paint it Black Open Mic Comedy, 7-9 p.m.; Thursday—Art at the Bar, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; Sunday—Parents’ Day Out, noon-3 p.m.; Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7-9 p.m.

Rio Bravo Brewing Company — (505) 900-3909

(Mon noon–10 p.m., Tues–Thu noon–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–1 a.m., Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Rio Bravo Amber, Weizen, Dirty Rotten Bastard IPA, Snakebite IPA, Roadkill Red Ale, La Luz Lager, Barrel-Aged Porter, Vanilla Porter, NM Pinon Coffee Porter, Oatmeal Stout, Level 3 IPA, Lemongrass Wit, Blueberry Mint Gose, Imperial Kolsch, Razberry Sour, Belgian IPA, Pink Boots Pale Ale, Marzen, Grapefruit Launcher IPA, Schwarzbier, Cherry Cuvee, Cascade Pale Ale, Porter 4 Humanity, Grab ‘Em By the Putin (Russian Imperial Stout). There are two barrel-aged beers on tap in the Porter and Putin. The Blueberry Mint Gose is the most recent addition. There are also guest taps featuring beers from around the state now available.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Loungy Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m.; Friday—Headliners Comedy presents Friday Night Fools ($5 cover, event only), 9:30 p.m.; Sunday—Pints & Planks with Yoga Zo; Family Funday, 2-5 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Happy hour Monday-Friday, 2-6 p.m., $1 off pints

Sidetrack Brewing — (505) 832-7183

(Mon–Thurs 3–11 p.m., Fri 3 p.m.–midnight, Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–6 p.m.)

Beers: Co-Mo IPA, Railhead Red, Guera American Blonde Ale, Dark Engine Stout, Buzz Bomb, Pub Ale. The Railhead Red is the most recent addition. Buzz Bomb is a delicious coffee pale ale made in collaboration with the folks next door at Zendo.

Cask: The Turntable IPA Series: Track 3 and Buzz Bomb are in the firkins.

Starr Brothers Brewing — (505) 492-2752

(Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day)

Beers: Starrstruck IPA, L.A. Woman (Blonde), Red Zepplin, Lampshade Porter, Brown Chicken Brown Cow, Starrphire Pilsner, Foggy Monocle, Phantom Limb Black Rye IPA, The Green Manalishi. The most recent additions are The Green Manalishi and Phantom Limb, back for another delicious, hoppy run.

Steel Bender Brewyard — (505) 433-3537

(Sun–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: (house) Skull Bucket IPA, Red Iron Red, Sparkfitter Amber, Lloyd’s 3 O’Clock Kolsch, Blue Bullet Stout, Steel Bender Lager, The Village Wit; (seasonals/specialties) Skull Crusher DIPA, Centorado XPA, Homegrown Pils, Out to Pasture (Saison). The most recent additions are the Out to Pasture, Steel Can, Centorado, and Homegrown. Fear not, head brewer Bob Haggerty is hard at work at replenishing the supply of the popular Manana Tropical IPA, which will be back Friday. There are still bottles of The Judy, a peach saison aged in Chardonnay barrels, along with the anniversary beers, Ingenio and Bullet Reserve, for sale at the brewery.

The 377 Brewery — (505) 934-0795

(Open noon-11 p.m. most days)

Beers: (house) 377 IPA, Dieterhosen Hefe, El CuCuy (DIPA), Fat Brown Guy (Porter), Red Horse NM Lager, Schwarzbier, Berliner Weisse, Naked Ale (Pale); (seasonals) Loonies Lime Saison, Short Wee Heavy, Milk Stout, Peach Wheat, Kolsch, Scottish Ale, Say Juan Saison, Skin Walker Triple IPA, Plum Cherry Sour, Imperial Cream Ale, BBA (Barrel-Aged Dark Lager). A trio of new additions hit taps this week with Plum Cherry Sour, Imperial Cream Ale, and BBA, which is made with coffee, cocoa, and vanilla.

News: Bottles of Bourbon Barrel-Aged Milk Stout aged with dark cherries and Scottish Wee Heavy aged with sweet cherries are still available.

Weekly Events: Sunday—Open Mic/Jam Session, 5 p.m.

Tractor Brewing Company — (505) 433-5654 (Nob Hill), (505) 243-6752 (Wells Park), (505) 243-6752 (Four Hills)

(Nob Hill: Sun–Weds noon–midnight, Thurs noon–2 a.m., Fri–Sat noon–2 a.m.; Wells Park: Mon–Thurs 3 p.m.–close, Fri–Sun 1 p.m.–midnight; Four Hills: Sun–Thurs 11 a.m.–midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–2 a.m.)

Beers: Dry Gulch IPA, Pete’s Porter, Blood Orange Cider, Explora G&T Cider, Tupac Cali Red Ale, Lemon & Honey, Nitro Milk Stout (Wells Park only), Oud Bruin (Wells Park only), Ghost Ranch IPA (Wells Park and Nob Hill only), Spiced Cider (Wells Park and Four Hills only), 2016 Stein Wine (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Jack the Sipper (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Belgo American Pale Ale (Wells Park and Four Hills only), American Wild Ale (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Barrel-Aged Leche de Luna (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Chocolate Milk Stout (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Three-Two Amber (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Imma Pale Ale (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Turkey Drool (Four Hills only), Cascara Cider (Four Hills only). Barrel-Aged Leche de Luna is an imperial chocolate milk stout with a serious kick, but the supply is running low. All proceeds from the G&T Cider go to the Explora Science Center. Blood Orange Cider and Tupac have returned, plus the new Lemon & Honey is available.

News: Do not fret, Berry Cider is still on tap, but since it is now a year-round offering, we will no longer be listing it with the seasonal/specialty brews and ciders here.

Live Music (Wells Park): Thursday—Ryan Painter, 8 p.m.; Saturday—Still Closed For Repairs Duo, 8 p.m.

Live Music (Nob Hill): Today (Wednesday)—Sloan Armitage, 8:30 p.m.; Saturday—Adam Hooks, 5 p.m.

Live Music (Four Hills): Saturday—Gato Malo, 7 p.m.

Other Events (Wells Park): Today (Wednesday)—Adult Coloring Night, 3 p.m.; Friday—Drag Queen Bingo: Easter Edition, 8 p.m.; Saturday—Pink Boots Kickoff Party, 6 p.m.

Weekly Events (Wells Park): Monday—Super Tractor Gamers Night, 5:30 p.m.; Tuesday—Kamikaze Karaoke, 7 p.m.

Weekly Events (Nob Hill): Today (Wednesday)—Writing Wednesdays, 5 p.m.; Monday—Tractor Tune Up, 7:30 p.m.

Weekly Events (Four Hills): Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Tractor now has a late happy hour from 9 p.m. to midnight on Mondays with $2.25 classic beers and $3.25 seasonals. Also, every first Monday of the month at both Tractor locations is Beer for a Better Burque night. For every pint you buy $1 can go to one of four charities that have partnered with Tractor.

Turtle Mountain Brewing Company — (505) 994-9497

(Kitchen hours: Mon–Tues 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Wed–Thurs 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Sun 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Reminder: TMBC closes early when business dictates. Please call.)

Beers: Ahmnata Khappa Pale Ale, McSmack, Time Management IPA, Marzen, Snakedriver Dry Irish Stout, Amnesia Ale. The Amnesia and Snakedriver are the most recent additions. The plan is for Total Malarkey IPA, a zero IBU ale, to debut Sunday.

Cask: Tuesday—Time Management IPA

Santa Fe breweries

Blue Corn Brewery — (505) 438-1800

(Open daily 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: SMASH Pale Ale, Katabatic Kolsch, Glasgow Garnet Scotch Ale, Peaches ‘n Cream Ale. The Katabatic is the most recent addition.

Chili Line Brewing — (505) 500-7903

(Mon–Sat 4–11 p.m., Sun 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: El Jefe (Rauchweizen), Antonio Bandito (Dunkelweizen), Llorona Lager, La Bamba (Rauchbier), Stara Baba (Oak Smoked Polish Gratzer), Jacona Stout, P.G. (Pinche Guey) IPA. The Jacona and P.G. are the most recent additions.

Live Music: Every night at 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Reverse happy hour after 9 p.m. includes $1 off pints, $6 appetizers, $10 entrees and pizzas.

Duel Brewing Company — (505) 474-5301

(Brewery: Mon–Sat open at 11 a.m., Sun open at 1 p.m.; ABQ taproom: Mon–Thurs 2 p.m.–midnight; Fri–Sun noon–midnight)

Beers: Bad Amber, Marcel, Fantin (Double Pale Ale), Duchamp (Sour Wit), Cezanne Magnifique, HMWWA FIACFW, Cezanne Verite, Fiction (IPA), Lourd of Funk, Titian, Dark Ryder, Grunewald, Goya. This batch of Cezanne Verite is barrel aged and it is also for sale in bombers. The Titian, Dark Ryder, Grunewald, and Goya (13.3% ABV) are the most recent additions, available on tap and in bombers.

Live Music (ABQ taproom): Today (Wednesday)—Wikki Wikki Wednesday with Cloudface, 8 p.m.; Friday—Lone Pinon, 8 p.m.; Saturday—Buddhafunk and Friends, 9 p.m.

Live Music (SF brewery): Saturday—Hidden Whale, 7 p.m.

Other Events (ABQ taproom): Thursday—Drag Queen Trivia: Goth Night Edition, 8 p.m.

Weekly Events (ABQ taproom): Tuesday—Bike-In Brew, 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts (Brewery): Happy hour Mon–Fri, 4-6 p.m. (discounts for all draft beer), Growler Saturdays ($3 off growler fills).

