New Mexico Beer Guide 2016 updated

Thanks OP for making this thread! My wife and I were in ABQ for several hours yesterday - I wouldn't have known to check out Marble without the recommendation. Their Red was fantastic! Also made the obligatory stop at La Cumbre for some Elevated and Project Dank...so so good.

We still had a couple hours to kill, so we grabbed lunch at this little place called El Patio (awesome sopapillas and green chile stew) then took a ride up the Sandia Peak tram. It was a little pricey at $20 a person, but the views were beautiful and I kinda enjoyed the cheesy jokes the tram operator made on the way up.

ABQ was great to us, and we definitely plan on visiting again when we have more time on our hands!

 

http://brackets.brewingnews.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=462020&tclass=National IPA Championship 2016

Bosque's Scale Tipper IPA with another gold, beating out Comrade Brewing's Superpower IPA. Congrats to Bosque.

I had to crack open my bomber of Scale Tipper in light of this news. Probably a preference in style/hops/whatnot but Superpower would get my vote in this head2head. Good beer though, kinda reminds me of Deschutes's Fresh Squeezed.

 

I noticed that the other day while at the taproom. Re: Soutwest Session no longer on tap. At least Simcoe Pilsner is still around. Really enjoying that one.

Also, noticed Turtle Mountain's Adrift IPA made it to the semi or quarter finals in that competition. is Turtle Mountain a brewery I should have my eyes out for?

 

Turtle Mountain has had some turnaround (who hasn't), so there is/was some consistency issues, total revamp of core beers etc... I've never had a terrible beer from there. But more on the area of where Chama is (and other worthwhile visits). Sometimes great, most times just something to go with the food. Brick oven pizzas are world class imho.

 

I could go for some brick oven pizza right about now...

Hit up the downtown, ABQ Duel taproom. Awesome selection on draft. Beers were fair to quite good. The Goya Stout was definitely the highlight. I just wish that place had some televisions going in there, but maybe that is just my bias....as I like having some sports on while out and drinking a beer.

 

Wow, great thread. I'm headed to NM next week and needed some intel. Unfortunately my sister-in-law has moved from Rio Rancho over to Santa Fe, so any tips/guidance for that area? I saw a few items in the OP but nothing that screamed "wow".

Also, somehow I've missed La Cumbre. Will I have much trouble finding Dank and Elevated in Santa Fe stores?

A colleague brought me a couple of Marble beers last month (Red and IPA - I liked the IPA better, but wasn't wowed by either); what else should I look for?

 

For Santa Fe, I've never had a bad meal/drink at either Blue Corn or Second Street. Some above par to great seasonals at both places. Unique enough to where they only seem to stay or be available at those locations.

Draft Station at the plaza seems to occasionally have Bosque beers on tap. Last glance was Blue Corn, Chama River, La Cumbre, Bosque, and Sierra Blanca. Call ahead if you are looking for specifics. I know La cumbre is usually elevated, Marble their red and double white, but for the others it seems to fluctuate often. This was posted on their facebook page almost 3 weeks back https://www.facebook.com/draftstati...41829.197432340446681/461634670693112/?type=3

I agree about SFBC. Always a treat to hang out in their makeshift patio area, or huddle around the 10 person tap area. Quite a few offerings are tap only, so its a nice treat to get their imperial java stout in draft form from time to time.

 

Tried Marble's Stout Americano on nitro tap at the brewery a couple weekends ago. Good beer for what it is but for as much as I love coffee and coffee stouts, I just can not get into cold pressed coffee or beers that use it. Wish I could because it was a well constructed brew that stood up against the nitro.

Also tried Goya this past weekend for my first time. Definitely a winner.

 

I can't really explain/describe why other than to say I don't enjoy the taste of cold pressed coffee. I love regular coffee though. I could, and would, give up beer before I gave up my coffee.

 

Hit up Quarter Celtic earlier and definitely agree. For a new brewery, they came out with guns a blazing. Loads of potential here and they are already brewing good, quality beers. Place was also ridiculously packed.

 

Quarter Celtic has a former head brewer of Canteen as their brewer, correct?

Goes to show, it' takes a quality brewer on ANY sort of system to produce some gems

@denver10, when were you there? Time wise, day of week? Just wondering what I should expect. I was going to check it out before word out way out. Looks like it may already be out. Good for them. Sounds like my sort of visit. Already has some nice buzz, unlike other places I gave unobstructed access to my wallet without really earning it.

 

Wednesday around dinner time. I'd say I probably got there some time between 6:15-6:30.

 

They were out of most of their core beers when I went in for a growler of their IPA (second batch of that already). On my first visit there, I found the Blonde to be buttery (and Brady told me that they had mashed too high). The Porter was really good. When I smelled the IPA for the first time I thought, "Finally. This is what all the new breweries should be copying." Thought it could use some fine tuning but it was way above anything the other new places were making. It doesn't hurt that Quarter Celtic was able to get a good amount of Citra from Canteen. Good luck to any new brewery getting any significant quantity of that, though. The second batch of IPA was a step back, I think. Cleaner and less estery but lacking in juiciness. Will keep trying them, which is more than I can say for a couple of the other newbies.

 

When it makes it to their Nob Hill location I will be sure to check it out.

I did just read your review of it and saw the Mosaic Comparison...which has me a touch reserved. I realize I am in the minority, but I generally am not a fan of mosaic hops. Sometimes a beer can use it and blow me away (like Wicked Weed's Pernicious IPA, which I absolutely loved....like really, really, really loved), but often times i find those mosaic heavy IPA's tend to be ones that I find myself thinking, "seems like a good beer but its not working for me." As I mentioned previously in this thread, I am definitely interested in checking out Equinox hops further and this seems like the perfect opportunity, so will definitely be keeping an eye out for it.

I did really enjoy their Citra S.M.A.S.H. Got my fingers crossed for a Amarillo S.M.A.S.H., a Nelson Sauvin S.M.A.S.H., and a Galaxy S.M.A.S.H.