New Mexico Beer Talk

I still havent figured out how to friggin add friends in Untappd but I'm at GABF today and tomorrow (evening sessions)....hope to meet any of you going.

Miggs you here tonight?

 

Go to your profile on untappd. Top left corner of the that screen, there is a button that looks like a profile picture of someone. Click there. You can see the people who tried to add you and in the top right there is a magnify glass where you can search for people.

 

Thanks aschwab! Good grief that seemed easy but so hidden to my eyes.

 

Forgot to add. I was in Santa Fe two weekends back.. Nice little day trip.

I hit up:
-Second Street brewery. Everything we tried was right to style. If tourists only hit up this place, the tourists are in for a very solid experience.
-Marble taproom. Tiny place right outside of the railyards. Kind of hard to spot. All of the regular beers and most seasonals/specials. Another top rate brewery.. I guess we knew that already
-Duel.. Their style offerings are so different. They had an oak aged grunwald @11% abv that was very good. They do try some sours with lacto. Btw, BEST GUEST TAP LIST around.. La Cumbre Stout and Hefe. Bosque Scale Tipper IPA. Santa Fe Oktoberfest..
-SFBC. You get to try many offerings on tap that aren't available anywhere else. I need to find a place in ABQ that has java stout on draft.. Their Oktoberfest on draft can compete with anyone elses out there.

Santa Fe's city offering is very admirable and not a let down. I believe they can have 2-3 more breweries before that "saturation" effect comes into play.
----

I have yet to revisit Ponderosa, Boxing Bear, or Red Door. I hear a couple have Oktoberfests. So its great to see them pushing out new styles almost weekly. That may be key in finding one that works and sticking with it.

I've driven by Lizard Tail but haven't taken the effort to stop in just yet. Has anyone else revisited any newer places around town? Is Stumbling Steer brewing up their own beer yet?

 

Sorry to hear about your abuelas; warm wishes of good health miggs.

So I type this hungover in the hotel, my first GABF was successful. I made it to 3 sessions (Friday night and both Saturdays) and I find myself missing home (and chile).

This event was even bigger than I preconceived...it really is a great experience. Unrelated to the actual beer drinking/tasting; I find it amazing how fun everyone is. I did not see one unruly-angry-fighting person during all three sessions...incredible.

I notated some beers that I will capture on BA here later but will forget many of the ones I enjoyed (more then likely). Eh, there's always next year, yeah? Also, I always assumed I would lose my palate/taste after a certain amount of experimenting but stayed true throughout the entire venue (the next mornings - not so much).

The NM brewers booth gave me a brochure on the NM gathering next weekend; I might make that one or may not - let's see...

 

Well, someone was listening to my rant I guess. Haha. Congrats to Marble. I've been saying it for a while and seems GABF judges agreed.

 

I did some compiling of GABF medals in regards to the States that those breweries came from.

NM ranked 8th with a total of 8 GABF medals. CA-46, CO-39, OR-22, TX-16, PA-12, IL-9, WA-9, NM-8.

Their 5 gold medals ranks them tied for 5th with IL and WA, jumping over IL who had just 3.
CA-15, CO-10, OR-7, TX-6, PA-5, WA-5, NM-5, IL-3.

With a population rank of 36, # of breweries rank of 26, a breweries per capita rank of 12, New Mexico is really making a name for themselves.. It has a modest # of breweries that seem to pride themselves in QUALITY above all else... This is kind of why I am hopeful these newer guys can come in and make us all proud.. No one wants lackluster products. You'll drown in your beer within a year.

To compare, Colorado has a population rank of 22, and had 39 total medals, 10 of them gold. Oregon has a population rank of 27, and had 22 total medals, 7 of them golds... California and Texas are gimmes given their size. The Western frontier is dominating things. When you hear people talk about Oregon and California, New Mexico should be right within reach, as well as Montana. 6 total medals and 3 golds.

NY, FL, and IL are all really disappointing to see look when you consider how big of states they are. PA did about on par with NM, despite being many times larger.

 

Nice to read your forum.

I'm coming from Penns Woods one of these days to Santa Fe and Taos; where do they keep the casks / hand pumps?

I'll be trying the Brett beers too. Also the extraordinary good and differently hopped ipa's.
And others no doubt.

Thanks for the leads so far!

 

Casks are pretty abundant here. La Cumbre and Marble have long had them and the former has hand pumps. Bosque, The Stumbling Steer, and Second Street all do casks as well. I think Nexus does too if I remember correctly. Bottom-line, you'll find plenty here.

Marble's doing great things with brett beers, so if you're lucky you'll find a beer or two from them on tap featuring Brett. If not, you can spend $25 to join their Mug Club and get their Brett Tripel. Spend another $10 and get their BA Barleywine (a beer I love.... check my BA review).

 

Sounds like more than enough to happily explore in a few days in Dec., have to get a growler or three I guess.
One more query would be everyone's favorite low alcohol offering ( <5% )

 

I second the Marble Pilsner. A great beer. I can hardly think of any other beers in New Mexico below 5%! We love our beers big out here.

 

Hey guys, I need to get some Project Dank for a friend of mine as a gift and he watches ISO/FT forum so I wanted to put it on here. I have some fresh Zombie Dust or many other things I can trade. BM if you can help me out much appreciated!

 

How was the NM brewfest a few weekends back? I missed it.

I revisited Ponderosa brewing yesterday for happy hour. It was much easier to stomach $3.50 pints than $4.50.

I see improvement!
-Their Schwarzbier was top notch. Great carbonation bite and crispness. Some solid black ale type flavors (think light chocolate malt). Easy drinker at 4.6% Throw this type of beer on tap at any brewery in town, and it's a mainstay. All of their beers need to reach this level to stay competitive.
-Their Double IPA at 7.7% was above the bar they set with their initial launch of regular beers. This had a modest hop bite. Too little for me. but the sweetness was great. Some tropical fruit type flavors. Carbonation was mid to light. Hidden ABV
-Their oktoberfest was a downer. Carbonation seemed low. Overall it seemed really quite dull and uninteresting. This was more on par with what they released on launch.

I like the location and use of space.. I do wish them the best.

 

Great, thanks for the advice. The state beer guide is also nicely written. We'll try to review a few under reviewed beers too. With <2 weeks to making the scene, it's salivating time.