Daily Archives: April 14, 2016

NEXUS BREWERY & RESTAURANT

Nexus Brewery - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

Almost directly across Chama River Brewing off Pan American Freeway, Albuquerque’s awesome NEXUS BREWERY & RESTAURANT champions the flavorful ethnic diversity of this Southwestern Rio Grande Riverbed mecca. Since the Craft Beer Revolution gained national prominence, most of its brewmeisters and entrepreneurial investors have been white males. However, dark-skinned Nexus owner, Ken Carson (a former banker), and female head brewer, Kaylynn McKnight, prove there’s cresting talent beyond the litany of pale-faced zymorgists.

In a tan stucco building next to Best Western, Nexus provides a delightful pub food change-up by offering hearty New Mexican-styled Southern soul food (such as chicken-fried chicken, red chili-peppered collared greens and gumbo) to go alongside impeccable house brews on my April ’16 two-hour lunchtime jaunt.

Since its initial 2011 opening, Nexus has expanded beyond its pristine cocktail-lounged 8-seat grey bar (with glass-encased copper brew tanks, silver spaceship lighting and multiple TV’s) to a remodeled cement-floored side dining  room with beer-centric murals and small outdoor deck. As my friend, Dennis, and I grab a dining table, we dig into New Mexico Soul Burgers (with red chili-sauced bacon, onion and pepper jack cheese) while quaffing eight beer samplers.

New Mexican Soul Food Restaurant in Albuquerque, NM | Best Brewery  Restaurants | Good Places to Eat near Me

Starting with dry-hopped American Red Ale - a nifty moderate-bodied offering with spiced red and orange fruiting glazing toasted caramel malts over tobacco-roasted barley crisping –  the quality and care given each well-balanced stylistic elixir was immediately evidenced.

Rounded flagship, Scottish Ale, had a similar malt-spiced profile as the Red Ale, adding nutty pecan, almond and hazelnut illusions to caramelized molasses sweetness and mild peat-smoked hop astringency.

Amiable Honey Chamomile Wheat brought chamomile tea florality to coriander-salted orange and tangerine tang as well as Bee’s honey sinew.

The heightened 9.3% ABV given Imperial Cream Ale (compared to the original version’s pre-prohibition-styled 4% volume) provides sweet white-wined nuances to  crystal-malted cream soda sugaring and grassy-hopped astringency.

Mellifluous Imperial Pilsner placed crystal-malted mango, guava, nectarine, peach and lychee sweetness and tart pineapple-grapefruit-orange bittering alongside light woody hop dryness (and wispy vodka kick).

Briskly clean-watered IPA layered tangy grapefruit, orange and lemon zest atop sticky pine-needled hop resin, juniper berry bittering and herbal tea nips.

Dry English-styled Chocolate Porter slid chocolate-roasted molasses sweetness across dark-roasted coffee, anise and nut illusions.

Best bet: supple English Barleywine, a boozy 9% ABV dessert treat, plied sweet dried fruiting to caramelized Maris Otter malts, floral perfumed hops and rum-spiced sugaring, picking up tangy bruised orange, tangerine, red cherry, red grape and honeydew notions.

nexusbrewery.com

 

CHAMA RIVER BREWING COMPANY

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ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

One of New Mexico’s first and best microbreweries (active since 2005), located in an exquisite siena-hued terracotta barnhouse off Pan American Freeway, Albuquerque’s silver-roofed CHAMA RIVER BREWING COMPANY serves upscale pub fare (steak, seafood, pasta) to pair with its well-designed traditional brews.

Easy to spot from the freeway due to its large sidled grain silo, Chama River Brewing’s interior wood design, foyer-bound water feature (with resin pheasant), stone hearth and tiled front patio provide crystalline elegance. Its copper-clad center bar (with 10 tap handles, several stools and TV) services a private lounge and booth-laden Porter Room. Sterling glass-encased brewtanks store most of the nine proprietary offerings tried during my April 2016 sojourn.

For starters, rounded Class VI Golden Lager regaled German pilsner malts with raw-honeyed sour lemon musk, maize-dried graining and grassy hops.

Then a few moderate-bodied ales sufficed. Rio Chama Amber brought light honey spice to tangy navel orange briskness and toasted carafa malting. Mild India Pale Ale-like citric fruiting guided Copper John Pale Ale, a floral-perfumed dry libation with zesty grapefruit-pineapple-orange juicing embittered by piney hop resin to contrast sweet sugar-spiced crystal malts.

IPA overtones also embrace soft-toned Vermilion Red Ale, a red and orange fruit-spiced nicety not far removed from Chama River’s most popular item, Jackalope IPA. Named after a mythical antlered rabbit, its tangy yellow grapefruit freshness and bitter lemon rind pucker overload the zesty tropical sureshot as pine-lacquered perfume hops contrast crystal-malted mango, pineapple, orange, tangerine and guava sweetness.