Happy Hour/Discounts (ABQ taproom): Happy hour Mon–Fri, 5-7 p.m.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales — (505) 428-0719

(Open all week from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

Beers: Fields of Rye, Agent Scully – Season One, Episode Five (IPA), Germophile (Berliner Weisse), Fruhschoppen (Hefeweizen), Little White Lies (Belgian Blonde), Conduit (Belgian IPA), Bosco P. Coltrane (Chocolate Brown), Petit Blanche – Amarillo, Sarlacc First Order (Imperial Saison), Notorious BdG, Aromatherapy IPA. The Agent Scully is a series of IPAs which will vary by hop combinations. Episode Five is the most recent iteration. The Notorious BdG, aged in apple brandy barrels, is the most recent addition to the lineup and is also available for sale in bottles.

Santa Fe Brewing Company — (505) 424-3333

(Main taproom: Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 2-8 p.m.; ABQ taproom: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–11 p.m.; Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–midnight; Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Hipster Union IPA, Lustgarten Lager, Imperial Pastry-Free Porter, Twisted Root, Schneeball Imperial Pilsner. The most recent additions are Schneeball and Twisted Root, the latter a blonde ale with ginger and lemongrass. You can also find Twisted Root and Lustgarten in six-pack cans.

Live Music (ABQ taproom): Friday—Raven Rutherford & Her Sweet Potato Pie Band, 6 p.m.; Saturday—Cornbread Gumbo, 6 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: $1 off growler refills in the tasting room on Mondays. $2 pint Tuesdays at the Eldorado Taphouse. On Wednesday, there is a $2 pint special in the tasting room. On Thursday, there will be $1 off growler refills at the Eldorado Taphouse.

Second Street Brewery — (505) 989-3278 (Railyard), (505) 982-3030 (original location)

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sunday noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Kolsch, IPA, Cream Stout, 2920 IPA, Low Winter Sun Sour, Summer Rain Sour, Outlier Special Bitter, Vienna Lager, Diablo Canyon Pale Ale, British Mild, Bone Breaker Bitter, XX ESB, Winter Warmer, Agua Fria Pilzner. The benefits of having two brewhouses are now apparent as Second Street is loaded with more beers than ever. The Winter Warmer and Agua Fria Pilzner are the most recent additions.

Live Music (Original location): Friday—Alto Street, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—The Palm in the Cypress, 6-9 p.m.

Live Music (Railyard): Friday—Shiners Club, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—Stringmasters, 6-9 p.m.

Live Music (Rufina): Saturday—CWI Benefit with Future Scars, Treemotel, Weedrat, Chicharra, 8 p.m.-midnight

Weekly Events (Railyard): Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 8 p.m.

Other breweries you need to visit

Bathtub Row Brewing — (505) 500-8381

(Mon–Weds 2–10 p.m., Thurs 2–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–11 p.m., Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: Hoppenheimer IPA, Wit Rock, Pennsylvania Swanky, Dunkel Bock, Flat Cap Brown, Little Bird Blonde, Lichtenhainer. With a new brewer in place, BRB shakes up the lineup. Old favorites Hoppenheimer, Wit Rock, and Little Bird are joined by some fascinating newcomers in the Dunkel Bock, Flat Cap, and Lichtenhainer, a sour ale.

Picacho Peak Brewing — (575) 680-6394

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sun closed)

Beers: Picacho Lite, Keller Hefeweizen, Twisted Windmill IPA, Old Crawley, 575 Scotsman, Irish Xtra Stout, I Heart Porter, Smooth and Stout. Welcome to the listings, Picacho Peak! For the first time in a long, long time we have a Las Cruces brewery in here. Make sure to check it out the next time you are down south.

Sierra Blanca Brewing — (505) 832-2337

(Mon–Thurs 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Fri –Sat 11 a.m.–9 p.m.)

Beers: Interstella Vanilla, Cherry Wheat, Single Hop IPA, Natalie Portman. The Natalie Portman is a, well, you can probably guess. It is the newest addition to the seasonal lineup. Cherry Wheat is available in bottles and won a gold medal at GABF in 2017.

Live Music: Friday—Weather, 6 p.m.

* * * *

That’s all for this week! If you have any questions or comments, leave them below or contact us on our Facebook page.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister

Tucson bears down on its craft beer scene at long last

Posted: March 27, 2018 by cjax33 in Beercation Destinations, Out-of-Town Brews
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1

Oh, Tucson, you keep it weird, you wild and crazy city.

Tucson has always been a second home to me, so after going more than three years between visits, I was pulled back to the Old Pueblo for a short-but-fun visit. Being a craft beer writer, I ended up spending most of my time bouncing between breweries and beer bars. Tucson has come a long way since my last visit, and while it is not Albuquerque good yet, it is definitely progressing in the right direction. Maybe a bit too hazy of a direction, but hey, forward momentum is forward momentum.

During my last visit in 2014, there were only seven breweries — Barrio, Borderlands, Dragoon, Nimbus, Sentinel Peak, Ten Fifty-Five, Thunder Canyon — but that number has now tripled. The good news is that many of the new breweries are even better than some of the older ones, and hopefully that will push the older ones to move forward or die. Nimbus, the oldest brewery in town, sadly is almost dead, killed off by an ownership squabble (per sources in the community).

Pueblo Vida is the hip new downtown brewery.

Going in chronological order of visits, my first stop was a quick walk from my hotel downtown to Pueblo Vida Brewing on Broadway. One of the newer places, it has already built a major reputation as a true beer geek brewery. There was not a clear IPA or pale ale in sight, just a lot of haze. I snagged a pint of Embers Pale Ale, which was fairly mild in terms of the hops, with a good mouthfeel for the style. Hazy juice bombs are not usually my cup of tea, but they are selling like hotcakes in Arizona. It does not hurt that Pueblo Vida has some of the sweetest can designs anywhere, and when they released a new canned IPA during my visit, four-packs were flying out the door (it should be noted that the four-pack tallboy cans are the dominant type in the marketplace down there, so maybe they all owe La Cumbre a tip of the cap).

Inertia is an aromatic beast with the flavor to match.

Pueblo Vida, which had a cool, relaxed vibe even with the afternoon sun beating down the south-facing front windows, does not just exist in the haze. There were also a couple of darker beers on tap, possible remnants of the semi-cool winter that just finished. Hyperspace was the only PV beer that I had previously tried at a bottle share. It is a coffee-heavy imperial stout, just big, bold, thick, and mean as hell. No one dropped any cream into this. The new darkness (for me, anyway) was Inertia, a 10.5-percent ABV behemoth. PV took a dark ale and brewed it with oats and lactose, then put it in whiskey barrels, before blending it with coffee and finally letting it sit on cascara (coffee cherries). I believed that my reaction sent to the rest of the Brew Crew read something along the lines of “I just want to exist in this aroma forever.” The blend of so many complex flavors was pretty damn good, too.

After catching an American Hockey League game between the Tucson Roadrunners (Coyotes affiliate) and San Jose Barricuda (Sharks affiliate), I caught up with some friends at Tap & Bottle. This beer bar is combined with a beer shop, essentially making it like a mini-Sister bar meets a mini-Jubilation. It came highly recommended by Tony Calder of Marble Brewery, and rightfully so as the beer list was impressive. I snagged three Arizona brews, while everyone else at the table went with the out-of-town offerings.

One can get lost inside Tap & Bottle. In a good way.

First up was XOXO Coffee Stout from the aforementioned Ten Fifty-Five. It functions as a lighter, sweeter little brother (4.7% ABV) to Hyperspace. From there, I had to snag a Flagstaff beer, namely Astro Cookie. This imperial milk stout was kinda ridiculous, as it is made with waffle cones and Oreo cookies. If my dentist yells at me next month, so be it. The finale was a special cask of Dragoon Stronghold Session Ale infused with a ridiculous amount of coffee. I have no idea how I fell asleep that night.

Amid the 91-degree temperatures of Day Two, I started my day with a lunchtime pour of Dragoon IPA at Frog ‘n Firkin, a favorite old college haunt (one of the few that remain; gentrification has pulverized much of the downtown and university area I used to know). It remains a classic West Coast IPA, tasting like the brewers got a wee bit of inspiration from La Cumbre’s Elevated once upon a time. Dragoon was one of the main holdouts against the haze, and bless them for sticking to what has now made them the largest brewery in town.

Um, Dillinger, you gotta work on these beers.

After wolfing down a Henhouse and fries (the nostalgia was thick on the food side), I drove up Oracle to Dillinger Brewing. Brew Crew Bullpen member Kristin, a fellow UA alumnus, was not a fan when she visited last year. Still, I had to see if things had improved. Alas, they had not, so the less said about that, the better. I tried two IPAs, an oatmeal stout, and a brown porter. The latter was the worst beer I had in Tucson, just bitter as hell and riddled with a strange, chemical flavor, while none of the rest stood out in any way.

Luckily, a number of folks out in cyberspace recommended that I hightail it up to Button Brew House on the far northwest side of town. Located near where Ina Road is supposed to intersect with Interstate 10, all I had to do was avoid the massive construction chaos in the area, as currently Ina and I-10 do not intersects. After a long slog through the crowded roads (Tucson may now have worse traffic than ABQ, which is staggering in and of itself), I made it to Button, which just opened in September. However, it did not taste like a six-month-old brewery.

We have a winner for best beer flight board. It can be found at Button Brew House.

