The Great American Ale Trail (Revised Edition)
Page 24
PHILOSOPHY
The All-American brewpub. Nothing wrong with that: expect eight tasty beers of a fairly standard lineup (kölsch to stout), plus occasional seasonals and cask-conditioned beers, and the full complement of brewpub fare.
KEY BEER
If it’s 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, go for the hazy, clovey 5.5% ABV hefeweizen; any cooler, go for the Kilt Lifter, a 6% ABV Scotch ale with rich malt and smoky notes. Extra points for locating the Elvis shrine.
BEST of the REST: ARIZONA
FATE BREWING CO.
7337 E. Shea Blvd., Ste. 105 • Scottsdale, AZ 85260 • (480) 994-1275 • fatebrewing.com
Opened in 2012 by Steve McFate (and not to be confused with Boulder, CO’s, brewpub of the same name, also opened in 2012), Fate of Arizona has become the focal point of Scottsdale beer culture in short order, adding an 11,000-square-foot second location, brewery, and barrel cellar in 2015. The mission of both: great small-batch beer and wood-fired pizza. Try the Single Hop Sour (4.6% ABV) if they have it on; otherwise, the Candy Bar milk stout brewed with honey roasted peanuts, cacao nibs, vanilla bean, and sea salt.
PAPAGO BREWING (BEER BAR & BOTTLE SHOP)
7107 E. McDowell Rd. • Scottsdale, AZ 85257 • (480) 425-7439 • papagobrewing.com
Hidden among the car dealerships and dusty palm trees of Scottsdale Avenue, inside a faux-adobe mini mall, is a beer lover’s dream, a solid brewpub that also stocks a massive tap row and more than 500 varieties of beer in bottles carefully arranged in coolers. The servers are trained to know their stuff on beer, which helps when the selection is this vast. You’re going here to drink Orange Blossom Mandarin Wheat Ale. But also give the 2005 bronze medal winner at the GABF in the nebulous “other strong ale or lager” category, the 8% ABV Papago El Robusto Porter a try.
TOPS LIQUORS & TASTE OF TOPS
403 W. University Dr. • Tempe, AZ 85281 • (480) 967-2520 • topsliquors.com
What’s better than a bottle shop with 1,000 selections comprising every foreign and domestic style and region imaginable? A bottle shop with a beer bar attached, drawing from its riches, that’s what. The wood-paneled Taste of Tops bar has twelve rotating taps, over 100 different bottled beers chilled in 750-milliliter, twenty-two-ounce, and twelve-ounce sizes, and a few small booths and two couches. There’s a limited food menu, but the owners don’t mind if you get takeout from next door.
NEVADA
NEVADA, LAND OF LADY LUCK AND THE LONG DOUBLE-YELLOW LINE, DEADLY DRY DESERTS AND the lights of Las Vegas, has a beer industry going back to 1860, but a bit less going on compared to other western U.S. states. It’s no surprise that the active Tahoe region, and Reno, with its abundance of affordable industrial buildings, would, like Albuquerque or, say, Billings, Montana, become a hub for craft breweries. There are about three dozen in the state now, mostly brewpubs concentrated in Reno and Las Vegas. There’s been a fair amount of change as the industry rolls into motion, and, with a few home brewing shops open, a genuine beer culture is taking root.
BRASSERIE ST. JAMES
901 Center St. • Reno, NV 89501 (775) 348-8888 • brasseriesaintjames.com • Established: 2012
SCENE & STORY
After just two years in business, Brasserie St. James has gained major national notice for its line of Belgium-inspired saisons, sour beers, and other whimsies. Built in the historic Crystal Springs ice and water building in Reno’s slightly down-at-the-heels midtown, the building has all the classic-looking lines of a brewery in Europe. No matter: named best midsize brewpub in the country at the 2014 GABF, things are going fabulously well there, and among the new ventures planned are a music venue and bar nearby, a distillery, and a second location in the Mission area of San Francisco, serving housemade sausage, burgers, traditional cassoulet, and moules frites. Not a bad first few years.
PHILOSOPHY
In the tradition of a classic French estaminet, or café that sells good things to drink, Brasserie St. James is harnessing an Old World feel, but with modern sensibilities (and brewing methods). All the beers I tasted in 2014 and 2015 during GABF were excellent, some world-class.
KEY BEER
Daily Wages, a classic saison with three yeasts including Brettanomyces (wild yeast), or “brett,” is what you hope for when you think “saison”: at once barnyardy, grassy, wheaty, herbal, and refreshing.
NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque
MARBLE BREWERY
111 Marble Ave. NW • Albuquerque, NM 87102 • (505) 243-2739 • marblebrewery.com • Established: 2008
SCENE & STORY
A hoppy oasis in a dusty warehouse area of Albuquerque not far from the main drag of Lomas Boulevard, Marble has become one of the most watched breweries in the West. The original brewpub has hardwood floors, deep red walls, a forty-inch-wide bar, and a spacious, umbrella-equipped seating area outside, with terrific food carts. “It’s a great scene,” says founder Ted Rice. “We get blue-collar guys coming in from the machine shops that are right around the corner. But then we’re also right next to the courthouse facility, so we’ll get lawyers coming in, too. And we get the local beer nerds—all walks of life, all comingling and just gathering around a great local flavor.” This is a short drive from the airport, so it would make a great first or last stop in the Land of Enchantment.
In the summer of 2015, Rice and Co. broke ground on a $1.5 million expansion that will more than double its beer-making capacity and add a rooftop deck, plus another taproom across town, moves which follow a 2014 Small Brewery of the Year award at the GABF and the addition of a second taproom on the west side of town in 2012. Between 2011 and 2014, Marble won no less than nine medals at GABF, which is testament to all the hard work Rice and head brewer Josh Trujillo have been doing.
PHILOSPHY
Rice and Co. have helped New Mexico embrace the tang and bite of beers. “We want the malt character and the residual sweetness to be low, to allow layers of hop flavors to shine through,” Rice says. “So, when you have those layers of hop flavors and that low residual sweetness, the malt base is dry, and you have drinkability.” The water in Albuquerque is fairly alkaline and fluctuates depending on whether the city is drawing from surface or well sources; turning a potential liability into a strength, Marble runs brewing water through a reverse osmosis filter and then adds back in necessary minerals, allowing them to mimic classic brewing styles.
KEY BEER
Marble Red is a chewy, 6.2% ABV sipper with ample caramel malt body enfolded by juicy Cascade, Crystal, and Simcoe hops, and the pilsner is simply outstanding.
Santa Fe
SANTA FE BREWING CO.
35 Fire Pl. • Santa Fe, NM 87508 (505) 424-3333 • santafebrewing.com • Established: 1988
SCENE & STORY
The road leading to New Mexico’s oldest brewing company was known as a section of Route 66 as it passed through town during the 1920s and ’30s. Today it’s known as Route 14, a.k.a. Cerrillos Boulevard, and the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway. Time your visit (it’s about a fifteen-minute drive from the city center) for sunset, because the taproom and its outdoor tables have ideal west-facing views overlooking the vast, high-desert plateau Bandelier National Monument. The original brewery taproom is cozy, quiet, and congenial, with stools and high ceilings. Free guided brewery tours are offered on Saturdays at 12 p.m., and there are ten house beers on tap plus one guest tap and growler sales. Once an almost unknown brand outside of Santa Fe, the addition of new tanks and a bottling line and canning capability for the IPA and Oktoberfest brands have revved up this company (and it didn’t hurt when the owners put the 6.6% ABV IPA in a can prominently featuring the New Mexico state flag’s red, stylized sunbeam “Zia” against a bright yellow field). Recently, the beers have gone from banal to barnstorming, incorporating barrel aging, wild yeasts, and other tricky techniques, and they’ve opened a second Santa Fe taproom as well as an innovative tasting bar in Albuquerque, right off of I-40 and Carlisle, created
entirely from recycled shipping containers, with twenty-seven taps in addition to hard cider, and wines.
KEY BEER
The Imperial Java Stout (8% ABV) is a very good, massive brew of American and British hops, heavily roasted malts, and locally roasted, organic East Timor and New Guinea coffee beans. Last time I visited, brewer Ty Levis’s Zotte Berten series was also showcasing the brewery’s sour and experimental side, such as #5, a tart brew resembling the Belgian style of geuze, made from blends of aged and young lambic, or spontaneously fermented beer.
