Beer Guide for visiting New Mexico

Inspired by threads that have helped me research places and beers in other cities and states, I thought I'd take it upon myself to create a go-to beer guide thread to aid visitors to New Mexico. Where as some places it makes sense to just focus on a specific city, I think one thread can (at least currently) capture the best of the whole state.

* I'm not sure what official laws are, but most New Mexico breweries will fill any growler.
** A 50 minute to 1 hour drive separates Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 2 and a half hours separate Albuquerque and Taos. 3 hours and 15 minutes separate Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
*** Most breweries in New Mexico (if not all) are open daily and generally starting at noon. Breweries with restaurants often open even earlier.
**** There's no place in the city in which you can walk from brewery to brewery, but biking to Marble, La Cumbre, Il Vicino, Tractor, Bosque, Chama River, and Nexus...and even Stumbling Steer...is common.

Breweries

The Must-Visits
Marble Brewing (Albuquerque, NM)- It just won Small Brewery of the Year at GABF (2014). Marble offers beers from across the spectrum, from barrel-aged stouts and barleywines, to sour and Brett-spike beers, to your year-round ales and lagers. Marble distributes and can be found in restaurants and liquor stores around the state as well as at its Westside and Santa Fe (note that the Santa Fe taproom has moved from the location BA indicates, I'll try to get that updated) taprooms. Food trucks are usually present for dinner week nights and lunch and dinner on weekends. Growler fills, cans and bottles and kegs are available at the brewery.

La Cumbre Brewing (Albuquerque, NM)- Project Dank and Elevated IPA are both recognized on BA as world-class and both have medaled at GABF (2013 Bronze and 2011 Gold, respectively) among other accolades. La Cumbre's beers can be found in restaurants and bars and distribute to liquor stores throughout the state. Project Dank's distribution is limited to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Food trucks are usually present for dinner week nights and lunch and dinner on weekends. Growler fills, cans and bottles and kegs are available at the brewery.

Canteen Brewhouse (Albuquerque, NM)- Long known as Il Vicino Canteen Brewery before a recent name-change, this is a veteran of the New Mexico beer scene with a loyal following and an ever-changing list of beers that range from the traditional to the experimental. Il Vicino restaurants offer a limited number of the brewhouse's core beers. Il Vicino does not bottle or can currently. Canteen Brewhouse serves lighter fare such as sandwiches, soups and frito pies. Growler fills and kegs are available at the brewery and in some restaurants.

Santa Fe Brewing Company (Santa Fe, NM)- Some may dispute this as a must-visit, but given that it's been in the game 26 years and was New Mexico's first brewery, I'm putting it here. The lineup here doesn't change very often, but that seems to change with their Ever Changing Series. Santa Fe's beer can be found on taps throughout the state and their beers are available for sale in stores nearly everywhere (with their small batch sours being an exception limited to sales at the brewery or a few stores in Santa Fe and Albuquerque). Growler fills, cans and bottles and kegs are available at the brewery.

The Up-and-Comers and/or Not-Universally-Acclaimed Breweries

Blue Corn Brewery- (Santa Fe, NM)- This place has been around a good many years and has produced some GABF medal-winning beers on occasion. Brewers generally seem to use this place as a springboard to gigs at other breweries (ala John Bullard to Bosque). The core lineup here has its fans, including GABF judges. Blue Corn beers are available on tap at the southside brewery, the plaza-area cafe, and at Draft Station locations (as Blue Corn AND Chama River AND Draft Station all share owners). They do not currently package. Blue Corn's locations are full service restaurants with liquor as well. Growler fills are available at the brewery, cafe and Draft Station.

Bosque Brewing (Albuquerque, NM)- There's mostly good buzz around this brewery and they won a Bronze at GABF this year for their wet hop IPA, Acequia. Brewer John Bullard has won many competitions in the past two to three years here in the state too. A few of Bosque's beers can be found around Albuquerque in bars and restaurants, but they currently do not package. Bosque serves light fare such as sandwiches and soups. Growler fills are available at the brewery.

Chama River Brewing (Albuquerque, NM)- Again a place that has spring boards brewers to bigger and better things. The beers here also have their fans. Chama River's beers are on tap at the downtown Albuquerque Chama River Microbar and both Draft Station locations. They do not currently package. Chama River's main location is a full-service restaurant with liquor as well. Growler fills are available.

Duel Brewing (Santa Fe, NM)- I'll categorize these guys as an up-and-comer. The emphasis at the brewery is Belgian styles, including strong ales and sours. Duel's beers have appeared in a few bars and restaurants around Santa Fe and bottles are now available at Jubilation liquor store in Albuquerque. Duel serves lighter fare like brats and sandwiches as well as waffles. Growler fills and bottle are available at the brewery.

Nexus Brewery (Albuquerque, NM)- The food here is pretty popular The beers have their fans and the new brewer worked at La Cumbre for a couple of years. Nexus does not currently package. Nexus is a full-service restaurant with wine available. Growler fills are available.

Second Street Brewery (Santa Fe, NM)- Another long-time and well-established brewery. Bitters are a thing here and they've landed some hardware at GABF (2013 Gold for Rod's Steam Bitter). Their other brewers are solid and tend to be traditional English and German beers. Second Street's beers are available at the Second Street location and the railyard location. Both locations are full-service restaurants with wine and mead also available. Growler fills and sales of 4-pack Pivotal IPA are available at both locations.

