New Mexico Mercury

New Mexico now has another gem in its treasury of natural and cultural wonders. Sure, the state already possesses majestic mountains, a turquoise canopy sequined with hot air balloons, the ancient mysteries of Chaco, and the mark of modernity at White Sands. But on top of all that, the state now boasts a selection of nationally acclaimed and locally brewed craft beers!

Over the October 10-12th weekend, six New Mexican breweries medaled at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. Il Vicino and Second Street Brewery both strutted home with gold medals. Blue Corn Brewery and Sierra Blanca Brewing Co. were awarded silvers. Marble Brewing scored both a silver and a bronze, while La Cumbre Brewing Co. swaggered off with a bronze.

The Land of Enchantment competed among 4,809 entries sent in from 745 different breweries across the country. With 201 judges from 11 different countries evaluating 84 different categories, the competition is fierce. Medalists go home knowing that their entry represents the third, second, or very best version of that particular style of beer for the year.

Walking away with any hardware is tough, explains Jeff Erway, founder, owner, and master brewer at La Cumbre. “When I started [competing],” he says, “there were half the number of breweries there are now. So, to me, a medal means more… it means double what it used to. Coming in third out of 252 I.P.A.s… that’s good enough for me.”

Of the 85 New Mexican beers entered, 8 received metallic recognition. That 9.4% win-ratio ranks New Mexico fourth among the fifty states. New Mexico also ranks fourth for medals-to-total breweries in the state. Additionally, New Mexico doubled the number of medals it received in each of the past two years. All that is to say 2013 was a banner year for beer in our state.
 
More than a vehicle for bragging rights, a local micro and craft brewery represents a bastion of local spirit and community involvement. One of the Brewers Association’s essential components of a craft brewery is that it be involved in the local community through philanthropy, product donations, volunteerism, and sponsorship of events.

This is definitely true of Albuquerque metro brewers. All the local brewers feel deeply committed to supporting the local community, from fundraising for the Albuquerque Mountain Rescue Council and the Grower’s Market to supporting local high school sports teams.

“We are part of the local fabric,” says Ted Rice, Marble’s co-owner and master brewer.

Part of weaving that local fabric is the fact that a locally crafted beer has a few choice ingredients (beyond the basic malts, hops, yeast, and water) off-limits to the super-conglomerate brew moguls. At any local taproom or brewpub, distinct local attitudes, quirks, lore, and culture all contribute to the taste and character of the craft brews on tap. Some beers are so closely tied to home, they cannot be found anywhere else—like the kölsch of Cologne or the Gose of Goslar. In some cases, the brewer grew up in the community, steeped in the culture, which in turn, impacts the recipe.

In other cases, the community has a more direct impact on the nature and flavor of the beer. Ted Rice often tests new beer recipes with his barflies in order to get honest feedback.

“There’s definitely a lot of interaction,” says Rice. “You can see the brewery from the bar. You can see where everything is going down.” He notes that patrons who frequent a local brewpub not only see the mash turns and fermenters from their perch at the bar, but also they chat with the guy or gal who is responsible for the drink in their glass.

Mark Matheson, brew master at Rio Rancho’s Turtle Mountain Brewing Co., sees craft beer’s popularity dovetailing with the “locavore” or farm-to-table movement. In short, the more people want locally sourced foods, the more they thirst for locally sourced drinks. Likewise, for Nico Ortiz—Turtle Mountain owner and founder—the experience of drinking at a local brew pub is a lot like dining at Los Poblanos. He says, “You can see the gardens out back. You know that what you’re eating traveled from that garden to the kitchen to your plate.” 

Ted Rice points to the unique New Mexican palate. “The food here is bold, spicy, satisfying, and rich. People here eat hot chile in mass quantities. They’re not satisfied with bologna sandwiches. They need a beverage to accommodate their unique palate. And craft beer has been a perfect match.”

Erway agrees. “We [brewers] are connected to the kitchen,” he says, and that connection makes the experience of tasting craft beers much more intense.

Servers at taprooms and brewpubs also tend to be very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the beers on tap. The curious and inquisitive are bound to get an earful as they sip their suds.

“From the customers to the employees to the brewer…it’s definitely an exchange,” Rice adds.

And that exchange is the key difference separating the neighborhood bar from the local brewpub or taproom, according to Erway. “One of the best sights I see is people connecting because of beer,” Erway explains. “It makes me sad when I see somebody at the bar, tapping away at their phone. But it’s so great when I see people who have never talked before, never met before, all of a sudden… they’re in a conversation about their kids. And that’s great. It all started with the beer.”

For Erway, this interaction is fundamentally different from what happens in a bar or club. “The bars here each have their own kind of scene,” he notes. Some bars are full of only young people. Others attract older generations. Visitors are less likely to frequent a place where they don’t feel comfortable. Young, old, student, artist, blue collar, white collar, Hispanic, Caucasian—the list of those who feel welcome in a craft beer setting is endless. He points to the diversity within any given brewpub as evidence. 

