Sabroso Festival combines craft beer, tacos and punk rock

Friends of friends were happy to inform us that the upcoming Sabroso Festival, scheduled for this Sunday at the Isleta Pavilion, was a fun event in its California stops. The setup for the Albuquerque edition, however, has hit some bumps in the road, as breweries have reported major issues with getting their permits approved due…

Only one New Mexico IPA still alive in National IPA Challenge

The Dandy Dozen was reduced to six at the National IPA Challenge this weekend, with one of the two remaining New Mexico entries advancing to the championship qualifier of its respective bracket. It probably was not the one most people expected. Two-time past champion Scale Tipper from Bosque was ousted in the fifth round, while…

National IPA Challenge: Only 2 New Mexico entries remain

The many brackets of the National IPA Challenge are down to just a few remaining hop bombs, with only two New Mexico entries advancing to the fifth round. Bosque’s Scale Tipper, a two-time past champion, and Canteen’s Hop Baller are all that remains from the original list of 42 local beers that started the competition….

Scale Tipper prevails in all-New Mexico showdown at National IPA Challenge

The results of the third round of the National IPA Challenge popped up a little early online this weekend, with five New Mexico entries advancing in three brackets. Bosque’s Scale Tipper, which claimed the title in 2015 and 2016, advanced to the fourth round at the expense of Quarter Celtic’s Mor-Buck. I actually had the…

Stout Challenge VII: A long-time favorite claims its 1st title

We drank four gallons of stout. Somehow, we are still alive. Seven members of the Dark Side Brew Crew gathered on Super Bowl Sunday to judge 17 stouts from around the ABQ metro area in a blind taste test. For the seventh time in seven years, a different brewery took home the title. We judged…

The Week Ahead in Beer: A double Crew brew release is upon us

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 six breweries, one in Los Alamos, and one in Moriarty also joining the party. For those not on Facebook, which is I believe a term we’ve used…

Busy year flies by for Canteen as another lies ahead

It seems like only yesterday that the Crew sat down with Canteen head brewer Zach Guilmette for our annual Look Back/Look Ahead Series. At least that is what he told us when we dropped by last week. If anything, it is the result of all the days blurring together as customers are keeping Zach and…