Over the past decade, we have seen plenty of breweries make big moves, whether expanding their main locations, or adding taprooms, or moving into large-scale packaging/distribution. Moving the entire brewing operation from one building to another, however, is a much rarer occurrence. Boxing Bear did it the most recently, and Bosque and Tractor did the…
GABF 2022: Rowley Farmhouse Ales brings home another gold from Denver
As any brewery will tell you, the difficulty level of winning a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival is already a mile high. Bringing home a fifth medal, and a second gold, at that, after only being in the business for six years, is a pretty phenomenal achievement for a small brewpub. At…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Welcoming the annual return of the darkest brews
We are still recovering from a wild long weekend in Denver, and Red River in the case of one of our staff, but the beer news is building up, so this is just the first of what could be many stories this week and in the weeks ahead. But, focusing on the purpose of this…
Four New Mexico breweries claim medals at Great American Beer Festival
For a good long while, it appeared that 2022 would see New Mexico breweries bring home the fewest medals since Chama River was the lone medalist in 2010. As the category numbers dwindled down, three different breweries picked up medals to bring the state’s total to four. Rowley Farmhouse Ales took gold in the Belgian…
GABF 2022: The return to an in-person Valhalla after the long dark winter
DENVER — Oh, yeah, it feels good to put a dateline on a story again. After the COVID pandemic limited the Great American Beer Festival to just two years of awards ceremonies and no actual festival, we are back in the belly of the beast for a full in-person fest. Everything has returned to normal,…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Say farewell to the Fiesta and hello to GABF
While the Balloon Fiesta is wrapping up down here, a good chunk of the local brewery employees are headed north to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. As this is the first fest since 2019 where the general public can attend, it also means the Crew can return to cover the event. Erin and…
NM Brew Fest returned in all of its glory much to the delight of most of the Crew
We set a record Saturday afternoon: The most Crew members at a single festival. Yes, we actually got Franz Solo (and Mrs Solo) out of the house (they have an adorable small child) for the New Mexico Brew Fest at Villa Hispana. We got Luke to come down from Santa Fe. And, neither AmyO nor…
Balloon Fiesta celebrations land at multiple local breweries and taprooms
As any Albuquerque resident knows, the first week of October belongs to the Balloon Fiesta. The morning skyline is dotted with those familiar (and some not-so-familiar) floating shapes, balloon-themed merchandise dominates the shelves of every corner store and coffee shop in town, and the tourists, well, they are everywhere. Whether you choose to take part…
New Mexico Brew Fest returns to brighten all of our beer-loving lives
One of our longtime favorite festivals is making a comeback after a couple years off due to the COVID pandemic, and we could not be happier. The New Mexico Brew Fest, previously held every year at the state fairgrounds, will be back this Saturday afternoon at Villa Hispana. The 2019 edition was the 10th anniversary…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Fiesta times are here again and fests are taking off
In case you have not been paying attention, the Balloon Fiesta is back starting this Saturday. So watch out for increased traffic, more (than usual) distracted drivers, folks going the wrong way on one-way streets around downtown, etc. It also means some of our breweries will be more crowded than usual, so take note if…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 