The stouts did flow on a lovely Saturday afternoon at Bathtub Row Brewing, as the annual Stout Invitational returned to Los Alamos. The Crew sent myself, Luke, and Reid to participate in the blind taste test of 16 stouts from breweries across New Mexico (Erin was also volunteering in the back, pouring samples for the…
JUNO expands to Edgewood while finding stability at the main brewery
There are not many new breweries or taprooms slated to open in 2024, but one long-awaited space has opened at last just to the east of Albuquerque. JUNO Brewery and Cafe opened their first off-site taproom in Edgewood earlier this month. To learn more about that and everything else going on at the main location…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Bow & Arrow goes all out for their 8th anniversary
A number of breweries have tried that cute little trick where they brew up the same number of beers to match the number of their anniversary. With many New Mexico breweries now 10 years or older, that really isn’t feasible. Heck, even eight isn’t feasible, so Bow & Arrow just went ahead and created six…
Palmer Brewery just living that lager life and hoping for a strong year ahead
Among brewers and brewery owners, Rob Palmer has a rather distinctly succinct and no-fuss approach to everything from running his namesake brewery to handling interviews. He also has a, not necessarily worldly, but stately view of the New Mexico beer scene after his time as the president of the board of directors at the New…
Ex Novo and 25 other breweries paired up for return of United in Beer festival
While some of us (well, me) were working on Sunday afternoon, reps from 25 different breweries joined the Ex Novo staff at The Corral for the second United in Beer draft day. For anyone who missed it last year, United in Beer is a collaboration festival, with those breweries paired up at random. The goal…
Lizard Tail feels optimistic even after closing kitchen at main location
Kitchens can be a weird and fickle thing for breweries to maintain. At some places, the kitchen becomes the star of the show, such as Nexus. At others, they remain a constant headache. For Lizard Tail Brewing, the Industrial location’s kitchen was always more of the latter. Owner/brewmaster Dan Berry finally decided he had enough…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Edgewood adds a new craft brewing option
The East Mountains have another craft beer option at long last. JUNO officially announced the opening of their long-awaited Edgewood taproom, something that was first mentioned back when the former Dialogue Brewing was rebranded after the pandemic lockdown. It’s just a soft opening for now, with daily hours from 4 to 9 p.m. The kitchen…
Shifting over some operations is running a little late for Late Shift Lager House
Hello, all. Happy spring, or what most of us call severe allergy season. It’s time for another Look Back/Look Ahead Series update. This time, I spoke with Patrick Bowling of Late Shift Lager House, the craft beer side of The Craftroom. The popular taproom is primarily the home of Sandia Hard Cider, located at 2809 Broadbent…
Bombs Away aims to drop even more lagers that core customers demand
When a brewery finds its niche, it should always embrace and expand that comfort zone. For Bombs Away Beer Company, the connection to the military has always been there, and now from a brewing perspective, that niche has been found, too. I recently caught up with co-owner/head brewer John Degnaro and assistant brewer Ryan Benefield…
Field to Brew: New Mexico now has its own malting facility up and running
Back in February of last year, when I sat down with the Beer Creek brew crew for their Look Back/Look Ahead Series article, I was under the impression that we were going to talk about the usual burning questions on people’s minds — a patio opening date, when Black Wedding Black IPA was coming back,…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 