My six-beer flight consisted of Volstead Pilsner, Sunshine Pale Ale, #InaIsOpen (Red IPA), Button IPA, All Souls Stout, and Throwin’ Stones (Scotch Wee Heavy). The Stones was my favorite, with just that right mix of smoky/peaty up front and sweet on the back end, without either being too overpowering. The pilsner, brewed in the pre-Prohibition style, was refreshing as can be. The three hop-forward beers were all good, though none on the level of what we get up here in New Mexico. The two IPAs were more middle-of-the-road by our standards, but they were also clean, with no discernible flaws.

The sign may be partially burned out, but the beer and food inside was still solid at Thunder Canyon.

The long drive back downtown (no freeway access sucks) was followed by a dinner brew at Thunder Canyon. Back when the brewery opened, it was located up in the Foothills Mall, not far from Button. Years ago, TC moved downtown to Broadway, right near where Pueblo Vida now sits across the road. More recently, all of the TC brewing operations were relocated to the larger downtown space, with a distillery also being installed. It is the first brewstillery in Southern Arizona. I stuck with the beer, however, grabbing a Rillito Red to go with a pub burger. Described as a Scottish ale, it simply tasted like a sweet, malty, yet light red ale. TC seems to be sticking with the more sessionable flavors, and with a large mix of more casual craft fans in attendance, it definitely seems to be working.

Dragoon makes the most of its malt-forward beers.

Leaving the car behind, I hopped in a Lyft and headed out to Dragoon Brewing, located off Grant Road, just west of I-10. The brewery has been re-worked since my last visit, now occupying a much larger share of the industrial building it has always inhabited. The taproom now is at least three times the size of the one I first visited years ago. There were nine beers (usually 10) on tap, but the one that stood out to me was Comb the Desert. To confirm that it was a Spaceballs reference, all I had to do was look to the beer description on the giant chalkboard menu: “WE AIN’T FOUND SHIT!” I gotta say, Mel Brooks would have approved of this malty, chewy little schwarzbier. It hit all the right notes and did not cause me to fall off my barstool.

The friendly staff, upon finding out the purpose of my visit, then presented me with 5-ounce pours of their last two anniversary beers, The Cuatro and The Cinco, a pair of decadent imperial stouts. The Cuatro has long stood on its own, a swirl of dark chocolate roast with coffee hints. This batch of The Cinco was barrel aged, leaving it creamy and boozy, the kind of BA imperial that any stout lover would, well, love. Unfortunately, 10 p.m. came around too fast, and the brewery shut down for the night.

A double dose of anniversary imperial stouts.

One area where Tucson clearly still has a ways to catch up to ABQ is in terms of its brewery hours. Outside of the brewpubs, most places did not open until between 2 and 4 p.m., while then closing anywhere from 9 to 11 p.m. The crowds were good at most places, but not on the level of what we see here. Be mindful if planning a trip to Tucson that you will have a shorter window in which to drink if you intend to visit multiple breweries.

Now, I did find one brewery open until 11, and it was within walking distance of my hotel, so I hopped in a Lyft and arrived at Crooked Tooth. Located on Sixth Street, it is just around the corner from both Tap & Bottle, and the main Tucson bar district on Fourth Avenue (for reference, all numbered avenues run north-south, while all numbered streets run east-west, which is basically the opposite of ABQ). I gotta say, Crooked Tooth may have even out beer-geeked Pueblo Vida. The entire beer menu was either hazy IPAs/pale ales, or sours. There had also just been an Office trivia night, so it was clearly a peak Millennial hangout. Well, this old guy figured when in Rome, order the biggest beer on the menu and watch the Romans flee in terror. Obscured by Dankness (8.3% ABV), a hazy DIPA, was the choice, and it pretty much lived up to its name. It was big, dank, and yet bright and chewy.

Harbottle may be new, but it already has some of the best beers in town.

My final day of drinking in Tucson proved to be a long one. After chowing down at the Bisbee Breakfast Club on Broadway (you can probably guess where the original restaurant is from), I followed the Dragoon staff’s advice and visited Harbottle, another new brewery. Located on the far southeast side of town at Ajo Way and Palo Verde, Harbottle is an upscale strip mall brewery. It reminded me of a young Bosque, sans food, with a cool staff who all seemed to know Antal Maurer really well. I started with a pint of Easy Going, a delicious kolsch that perfectly fits the desert, just sweet and smooth. In retrospect, I should have asked if they had crowlers. The staff then gave me a short pour of Nigel Tufnel, their English bitter on nitro, which was a nice, light, bready beer that would easily find a fit in a brewery like Sidetrack or Second Street. Finally, the brewer brought me a sample of a new English old ale that was set to go on tap after I departed. Dear lord, it was one big, boozy beast, the kind that makes you want to throw on some melodic death metal and tell the tales of battles of yore.

1912 is another good addition to the Tucson scene.

After lunch at Bisonwitches on Fourth Avenue, I made it up to 1912 Brewing, which I had intended to visit the night before as it sits not far from Dragoon. Unfortunately, it closed an hour before Dragoon did, so be mindful if you ever put it on your beer list. The good news is that it should be on your beer list. Following the recommendation of the Harbottle staff, I snagged a pint of the Mescalero Stout. This is an old-school stout, just thick and roasty, with some dark chocolate/mocha/toffee hints, but there is little sweetness. After that, I wanted a nap.

Instead, I went to an Arizona baseball game at Hi Corbett, which used to be where the Colorado Rockies had spring training, and before them, the Cleveland Indians, as immortalized in the movie Major League. Luckily, the Wildcats did not need hats for bats, and they won 5-4 over Washington State. I skipped the more expensive craft beer prices to give my liver a timeout, but hey, they had local craft on tap, so kudos to the old alma mater.

Ermanos was another outstanding craft beer bar.

With another Tony Calder recommendation on my mind, I organized a mini-reunion of Daily Wildcat alumni at Ermanos, a craft beer bar located smack dab in the middle of college bars and trendy shops on Fourth Avenue. They had GoldenEye on the TV and a full menu of excellent beers from the state and region. I grabbed another 1912 offering, Irish Sobriety, a red ale with whiskey blended into it. I barely tasted any whiskey, just a solid Irish red, though not quite on the level of that Mescalero Stout, much less an ABQ Irish red like the one at Canteen. After enjoying a few non-AZ beers (I was sticking with malty offerings, and the only other malty beer on tap there was the kolsch from Harbottle), we headed into the chaos of downtown proper a few blocks over for last call. My buddy Ty, a former journalist who seems to have managed every bar in Tucson at some point (or at least knows someone on the staff of every bar), guided us to Elliot’s on Congress. Once the bartender changed the keg, I capped my trip with a Rojo from Barrio Brewing, a lighter red ale that fits that brewery’s sessionable brewpub motif.

It’s still number one, but other breweries are catching up. Competition is a good thing.

If I had to rank the breweries I visited on this trip, they would go in this order:

  1. Dragoon
  2. Pueblo Vida
  3. Harbottle
  4. Button Brew House
  5. Crooked Tooth
  6. Thunder Canyon
  7. Dillinger

Let me just say that the gap from No. 1 to No. 4 is much shorter than the gap from No. 6 to No. 7. Hey, no city’s brew scene is perfect. Hopefully the other breweries can find their footing and start to catch up, or else they will be left behind. The end of Nimbus, once the largest brewery in town, should be all the warning the rest need.

A proper beercation is always followed by bringing home some quality souvenirs.

I also have to commend Tap & Bottle and Ermanos as two excellent craft beer bars, with the bottle/can selection at the former among the best around. I brought quite a few AZ brews back to share with the Crew. Perhaps at some point I can wrangle enough people together for a tasting and let you all know what they think.

The next time you are looking for a beercation destination that is within driving distance of ABQ, I can say that Tucson should be high on your list. It is also still a fair amount cheaper than Denver and Phoenix, if you are looking for something different, with plenty of variety. Or, if you just want to indulge in the haze, the juice bombs are everywhere.

Now it is back to enjoying all the beers our ABQ scene has to offer. Hopefully you all did not drink up all the Helles Lager at La Cumbre or Cake Bandit at Bow & Arrow while I was gone.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister

Rock & Brews offers up multi-brewery beer dinner

Posted: March 26, 2018 by cjax33 in Events, News
Tags: , , , , ,
1

Rock & Brews will host a special beer dinner Tuesday night. (Photo courtesy of Rock & Brews)

Beer dinners are plentiful in this day and age, but they are almost always limited to a single brewery’s offerings. Well, the folks at Rock & Brews decided that it was time to pair up some of their excellent food with beers from more than one brewery.

The dinner will take place Tuesday night at 7, costing $40 per person, or two for $70. Guests will be greeted with a welcome pint of Santa Fe’s Freestyle Pilsner. The four-course meal will feature the following pairings with local and regional beers.

  • Cheese (goat, green chile cheddar, gouda) and cracker trio, paired with Great Divide’s Roadie Grapefruit Radler
  • Braeburn apple salad adorned with Strongbow Cherry Blossom Cider vinaigrette, paired with Sierra Nevada’s Hazy Little Thing IPA
  • Surf (garlic butter shrimp) and turf (grilled Asian-marinated tri-tip) with braised local greens and carrot ginger mash, paired with Bosque’s Scotia Scotch Ale
  • Pineapple upside-down cake with vanilla stout creme anglaise atop vanilla ice cream, paired with Avery’s Tweak

Tickets are available at Rock & Brews, but as the time goes closer make sure to call first at (505) 340-2953.

Thanks to Angelo Orona of Craft King Consulting for putting this together, and for the heads up.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister

Ale Republic faces down challenges of brewing in the mountains

Posted: March 22, 2018 by cjax33 in Look Back/Look Ahead Series 2017-18
Tags:
1

One of the first bottled beers in Ale Republic’s short history.