For both Erway and Ortiz, the modern American brewpub or taproom is akin to the European-style pub—that central hub of community, that open meeting space where all walks of life mingle, where locals gather to socialize, hear the news, and discuss (gasp) religion and politics. But America lost its own version of the pub in the early nineteen hundreds. 

Prohibition effectively wiped out over 1500 breweries across the country. The 21st Amendment ended Prohibition in 1933 and left a void to be filled by a few fortunate and fast-growing companies. As a result, the world quickly came to know and trust the consistent taste of mass-produced beers like Coors, Miller, and Budweiser. Within four decades, the United States had hardly more than 80 breweries owned by roughly 40 parent-companies. Those forty-some conglomerates were expected to further condense into just five major beer moguls by the 1980s. 

That forecast changed dramatically in 1978. President Jimmy Carter signed a house resolution reauthorizing the legality of brewing beer at home. (Evidently, an oversight in the wording of the 21st Amendment legalized home wine-making, but not home brewing.) The home brewing hobby thrived. Many of the homebrew enthusiasts delivered a treasury of old styles and new flavors to their communities. The grassroots movement gave birth to the “Beervana” region of the Pacific Northwest and the modern craft brewing industry, which now quenches 6% of the national beer market.

Ever since, the numbers of craft breweries have shot up to pre”sip”itous heights. As of June 2013 there are 2,483 breweries operating in the U.S., up from 537 in 1994, according to the Brewers Association. Currently, the majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a craft brewer.

And the movement is gaining momentum in New Mexico, too. The New Mexico Brewers Guild lists a dozen breweries in Albuquerque. As a whole, the state houses nearly 40 breweries, some located in unexpected, remote locations like Deming, Eagle’s Nest, Embudo, and Portales.

Over the last five years, support for local craft beers has become effervescent. La Cumbre has upped its production from 4500 barrels to 19,000 and has just acquired more space to make more beer. Marble has ridden a wave of local and national support thanks to its beers featuring on several episodes of Breaking Bad. And across the city and around the state, new breweries are in the works. 

“It’s no surprise that people here are embracing craft beer,” says Ted Rice. “[New Mexicans] embrace the bright sun and the heat of the chile. So tie it all together with what we eat and what we drink and what we do for recreation. It’s a way to embrace life.”

“The movement is a big deal,” notes Nico Ortiz. “It’s a comeback from the pre-Prohibition era.” He goes on to say that brewing is just one way for a community to express itself. And he expects to see a lot more expression in the future.

A veteran of the local brew scene, Ortiz established Turtle Mountain in 1999, a time that might have felt like Prohibition in Albuquerque. Many of the local breweries that had opened up in the late eighties and early nineties were going out of business. As a huge fan of the show Cheers, Ortiz encouraged his employees to get to know customers by name as well as background and interests. He put Mark Matheson at the helm of brewing great beers, and in return for the great service and great beer, the community thanked them with year after year of consistent growth. Turtle Mountain was also voted “best restaurant in Rio Rancho” in the Alibi’s 2013 Best of Burque poll.

In addition to all the local love, recent results from the Great American Beer Festival underscore the exceptional quality of the craft beer industry in New Mexico. Local brewers all agree the bar is set really high in the state.

“A lot of these new breweries are really good,” says Matheson.

Jeff Erway seconds this assertion. He believes this high quality is actually helping to spur the craft beer movement across the state. The artistic finesse and technical precision of New Mexico’s brewers is so high that there is no room for dabbling. “You have to really know what you’re doing before you jump in here,” he says.

While he credits Il Vicino’s Brady McKeown and Marble’s Ted Rice for producing some of the better beer in the country, Erway also worries that some places might get caught up in the superficial aspects of microbrewing—making money rather than community—and wind up with a lot of ambitious but inexperienced brewers. “It’s like trying to play jazz fusion before you learn the scales or the basic Duke Ellington,” Erway explains. As a former musician and music teacher, he ought to know.  

Singing a slightly different tune, Matheson worries that New Mexicans are not fully aware of the exceptional local beers available to them. Indeed, when it comes to associating top-notch beers with a particular place, Germany is more likely to come to mind than New Mexico.

But perhaps that has more to do with time than quality. While the bulk of New Mexico’s brewing history may total two decades, Germany’s local craft brewing carries on centuries-old techniques and traditions. Bruckmüller dates its brewing techniques back to 15th century Franziskaner monks, while Nailaer Wohn can trace its brewing license to 1464. 

And yet, the pomp of tradition has not prevented New Mexican brewers from earmarking the state as a must-visit, must-taste destination. In fact, Ted Rice envisions a future where craft beers are as integral a treasure as any of the state’s unique natural wonders. “You cannot experience this place without tasting its beers made by the people who live here,” he says.

And since many of New Mexico’s brewers intend to keep their businesses primarily local, the curiously thirsty are invited from near and far to come on a treasure hunt—to seek out the liquid gold and copper, the glowing ruby gems and glistening amber jewels buried at the heart of New Mexican community and culture. Venture from home, our craft beers beckon. Don’t just go on an adventure—taste it!

(Feature image by Christine Rondeau)