The Wellhead Restaurant & Brewpub

Not winning any contests on ambiance. It feels more like a bar than a brewery and there's a bit of a funk in the air.

About ten beers on tap, including a few seasonals. The only taplists were a few whiteboards with the beers available, but no descriptions, ABV, etc. Since most beer names included the style, this wasn't an issue.

I was surprised by the beers, as I wasn't expecting much from this place. All were good and in the 3-3.5 area on flavor, feel, etc.

Prices were pretty cheap, service friendly. Worth a visit if you're in Artesia.

Nice APA and IPA, and decent food in a small town with not much else except the oil refinery. Contrary to anger review, definitely open.

 

 

Restaurant style place with 40 to 50 tables and laid back music playing catering perfectly to the Artesia crowd. The Wellhead sells hard liquor in addition to 7 guest taps and a dozen or so bottled offerings, but today only had 3 of their own beers on tap, I chose the Summer IPA and it was very drinkable without any outstanding characteristics so today is was still very welcome.

Stopped in here for dinner 9 Aug 2012. 

Restaurant is on the right, pub on the left. We ate in the pub section. Fairly crowded for a Wed night and very noisy, it was difficult to hear our server. Crowd was a bit younger than expected.   Lots of oil memorabilia on the walls, 18 or so 4 tops, room for 12 at the bar. Liquor and wine available in addition to 8 taps. 

I got the brat, AMA got the catfish. Both dishes were quite good.  Tried just two beers (blonde & wheat) which were decent. Overall I'd definitely come back when in the area. 

Special thanks to AMA for driving me here during Ramadan. 

I keep wondering why there is a brewpub in Artesia, NM. Glad it is there though and only 35-40 min from Roswell. Went there on a Wednesday evening and seems to be a pretty popular place with the locals, although at least half of them were ordering cans of BMC. The town seems to be made of plenty of roughnecks and oilfield workers and the crowd was fairly reflective of it.

The beer was pretty decent, the stout being the best I had out of the four pints. There were 5 brewery offerings and 2 guest taps. Food was a little above average as well, though a bit pricey. Service was pretty good, waitress looked at me a little funny when I asked for a non-chilled pint glass but complied with the request anyhow. Never went too long with an empty glass, although there was a time or two I could have used a freshie more promptly. As with many brewpubs I have frequented, the pint glasses were served too full and without the proper room for foam.

All in all a pretty good experience and glad I made the round trip from Roswell. I would go here again, especially considering the void of good beer on the eastern New Mexico plains.

Now this is what I expect from a brewpub as far as atmosphere goes - not too big, and not too upscale. I couldn't have been more comfortable. The service was exceptional (if you're lucky Terry will be behind the bar - she was excellent!), and the patrons were super friendly. I absolutely loved it.

I'd have to say that my only so-so comments would be about the beer selection. They only had 4 or 5 of their own brews, and I believe they had two guest brews. The pale ale was pretty good - nice hoppy taste and aroma, but it was just a little thin. The stout was nice - a little smokey, but a nice drinkable texture. My favorite was actually one of their guest beers, the 90 Shilling Ale.

We ordered a bunch of appetizers, and they were outstanding! The buffalo wings were fantastic (nice heat!), the beef taquitos were delicious, and the jalapeno poppers absolutely kicked butt (with cheddar cheese, and not that awful cream cheese filling)! I can't say enough good things about the appetizers we had there.

In summary, if you're picky about a friendly environment, love appetizers, and aren't terribly finisky with your beer, then you will absolutely love this place. If we are ever back in the area, we will definately stop by again.

My cousin and I stopped by hoping to meet his brother for lunch. He had to teach at the academy and couldn't join us. His loss.

It was hard to tell if they were open, there were no hours on the door. Inside was sparkling clean with lots of oil field memorabilia. We arrived before the lunch rush, and had two or three waitresses helping us. The food was good, I had the Philly Quesadilla.

The beer was good. I am not an amber beer fan, but I thought theirs was very good. I had the stout next and it was outstanding!

My cousin and I decided we would be back. Great place. If you ever find yourself in Artesia, you need to stop in.