The Week Ahead in Beer: Let the season of the dark brews begin

Last week, we led off this roundup by celebrating the strong end of Spooky Season at our breweries. This week, we kick off with our own personal celebration of all the dark brews beginning to fill up those seasonal/specialty taplines at breweries across the metro area and beyond. Friday alone we snagged some of that…

The Week Ahead in Beer: Giving summer one proper hoppy farewell

Yeah, we know, it’s been slow on the news front again. Throw in my constantly changing schedule at the paying job, and we’ve neglected this site a bit. We’ll try to pick things up a bit soon. In the meantime, one beer we’ve been waiting for a while now is finally arriving on tap, and…

Sidetrack rides to the top at the first New Mexico Craft Beer Awards

This past Friday, after the annual New Mexico Brewers Guild Technical Conference wrapped up at CNM, the attendees trekked over to nearby Flock of Moons for a special ceremony. For the first time, the Guild organized the New Mexico Craft Beer Awards, giving the local professionals and other certified judges a chance to vote and…

Downshift extends lead after second round of IPA Challenge

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…

Fire up the firkins as the Cask Festival returns to Sidetrack Brewing

There may never come a time again that we all truly appreciate that nice cover on the patio at Sidetrack Brewing quite like we will Saturday afternoon. After all, it’s expected to be 90 degrees out, the first time in Albuquerque history that has happened before May. Good thing there will be a lineup of…

Sidetrack stays on track even after big change behind the scenes

We feel old. Sidetrack, the little brewery that could, is turning 10 years old this month. It feels like just yesterday that we were making our first visit to the quaint taproom on Second Street between Lead and Coal. But no, it really has been a decade of good times, chill vibes, and tasty brews….

The retirement rush: A generation of brewery owners nears the exit

A certain surprise Instagram post from the weekend got us thinking about one of those almost-impossible-to-definitively-answer questions. Are all these brewery owner retirement announcements just random, or this is a new trend? The latest was that aforementioned post by Sidetrack owners Dan Herr and Anne O’Neill, who are stepping back and handing the reins to…