New Mexico Beer Guide 2016 updated

Whoever goes first should post a pic of the Whole Foods tap list. Thanks

 

Stopped in for a look: 24 taps. Couple of Boxing Bear taps, Marble Red, Elevated and Slice of Hefen from Cumbre, Off Color tap, Stillwater tap, Santa Fe, SNPA, Myrcenary, Pineapple Scupln, two Founders including KBS. Special guest beers include KBBS, Julius, and Wooden Hell ($3 frosted mugs!).

 

Hey homies, die Frau and I just arrived in ABQ for a couple weeks visit for the first time in over 3 years since moving to southern Germany.

Looking forward to sampling the old and new local beers - especially now that my palate has evolved well beyond IPAs and adjunct stouts. I'm interested to see how far the local brewers have grown and refined their skills.

Anything that is a must try?

Looking forward to Bosque - they were just opening when we moved in 2013.

Prost alles!

 

I know I'll be checking that one out for sure.

 

Let me know if your first sip of IPA when back in the US was a shock.

 

Nice post. Just finally getting to it. It really seems a lot of these places are focusing 95% on production, expansion, and shelf space. They are caught in a tough (but expected position). I don't blame them. Core beers pay the bills. That truly leaves the newer guys with a great open spot to fill. So far, I just haven't been wowed or excited about trying any of the newer places (one or two visits and I am just over them). Nothing to draw me in when the core beer lineup at the grocery stores offers such a big time value.

More than any time before, beer money is trying to be spread to where I can get a nice variety, and also a value. So when these local breweries introduce their core lineups in cans, or bottles, that is really the wave of the future for the larger guys. They truly are competiting with the likes of Odell, Deschutes, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, and Stone for our local beer money.

I think ABQ has a great core lineup base (really only La Cumbre and Marble) and I do tend to go towards your Deschutes, Stone, or Sierra Nevada, or Lagunitas seasonal as daily drinkers.

I don't think it'll be La Cumbre, Marble, or SFBC that provides a game changer. Bosque did sorta change things up with their IPAs. I hope for someone else to take another focus on other styles and really hit it out of the park. For the most part, I am not spending $5/pint when it sorta kinda already tastes like a marble red (which I can get in cans now for $9).

Double White is moving fast it seems. I always see someone with a sixer. Great price too. I almost have no reason to stop at Marble anymore. The lure... The bait is definitely lacking. I have been a at home sixer or 4 pack drinker for a few years now. So this is actually a great thing for me. I don't need to always be wowed or lured by something new and shiny. So I am not so sure this is a big problem for the production breweries in town. The beer geek dollar is way down on the list imho. Where there will be some shakeup is the newer guys jumping in on the wave of people wanting to try new stuff. It can't just be anything though. So there is definitely a learning process right now. I'd rather have 3 month old elevated over many of the core IPAs the newer places have produced. Change or variety for the sake of either is not what I'm about anymore.

Then there's the breweries that have expanded to the NM distribution zone. Founders this past fall. I bought 4 cases of FBS on sale. Lots of their other offerings are bargain price compared to average $5 pints of "local". I'm definitely not a local nut. I love variety. But also understand the necessity for the production breweries to REALLY focus on that retail store end. Firestone Walker was supposed to enter our state a couple months ago. Ballast Point, I was buying a ton of GF sculpin before the buyout. Now zero.

Each brewery needs to think long and hard about their product and their ultimate focus. I'd love to find a new "Marble" or "La Cumbre" and build them up again. That would definitely build some excitement. Right now, the shelf space game isn't too exciting if you aren't too much into the core offerings (or really are just sick of them. People grow tired of the same ol). It's ultimately why we got into craft in the first place.

 

Any chance that Off Color tap was Apex Predator? Love that beer.

 

I took a picture of the taps but it was so bad I couldn't make out much. Didn't bother to look at the actual list because I thought technology could offset my poor photo skills and I would be able to read all the taps. Not so. Sorry.

 

Some great national attention for @Irrenarzt and Rowley Farmhouse Ales in this homebrewers to watch as they go commercial list from paste magazine. Hype hype hype hype https://www.pastemagazine.com/artic...o-brewery-9-homebrewers-to-watch-as-they.html

 

Thanks for the plug kind sir. Things are gelling in place for sure. Now if we can just get the damn building finished...

 

At Marble right now. The 111 Farmhouse is fantastic. Really, really great. Also really digging the Brettana Rouge, their Red Ale spiked with brett and aged in chardonnay barrels.

 

I was Marble yesterday as well. I enjoyed both the 111 Farmhouse and Brettana Rouge, although I was disappointed bottles of 111 were not ready (labels didn't come in, this has happened before). I sampled the mosaic and thought it was good too although not as spectacular as Bosque's Mosaic SMASH. I think Marble is best when dealing with farmhouse/saison/wild ale-type beers. Hopefully they will return to putting out these type beers more frequently.

 

Awesome to hear that the 111 Farmhouse is going to be bottled. I rarely, almost never, buy more than 1 bottle of any individual bottle that costs more than $7 a pop, but imagine this one will be one of those exceptions. And, honestly, them not having it bottled yesterday probably worked out best for me, as I have a fridge full of beer right now and a much lighter wallet after my recent vacation back up to Denver last weekend.

 

Ouch, $20? I never bought any bottles of the Brett IPA because of that cost, now I am a little less sure if, or how much of, 111 I will buy. $20 is that line in the sand for me where I begin to get scared off from beer purchases. Starting to think it makes more sense for me to just enjoy draft pours (while it lasts).

(Side note: I do love the bottle art for these Marble special releases.)