Back at the start of the month, before things got a wee bit crazy in the old work schedule (not to mention lots of breaking beer news), Franz Solo and I went on a two-brewery trip east of Albuquerque for our annual Look Back/Look Ahead Series. We already chronicled our visit to Sierra Blanca, so it was high time I typed up our interview with brewer/owner Patrick Johnson of Ale Republic.

We visited on a quiet Thursday, which did give us a nice chance to take a tour of the property and not take Patrick away from his work for too long. The past year has been one of learning on the fly for Ale Republic, the lone brewery in the East Mountains. Specifically located in Cedar Crest on Highway 14, it is a craft beer oasis in a mostly rural area, one that lacked winter tourists with the scant snowfall. Its location also presents some unique challenges, as Patrick and the rest of the Ale Republic discovered.

“It’s a lot better than where we were (last year),” Patrick said. “I’m pretty happy with some of the beers we’re making. Some of them need some work, but that’s cool. The main issue we’re having right now is water. It’s so dry that wells are running dry and as soon as you drill a new well, the water is completely different. It’s absurd.”

There is no city water system to tap into for Ale Republic, and the recent drought has done the small brewery no favors, as Patrick mentioned. All of that has led to some significant variances in the beers.

“It’s just something that we need to sort out,” he said. “We just drilled a new well (and) the water is 100-percent perfect brewing water. … I looked up a dozen different water chemistries for IPAs, which is a standard ale, and averaged them all, and this water is that average. You don’t have to do any (special) filtration or any of that.”

Patrick said the previous well that the brewery used featured some extremely hard water.

“With the Belgians, it doesn’t matter too much, like the Dark Strong, for example,” he said. “For the non-Belgians, our IPA just tasted off/odd. It was a metallic flavor from the hard water. Which sucks, because people want to drink IPAs, and our IPA was just weird.

“The old water was super hard and the well was running dry. We had to drill a new one, which had perfect water chemistry, but then the new well went dry. We’re trying to find a nice medium. If we can’t figure that out, we’re going to have to truck water in, which sucks, but you have to do it.”

We visited early on a quiet weekday afternoon.

Water is not the only challenge that Ale Republic has faced.

“Customers, we don’t get as many people from Albuquerque as we thought (we would),” Patrick said. “Most are people who live up here and some people who are recreating. Snow has been terrible. Lots of mountain bikers, that’s probably our biggest external market.”

A bicycle product demonstration event held on the brewery property last year produced the largest single-day crowd. Otherwise, Ale Republic is learning how to adapt to the tastes of its primarily local customer base.

“It’s been interesting learning about this community,” Patrick said. “It’s kind of a smaller market here, so you have to cater. We always have (La Cumbre’s) Beer on tap. We always have the cider. Some folks, that’s all they want. I’m sure it’s personalities (similar to) what people in Albuquerque have to deal with, but it’s such a smaller market to deal with.”

The good news is that Ale Republic can now make more of its own beer thanks to the arrival of new equipment.

“We just finished installing all of our 3-barrel system,” Patrick said. “We have some new tanks, (and) we have some old tanks from Kellys, their 3-barrels. We got some old tanks from La Cumbre (too). We’re finally out of the beer bottleneck. Our bottleneck right now is storage. We’ve got tons of beer in the brewhouse, waiting to go somewhere, and nowhere to put it. That’s a good problem to have. We need to order probably a couple brights and then a bunch of kegs.”

A real brewing system is now in place.

Patrick said Ale Republic is working on getting its wholesaler license to start sending beer over the mountain to Albuquerque. He added that Hops Brewery has expressed interest in putting Ale Republic beers on tap in Nob Hill.

“Going forward, in-house we’ll have the standard American beers that people want, but to distribute I think we’re going to focus on probably three, maybe four Belgians,” Patrick said.

Ale Republic will take a careful approach to distributing its beers, making sure to stay mindful of how things change in the brewing world at large.

“We’ll see, the whole game it’s going to see how it’s going to play out in the next 10 years,” Patrick said. “I don’t know if we want to can or if we want to bottle. We did these (Snap Crackle Stout bottles) by hand. It was tedious, but it worked.”

As for the in-house audience, the food issue was a big one in 2017, but Ale Republic has a new plan going forward.

“The food thing, that’s another thing,” Patrick said. “We just wanted to do beer. I love cooking, but I don’t want to do it commercially. We opened and we thought food trucks would come up here. Food trucks don’t want to come up here. That’s too far, they said. It’s probably less hard on your vehicle because you don’t have to stop and start so much, but whatever. There was one food truck that started up here. They were here about two or three days a week, but the food was not very good. That reflected bad on us.”

The new plan fits with the creativity found in the brewery itself.

“We’re doing these little pop-up kitchens,” Patrick said. “Tomorrow, we’re just doing wings, that’s it. In the future it will be one menu item, and then we’ll try out some (different) recipes. We did one for fries. We’ll do paninis, simple but nice. We’ll do tacos.”

Ale Republic is now up to having eight of its own beers regularly on tap.

There are other plans afoot for 2018 and beyond that will require some heavier lifting.

“We are acquiring the back building,” Patrick said. “That’s going to be the brewhouse. It will be in a separate building. We can focus on things back there. We’ll have a kitchen, we’ll have all of our own beers, maybe one or two guest taps. We’ll be there within like three months. It will be more of a normal space.”

The current home of the brewhouse and associated tanks is fairly cramped, so moving into the taller back building will certainly help. It will require a fair amount of cleanup and re-purposing, but it is a hopeful development. While that is in the near future, Patrick said that Ale Republic has big plans for much of the remaining three acres of property.

“The next big point of focus is going to be outside,” he said. “We’re going to build a really sweet patio. We’re going to put in some games up on the hill. Eventually we’re going to build a really sweet walk-in beer garden. … We have three acres. We’re going to build a trail, have some fountains. We’re going to build a place where people from Albuquerque can come up, go for a hike, then come in and have a beer.”

For those of us who visit sporadically, the changes at Ale Republic are big and obvious. For the more frequent customers, it may seem like things are moving slowly, but Patrick assured us that is not the case.

“We’ve done a lot in the last year,” he said. “We didn’t have growlers for a long time. We have eight beers on tap right now. We have four or five more styles ready to go, we just don’t have kegs to put them in. But it’s 180 degrees from six months ago.”

Overall, things are looking up on the mountain, but Ale Republic still has a ways to go to cement its place in the New Mexico beer scene.

“To summarize everything, or put in an easy summary, we’re almost into a spot where we can really grow and really have a good life,” Patrick said. “We haven’t been able to grow too much yet except for buying the 3-barrel setup. But still, it’s small compared to the bigger breweries.”

A big thanks to Patrick for the time, the tour, and the beers. We also appreciate his patience when it came to waiting for this story to finally get typed up.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister

The Week Ahead in Beer: Turtle Mountain turns 19 and we all benefit

Posted: March 21, 2018 by cjax33 in The Week Ahead in Beer
Tags:
1

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 six breweries, one in Los Alamos, one in Moriarty, and one in Las Cruces also joining the party.

Stoutmeister puts on his serious face to handle The Week Ahead in Beer.

Stoutmeister puts on his serious face to handle The Week Ahead in Beer.

Turtle Mountain is celebrating its 19th anniversary with more than just a brewmasters dinner (which has already sold out). Every day through Sunday, there will be a special beer-and-food pairing. Today (Wednesday) will feature Amnesia Ale with Ruidoso Ribs for $16. Thursday will feature Slabtown New York Strip with any current seasonal on tap for $18. Friday will feature Pizza Classico with Red Rye Redux for $10. Saturday will feature Pizza Alamosa with Parasol White IPA for $13. Sunday will feature Miah-T Pizza with Stauffenberg Stout for $14. That is quite the way to celebrate turning 19, or at least better than how most of us spent our 19th birthdays.

On the new beer front this week, there are a few options to check out. Bombs Away is running Operation Single Hop. Bosque brings back its IRA (India Red Ale). Bow & Arrow goes big with Cake Bandit, an imperial German chocolate cake stout, starting this Thursday. Boxing Bear hops to Tropic Thunder Fruit IPA, plus The Red Glove returns on tap and in bombers Saturday. Canteen has fresh batches of Tuttle IPA and Oat Brown. La Cumbre keeps up its run of specialty canned offerings with Helles Lager this Friday.

Up in Santa Fe, Blue Corn kicks it up a notch with Katabatic Kolsch.

Continue reading for all the news that is fit to blog for the week of March 19.

To break down each “capsule,” I listed the brewery (with Web page linked), its phone number and hours of operation. Under “Beers” are the new or seasonal beers on tap for this week.

Albuquerque metro area breweries

Ale Republic — (505) 281-2828

(Mon–Thurs 2–10 p.m., Fri–Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: Brune, Blonde, Strong Dark and Handsome, Eagle Claw, Tokyo Black, Single and Ready to Mingle, Drink What You Sow, Best Coast IPA. The most recent additions are the Tokyo Black (5.5% ABV, 24 IBU), an ale made with black tea, and Eagle Claw (4.8% ABV, 41 IBU), a farmhouse pale ale.

Alien Brew Pub — (505) 884-1116

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–2 a.m., Sunday 10 a.m.–midnight)

Beers: Call the number above for details on any small-batch beers currently available. They change frequently. The rest of the lineup is from the Sierra Blanca/Rio Grande family of beers.

Bistronomy B2B — (505) 262-2222

(Mon–Tues 4-9 p.m., Weds noon-9 p.m., Thurs–Sat noon-9:30 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

The Blue Grasshopper — (505) 896-8579

(Noon to 11 p.m. most days, call for more info)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

Live Music: Bands perform from 6 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday through Saturday. Click the link for the schedule.

Boese Brothers Brewery — (505) 382-7060

(Hours: Mon–Thurs 3 p.m.–midnight, Fri 3 p.m.–2 a.m., Sat noon–2 a.m., Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: La Onza White Ale, Dr. Strangehop XPA, Duke City Lager, Washington’s Hatchet, Double Dead Red, Super Kreak, TruBlu Pilsner, Black IPA. The current seasonals include the Super Kreak, TruBlu, and Black IPA.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Boese will have a happy hour from 3 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with $3 pints. You can also get $3 pints all day Tuesday and $6 growler fills all day Wednesday.

Bombs Away Beer Company — (505) 554-3204

(Hours: Mon–Sat noon–10 p.m., Sun noon–8 p.m.)

Beers: BABC IPA, Willie Pete Wit, Low Order Porter, Operation Single Hop, Proximity Pilsner, Actuator IPA, Boom Stick Brown, Counter Charge Coffee Stout, SNAFU Oatmeal Stout, Hazy Chain DIPA, Dunkelweizen, M1A1 ABQ Common, Imperial Session IPA, High Speed Low Drag Lager. The most recent addition is the Operation Single Hop, but get ready, there are five taps about to change over to new seasonals in the coming days.

Bosque Brewing Company — (505) 750-7596 (main brewery), (505) 508-5967 (Nob Hill Public House), (575) 571-4626 (Las Cruces Taproom)

(Main brewery on San Mateo: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-midnight, Sun noon-8 p.m.; Nob Hill: Mon–Weds 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Thurs 11 a.m.-midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-1 a.m., Sun noon-11 p.m.; Las Cruces: Sun–Thurs noon-11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon-midnight)

Beers: Driftwood Oatmeal Stout, Camp Waconda, Simcoe Pils, Public House Pale, Scale Tipper IPA, One Man’s Helles, IRA. Scale Tipper, back for a limited time, reached the fifth round of the National IPA Challenge. IRA (India Red Ale) is the most recent addition.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Bosque has a happy hour running from 3-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and all day on Sunday. Look for special menu items and get $1 off your favorite pints.

Bow & Arrow Brewing — (505) 247-9800

(Mon-Weds 3–10 p.m., Thurs 3–11 p.m., Fri 3 p.m.-midnight, Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–9 p.m.)

Beers: (House) Sun Dagger (Saison), True Aim (Scotch Ale), Denim Tux Lager, Nomadico IPA, Visionland Amber Ale; (Seasonal) Cosmic Arrow Brett Saison, Way Out West Sour Sumac, Desert Dynamo IPL, Sweetfetti Weizenbock, Thirsty Land: Foraged Series (Grisette), Savage Times Sour IPA, Saison de Blanc, Roam Free DIPA. Bottles of Dark Mesa, a barrel-aged quad with brett, are still on sale at the brewery, but the supply is limited. Denim Tux Lager has replaced Jemez Field Notes Lager in the regular lineup. Cake Bandit, an imperial German chocolate cake stout, will debut Thursday.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Bow & Arrow has happy hour every Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Get $1 off pints.

Boxing Bear Brewing Company — (505) 897-2327

(Sun-Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-11 p.m.)

Beers: Low Rye-der IPA, Featherweight Session IPA, Strong Arm Pale Ale, Sucker Punch DIPA, Bear Trap Hoppy Ale, Bear Knuckle IPA, Red Knuckle Irish Red, Tropic Thunder Fruit IPA. The most recent additions are the Tropic Thunder, Red Knuckle, Bear Knuckle, and Bear Trap. There are still a few bottles left of the barrel-aged Standing 8 Stout. The Chocolate Milk Stout is on the regular and nitro taps. The Red Glove, a 2016 gold medal-winner at GABF, returns in bombers and on tap this Saturday.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 8-10 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Every day at lunchtime (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), for just $10 you can get a pint and a panini of your choice.

Broken Trail Brewery & Distillery — (505) 221-6281

(Mon-Thu 3-9 p.m., Fri 3-10 p.m., Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.-8 p.m.)

Beers: Otero ESB, Lone Pine Pilsner, Sancho Saison, Pepe the Mule, Double Black, Raspberry Kolsch. OK, fine, Pepe the Mule counts as a beer, even though it is basically a Moscow Mule, but it was made with beer. Double Black and Raspberry Kolsch are the most recent additions.

Canteen Brewhouse — (505) 881-2737 (brewery), (505) 200-2344 (taproom)

(Brewery: Sun–Thurs noon–10 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–midnight; Taproom: Open daily 3–10 p.m.)

Beers: Irish Red, Exodus IPA, Tuttle IPA, Marzen, Schwebock, Super Smalls Session IPA, Obey the Darkside Stout, Oat Brown, Steel Can Stout. Obey the Darkside Stout (8% ABV, 50 IBU) has nearly run its course, and take note that this batch is so good it has been entered in the World Beer Cup, so get it now. Steel Can is a collaboration with Steel Bender, if the name was not a dead giveaway.

Live Music (Brewery): Thursday—Johnny Azari, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—Tom Bennett One Man Band, 4-7 p.m.

Live Music (Taproom): Saturday—Nathan Fox, 5-8 p.m.

Cazuela’s Seafood & Mexican Grill — (505) 994-9364

(Open daily 8 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Papacabra (Double IPA), Acapulco Gold (Mexican Lager), Chupacabra IPA, Piedra del Fuego Stoned Cream Ale, Beer for My Horses (Oatmeal Stout). These are the regular house beers. Call the number above for an updated seasonal list.

Dialogue Brewing — (505) 585-1501

(Mon closed, Tues 4-9 p.m., Weds 4-11 p.m., Thurs-Sun noon-midnight)

Beers: Belgian Citrus IPA, Berliner Weisse, Sour Raspberry, Idiot Sauvin, Belgian Cherry Wheat, Amber Ale, Coffee Lager, World as Will IPA, 505 Lager, Moloko Plus Milk Stout, Micro Hands Session IPA. The most recent additions are the Moloko and Micro Hands.

Weekly Events: Monday—Service Industry Night, 6 p.m.

Drafty Kilt Brewing — (505) 881-0234

(Sun 11 a.m–10 p.m., Mon closed, Tues–Thu 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–midnight)

Beers: Groundskeeper Willie Cream Ale, Wee Beastie Scottish Ale, Campbell Toe IPA, Outlamber Amber, Obliviscaris Oatmeal Stout. The Obliviscaris is back, having replaced the Covfefe Hefe, and boy does it taste good, as we proved with a fourth-place finish at our Stout Challenge. Take note, Drafty Kilt is now closed on Mondays.

Weekly Events: Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.; Saturday—Karaoke with Tobyriffic, 6-10 p.m. (every other week); Sunday—Karaoke with Tobyriffic, 3-7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: $1 off pints and 20-ounce pours, Mon-Fri, 3-6 p.m.; “Just Because We Love You Club,” happy hour prices at all times for teachers, first responders, law enforcement, and military with ID; Growler Fill Days on Thu and Sun, $2 off new growlers, $1 off refills

Flix Brewhouse — (505) 445-8500

(Open daily 11 a.m.-midnight)

Beers: Nebulas New England IPA, Dr. Brownstone, Stuntman Light Lager, Say It Loud Coffee Stout. The Dr. Brownstone, Stuntman, and Say It Loud are the most are recent addition. Go try them out while watching Black Panther for the first (or 10th) time.

High and Dry Brewing — (505) 433-5591

(Mon closed, Tues-Thurs 2-10 p.m., Fri-Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Ghost of a Moon Pale Ale, Hurry Sundown Wheat, Freedom Cage IPA, True Horizon Red Wheat, Freedom Cage with Mandarina Bavaria. Welcome to the listings, High and Dry! It has been a busy first three weeks for the new brewery at 529 Adams St. NE, just south of Lomas. All five of the beers listed should be available as High and Dry gets its lineup set.

Hops Brewery — (505) 369-1378

(Sun-Thurs noon-10 p.m., Fri-Sat noon-midnight)

Beers: Dad Joke (California Common), Tipsy Cow (Milk Stout), Warm Scottish Nights, An Irish Tan (English Bitter), Honey Wheat, Chica (Pale Ale), Hop Hill IPA. Hops has started out with these seven beers on tap, but they also have 31 more guest taps, just in case you don’t find one to your liking. The Hop Hill (7.1% ABV, 69 IBU) was the most recent addition.

Live Music: Saturday—Still Closed For Repairs Duo, 8 p.m.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Open Mic, 7-9 p.m.; Friday—TJ the DJ, 9 p.m.-midnight; Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.

Kaktus Brewing — (505) 379-5072

(Mon-Thu 2-9 p.m., Fri-Sat 11:30-10 p.m., Sun 11:30-9 p.m.)

Beers: Helles Lager, ESB, Puddle Stomper IPA, C-Thru Stout, Rauchbier, Doppelbock, California Common, Czech Pilz, Cider, DjinnJar Kombucha. The most recent additions include the Czech Pilz, Rauchbier, Doppelbock, and California Common. The C-Thru is what it sounds like, a pale blonde stout with a heavy coffee aroma and flavor.

News: We are sad to report that Kaktus has closed its Nob Hill taproom. Try as the staff might, the location on Monte Vista simply could never get going. Thankfully, the main brewery is still going strong in Bernalillo!

Live Music: Friday—Stan Kee, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday—Chris Livingston, 6:30 p.m.

