New Mexico Beer Guide 2016 updated

Of the factors I listed that were great about Colorado, distribution is the least important to me. I am a homer and would continue to make local beers the emphasis of my purchases even with an influx of out of town stuff....well, at least as long as Marble and La Cumbre continue to package their stuff.

I get your point about NM not being a financially viable market for a lot of out of towners, though I guess I do remain confused why someone like Funkwerks who drives right through Albuquerque cant make a monthly stop to drop off a few cases of their stuff. Doesn't seem like there is much added cost there? Though I guess with such a small shipment, there also isn't a lot of profit for them there either...which would limit the incentives to push through the hurdles of getting the permits (or whatever it is they would need) to sell in this market? But for as saturated as this market might be, a niche farmhouse brewery would be welcome. I know we know get Prairie....but you could buy a 4 pack of Funkwerks Saison for just a few bucks more than it costs for a single 12 ounce of a Prairie beer. I think Funkwerks would win that battle.

And you just teased the shit out of me talking about opening a German styled brewery....not nice!@ But as long as you continue to keep those German styled beers flowing at La Cumbre I can't be too disappointed.....except when I do visit your taproom only to discover that your latest batch of Ein Beer Bitte has already kicked. (Yes, discovering the Denali SMASH IPA was a nice consolation prize that day....but not as nice as it would have been getting to try that Denali SMASH after a pour of that Helles.)

And, absolutely, you guys, Marble, and Bosque are brewing up some beers that expand beyond the standards. And I thank you all for that and I always go out of my way to check that stuff out. As I have mentioned in the past on this site, though, I always judge a brewery by their flagship offerings...and that is where I was coming from with my initial comments. Lagers seems to be the one thing that ABQ offers in their standard lineup that I find a little unique...and it has been living down here where I have truly grown to love the style. But beyond that there isn't much variety/uniqueness in a local breweries offerings. It just gets boring, to a degree, knowing that when I hit up a brewery the staple beers are going to a, b, c, and d styled beers. And maybe that is beginning to change? Bow & Arrow's flagship lineup is a bit unique....I unfortunately haven't found those beers to be all that good though. And Dialogue doesn't have a set lineup, but does offer a bunch of non-standard offerings....again, it just hasn't been all that good, IMO, as of late. And I don't want Marble or you guys to change your core beers....well aside from you dumping BEER and replacing it with South Peak Pilsner...as I think your flagships are all great...its the other cats in town who I would like to see up their game in what they offer, personally.

I do agree that the beer distribution is a key player in enabling Colorado to have so many great beer bars, but I don't think it alone is the only reason. I think you could have a great beer bar that focused solely on local beers, though it might not be practical if local breweries don't have the stock to offer a bar. It would be nice to go somewhere where they have a few staples to please the casual, non-beer geek beer drinker but really put some effort and thought into offering a nice selection of non-flagship offers. Beer Advocates here love to hate on Mayor of Old Town up in Fort Collins but that place did a wonderful job promoting local Northern Colorado breweries. Of their 100 taps the vast majority was always local stuff....some stuff would be highly sought after special beers, plenty of other stuff was just a ever rotating, well thought out ordered beers from local breweries, while also mixing in a few standards as well. If you wanted to discover Northern Colorado beer as a discerning drinker, the Mayor allowed you do so in an enjoyable way. The closest we get here is Matanaza (at least that I have discovered) and that place is not going to win over the discernable beer drinker, unless they are from out of town and not familiar yet with the basics from La Cumbre, Marble, or Bosque. Nob Hill Bar & Grill is decent for out of town stuff, but as homer doesn't mix in the local offerings well enough.

Anyways, cheers.

 

We tried a new yeast on the one coming up next week. Haven't tried it yet, but I know the finishing gravity was quite a bit higher. If I don't like it, I'll dump it, but if I do, you should be able to get a pint.

 

Impressive tap list at Marble over the weekend. 17 at their downtown location.

Berliner Wiesse- Very solid, if not a touch muted on funk
Same with Pineapple Gose.. Could stand a touch more bite. Both are no slouches\
Criticism is high on both as they are not really cheap. You could almost make out better with their core lineup imho.

Hans Cholo- sort of a dry stout/oatmeal stout sort of brown ale sort of mix. Dryish. Right to style. SOLID

Pilsner on tap- Something may be up with the older cans still circulating around certain places. On tap, a true noble hop BITE.. Perfection. I've stopped buying cans. FW PIVO wins me over as of right now .

Very clean well rounded flavors all around. Can they do no wrong (style wise)? I don't think I have found a straight dud just yet. Its been 9 yrs.

At this same time, I drive by numerous places ( I also went to la cumbre. elevated for the past 3 trips on tap has been tasting super citrus and dank driven. On par with P Dank easily imho), all seemingly not so busy. The busiest of all on Sunday that I have heard was Steel Bender. They are bringing in the folks at a 3-4x rate over the likes of Red Door, Rio Bravo, Dialogue, and Palmer COMBINED.

 

I haven't been to ponderosa in forever. They had a breakfast stout that could rival FBS last year or the year prior. Very good reason to check them out tomorrow. These places will find out soon enough if you bring the juice and haze, crowds will follow.

El Jugo is confirmed to be back on tap tomorrow? I hadn't heard. @ONovoMexicano. Hopefully if its a big batch, I can get a growler.

I will definitely need to check out the citra smash by Bosque.. I guess tomorrow is all lined up after a short work day.

 

Hmm...guess I need to re-visit Ponderosa again. They have definitely been one of those mediocre places where the beer wasn't bad, but the beer and experience was straight middle of the road, forgettable. I think this gives me a reason to give them another shot.

I am really digging the Marble Maibock and Bosque Citra Lager. Got to enjoy both of those last night as I watched the NFL Draft. Both hit the spot.

 

Okay yeah. Just had to come in and say the Ponderosa NE IPA is really nice. It's super subtle so if you are expecting anything extreme, look elsewhere. Carbonated bite initially but that falls quickly into some nice softness. It's no surprise that the hop bill is almost exactly what Scale Tipper is, so I quickly found similarities in aroma and juiciness. No pine or abrasive IBUs to be seen.

I hope the style sticks here permanently. Had to take a growler home. Second day impressions tomorrow. But yeah, if this is brewed by a LC, or Marble, or Bosque, or even the bigger NE players, hype galore. But not so much here. Good recommendation @ONovoMexicano

 

Sampled a couple of others. Vienna lager showed up looking more yellow and orange, than amber. That lager bite and vienna flavors were there though.. The kolsch has never done it for it. Retried it. Steel Benders first attempt is the winner of that bunch imho... Ella Pale Ale, a single hopped beer. Super mellow (like the NE IPA) but just lacking true definition. Might as well go with the beer with 5-7 types of hops (including ella) instead of just Ella imho. That's all we tried. I wouldnt call them terrible but par for the course, and more than happy to try during discounted happy hours. I appreciate them for that. NE IPA a nice surprise though. Have it as your first. Flavors can and will mellow or fade.

 

Grabbed a growler of the Pondersosa NE IPA yesterday as well. Enjoyed it as well.

I think the latest batch of Clark was probably the juiciest of the the Albuquerue NE IPA's I have tried, but it was also the sweetest. El Jugo, which has been my favorite of the ones I have tried, was definitely the least juicy, most bitter, but still nicely fruity for me. Ponderosa's seemed to fall enjoyably in the middle with it being nice and juicy fruit without the sweetness of Clark and not the bitterness level of El Jugo.

All three have been worth repeat pours....though generally not in the same sitting for me. I like the style but in moderation. West Coast IPA's remain my go to when seeking out the hoppy beers.

