Albuquerque Trip

Oh yeah, La Cumbre is a great spot.

I'd also strongly recommend a visit to Marble Brewery. Il Vicino Canteen, Bosque Brewing and Nexus are all solid breweries that also have good food (Nexus does soul food and New Mexican).

Stumbling Steer is new and has been creating a good buzz. Tractor Brewing's new location is spacious and the beer seems improved. Back Alley Draft House brews bad to average beers but usually has some other good brews on tap.

Beer bars I'd recommend are Sister and Shade Tree and if you want a good burger and a great selection ---and cheap--- go to Bistronomy B2B.

Also, you should consider the hour drive or train ride to Santa Fe. Duel Brewing is spectacular and doing some superb sours and Belgian style beers. Second Street and Blue Corn are up there too and make good beers and good. Then of course there's santa fe brewing company which is always great.

 

Billy's Long Bar has the best draft beer selection in the city, plus good bar food. Right now it has, among other great ones, the Holy Trinity of La Cumbre IPAs - Elevated, Dank and Father Nelson.

 

I visited ABQ recently. Other than the ones you listed, I especially liked Bosque Brewery for food and beer. Everything I had there was good. I will say that I was not impressed by Nexus at all.

Marble should be added to the list as well.

 

The new Head Brewer at Nexus was at La Cumbre for 3 years. Due to a lack of hop contracts, don't expect any fireworks on that end, but good clean beer for sure. And the food, especially if you like fried anything, is other worldly good. Seriously, I need to stop eating here so damn much. Don't know that I have had better fried chicken, frito pie, fried pickles or catfish anywhere, let alone at a brewpub.

Bosque is great. Really like their food. Their beer has been a little inconsistent but never bad, and now there head brewer is John Bullard and that guys a rock star. Again, no big hop contracts but lots of good beer for sure.

In Santa Fe, the Draft Station on the plaza has a good selection of Blue Corn, Chama River, La Cumbre and some others. They get food from Roof Top Pizza (Same parent company and same building.) Cowgirl Cafe has the best selection of beer outside of that, and that's the place to catch music late night in Santa Fe.

If you like margaritas at all, you NEED to stop at Maria's on Cordoba across from Trader Joe's. Not a beer stop at all but a great place to get local food and the best margaritas on planet earth. Be able to walk or take a cab. Two will have you numb. Three will have you sleeping.

 

I do not know what it was about the place, but we walked in with the intentions of having lunch there and beer. We sat down at the bar and ordered two beers. They were decent. But the place just had no atmosphere. It just felt like any other restaurant and not a place that I really wanted to enjoy a beer at. We looked at the menu and ended up not ordering anything (nothing really stood out...but that could have just been us at the time). After the first beer, we ordered two half pints, drank them, and left. We ended eating elsewhere. Maybe it is just me, but it just didn't appeal to me.

 

Not gonna comment one way or another on the atmosphere. That's not the reason to go. The beer has always been fine. I am confident it will improve with Kaylynn brewing there. As far as the food, I don't know a brewpub in this country making better home cooking than this. The owners wife is from Louisiana, and she made the menu, and.... WOW! Incredible.

 

Ha...now I am regretting my decision not to eat there. I guess we were just not in the mood for homecooking. Who knows.

 

I just saw this post.. Hope OPs trip is/was good.

I co-sign to everything ONovoMexicano stated. Not much else to be said about ABQ unfortunately.

RE: Nexus..Yes. I would be regretting it big time.

It's been on diners, drive ins, and dives this past year, a couple years after the hype created itself, and is among one of the best YELP'ed restaurants in Albuquerque.

Kelly's has an atmosphere. Tractor as well. Beers are another issue ( some are way better than others. The others being mediocre/bad. I'm not sure what I would want, either atmosphere or good beer/food. Luckily, not a lot of places are like that here.

Trekking to other places not named, it just depends on how much time you have. I tend to have a circle of 3 that I stick with 85% of the time. If I have a day, I would just revisit La Cumbre, Il Vicino, and Marble. I tend to make that stretch on a long weekends day (two at each place etc... taking a total of 6-7 hours with a lunch in between and a dinner night cap).

On a nice day, the Santa Fe Brewery taproom is a great place to just hang out and have some pints. A lot of those beers are not easily accesible on draft. So you can have your pick of all SF beers in one place. You could also tick off SF brewery, 2nd street, blue corn, and duel within an afternoons time. Among 2nd, blue corn, and duel, I can't say one stands out way above the other as far as "must see". I think they are on equal footing making each one worth a try.