Weekly Events: Sunday—Brunch, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., The Desert Darlings, 6-8 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Kaktus has several new weekday specials, including $3 pints on Monday, $9 growlers on Tuesday, $6 bison nachos on Wednesday, and $8 Frito pie and beer on Thursday.

Kellys Brew Pub — (505) 262-2739

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sat 8 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun 8 a.m.-10 p.m.)

Beers: (house) Apricot Ale, American Lager, IPA, Lobo Red Ale, Session IPA, Sleeping Dog Stout, 35 N Coffee Porter, Common; (seasonal) German Pilsner, Capspackler DIPA, Dortmunder, Oak-Aged Natalia. The lineup got a bit of a makeover, with American Lager and Common joining the regulars, bumping out the Blonde. The Natalia was originally made at Chama River and dear lord it was dark decadence in a glass. Get some quick before it runs out!

Live Music: Every Wednesday 6-9 p.m. and Sunday 3-6 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Thursday Pint night $1 off pints.

La Cumbre Brewing — (505) 872-0225

(Open every day at noon)

Beers: Molinillo Stout, All In Hazy DIPA, Cascade SMASH, Black Berry Briar. Make sure to pick up four-packs of Siberian Silk, a lovely Baltic porter, All In, and Black Berry Briar while they are available. The delicious Molinillo Stout is also available in bottles. Another can/tap release is coming this Friday with Helles Lager.

Lava Rock Brewing — (505) 615-2802

(Sun-Thurs 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-midnight)

Beers: All guest taps for now. Welcome to the listings, Lava Rock! We just wanted everyone to know that the kitchen is up and running and some unique guest taps from other local breweries are available now at 2220 Unser Blvd. NW. When the house beers appear, we will let everyone know.

Lizard Tail Brewing — (505) 717-1301

(Mon–Weds noon-9 p.m., Thurs–Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-7 p.m.)

Beers: Contact the brewery for an updated list.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Lizard Tail’s happy hour runs seven days a week from 3 to 6 p.m. You get $1 off food, flights, and pints.

Weekly Events: Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 8 p.m.; Thursday—Karaoke, 8-11 p.m.

Marble Brewery — (505) 243-2739 (downtown), (505) 508-4638 (Westside), (505) 323-4030 (Heights)

(Downtown: Mon–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10:30 p.m.; Westside: Mon–Thurs noon–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10 p.m.; Heights: Mon–Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–10:30 p.m.)

Beers: Chocolate Pinky, Stout Americano, Smoked Helles, Jarrylo Red Ale, Jabroni Exxxtra, Cholo Stout, Imperial Red, Passionate Gose (Downtown only), Paddy McNitro (Downtown and Heights only), Session White (Downtown and Westside only), Nitro Negra (Heights only), El Gabacho (Heights only), Spruce Moose (Heights only), Caffe Roggenbier (Heights and Westside only), Grapefruit Tangerine Gose (Westside only), Ginger Kid (Westside only). There are so, so many beers between the three locations. Don’t feel bad if you can’t get to them all. The Paddy McNitro, Smoked Helles, and Jarrylo Red Ale are the most recent additions. You can also get a Black & Tan made from Paddy and the Amber at Downtown and the Heights taprooms. Stout Americano is back at all locations, on tap and for sale in bottles. Remember, too, that Cholo Stout and Imperial Red are now available in six-packs, and Double IPA will soon be as well!

Live Music (Downtown): Thursday—Moonhat, 7-10 p.m.; Friday—Last to Know, 8-11 p.m.; Saturday—Pink Freud, 8-11 p.m.

Live Music (Heights): Friday—Lenin and McCarthy, 7-10 p.m.

Live Music (Westside): Friday—Kyle Martin, 8-11 p.m.; Saturday—Bob Guesch/Lisa Lopez Project, 8-11 p.m.

Other Events (Downtown): Sunday—Marble Mouth Off, 1-3 p.m.

Weekly Events (Downtown): Saturday—Brewery tours, 2 p.m.

Nexus Brewery — (505) 242-4100 (brewery), (505) 226-1055 (Silver Taproom)

(Brewery: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; Silver Taproom: Mon–Fri 4-10 p.m., Sat noon-10 p.m., Sun noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: New Mexico Snow IPA, Hot Chocolate Porter, Irish Red. New brewer, new seasonals as Nexus has Snow IPA and the cayenne-infused Chocolate Porter available now, plus Irish Red is back for another run.

Happy Hour/Discounts (Brewery): Monday–Friday, $5 appetizers, 3-5 p.m.

Weekly Events (Silver Taproom): Saturday—a live DJ will perform; Sunday—a live band will perform at 2 p.m.

Palmer Brewery and Cider House — (505) 508-0508

(Tues–Sat 3–9 p.m.)

Beers: MWA (Malt With Attitude), Guero (Belgian Wit), Pool Session Pale Ale, Cockness Monster (Scotch Ale), Switch Stance Stout. Palmer shares a building with Left Turn Distilling on Girard south of Candelaria. This batch of Cockness Monster is fresh and tasty.

Ponderosa Brewing Co. — (505) 639-5941

(Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: Hefeweizen, Gold Medal Pilsner, Saphir Single-Hop Pale Ale, Toasted Cinnamon Stout, Bernalillo County Stout. Yes, the Toasted Cinnamon Stout was made with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal made in collaboration with the local General Mills facility. Prior to that, the Pilsner and Hefeweizen were the most recent additions. Triple IPA will replace the BC Stout soon.

News: You can now find India Pale Lager 2.0 for sale in cans at the brewery and at local liquor stores, including Total Wine, Bird of Paradise, Jubilation, Kelly’s, and Quarters!

Quarter Celtic Brewpub — (505) 503-1387

(Sun–Thurs 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.)

Beers: Coco Orastie (Orange) Stout, Beag IPL, Clark IPA, Test Batch #1 IPA, Dark Pedro, Kill or be KILT. Beag is a little brother to the Mor-Buck IPA. The Clark and beastly-but-good Test Batch, both advanced to the third round at the National IPA Challenge. Dark Pedro and Kill or be KILT are the most recent additions. Irish Handcuffs returns Friday.

Red Door Brewing — (505) 633-6675 (brewery), (505) 990-3029 (downtown taproom)

(Brewery hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri 11 a.m. to midnight, Sat 7 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Downtown taproom hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Wyoming taproom hours: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m. to midnight, Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

Beers: Putin on the RIS, Strong Scotch Ale. The Strong Scotch is back on tap. Putin on the RIS is a Russian Imperial Stout, in case you couldn’t guess, and it’s quite tasty.

Weekly Events (Brewery): Monday—The Draft Sessions, 7-9 p.m.

Weekly Events (Downtown Taproom): Today (Wednesday)—Paint it Black Open Mic Comedy, 7-9 p.m.; Thursday—Art at the Bar, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; Sunday—Parents’ Day Out, noon-3 p.m.; Tuesday—Geeks Who Drink, 7-9 p.m.

Rio Bravo Brewing Company — (505) 900-3909

(Mon noon–10 p.m., Tues–Thu noon–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–1 a.m., Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Rio Bravo Amber, Weizen, Dirty Rotten Bastard IPA, Snakebite IPA, Roadkill Red Ale, La Luz Lager, Barrel-Aged Porter, Vanilla Porter, NM Pinon Coffee Porter, Oatmeal Stout, Level 3 IPA, Lemongrass Wit, Blueberry Mint Gose, Imperial Kolsch, Razberry Sour, Belgian IPA, Pink Boots Pale Ale, Marzen, Grapefruit Launcher IPA, Schwarzbier, Cherry Cuvee, Cascade Pale Ale, Porter 4 Humanity, Grab ‘Em By the Putin (Russian Imperial Stout). There are two barrel-aged beers on tap in the Porter and Putin. The Blueberry Mint Gose is the most recent addition. There are also guest taps featuring beers from around the state now available.

Other Events: Sunday—Rachel Lark with Ann Gora, 7-9 p.m.

Weekly Events: Today (Wednesday)—Loungy Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m.; Friday—Headliners Comedy presents Friday Night Fools ($5 cover, event only), 9:30 p.m.; Sunday—Pints & Planks with Yoga Zo; Family Funday with Clark Libbey, 2-5 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Happy hour Monday-Friday, 2-6 p.m., $1 off pints

Sidetrack Brewing — (505) 832-7183

(Mon–Thurs 3–11 p.m., Fri 3 p.m.–midnight, Sat noon–midnight, Sun noon–6 p.m.)

Beers: Co-Mo IPA, Turntable IPA Series: Track 3, Guera American Blonde Ale, Dark Engine Stout, Buzz Bomb, Pub Ale. The Turntable is the most recent addition. Buzz Bomb is a delicious coffee pale ale made in collaboration with the folks next door at Zendo.

Cask: The Turntable and Pub Ale, with Earl Grey Tea, are in the firkins.

Starr Brothers Brewing — (505) 492-2752

(Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day)

Beers: Starrstruck IPA, L.A. Woman (Blonde), Red Zepplin, Lampshade Porter, Brown Chicken Brown Cow, Starrphire Pilsner, Foggy Monocle, Phantom Limb Black Rye IPA, The Green Manalishi. The most recent additions are The Green Manalishi and Phantom Limb, back for another delicious, hoppy run.

