The times are good over at Tractor Brewing these days. The brewery, which just celebrated 25 years in business, had been prepping for the biggest annual event when a big honor was bestowed upon the brew team with their first Great American Beer Festival medal. I caught up with head brewer TJ Frederich and events…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Mixing a little spooky with last of Oktoberfest events
It’s a busy little weekend ahead, with the last of the scheduled Oktoberfest events scattered in there alongside a couple more spooky season happenings. Boxing Bear will host their annual DogtoBEARfest on Saturday at 11 a.m., which we’ll preview in depth later this week since we’re talking to them about their recent Great American Beer…
GABF 2024: Quarter Celtic basks in glow of their first gold medal from Denver
The brothers McKeown, Brady and Ror, were hundreds of miles apart this past Saturday, but still had their eyes fixed on the same spot. The former was watching the livestream and the latter was present at the Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony in Denver, waiting to see if Quarter Celtic Brewpub and Meadery would…
A quick note about a new option at Quarter Celtic
Sometimes we report on things that are not strictly beer-related, but are more beer-adjacent. Quarter Celtic shared some news with the Crew and invited us to the brewery at 1100 San Mateo NE to join in a tasting of their latest offering: mead. I asked co-owner/head brewer Brady McKeown just what made him venture into…
Trio of New Mexico breweries snag medals at GABF awards ceremony
Three breweries from Albuquerque claimed medals at the Great American Beer Festival on Saturday morning. Quarter Celtic Brewpub and Meadery won their first gold medal, topping the Vienna Lager category with their Vienna Festbier. It beat out 122 entries for the top spot. Quarter Celtic had previously won two silvers in 2020 and a bronze…
Flock of Moons and the Crew dipped into the darkness for new collaboration
A few weeks back, myself and Franz Solo headed over to Flock of Moons to help brew up our first collaboration beer with the Bricklight District brewery. Today (Friday) at 5 p.m., we will officially tap Dark Side of the Moons, a black IPA inspired by classics in the sub-genre like Firestone Walker’s Wookey Jack….
GABF 2024: A mostly complete guide to the NM brewery competition entries
The Great American Beer Festival is kicking off today (Thursday) in Denver, but alas, the Crew cannot attend as our jobs and lives are keeping us in New Mexico again this year. Nonetheless, we wanted to keep track of which local breweries entered the annual awards competition so that all of you could, too. We…
The Week Ahead in Beer: The doggos get to enjoy spooky season at Sidetrack
As Balloon Fiesta zips toward its conclusion this weekend, spooky season will continue with a few more fun events, including one for the four-legged friends who frequent our brewery patios. Sidetrack is hosting a Dog Costume Contest this Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. The registration fee is $10 per dog, and all dogs must…
Why we will not officially report on that big rumor (yet)
The news, if one can call it that, broke on Friday. It spread like wildfire across Reddit and Facebook, consuming all the oxygen in Albuquerque’s little corner of the craft beer world. We got emails, direct messages, texts, you name it. All asking the same thing about the big, maybe biggest rumor to hit craft…
Rounding up all the Balloon Fiesta-themed events at local breweries
As we promised in our tourist guide to local breweries, here is a quick roundup of all the specifically balloon-themed events going on over the next week-plus in the Albuquerque area. First up, Steel Bender is again hosting Balloons & Brews, which will run every day from 7 to 10 a.m. The setup is pretty…
