IPA Challenge: Boxing Bear claims its 3rd title in 4 years

The masses have spoken, and the West Coast IPA has not lost its crown just yet. Boxing Bear Brewing won its third New Mexico IPA Challenge trophy in the past four years, with its Bear Knuckle II fending off a host of hazy competitors. Bear Knuckle racked up 102 votes to fly past Bosque (72)…

The Week Ahead in Beer: The hop-slaught continues on tap and in cans

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 seven breweries, one in Los Alamos, one in Moriarty, one in Red River, one in Silver City, and one in Truth or Consequences also joining the party….

IPA Challenge: Boxing Bear extends its lead in Santa Fe

Our man Luke was at the second round of the New Mexico IPA Challenge on Saturday afternoon, but we will cut him some slack and let him enjoy all those hop-forward ales while we do a quick recap of the competition. Boxing Bear, which edged out Icebox 17 votes to 16 in the first round…

Bosque abandons Open Space and heads to the Westside

A rather important e-mail dropped in our laps during lunchtime, which revealed that Bosque Brewing is switching up a big part of its plans for the future. The long-awaited and long-delayed Open Space Project at Venice and the I-25 frontage road, which was meant to serve as the specialty/seasonal brewery replacement for the original San…

Beer Notes: Taproom boom, more awards and one big party

Now that I am back at work (yay, money), the beer news is starting to pile up, so let us get to a few pertinent items. First, though, in a moment of self-promotion, I will be giving a free talk about the history of brewing in Albuquerque this Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Special…

Las Cruces craft brewing scene keeps it local even as it rapidly expands

Las Cruces is the second largest city in New Mexico, but for years, its craft beer scene was far behind Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and even some smaller towns. There was High Desert Brewing, which had followed in the footsteps of O’Ryan’s Tavern (closed in 2000), and the Pecan Grill was contract brewing with Sierra Blanca,…

ABQ Beer Week: Day Ten kicks into high gear all around town

Ah, it’s the big day. No, not about beer, though there’s plenty of that, but it’s the Champions League final today at 1 p.m. We’re all rooting for Tottenham to upset Liverpool, but no matter the outcome, it should be a fun finale for the European soccer season. For all the non-soccer fans out there,…

Blazin’ Brewfest lights up the Las Cruces night once again

There are only a few beer festivals left in New Mexico that no one from the Crew has attended. One was the Blazin’ Brewfest, but I will be heading down this Friday since it is not falling on my birthday or opposite a metal show this year (it was rather uncanny how many times that…