Steel Bender Brewyard — (505) 433-3537

(Sun–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: (house) Skull Bucket IPA, Red Iron Red, Sparkfitter Amber, Lloyd’s 3 O’Clock Kolsch, Blue Bullet Stout, Steel Bender Lager, The Village Wit; (seasonals/specialties) Skull Crusher DIPA, Village Innuendo, Centorado XPA, Homegrown Pils, Raspberry Dynamite. The most recent additions are the Steel Can, Centorado, Homegrown, and Raspberry Dynamite, a new kettle sour. Fear not, head brewer Bob Haggerty is hard at work at replenishing the supply of the popular Manana Tropical IPA. There are still bottles of The Judy, a peach saison aged in Chardonnay barrels, along with the anniversary beers, Ingenio and Bullet Reserve, for sale at the brewery.

The 377 Brewery — (505) 934-0795

(Open noon-11 p.m. most days)

Beers: (house) 377 IPA, Dieterhosen Hefe, El CuCuy (DIPA), Fat Brown Guy (Porter), Red Horse NM Lager, Schwarzbier, Berliner Weisse, Naked Ale (Pale); (seasonals) Loonies Lime Saison, Short Wee Heavy, Milk Stout, Peach Wheat, Kolsch, Scottish Ale, Say Juan Saison, Skin Walker Triple IPA, Plum Cherry Sour, Imperial Cream Ale, BBA (Barrel-Aged Dark Lager). A trio of new additions hit taps this week with Plum Cherry Sour, Imperial Cream Ale, and BBA, which is made with coffee, cocoa, and vanilla.

News: Bottles of Bourbon Barrel-Aged Milk Stout aged with dark cherries and Scottish Wee Heavy aged with sweet cherries are still available.

Weekly Events: Sunday—Open Mic/Jam Session, 5 p.m.

Tractor Brewing Company — (505) 433-5654 (Nob Hill), (505) 243-6752 (Wells Park), (505) 243-6752 (Four Hills)

(Nob Hill: Sun–Weds noon–midnight, Thurs noon–2 a.m., Fri–Sat noon–2 a.m.; Wells Park: Mon–Thurs 3 p.m.–close, Fri–Sun 1 p.m.–midnight; Four Hills: Sun–Thurs 11 a.m.–midnight, Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–2 a.m.)

Beers: Dry Gulch IPA, Pete’s Porter, Blood Orange Cider, Explora G&T Cider, Tupac Cali Red Ale, Nitro Milk Stout (Wells Park only), Oud Bruin (Wells Park only), Ghost Ranch IPA (Wells Park and Nob Hill only), Spiced Cider (Wells Park and Four Hills only), 2016 Stein Wine (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Jack the Sipper (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Belgo American Pale Ale (Wells Park and Four Hills only), American Wild Ale (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Barrel-Aged Leche de Luna (Wells Park and Four Hills only), Chocolate Milk Stout (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Three-Two Amber (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Imma Pale Ale (Nob Hill and Four Hills only), Turkey Drool (Four Hills only), Cascara Cider (Four Hills only). Barrel-Aged Leche de Luna is an imperial chocolate milk stout with a serious kick, but the supply is running low. All proceeds from the G&T Cider go to the Explora Science Center. Blood Orange Cider and Tupac have returned.

News: Do not fret, Berry Cider is still on tap, but since it is now a year-round offering, we will no longer be listing it with the seasonal/specialty brews and ciders here.

Live Music (Wells Park): Today (Wednesday)—Singer Songwriter Showcase, 8 p.m.; Thursday—Lincoln County War, 8 p.m.; Friday—Katie Williams, 5 p.m.; Saturday—Russell James Tour Kickoff, 8:30 p.m.

Live Music (Nob Hill): Today (Wednesday)—Tom Bennett, 8 p.m.; Friday—Sean Costanza, 5 p.m.; Saturday—Clark Andrew Libbey, 5 p.m.

Live Music (Four Hills): Saturday—Seth Hoffman, 7 p.m.

Other Events (Wells Park): Friday—Hops & Dreams: Peter Pan Edition, 8 p.m.

Weekly Events (Wells Park): Monday—Super Tractor Gamers Night, 5:30 p.m.; Tuesday—Kamikaze Karaoke, 7 p.m.

Weekly Events (Nob Hill): Today (Wednesday)—Writing Wednesdays, 5 p.m.; Monday—Tractor Tune Up, 7:30 p.m.

Weekly Events (Four Hills): Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Tractor now has a late happy hour from 9 p.m. to midnight on Mondays with $2.25 classic beers and $3.25 seasonals. Also, every first Monday of the month at both Tractor locations is Beer for a Better Burque night. For every pint you buy $1 can go to one of four charities that have partnered with Tractor.

Turtle Mountain Brewing Company — (505) 994-9497

(Kitchen hours: Mon–Tues 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Wed–Thurs 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Sun 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Reminder: TMBC closes early when business dictates. Please call.)

Beers: Ahmnata Khappa Pale Ale, McSmack, Time Management IPA, Marzen, Snakedriver Dry Irish Stout. The Snakedriver is the most recent addition. This Thursday, Amnesia Ale returns for the anniversary party. McSmack will go into the archives to make room on tap.

Cask: Tuesday—PB&J Marzen

Santa Fe breweries

Blue Corn Brewery — (505) 438-1800

(Open daily 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: SMASH Pale Ale, Katabatic Kolsch, Glasgow Garnet Scotch Ale, Peaches ‘n Cream Ale. The Katabatic is the most recent addition.

Chili Line Brewing — (505) 500-7903

(Mon–Sat 4–11 p.m., Sun 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m.)

Beers: El Jefe (Rauchweizen), Antonio Bandito (Dunkelweizen), Llorona Lager, La Bamba (Rauchbier), Stara Baba (Oak Smoked Polish Gratzer), Jacona Stout, P.G. (Pinche Guey) IPA. The Jacona and P.G. are the most recent additions.

Live Music: Every night at 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: Reverse happy hour after 9 p.m. includes $1 off pints, $6 appetizers, $10 entrees and pizzas.

Duel Brewing Company — (505) 474-5301

(Brewery: Mon–Sat open at 11 a.m., Sun open at 1 p.m.; ABQ taproom: Mon–Thurs 2 p.m.–midnight; Fri–Sun noon–midnight)

Beers: Bad Amber, Marcel, Fantin (Double Pale Ale), Duchamp (Sour Wit), Cezanne Magnifique, HMWWA FIACFW, Cezanne Verite, Fiction (IPA), Lourd of Funk, Titian, Dark Ryder, Grunewald, Goya. This batch of Cezanne Verite is barrel aged and it is also for sale in bombers. The Titian, Dark Ryder, Grunewald, and Goya (13.3% ABV) are the most recent additions, available on tap and in bombers.

Live Music (ABQ taproom): Today (Wednesday)—Wikki Wikki Wednesday with Wae Fonkey, 8 p.m.; Thursday—Nathan Fox, 8 p.m.; Saturday—James Whiton, Gunsafe, Delphia, Def-i, 8 p.m.

Live Music (SF brewery): Friday—50 Watt Whale, 6 p.m.; Saturday—Escape on a Horse, 7 p.m.

Other Events (ABQ taproom): Friday—Burlesque, Blues & Brews, 8 p.m.

Weekly Events (ABQ taproom): Tuesday—Bike-In Brew, 7 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts (Brewery): Happy hour Mon–Fri, 4-6 p.m. (discounts for all draft beer), Growler Saturdays ($3 off growler fills).

Happy Hour/Discounts (ABQ taproom): Happy hour Mon–Fri, 5-7 p.m.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales — (505) 428-0719

(Open all week from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

Beers: Fields of Rye, Agent Scully – Season One, Episode Five (IPA), Germophile (Berliner Weisse), Fruhschoppen (Hefeweizen), Little White Lies (Belgian Blonde), Conduit (Belgian IPA), Bosco P. Coltrane (Chocolate Brown), Petit Blanche – Amarillo, Sarlacc First Order (Imperial Saison), Notorious BdG, Aromatherapy IPA. The Agent Scully is a series of IPAs which will vary by hop combinations. Episode Five is the most recent iteration. The Notorious BdG, aged in apple brandy barrels, is the most recent addition to the lineup and is also available for sale in bottles.

Santa Fe Brewing Company — (505) 424-3333

(Main taproom: Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 2-8 p.m.; ABQ taproom: Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–11 p.m.; Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–midnight; Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Beers: Hipster Union IPA, Lustgarten Lager, Imperial Pastry-Free Porter, Twisted Root, Schneeball Imperial Pilsner. The most recent additions are Schneeball and Twisted Root, the latter a blonde ale with ginger and lemongrass. You can also find Twisted Root and Lustgarten in six-pack cans.

Live Music (ABQ taproom): Friday—Rise of Seekalae, 6 p.m.; Saturday—Royal Hills, 6 p.m.; Sunday—The Gershom Brothers, 6 p.m.

Happy Hour/Discounts: $1 off growler refills in the tasting room on Mondays. $2 pint Tuesdays at the Eldorado Taphouse. On Wednesday, there is a $2 pint special in the tasting room. On Thursday, there will be $1 off growler refills at the Eldorado Taphouse.

Second Street Brewery — (505) 989-3278 (Railyard), (505) 982-3030 (original location)

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sunday noon-9 p.m.)

Beers: Kolsch, IPA, Cream Stout, 2920 IPA, Low Winter Sun Sour, Summer Rain Sour, Outlier Special Bitter, Kohatu IPA, Vienna Lager, Diablo Canyon Pale Ale, British Mild, El Gato IPA, U2 Irish Stout, Boneshaker Special Bitter, Bonebreaker Bitter, XX ESB. The benefits of having two brewhouses are now apparent as Second Street is loaded with more beers than ever. The Jordy’s Irish Red and Imperial Stout are the most recent additions.

Live Music (Original location): Friday—Kitty Jo Creek, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—The Bill Hearne Trio, 6-9 p.m.

