It was a good day to be a brewery from Southern New Mexico. The second round of the 2026 New Mexico Brewers Guild IPA Challenge was held at Icebox Brewing’s main location in Las Cruces on Saturday, with the hosts topping the round while another brewery from the region extending its overall lead. Icebox racked…
Tag: Downshift Brewing
IPA Challenge heads south where brewery activity is ramping up
The second round of the New Mexico Brewers Guild IPA Challenge is set for Saturday afternoon at Icebox Brewing in Las Cruces. The Crew will not be braving the heat and driving down I-25, but we will do our best to get the results out when the Guild announces the voting totals. Last weekend, Downshift…
Downshift takes slight lead after 1st round of 2026 NMBG IPA Challenge
For anyone that missed it on social media, the Crew was present in numbers for the first round of the 2026 New Mexico Brewers Guild IPA Challenge on Saturday at Second Street Rufina in Santa Fe. Three of us joined in the first-round festivities, which were quite simple to enjoy in the spacious taproom, replete…
Statewide Oktoberfest Guide 2025: Every event celebrating the best season
There are quite a few Oktoberfest celebrations coming up this season in New Mexico, so we decided to round ’em all up to help you best plan out your weekends for the rest of this month and part of October. From Red River to Ruidoso, from Carlsbad to Angel Fire, and of course Albuquerque and…
Santa Fe Beer & Food Festival offers up wide variety of tasty brews
We mentioned in The Week Ahead in Beer that this Saturday and Sunday is the Santa Fe Beer & Food Festival at El Rancho de las Golondrinas. Now, as we tend to do any time there is a festival, we went ahead and got as many of the beer lists as we could for the…
Boxing Bear edges Downshift in closest IPA Challenge vote in many years
Back before the final round of the 2025 New Mexico Brewers Guild IPA Challenge, the Crew got all sentimental because it was going to be held at Canteen, the site of the first NMIPAC that we attended as a Crew back in 2012. Well, lo and behold, it was actually the 2016 NMIPAC that was…
Playing the waiting game or a preview of what stories are on deck for summer
Last week was quiet. Like, ridiculously quiet, as far as beer stories go. We have entered into a bit of a news lull, it appears, as breweries prep for the summer rush that they know/hope is coming. Everyone could use a great a summer, and most that we have spoken to recently are optimistic after…
Downshift doubles down for Ruidoso with Collective Good and Oktoberfest
Every town, particularly those affected by natural disasters, needs a champion or two. Ruidoso has an entire brewery dedicated to its recovery after wildfires and subsequent flooding hammered the town over the course of this summer. Downshift Brewing is far from done, however, as that process continues for their surrounding community. We caught up with…
Statewide Oktoberfest Guide: Every event celebrating the best season
There are a baker’s dozen Oktoberfest celebrations still to go this season in New Mexico, so we decided to round ’em all up to help you best plan out your weekends for the rest of this month and much of October. From Red River to Ruidoso, from Carlsbad to Bernalillo, from Rio Rancho to Moriarty,…
The Week Ahead in Beer: Downshift determined to revive Ruidoso
The good folks at Downshift Brewing, and everyone else down in Ruidoso, have been through the summer of hell, to put it mildly. No sooner had they started to recover from the South Fork Fire and Salt Fire, which combined to destroy 1,500 structures in town, but then came the monsoon rains and flash floods…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 