SECOND STREET BREWERY
1814 Second St. • Santa Fe, NM 87505 (505) 982-3030 • secondstreetbrewery.com • Established: 1996
SECOND STREET BREWERY AT THE RAILYARD
1607 Paseo De Peralta, No. 10 • Santa Fe, NM 87501 • (505) 989-3278 • Established: 2010
SCENE & STORY
Caught unawares amid the hordes of tourists, it can be easy to want to run for the hills. While 9,000-foot Atalaya Mountain just behind town makes a very good day hike, there is no brewery on the summit at present, so instead, hang with the laid-back locals who make Second Street a kind of second home. The original is housed in a warehouse structure next to some old train tracks with outdoor seating, and the décor might be described as 1980s meets 1880s: sponged sienna paint, wagon wheels for chandeliers, and arty photos on the wall. There’s a more updated location, too, at the Railyard near downtown, home of Santa Fe’s farmers’ market (which supplies the restaurant in season) and the REI store, should you still need gear for that hiking escape. The patio is a nice spot for al fresco beers when the temperature’s right. Both locations have full menus; try something with green chile, like the juicy burger.
PHILOSOPHY
Strength in numbers. Brewer Rod Tweet has a huge repertoire, with about fifty different beers so far, though results are still a bit uneven.
KEY BEER
Start with a crisp kölsch (4.6% ABV), which will put out the fire if the green chile takes you for a ride.
THE COWGIRL HALL OF FAME
319 S. Guadalupe St. • Santa Fe, NM 87501-2613 • (505) 982-2565 • cowgirlsantafe.com • Established: 1993
SCENE & STORY
Known simply as “the Cowgirl,” this great bar is filled with creaky old wood floors, an incredible array of western bric-a-brac, cowgirl photos, and the aromas of mesquite barbecue. Santa Fe’s most popular watering hole, with nightly live music and entertainment, a huge billiard parlor, private party rooms, and breezy brick patio, it’s also one of the West’s perfect places to drink a good beer on a hot afternoon. Based on a southwestern barbecue restaurant opened in New York City under the watchful eye of the late Margaret Formby, the founder of the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum in Hereford, Texas, the Cowgirl Hall of Fame of Santa Fe is located in a 100-year-old building in Santa Fe’s historic Guadalupe district. Try for the Bob Dylan Brunch starting Sundays at noon.
PHILOSOPHY
Beer, bluegrass, and barbecue, Annie Oakley-style.
KEY BEER
This isn’t exactly a craft beer bar, but you won’t go thirsty. Santa Fe Brewing Company’s 6.4% ABV State Pen Porter is so good, so nutty, and so chocolate-like, you’ll have to be careful not to drink too much of it, or end up in the clink yourself.
Embudo
BLUE HERON BREWING COMPANY
2214 Hwy. 68 • Embudo, NM 87531 (505) 579-9188 • blueheronbrews.com • Established: 2010
SCENE & STORY
Housed in a tiny adobe overlooking the Rio Grande along the road up to Taos (the main road, not the “High Road to Taos”), this adorable little brewery was founded by dedicated home brewers in a building formerly used as a gas station, vet clinic, and art gallery. It’s a teeny affair, with colorful framed art, track lighting, a little three-tap bar for the three beers on at any given time (brewed in a back room on a 100-gallon system), and at least three little kids with brewing in their futures. Parent-owners Kristin Hennelly and her husband, Scott, a biochemist, use locally grown hops. They also recently added a taproom and eatery in nearby Española.
1833 Cerillos Rd. • Santa Fe, NM 87505 • (505) 995-8015 • elparasol.com
Founded in 1958 in nearby Española by the Atencio family, there are now seven locations in this miraculously talented family’s mini chain. Santa Fe’s oldest (of two) is an unassuming little cinder block drive-through on Cerrillos Boulevard; you may also walk in to order, which can be quicker when the cars are backed up or you’ve called ahead. The tender pork and beef tacos are sublime, but there’s simply no way to adequately describe how good the burrito with roasted white meat chicken and guacamole with green chile tastes. Don’t miss a taste of this New Mexico road food paradise.
PHILOSOPHY
This is community brewing with a sense of history—and humor. Scott Hennelly characterizes the clientele and the mission with a wink. “It’s an art community, it’s an old Hispanic community, it’s a kind of a hippie community, and it’s kind of a hipsters-escaping-the-world community. There’s writers and artists from a couple of generations here. Kristin’s parents have a winery—one of the earliest in New Mexico. It’s probably one of the main reasons we’re doing this, because they want to corner the local market in sin.”
KEY BEER
Embudo Gold, using Perle and locally grown Cascade hops.
