For the first time in history, a brewery has won the New Mexico Brewers Guild Stout Invitational in consecutive years. Tractor Brewing prevailed with 30 votes for their second straight win, edging out Nexus Brewery, which had 29, in the annual event at Bathtub Row Brewing in Los Alamos. “It was really funny, I didn’t…
Tag: craft beer
An eye for art and a thirst for beer: Catching up with Thirsty Eye
On a particularly warm January evening, I met up with brewer John Kofonow, general manager/co-owner Jo Sloan, and co-owner Kim Arthun at the ever-cozy Thirsty Eye Brewing at 206 Broadway Blvd. SE in the historic Huning Highland neighborhood in Albuquerque. For a random Wednesday, it was comfortably busy inside. We sat inside, though it was…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Swapping all that homebrewing gear at Bossfight
There is a Sunday afternoon gathering that might just be of interest to all current and former homebrewers. The Homebrew Equipment Swap Meet and Social will run from 2 to 5 p.m. at Bossfight Brewing, one of their last major events before the farewell party February 28. The Worthogs organized this event with the brewery,…
The Week Ahead in Beer: For the love of the brews and sometimes people
Valentine’s Day on a Friday? We really, truly mean it when we say good luck to everyone in the restaurant industry. If your joint has been deemed romantic, you are about to get swamped. May the customers show you all a little love on the tipping front. For those not working Friday, there are a…
The mostly complete guide to Super Bowl hours and events at local breweries
As promised in The Week Ahead in Beer, here’s a separate little article on how breweries are dealing with the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon/evening. It’s little because far fewer have announced what they’re doing (if anything) than we originally thought. Whoops. Basically, if a brewery does not have TVs, it’s probably just business as…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Bowling for Super fun times and good brews
You have to love the NFL, one of the richest sports leagues on the planet, and how it goes and defends its trademarks with such vigor. For instance, even small businesses like local breweries cannot advertise watch parties or specials using the words “Super Bowl,” at least without paying a fee or fine. Instead, they…
Beer Notes: License renewals, legislature update, Stout Invitational and more
There were just enough little news items popping up on our radar to encourage a Friday edition of Beer Notes. Let us dive in, shall we? More license renewals On the one hand, we thought we would see a lot more than we have so far. On the other hand, it’s just January 31, and…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Feeling fly at High and Dry anniversary time
Last week, we highlighted the anniversary event for one of our top small neighborhood pub breweries, Sidetrack. Well, these anniversaries tend to roll over in bunches, and this week it’s another neighborhood pub’s turn, as High and Dry celebrates “seven years of pour decisions.” You gotta admit, that’s a damn fine slogan. As Sidetrack means…
New owners of Marble Brewery already hard at work during transitional phase
Meet the new bosses, not the same as the old bosses, but not too different, either. At least that is the sense I picked up on when I met up with the new owners of Marble Brewery, Jarrett Babincsak and Bert Boyce, to talk about where we were in the transition last Friday. The duo…
February 28 license renewal deadline will show state of NM brewing industry
The end of every February is a fairly normal stretch of time for most people. No major holidays or events, spring break is still a way off, and so on and so forth. For breweries and other businesses that are licensed by Alcohol and Beverage Control, a division of the Regulation and Licensing Department, the…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 