Live Music (Railyard): Friday—Lone Pinon, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday—Mystic Lizard, 6-9 p.m.

Live Music (Rufina): Thursday—Durand Jones & The Indications, 8-11 p.m.

Weekly Events (Railyard): Today (Wednesday)—Geeks Who Drink, 8 p.m.

Other breweries you need to visit

Bathtub Row Brewing — (505) 500-8381

(Mon–Weds 2–10 p.m., Thurs 2–11 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–11 p.m., Sun noon–10 p.m.)

Beers: Hoppenheimer IPA, Wit Rock, Pennsylvania Swanky, Dunkel Bock, Flat Cap Brown, Little Bird Blonde, Lichtenhainer. With a new brewer in place, BRB shakes up the lineup. Old favorites Hoppenheimer, Wit Rock, and Little Bird are joined by some fascinating newcomers in the Dunkel Bock, Flat Cap, and Lichtenhainer, a sour ale.

Picacho Peak Brewing — (575) 680-6394

(Mon–Thurs 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sun closed)

Beers: Picacho Lite, Keller Hefeweizen, Twisted Windmill IPA, Old Crawley, 575 Scotsman, Irish Xtra Stout, I Heart Porter, Smooth and Stout. Welcome to the listings, Picacho Peak! For the first time in a long, long time we have a Las Cruces brewery in here. Make sure to check it out the next time you are down south.

Sierra Blanca Brewing — (505) 832-2337

(Mon–Thurs 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Fri –Sat 11 a.m.–9 p.m.)

Beers: Interstella Vanilla, Cherry Wheat, Single Hop IPA, Natalie Portman. The Natalie Portman is a, well, you can probably guess. It is the newest addition to the seasonal lineup. Cherry Wheat is available in bottles and won a gold medal at GABF in 2017.

Live Music: Friday—Rudy Boy, 6 p.m.

* * * *

That’s all for this week! If you have any questions or comments, leave them below or contact us on our Facebook page.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister

Beer Notes: New brewery updates and political headaches

Posted: March 20, 2018 by cjax33 in Beer Notes
Tags: , , , , , , ,
2

Hey, we know that brewer! Toltec’s Kaylynn McKnight and co-owner Diana Navarrette are getting the brewery ready for an opening this spring. (Photo courtesy of Toltec Brewing)

It has been a while since we busted out some Beer Notes, but the news was piling up in our inbox, so here we go again.

New brewery updates

By our count, there are 20 forthcoming breweries, plus one that just opened. Alas, there is also another that closed, as we note below. First up, the breweries with active small brewer licenses.

  • Callahan West Brewery (Mosquero): The brewery is open in this small town in Northeast New Mexico. It is located at 22 Main Street, on the west side of town, next to the Headquarters Restaurant. Details are scarce at this point, but there is a fledgling Facebook page, and we suppose it could make for an interesting summer road trip.
  • Cantero Brewing (ABQ-Brewery District): Slow but steady progress is apparent, with the brewing system now set up. We will drop the owners another line and see if we can get an advance tour/preview.
  • Elkins Brewing (Grants): There is still no website, no social media, or anything else about this brewery. If anyone out there has information, please send it over.
  • Red River Brewing: The staff seems to be putting the finishing touches on the interior of the completed building. Hey, someone had to benefit from the mild winter up north. It should be only a matter of time before we add Red River to our next Taos Trek (which we are way, way overdue to do again).
  • Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery (Santa Fe): Plenty of positive signs abound to the point of where we have to imagine it will be the next to open. Tumbleroot has begun brewing and distilling, and in addition is starting to book musical acts for its stage. Look for a preview in the coming weeks.

The snow finally showed up, but not before most of this new brewery was built. (Photo courtesy of Red River Brewing)

Now for all the breweries with pending small brewer licenses, who are, by and large, further away from opening.

  • 1933 Brewing (Rio Rancho): Located in the old Fat Squirrel building on Southern, we have seen construction getting underway. There is also a Facebook page and a website, finally, though neither have any real information.
  • BLUE (ABQ-Downtown area): We have no new updates about this brewery, which a source told us would be located somewhere along Broadway near Lead/Coal, similar in size and scope to Sidetrack.
  • Bonito Valley (Lincoln): The brewery’s Facebook page said it hopes to open by the summer along Highway 380 in Southeast New Mexico.
  • Brewstillery (ABQ-UNM area): We still have no information on this place.
  • Casa Vieja (Corrales): The existing event space may look to do some small batch beers, but will mainly use the license to sell beer and wine at the events it hosts.
  • Cloudcroft Brewing: Formerly known as Switchback Brewery, it will instead be named for the town it will call home in the mountains in Southern New Mexico. A full build-out is now underway, with a very rustic look to the site, which is quite appropriate.
  • Hollow Spirits (ABQ-Wells Park): The distillery/brewery has hired a head distiller, Trey Allen, but no projected opening date (or even month) has been listed.
  • Hopscotch Brewing (Artesia): First, the good news is that Deepwell Brewing is alive and well under a new name. The bad news is that it will take over the building previously occupied by Desert Water Brewing, which closed recently. Still, soon Artesia will be back to having two breweries, and that is a good thing.
  • Icebox Brewing (Las Cruces): There is a Facebook page, but beyond the address of 2825 W. Picacho Ave., there is no additional info.
  • Leaf & Hive (Santa Fe): One of two places looking to open in the capital city that will offer up mainly products that require a brewing license, but are not necessarily beer. The Facebook page says it will be honeybrew, a “heirloom cultured sparkling tea.”
  • Sourdough Mine Restaurant and Brewery (Socorro): Located in the old Twisted Chile space off the main plaza, the restaurant is already up and running.
  • Tall Pines Beer and Wine Garden (Ruidoso): This beer/wine bar has been in operation for a while. It remains to be seen how much (if any) beer it plans to brew.
  • Toltec Brewing (ABQ-West Side): The exterior signage is now covering all the entrances at 10250 Cottonwood Park NW. Inside, the brewery area appears ready, while the the taproom area is getting the final paint job. We can also confirm that former Nexus brewer Kaylynn McKnight will be running the brewhouse, while Adam Galarneau, formerly of Bosque, Marble, and Turtle Mountain, will be the general manager. Those are two talented and experienced people, a good sign of the commitment of the Toltec owners to putting their brewery on the map from the get-go.

That’s some swanky signage! (Photo courtesy of Toltec Brewing)

There are three other breweries we know are on the way, but have not yet applied for a license. We recently previewed Ex Novo Brewing and its plans to open in Corrales. HoneyMoon Brewery, a kombucha-centric operation, is coming to Santa Fe. Blu Dragonfly is coming to the northern town of Cimarron and has already joined the NM Brewers Guild far in advance of its opening.

If there are any other new breweries out there that we missed, please let us know.

We can also report that Guadalupe Mountain (Carlsbad) and Lost Hiker (Ruidoso) are now open and serving their own beers.

Politics and beer don’t mix here or anywhere

Well, so much for this legislative session.

One of the best things about breweries is how they are (usually) delightfully free of the venomous political discourse that has infected our country. Sadly, politics has a way of getting into the beer, and it rarely turns out well for any beer drinker, regardless of his/her affiliation.

Here in New Mexico, even after it passed both houses in the legislature, Senate Bill 204 died with a whimper when outgoing Governor Martinez killed it with a pocket veto. SB204 was designed to give breweries the ability to obtain private celebration permits. Currently, only distributors have these permits. Who knows why the governor did not like this bill, which had bi-partisan support.

It could be worse, however, as craft brewers in Maryland suffered a devastating defeat in Annapolis. Small breweries in Maryland face significant restrictions in how much beer they can brew and sell. Efforts to lift many regulations have failed, as the combination of macrobreweries and distributors have been opposed to giving craft breweries any advantages. Hopefully more progressive politicians will take another look at the situation next year.

Meanwhile, the announcement of pending tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum imports have left some in the craft beer industry worried. Those worries may be valid, as this story in the Wall Street Journal shows. (Thanks to Boxing Bear’s David Kim for the link.) A rise in the price of American steel and aluminum would benefit the manufacturers, but not everyone in the market may be able to afford those increases. That could hamper an industry that uses a hell of a lot of both metals. Ultimately, though, it is still early in the process, and time will tell what the full impact will be on the brewing industry.

Sampler tray

  • Little Toad Creek got some good news when its first taproom outside Silver City cleared a major hurdle. The City of Las Cruces has given its approval for the location at 119 N. Main St. Now all that remains is for state approval, which hopefully will come in advance of the Blazin’ Brewfest in May.
  • Red Door is looking to hire a new head brewer. We are working on finding out the details behind the departure of founding brewer Wayne Martinez.
  • Tart at Heart is returning to Sister for a fourth time on April 14. We will have more details as we get closer to this fun annual event.
  • Second Street will host the first Pilsner and Crab Fest at the Rufina Taproom on June 16-17. It will not be a competition, but a celebration of the style. We would love to see what other breweries bring to at least give us all the opportunity to do a side-by-side tasting.
  • Rejoice, haze lovers, for the Brewers Association has heard your cries. Three new hazy or juicy ale categories (pale, IPA, double IPA) have been added to the official ranks of the Beer Style Guidelines. Other categories have been added as well to reflect the ongoing evolution of craft beers. Click that link for more details.

That clears out the notebook for now. If anyone out there ever has any craft beer news to share, big or small, drop us a line at nmdarksidebrewcrew@gmail.com, or via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or just tapping on a Crew member’s shoulder if you spot one of us out and about at a brewery, taproom, or beer bar.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister

Older Entries
Newer Entries