The buzz about a nationwide aluminum can shortage has been getting louder in the last couple of months. We have been waiting and wondering when it was truly going to hit our craft breweries in New Mexico, and starting late last week we started asking around via email. It is not something that will hit…
Tag: La Cumbre Brewing
Rio Bravo wins the 2020 NM IPA Challenge by the closest of margins
We kinda figured that the take-home edition of the 2020 New Mexico IPA Challenge was going to produce some surprises. The big surprise was the first-time winner, beating out two stalwarts of the hop-forward part of our local beer scene. Rio Bravo Brewing took home the trophy with 22 votes, followed closely by two-time past…
Brewery Patio Bracket Regional Finals: The time has come to settle on the best of Burque
The last of the regional finals are upon us in our brewery patio bracket-style tournament. We finish as we did in the first two rounds with the breweries of Albuquerque, divided into four regions by the two interstate highways. It was a second round that was both predictable and not, depending on the region. The…
The Week Ahead in Beer: It is autumn now because La Cumbre says so
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 eight 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….
Brewery Patio Bracket Round Two: The Battle of Burque rages on with no clear-cut favorite
The last couple of times our brewery patio bracket-style tournament hit up the Albuquerque breweries — divided by Interstates 25 and 40 into Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest (Downtown) regions — there was not as much separation as we expected. The Northwest had two at the top, but figuring out fourth place was difficult, while…
Brewery Patio Bracket Round Two: Time to separate the best of the best offsite taprooms
The second round of our brewery patio bracket-style tournament rolls along as we return to the offsite taprooms. Last time, we had the taprooms outside Albuquerque in a separate story from the two sets on the east and west sides of Interstate 25, but now we are putting all three polls in this story. Why?…
Several Albuquerque metro breweries benefit from expanded patios
In early June, Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) worked with city and state officials to create and pass an initiative allowing businesses to expand their existing patios or create makeshift patios if they didn’t already have one. With the Governor’s most recent public health orders once again prohibiting indoor dining, the breweries that have taken advantage…
Beer Notes: Rio Bravo unleashes a barrel-aged behemoth in the middle of summer
A few newsy beer-related items found their way to our proverbial desks this week. Rather than go two days in a row without a new story, here is a quick summation of what we know. Rio Bravo says damn the season and full imperial stout ahead Sure, it may be toasty out there these days,…
The Week Ahead in Beer: A Dank on draft helps us all get at least halfway to normal
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 eight 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….
Albuquerque’s two biggest breweries survive the initial onrush of returning customers
Over the course of the next few days and weeks, the Crew will be catching up with as many breweries as we can to see how they survived the lockdown, how things are going with customers allowed back inside and on patios at 50-percent occupancy, and what additional changes and developments are afoot. To kick…
DARK SIDE BREW CREW 