2012: A Brew Crew Year in Review

Happy New Year’s, friends. 2012 was a big year for us. It was the start of the Brew Crew, we got to meet many of our local brewers and brewery owners, we got to check out many of our local beer festivals as well as the Great American Beer Festival, and we got to watch…

Beer Notes: Septemberfest kicks off the weekend

Stoutmeister here, trying to clear out the mental notebook of beer (sure, I could write stuff down, but instead I prefer using my hands to lift pints) before trekking down to Marble’s Septemberfest on Saturday. Speaking of Septemberfest, this year’s edition kicks off at noon, features the added bonus of Red Light Cameras on stage,…

IPA Challenge: Il Vicino makes it a 4-peat

The IPA Challenge came to a close with a resounding finish on Saturday afternoon. Resounding for host Il Vicino, at least. With the annual blind taste-test competition heading into its final round, the three-time defending champion unleashed its Exodus IPA for the home crowd and came away with an overwhelming victory. The final-round results (number…

IPA Challenge: Il Vicino overtakes Marble

Round three of the 2012 IPA Challenge is in the books, with Il Vicino claiming first place with one round remaining. Thursday’s competition at Blue Corn in Santa Fe saw the defending champions collect the most votes to leap ahead of Marble. The two breweries were tied after the first round at Nexus, with Marble…

IPA Challenge: Marble takes lead after two rounds

The second round of the IPA Challenge was held at 3 Rivers Brewery in Farmington on Tuesday night, with results coming out this morning from the New Mexico Brewers Guild. After tying Il Vicino with 28 votes apiece in Sunday’s opening round at Nexus, Marble moved into sole possession of first place, picking up a…

IPA Challenge all tied up after round one

None of the Crew could make it over to Nexus for round one of the 2012 IPA Challenge on Sunday (I know, I know, bad beer bloggers putting work/life ahead of beer). But thankfully the good folks at the New Mexico Brewers Guild posted the results on Facebook when all the votes were tallied. A…

Beer Week: Colorado and Oregon invade, we approve

E-Rock and Franz Solo each made trips out for Thursday’s ABQ Beer Week events in Nob Hill. They offer up their thoughts on all the great beers that were available. Once again, I found myself at beer tastings on Nob Hill. I started the day’s tastings at Two Fools where I ran into the ABQ…

Beer Weekend and the return of Shilling

Some Crew members have been very busy the past few weeks while some have been MIA. I have been one of those MIA. Between work, tending to a sick girlfriend, and even a death in my extended family, I’ve been keeping to myself mostly while neglecting my duties as a writer for this blog. Well,…

Taos Trek—A brighter shade of Blue

Stoutmeister and E-Rock spent the last day of March in the Taos area in Northern New Mexico, which is now home to four breweries with potentially more on the way. The first stop on our Taos Beer Trek was Blue Heron Brewing Co., which is located along Highway 68 in the unincorporated community of Rinconada….

Trekking to Taos and the four northern breweries

After a really busy week, just about every member of the Crew is looking forward to this weekend. Anyone that reads this blog probably realized that, considering we did not come with a single post since the previous Beer Weekend entry that went up last Friday. Rest assured, Shilling and Cryptogrind will have multiple posts…