New Mexico Beer Guide 2016 updated

Not IPA related, but we are putting on a keg of our Sanctuario on blackberries tonight at Rowley Farmhouse Ales. Our barrel program is starting to yield some finished beers and this is one of the early variants. Sanctuario is our wine barrel aged mixed fermentation saison that is matured in Chardonnay barrels, then refermented in barrels on blackberries. We only made one keg (besides the bottles we filled), so it won't last long.

And congrats to Boxing Bear for their repeat victory in the IPA Challenge. Cheers Boxing Bear!

 

Full Nelson returns Friday, per their Facebook page.

Good to know about Farmhouse 111. I almost stopped by there yesterday to try it (after finally giving Dialogue another shot.....they have a zwicklebier on tap right now that I really enjoyed...which was a cool surprise) but ended up just heading home. I have never enjoyed that beer as much as I have always wanted to and now knowing Double White serves as the base might explain why. And to hear that that shows more than it should this year....I'll grab a pour before committing to a bottle.

Canteen has a few variations of Exodus on tap: Mango Exodus, Gin Exodus, Coffee Exodus, and Nitro Exodus. I tied the Exodus with Gin Botanicals and Coffee Exodus. Neither were nearly as good as the original, both were good/decent though, IMO. That Gin Botanical one was one of the most unique beers I have tried. If I could only try one that's the one I would go for, but I also couldn't drink a second glass of it either. Sweet and very floral and something else, woodsy?

Lastly, didn't do the NM IPA challenge so can't coment. I did enjoy the Bow & Arrow contribution...but that probably isn't worth much to most here. Think I tried a small pour of Bosque's but would need to try it again to comment more on it. Also wanting to try the La Cumbre offering, will do so if its still around next time I stop in.

I am thinking I need to make it over to Boxing Bear to revisit Bear Knuckle, seeing that it has now won in consecutive years.

 

Hit up Bosque and gave their NM IPA Challenge entry a full try. Did not do anything for me. Also tried the Desert Kaleidoscope IPA, their collaboration with Sam Adams, a shot. That one I quite enjoyed; the aroma was weak and I was ready for it to be a dud, but it packed a nice, balanced flavor.

 

Gave that NM IPA Challenge IPA from Boxing Bear, Bear Knuckle, a try tonight. Talk about a hop bomb. For me, it was actually too aggressive. The first few sips were nice but then it just became too much for me to enjoy.

Also tried La Cumbre's Dank's No Here....now that one was right up my alley. I could drink A LOT of that one, personally.

Also tried the Full Nelson. That one wasn't really working for me, personally.

 

For fans of lagers, Dialogue has an awesome Zwicklebier on tap right now. Right up there with Marble's Pilsner, La Cumbre's Beer (and just about every other pilot lager they release for that matter) and Bosque's Lager, IMO, for worthwhile local lagers . Definitely worth a trip if to the taproom before it kicks.

They also have a really enjoyable Coffee Lager going.

 

All right, well CA has embraced the hazy style and I'll be in ABQ on Tuesday! Any chance I'll find some cans of El Jugo?

Any other recommendations on top notch IPAs are welcome :-)

 

If you can head to Santa Fe and hit Rowley. They were the best place I hit this week other than La Cumbre.
IPA wise you may be disappointed by what is available at others. But everyone has different taste. And that's ok. Just go into it knowing your not getting a NEIPA

 

They had ElJugo at total wine on Louisiana

 

I'll definitely be hitting La Cumbre and it looks like they have Elevated, Project Dank, El Jugo, and Full Nelson on draft. 4 IPAs on draft is definitely solid - do they sell their bottles/cans at the brewery?

Don't think I'll be able to get to Santa Fe, but if we play Cochiti maybe I'll try to push for it since it's only 35 minutes from the course.

 

And they definitely had El Jugo in cans at Kokoman the other day, so that Towa trip could work. Plus the course is playing really well right now with all the rain we've been having.

 

My experience, Rowley may be doing the best farmhouse and sours outside of Jester King for the whole Southwest. They're still young and developing, but are on a solid base.

 

After initially getting burned by Rowley twice, I took a bit of a time-out from there for a while. However, I've now been back a few time and will echo many of the sentiments already mentioned. I haven't tried any of their sours to comment on (as all I have had available on tap while there were berliner weisses and goses, 2 styles I don't particularly gravitate towards) but as someone whose favorite style of beer is a saison, it is nice to finally have someone semi-local finally producing some quality ones. Haven't exactly been blown away by their stuff yet like I was when first trying Funkwerks or Prairie, but I have noticed improvement with each visit there. Most recently, I really enjoyed just about every beer of theirs I tried. The No BU For You! IPA was also quite good, though I would have personally enjoyed a little bitterness in the finish there....but that is a subjective critique, not sn objective one.

Their mini-crowler options, while expensive, are a nice feature too. Love being able to bring home the beer in a single 16 ounce serving size, rather than 32 ounces. And their general taplist is, hands down, the best in New Mexico that I have come across. It's a taplist I would expect to find from a craft bar in Denver.

 

Thank you guys for the kind words. We really appreciate it. I feel we are making good progress and I'm happy with our current track. I would prefer if we could be producing more from our cellar, but it takes time to build that program up. We are currently up to 45 various spirit and wine barrels in the cellar, and we have plans to purchase two 30 BBL foeders next year, which should really help with our cellar inventories.

 

I know we don't always need reassurance about the state of our brews, but I thought I'd post this anyways. Not totally NM related, but I wanted to give a compare and contrast of sorts.