Taos
ESKE’S BREW PUB & EATERY
106 Des Georges Ln. • Taos, NM 87571 (575) 758-1517 • eskesbrewpub.com • Established: 1992
SCENE & STORY
New Mexico’s oldest brewpub is still one of the oddest and most fun to visit. Founded in funky Taos by ski patroller Steve “Eske” Eskebeck in a little old adobe house a short walk from the plaza, it’s just a few booths and tables and a small outdoor patio served by a nano-size brewhouse down some stairs next door. But there’s something very comforting about the whole lack of pretense here. The food is good, homey, and cheap (try the green chile stew), and the best way to see what’s been brewing is to order up a sampler and chat with the servers.
PHILOSOPHY
Eske is a local character who has seen the entire history of New Mexico’s craft brewing industry unfold through recessions, booms, and waves upon waves of tourists. “I set out to capture what I thought would be a European-style brewpub or English brewpub, because I hated American bars,” Eske says. “Dark and dingy and sometimes weird. We wanted a place where we could have friends and family over and have a good time. We still don’t filter, we don’t pasteurize, and with good healthy food, not too much frying going on, all ingredients are fresh, especially during summer from local markets. We have hula-hoops for kids outside, a sandbox, ping-pong tables, and board games. Anybody can come in and you don’t have to drink.”
KEY BEER
A long-lost narrow-gauge railroad in the area was called the “Chili Line,” running from Antonito, Colorado to Santa Fe, with a branch near Taos. Eske’s homage to the local favorite tradition is Eske’s Taos Green Chili Beer (4% ABV, a bronze medal winner at the 1993 GABF), made with whole roasted Sandia Hatch green chile added just after the yeast is pitched.
Gearing Up Bicycle Shop • 129 Paseo del Pueblo Sur • Taos, NM 87571 (575) 751-0365 • gearingupbikes.com
Taos is world famous for mountain biking trails, none more vaunted than the South Boundary Trail, twenty-two miles of serpentine roller coaster bounding through steep glades of aspen, lush evergreen forest, and leafy meadows with widescreen views of soaring peaks and plunging valleys. Late September is prime season, just as the aspens reach their Technicolor best. To rent quality gear, hire a guide, or join a group, visit Gearing Up, right down the alley from Eske’s. For $105, you can secure a seven-passenger van shuttle to and from the trailhead departing at 7 a.m. If you don’t have a big group, call ahead to be added to a waiting list for your desired day, which ought be capped off with beers—where else?—on the patio at Eske’s.
BEST of the REST: NEW MEXICO
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p; CHAMA RIVER BREWING CO.
106 2nd St. SW • Albuquerque, NM 87103 • (505) 842-8329 • chamariverbrewery.com
These guys earned a gold in 2014’s GABF in a supercompetive category, Bohemian-style pilsner, for Class VI Golden Lager, a 5.5% ABV sipper spiced liberally with noble Saaz hops. Taste it in the upscale brewpub with an ambitious steak house menu (petite sirloin; pan roasted striped bass) and even more ambitious young brewers.
LA CUMBRE BREWING COMPANY
3313 Girard Blvd. NE • Albuquerque, NM 87107 • (505) 872-0225 • lacumbrebrewing.com
Based in an industrial park, this is a local institution, with a cozy taproom and a patio with food trucks outside. In 2015, a new, custom 30bbl system was coming online. For fans (and the makers) of) the much-loved “Project Dank,” a 7.5% ABV IPA bursting with Chinook, Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra, Sorachi Ace, Meridian, and other exotic varieties of hops, it’s good news indeed.
BOSQUE BREWING COMPANY
8900 San Mateo Blvd. NE • Albuquerque, NM 87113 • (505) 433-3889 •bosquebrewing.com
This young crew of former home brewers launched this brewery in 2010. By 2014, they were toasting a GABF gold in 2015 for the Acequia Wet Hop IPA. Their beers are on tap all over town, and there are already three locations—two in Albuquerque and one in Lac Cruces—to drink from the source amid salvaged-wood and hop-colored walls.
TEXAS
THANKS IN LARGE PART TO WAVES OF GERMAN IMMIGRANTS WHO MADE TEXAS HOME, THE Lone Star State has long been synonymous with beer, especially a couple of inexpensive, mass-produced lagers, Shiner Bock (from San Antonio’s Gambrinus Corporation) and Pabst’s Lone Star. No disrespect to those ubiquitous brews, but there’s much, much more to discover in the new world of Texas craft breweries and beer bars today, especially in Austin, which has embraced pathbreaking brewing styles with the force of a Texas twister. These bold, natural beers go especially well with Texas Hill Country cuisine and languid afternoons with friends and great music.