 

El Jugo (the JUICE) IS BACK!. About on par with batch #1 and batch #2. No noticeable differences. Still catching a back end bitterness higher than the 25 IBU suggests. Really damn good though. There's still that scale tipper like aromatic explosion that is missing with a much softer mouthfeel. I love the effort and change of pace. Hard to tell what this one would be rated at eventually (as all NE IPAs are rated pretty highly. 4.10-4.30 range imho).

CRUSHABLE beyond repair though. For that, its an easy boost into 4.25 to 4.5 range.

 

Looks like I was mislead about Radical Aim. It's back on tap at Bow and Arrow. Drinking one now. Not quite the same beer as it was with their prior brewer, unfortunately (for me). This batch is much heavier on the Mosaic hops, imo, which probably caters better to the masses but not me. Still good but not as much in my wheelhouse as it had been. It had been one of my favorite local beers.

 

I can confirm that El Jugo will be brewed in the next week and it will be the first time that we have done it on our production system, so a lot more of it and a lot more control. Some of it will be sent out on draft to select accounts, the rest will be for our tap room. It will be bumped up to 6.5%ABV in the interest of countering some of that phenolic bitterness that we are getting from the sheer amount of late hop additions. We'll also test the IBUs to give everyone a more accurate tale of the tape.

We have also ordered 3 proper fermenters and a BBT for our pilot system so that we can more accurately produce consistent beers there. This will allow us to release new beers a lot more often as well as some styles that we would never really want 15, let alone 30 bbls of.

 

Heading over to La Cumbre right now to try a pour.

 

Really enjoyed this batch. Its really the only local attempt at the style I could drink multiples of. The abv is right in my wheelhouse and I like that bitterness in the finish, personally. And I really dig that its fruit forward but not sweet. And there's a dryness to it that I enjoyed.

Definitely curious to see where this one evolves.

 

Some of these brewers are using lactose in their IPAs... Not a big fan really. To me, it's almost artificial like aspertame, and I feel like I need an insulin shot. I like lactose in my stouts only.

 

Tried Marble's Bronjo Blanco the other day and enjoyed it. A lot better than their initial attempt at the style, Northeast by Northeast, and far more closer to the what I have come to expect the style to be than NbN.

I will still take an El Jugo over the rest of the ABQ field. Bronco Blonco and Ponderos'as sitting next in line. Clark finishing up third (not a slight, its solid).

Also, Marble has a session pale ale (3.90 abv) on tap right now. As someone who does not like hop water, I mean session IPA's, I was definitely pleased with Marble's Session Pale, Indiana Bones. They also had a Session IPA going which was decent too. I would definitely drink Indiana Bones again, I might drink that Session IPA again but probably wont.

 

Bow & Arrow have a Mexican Breakfast Stout on tap...oats, coffee, chocolate, light light light cinnamon, and pepper. 5.8%. I enjoyed it but thought the mouthfeel was poor and kind of hurt the overall experience. Would definitely drink it again.

 

I think Project Dank has over taken Elevated as my favorite Albuquerque IPA. I know it changes with each batch, but there is a level of quality it always seems to maintain.

 

Hit up the eastside Canteen Taproom after a hike today. Gave their Exodus IPA a second chance, which I enjoyed my first go around but wasn't blown away by. Fresh, on tap that beer was a thing of beauty. Right up there with Elevated and Project Dank in terms of greatness, IMO. Went home with a fresh six pack of it (canned 5/5) and drinking one now. It's still really good, but not quite the level of greatness that it was on tap, IMO. Still really damn good though. Probably the thirst or fourth best IPA packaged in Albuquerque, IMO....trailing only Project Dank and Elevated and competing with Marble's Double IPA for the next spot in line.

Also tried their Social Capital Kettle Sour there. Not much of a kettle sour fan, not much of a vanilla bean fan..but quite enjoyed that beer which was a kettle sour with orange peel, cardamon, and vanilla bean.