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: Icebox 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…
IPA Challenge goes back to the beginning with final round at Canteen
The New Mexico Brewers Guild IPA Challenge will wrap up with a three-session final round at Canteen Brewhouse this Saturday. The staggered times will be at noon, 2 p.m., and 4 p.m., with tickets still available online for just the first two sessions, which should definitely be your sign to get them in advance as…
Icebox Brewing uses home field advantage to take IPA Challenge lead
The second round of the 2025 New Mexico Brewers Guild IPA Challenge just wrapped up at Icebox Brewing in Las Cruces, with the hosts leaving with the most votes. Icebox added 19 more votes to their first-round total of eight for 27 total. Another southern brewery, Downshift, tallied the second most votes of the round…
Beer Notes: Hiking for brews, hops go south, newcomer in cans, Flix wins
Oh, look at that, just enough stuff has piled up that it was time to empty the old beer notebook again. Let us dive right in, shall we? First up, a little while ago we were sent that book pictured up above. Beer Hiking Southern Rockies is part of a series of regional books that…
First round of 2025 NM IPA Challenge features a crowd at the top
Back during the preliminary round of the 2025 New Mexico IPA Challenge, a few brewers told the Crew that it would be awfully hard for any of the quality ales featured to break away from the pack. The first round of public voting Saturday proved that prediction right, as three breweries tied with 12 votes…
Beer Notes: IPA Challenge dates and locations set, collabs recap and more
Been a minute since we did one of these, but enough items surfaced that it was time to dust off the old beer notebook. To kick things off, the 2025 edition of the New Mexico Brewers Guild IPA Challenge now has set dates and locations for its three public rounds this July. Tickets go on…
Brewery consolidation hits Southern NM as Icebox takes over Public House 28
The recent trend of one brewery taking over another is not limited to the Albuquerque metropolitan area, as we recently learned. Acting off a tip from the Borderlands Craft Beer Community on Facebook, we reached out to Public House 28 head brewer/co-owner Blake Heath for comment on the news that Icebox Brewing of Las Cruces…
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…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 