Beer in Santa Fe, NM
I took a trip down to Santa Fe, NM last weekend and made it a point to check out the beer scene. On my last trip down there I had dinner at Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery, a brewpub with two locations in Santa Fe, but only had one beer and didn’t feel that was worthy of a blog post. While I didn’t make it back to Blue Corn this trip (so I don’t have much to say about them) I did check out some other beer spots in Santa Fe.
The first stop was Santa Fe Brewing Company where Kinsee and I had dinner a few beers. A few Santa Fe Brewing Co. beers are available in Durango, I had tasted the Chicken Killer Barley Wine and State Pen Porter in the past, so I was excited to try some of their other beers. On tap were: Santa Fe Pale Ale, State Pen Porter, Santa Fe Nut Brown, Santa Fe Wheat, Fiesta IPA, and Java Stout. Unfortunately I was told my first two choices, Java Stout and Fiesta IPA “weren’t pouring well”. I was pretty disappointed but decided to try the Santa Fe Pale Ale and was completely unimpressed by it. Santa Fe Pale Ale is 5.5% ABV and I felt it was far too malty and lacking bitterness from hops. Taking a look at their website I discovered this is an English Pale Ale, rather than an American Pale Ale, which helps explain that.
Sitting at the bar I saw another bartender pour a Java Stout for someone and it seemed fine. So I asked about that and she poured me one. I was more happier with this beer. It was somewhere around 7.5% ABV, heavier and more flavorful. It had quite a coffee flavor and some bitterness. This is a beer I would drink again. There is no mention of it on their website, but I imagine it’s a seasonal that’s only around in the colder months, and I’m not sure if they bottle it or not.
Later we stopped by Second Street Brewery and took the last two seats at the crowded bar, nearly every stool, chair and table in the place were taken. Second Street Brewery is located in a more more central area of the city than Santa Fe Brewing Co. (which was out in the middle of nowhere). Second Street Brewery had quite a few beers on tap but I only tried two of them. I had the India Pale Ale and sampled some of the Kolsch Kinsee was drinking. Not the most creative names, but they were both pretty good. As far as I could tell Second Street Brewery is a brewpub only (I don’t think they bottle their beer) and they had many standard beer styles represented, but nothing out of the ordinary.
The last beer spot we hit was the Marble Brewery Tap Room on the plaza. Marble Brewery is based out of Albuquerque, but has a tap room in Santa Fe. They had ten beers on tap and the bartender was extremely friendly. They had ten beers on tap and he gave us samples of half of them (and would have let us sample all had we wanted to). They seven “House” styles as well as three Brewer’s Specials. We sampled the Red Ale, Oatmeal Stout, and IPA of the House Styles, and the Double India Pale Ale, Winter Warmer and The Quad from the Brewer’s Specials. The Red Ale was great (I’m usually not a huge fan of Red Ales) and all three Brewer’s Specials were good. I settled for the IPA though as we had to drive back to Durango soon after leaving Marble’s Tap Room.
All in all there is some great beer in Santa Fe, NM.
I haven’t had much chance to try beer in Santa Fe, but my friend lives around the block from Marble Street Brewery in Albuquerque. I liked their brown ale, although I can’t remember what it was called.
I agree about Santa Fe Brewing. Their regular lineup seems a bit weak, but their seasonal beers are pretty good. I once had a Prickly Pear Hefeweizen on tap at Lady Falc’s that was great. I also tried their Yippee Imperial IPA from a bottle I bought in Santa Fe back in September. That was also quite good.
Get to Taos as well next time, if you can. I like the vibe a little better there, and you need to go to Eske’s brewery at a minimum.
Patrick, I think Marble Brewery’s brown ale is as creatively named as many of Second Street’s beers: Marble Brown Ale. But hey, it’s about the beer, not the name.
Dustin, I’ve been to Taos once, Eske’s has some great beers. Their 10,000 Ft Stout is pretty good, and the Green Chili beer is a must try. They were at the San Juan Brewfest and they made me try a half and half of the two (a “black and tan” if you will). Not something I’d drink too often, but not terrible.
So you aware: Blue Corn Brewery is owned by the SAME OWNER as Chama River (Albuquerque) AND Marble Brewing. As a matter of fact most of the beers on tap at Blue Corn are from recipes from Daniel Jarmillo, a staff brewer now at Marble Brewing. Somethng to think about….
I wasn’t aware of that. Any idea why they run three seemingly seperate breweries/brewpubs in the same markets under different names?