The 2015 Balloon Fiesta tourist guide to NM craft breweries

It’s that time of year again, when lots of folks from outside Albuquerque and New Mexico descend upon the Duke City for the Balloon Fiesta. While a lot of us locals grumble about the increase in traffic, even we’re big softies for the Fiesta (assuming we wake up in time). Well, we are, our dogs…

New Mexico breweries poised to storm GABF once again

In case anyone has been living under a rock of late, the Great American Beer Festival, that annual homage to craft beer, begins Thursday and runs through Saturday in Denver. In addition to the thousands upon thousands of beer served up at the Denver Convention Center, there will be hundreds of satellite events, special tappings,…

2015 IPA Challenge: And the winner is …

We said it would be a battle to decide the best IPA of 2015. Some scoffed. Some were bewildered. Some guffawed, whatever that means. In the end, though, we were right. This was really, really hard to pick the best out of 15 samples. On a warm, crowded (but not too crowded) day at Boxing…

IPA Challenge: All the details on the final round

The decisive final round of the 2015 NM IPA Challenge is set to kick off this Saturday at noon at Boxing Bear. The first two rounds of the NMIPAC have seen strong showings by current leader Blue Corn (48 votes), second-place and defending champion Bosque (42 votes), and local heavyweight Marble (41 votes). Can anyone…

IPA Challenge: Blue Corn moves into first after two rounds

The second round of the NM IPA Challenge went down at Pecan Grill and Brewery on Wednesday night in Las Cruces and it featured a few surprises. First-round leader Marble scored just three votes after racking up 38 in Santa Fe last Saturday and now drops to third place. Everyone that was shocked at La…

Marble takes early lead in NM IPA Challenge

The results are in from Round One of the New Mexico IPA Challenge at Draft Station Santa Fe. A total of 188 beer lovers showed up, which very well might be a record for a non-Albuquerque round. As our headline says, Marble takes the lead with 38 votes. Tied for second were Blue Corn and…

V + IPA = You’re allowed to be judgey

“In the broader sense, I’m wondering how many medals New Mexico will score at Great American Beer Festival,” said New Mexico Brewers Guild director Christopher Goblet. “IPA is only one section within GABF, but let’s wave that ‘NMIPA’ flag proudly.” He’s right. I make a formal motion for all of us to turn that flag…

Winter could be over … head to the mountains for beer!

It looks like winter broke just in time for Summerfest! The annual Pararito Mountain beer festival is being held Saturday at the ski area near Los Alamos.  As always, this is not just a “come and drink beer until you’re silly” event.  The ski hill provides a great location for outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain…