Get Your Kicks on Route 66-Albuquerque

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After days…and I mean DAYS going through the desert of New Mexico, we finally arrive in Albuquerque! We met up with Brady at Il Vicino Brewing Company at 9:30 am and enjoyed our earliest beer of the tour…a Pilsner straight from the fermenter. It was cold and delicious. Il Vicino has a very cool scene in an industrial part of town with a great patio and facility. I’m sure it’s hopping later on each evening.

 

Just down the road, we went to Marble Brewery where they had already heard about Oowee Koozies and knew that they would make great beer gifts for their customers!  We met Amberly, John, and brewer Ted who gave us a quick tour of the facility. Like Austin Beerworks, Marble Brewery has just gotten a small compact canning system from Wild Goose Canning out of Boulder who is revolutionizing the craft micro-canning industry. We tasted just about all of their brews from their Wildflower Wheat (with local honey), their Pilsner, the Marble Red, the IPA and Double IPA. They have been perfecting their craft since 2008 and it showed!

Cruising to La Cumbre Brewing Company next, we learned that the owners were big outdoors enthusiast and “La Cumbre” means “peak” in Spanish. Several the beers we got to enjoy are named after mountains from the year round Jefe’s Hefe, South Peak Pilsner, Pyramid Rock Pale Ale, Elevated IPA and Malpais Stout to seasonal Gracias por Fumar, No You’re a Dort, Miles from Cologne, Blanche de Burque, and Pale 32. (We could not finish them all!) We enjoyed talking with Scott and Devan who told us that they have only been open about a year and a half but already had won several different medals in craft brewing.

Onward to Nexus Brewery, where we met Manuel, the head brewer who had recently won the Silver Award for his Imperial Cream Ale at the World Beer Cup and gave us samplings of their other fine brews including their Cream Ale, White Ale, Scottish and Brown Ales. We were also pleased to meet the owner Ken, who is one of the only African American brewery founders that we have met and possibly one of the only ones in the nation. We were so tempted by the good looking southern-style soul food that we had to have some collard greens and mac & cheese. Wow.