The Stumbling Steer (Albuquerque, NM)- The Stumbling Steer is a newbie with a well-regarded food menu. The beers have polarized folks, but one must concede they do experiment quite a bit here, particularly with their cask offerings. No distribution here currently. The Steer is a full-service restaurant with wine and liquor. Growler fills are available.

Tractor Brewing (Albuquerque, NM)- Well-established thanks to a taproom in Albuquerque's high-traffic Nob Hill, the brewery was still much-maligned for consistency issues and bad beers. This year they moved the production brewery from Los Lunas, NM to Albuquerque's Wells Park neighborhood and they seem to have earned some fans in the process. Tractor's brews, mostly in cans, are available in stores, bars and restaurants around Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Food trucks are usually present for dinner week nights and lunch and dinner on weekends. Growler fills are available at the brewery and taproom.

Turtle Mountain Brewing (Rio Rancho, NM)- This brewery is in a suburb of sorts of Albuquerque and it should be emphasized that a bit of a drive would be required to get here. Turtle Mountain has been around for quite some time and has had a good reputation that began to slowly suffer. A Chama River product took over the reigns this year and drinkers have responded positively. Turtle Mountain does not distribute or package. It is a full-service restaurant with liquor and wine available. Growler fills are available at the brewery.

All Of The Rest

Many other breweries exist around the state, but none would quite fall into either above category. However, when in Taos, one should probably visit Taos Mesa Brewing (and the gorge) and Taos Ale House. On the way to Taos from Santa Fe or Albuquerque, a visit to Blue Heron Brewing is worthwhile. When in Farmington, you might as well hit Three Rivers. In Las Cruces? Yeah, pay a visit to High Desert.

Also, please note that Albuquerque has seen a flurry of openings, Red Door, Lizard Tail, Ponderosa, recently. These breweries are too new to justify including in this discussion.

Best Beer Bars

Anodyne (Albuquerque, NM)- Huge bottle selection and good tap selection that usually features at least one obscure gem. Downtown Albuquerque.

Cowgirl Hall of Fame (Santa Fe, NM)- Extensive tap selection that covers the best of NM (Project Dank is often on tap) as well as other craft gems. Close to the plaza.

O'Niell's (Albuquerque, NM)- Huge bottle selection. Decent tap selection. Often has tastings and holds events that are beer-related. A Nob Hill location and Far Northeast Heights location.

Sister Bar (Albuquerque, NM)- Club and live music atmosphere plus an extensive taplist that can feature some gems. Just below Anodyne. Hit them both.

Best Liquor Stores

Jubilation (Albuquerque, NM)- A knowledgeable and friendly staff and usually the first to get any new beers in the state. Since I assume most will ask, yes you can get Project Dank and Elevated here.

Susan's (Santa Fe, NM)- Essentially the Jubilation of Santa Fe. Great staff and a good selection. Yes you can get Project Dank and Elevated here.

Celebration (Las Cruces, NM)- A respectable craft selection and they do have Elevated, but not Dank. Two locations but there's no website for these guys.

I'm not going to hyperlink them, but some could argue for some love for Kokoman in Pojoaque, NM and Kelly's and Quarter's in Albuquerque, but I wouldn't ever send an out-of-towner to any of those spots.

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Finally, I'll add other portions of the beer guide in future comments and hope others, such as the ambassadors @miggs3030 , @M_chav , @buyyourfreedom , @Irrenarzt and @Oktoberfiesta (among others I'm omitting and who will pardon me for not remembering their user names) will chime in thoughts, recs, etc.

 

I noticed some updates are in order for this post for anyone reviewing this prior to a New Mexico visit.

First off, The Stumbling Steer has closed.

Second, Bosque Brewing's stock continues to rise and I'd say they're becoming a MUST-VISIT brewery while in Albuquerque. They won the National IPA Championship this year beating out many a heavyweight (as well as local brewery Canteen in the head-to-head all-Albuquerque/New Mexico championship), bottled a ridiculously good Barrel-Aged Scotch Ale in December, and have continued to pump out good beer after good beer. Add to this that they have a location in Nob Hill close to the university and lots of restaurants and all the more reason to pay them a visit. But again, the beers coming out of here are awesome!

Also, in the Albuquerque bar section:

Nob Hill Bar and Grill came out of it's dormant state thanks to a savvy draft manager and has been mopping the floor with the competition as far as beer bars. The taplist is easily the most exciting of any in the whole state and their Albuquerque Beer Week Events have been head and shoulders above all other events. If you're looking for food and a good beer list, this is a great option. One note though, they emphasize out-of-state distro as opposed to local (though they'll have Elevated and rarer Marble stuff), so out-of-towners may not appreciate it as much as a local would.

 

@Getalegup This should help you ^^^^.

Any other questions let me know? When are you coming and from what part of Texas? I'll be out of town from tomorrow evening until July 13th, so I'll probably miss you, but if not, shoot me a message and I can show you around ABQ.

 

Haven't been to Violet Crown yet but @miggs3030 sent me the taplist... It looks promising. I'll try to check out soon and then add some details here.

 

Sounds good, homie. Might have to sneak in some of that DeGarde though. Haha.