Just spent the last 10 days on vacation in and around central VT.

@erway sucks about El Jugo not being a year rounder with the sell through. That's one thing that is embraced in the NE and that is the HAZE. But surprisingly, there are just as many places who have just embraced all styles, and let the IPA hypemen do as they please. Of the 5 people I was with, only myself like IPAs in general (they still hated the mostly east coast malt heavy renditions and the NE styles fyi). So it would be stupid for breweries to miss that other demographic.

One style that was somewhat missing was your west coast in your FACE abrasively bitter type of hop bomb (SOS and Skadoosh came close). @pjeagles I too missed the NM IPA challenge final rounds. I was able to attend the elimination round. I also got to try Bear Knuckle a couple of days before it won. For me, a totally in your face tongue numbing abrasively hopped West coast IPA. Very aromatic (which was missing on most of the east coast ipas, and only really seen on the NE style). When I say EC style, I'm thinking DFH 60/90 min IPA. There were more of these than WC for sure.

And back to @erway for a sec. Maybe that is what is liked/loved in our area for the moment. Many of the IPAs I tried said they were 70-100 IBU but the perception was always on the lighter side. 90% NE haze/EC, with a sprinkling of beers like Lawsons SOS that has a higher IBU bite than a lot of what I tasted. NM is still at least 70% WC bitter with about 30% of some lower perceived options coming in fast.

To make a long story shorter, we have some really good things going on in NM. and even though it technically is greener on the other side (VT is just beautiful country), we have it really good in our back yard too. I think we may be missing that one or two trillium level brewery who pushes out the haze and changes perceptions. I thought El Jugo could be that beer, which stands up to so much of the great beers in that area. Easier said than done though. I think most areas are missing that hazy beer magician too. And right now, the VT area has at least 3..

On a rating front, it seems like so many get compared to the likes of heady topper that they are afraid to rate them as they should. I had so many "4.25-4.50" beers that I felt were over rated. There is an allure and mystique about the area that in some sense of the word makes them feel over rated. On the other hand, the brewery per capita is the highest, with the population of the state so small. They are doing some really great things in such a condensed space (although getting to some places is 30-90 miles of back roads). They basically have 2-3 of each of our top breweries in that smaller setting (and 6-12 el jugos in all shapes and sizes).

On that same note, I don't think the locals here know how good we have it. A lot of under rated brews not getting that 4.20-4.50 love like a lot of the VT beers are getting. I guess we don't need that reassurance that something is "popular" by others. It's what I like about our state.

A lot of local shelf IPA/DIPAs rotting away too (saw some as early as early June, so just under 2 months old when I saw them).

Basically, if you are already in the area, great great stuff in abundance. Would I specifically travel long distances for beer anymore? No. Local flair and quality is top notch here. The IPA term is so misleading anymore. I felt everyone in our group found one "ipa" throughout these 10 days that they at least enjoy. I feel thats the lower IBU allure kicking in, and its only growing.

I think this can be said for almost every region. Places are catching up fast. We are that one-two IPA/FH-wild ale specific brewery away from completing the big puzzle imho. It looks like Rowley may be taking care of the Saison side of things (of which I really enjoyed out of Foam (along with their 4-5 IPAs)). That region has gotten to a point where places can be very specific in what they brew and sell. I think we're close.

As far as other styles, we are frickin top notch. I didn't see many crisp clean lagers or pilseners (von trapp maybe the closest) but what La Cumbre does on that front, nothing came close. Red ales and stouts, we're right there. Pappys porter by Alchemist, a 5% porter. Malpais stomps it easily, as do other stouts. I guess my rambling is over. The variety @ Marble, world class.

Speaking of wet hopped IPAs, does anyone know if Bosque is doing Acequia and or Scale Tipper and if other places are doing their wet hopped IPAs soon? I forget last years time table.

 

@Oktoberfiesta Nice post. I agree with you on a few fronts. I definitely think with the craft beer boom of the last 5 years more regions are become self sufficient. Meaning you can get great beers in every style from the local guys without yearning for the famous ones in other areas.

With regard to ratings, certain regions definitely rate more leniently than others, and many breweries get the "Big Name bump" as you alluded to. As a huge IPA fan and definitely loving the NEIPA style, I was doing a lot of trading with people back East. I've tried a ton of Trillium, Treehouse, Other Half, NE Beer Co, etc, and while many of the beers have been very good to great, I have only rated a couple as high as their untapped average. Many of the them are rated above 4.25, and they were well under 4 for me. I like to try them first then check the ratings and sometimes I'm absolutely shocked lol

Once you have the name, you have it made, cuz people are searching out your beer and they don't want to go through all that effort and give a 3.75 haha.

I guess what I'm saying is while the big boys definitely earned their reps and I'd never turn down a beer from them, they aren't as far ahead anymore. When I travel within my territory each city has at least one awesome IPA go to spot for me. Reno has Revision, Sacramento has Moonraker, Portland has Great Notion, Seattle has Reuben's, Chicago has Forbidden Root, Monterey has Alvarado Street, etc.

I'm looking forward to finding one in Albuquerque this week ;-)

 

I'd be shocked if that "one" doesn't end up being La Cumbre.

That said, don't sleep on Canteen's Exodus IPA.

 

I know SFBC is doing a wet hop this year with hops from Cerrillos as a new farm there is starting to pump out some American C hops. I'm sure a few others will be on it as well.