Orange blossom-honeyed coriander tweaked Broken Spoke Honey Wheat, a mildly citrus-spiced moderation backed by torrified husked wheat minerality, grassy hop astringency and floral daubs.

A fine collaboration with neighboring Nexus Brewery, nitro-injected The Darker Fare Irish Stout fortified its softly creamed black chocolate fudging with coffee-roasted espresso and charred nuttiness. Nearly as dry and arguably better, Sleeping Dog Oatmeal Stout coalesced sugary molasses oats with coffee-milked black chocolate, walnut, pecan and hazelnut illusions.

chamariverbrewery.com

 

 

TURTLE MOUNTAIN BREWING COMPANY

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RIO RANCHO, NEW MEXICO

Situated inside the tan stuccoed 36th Place Mall in Rio Rancho (a few miles north of Albuquerque), TURTLE MOUNTAIN BREWING COMPANY began operations in 2012 when local Pueblo Indian descendant, Nico Ortiz, decided to join the evolving Craft Beer Revolution. A sizable pub with 12-seat back bar, multiple wooden tables and booths, one slate-topped community table, wall-sprawled beer banners and a banquet room with patio, Turtle Mountain offered wood-fired pizza, burgers, sandwiches and calzones to pair with its dominantly dry beer selections.

With 14 draught lines available on my April ’16 afternoon trip, nine were pouring worthy homemade beers while the others had popular local selections from  Bosque and La Cumbre.

For openers, light-bodied McDay’s Cream Ale offered zesty lemon spritz and spicy citric hops to corn-flaked barley malt crisping (allowing subdued celery, fennel and brown rice wisps to emerge beneath the surface). With a similar profile, Heidelberg Helles brought lemony hop briskness to sweet sugar-spiced pale malts and herbal lemongrass snips. Amiable rye-spiced Oku Amber caressed floral-fruited hops with cereal-grained barley and oats.

A ‘fun twist’ on an American pale ale, Parasol White Ale layered lemon-soured yellow grapefruit bittering above grassy hops and spiced crystal malts while the bolder West Coast-styled Hopshell IPA seduced its lemon-peeled grapefruit bittering and lacquered wood tones with floral citrus-candied sweetness.

Tart Gose With The Flow took its soft-toned pineapple adjunct to a salty-bottomed lemon-lime pucker. Vinous black grape esters seeped inside Amethyst Brett Double Stout, a brettanomyces-soured dark ale with light wine barrel aging, serene black chocolate overtones, timid burgundy flutter and peated earthiness as well as pithy black cherry, cola nut and roasted tobacco nuances.

Off-dry Snake Driver Irish Stout gathered dark cocoa, black chocolate, charred nuttiness and dark-roasted grains atop its dewy mildewed base.

Newest full-time dark ale, Stauffenberg Oatmeal Stout delegated dark-roast ground coffee overtones to amplify light charred nuttiness over its groaty barley-flaked rolled oats base.

turtlemountainbrewing.com

BLUE GRASSHOPPER BREW PUB

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RIO RANCHO, NEW MEXICO

On the right side of a mini-mall off Coors Boulevard in Albuquerque, casual cafe-styled BLUE GRASSHOPPER BREW PUB fills out a cheaply furnished cornered interior and blue cement-floored patio. An amber awning welcomes faithful locals and out-of-town beer enthusiasts to the graffiti-walled pub (with a few guitars and TV’s hanging behind the 12-seat L-shaped bar and portraits of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe nearby).

Featuring 20 slate-backed draught lines and a small kitchen serving wood-fired pizza, sandwiches, wings, salads and gyros, Blue Grasshopper also accommodates acoustic guitar performers with a small stage area. Ten cafeteria tables round out the intimate space.

Due to an aborted change of venue, Blue Grasshopper’s out of all its original house brews while the staff reassembles the brewing equipment they’d recently broke down. In the meantime, each tap line is dedicated to a local outside brew for this April Fool’s Day ’16 jaunt.

So I gladly settle in at the cozy bar to quaff seven previously untried New Mexican libations (fully reviewed in Beer Index), including La Cumbre’s South Peak Pilsner, Slice of Hefen and Not Even Brown as well as Red Door’s Shift Ender Golden Lager and Paint It Black Stout plus Abby Monk’s Tripel and Sierra Blanca Bone Chiller Brown Ale.

Those who’ve enjoyed Blue Grasshopper’s homemade brews confirm their goodness. In fact, the brewer was readying a light ale during my two-hour visit.

www.bghnm.com

 

LA CUMBRE MIND PHOC

“Strong pale ale with coffee” softly caresses the palate as delicately creamed coffee bean influence delicately rises above dewy tea-like pale malting and earthen hops. Casual coffee tones eventually fade into citric-spiced spritz. Instead of getting blown away by New Mexican ‘mind fuck,’ easygoing java-fueled moderation suits lighter thirsts as well as hard-core mocha mavens.

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