BEER BUZZ FOR NEW MEXICO
NM breweries score at annual Denver festival
Breweries in our state recently took gold, silver and bronze at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.
New Mexico breweries recently took gold, silver and bronze at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver — including Bosque Brewing Co.’s homage to New Mexico State University’s Pistol Pete.
Turtle Mountain Brewing Company, which will reach its 20-year mark in March 2019, was awarded gold in its first major beer competition medal. Turtle Mountain won gold for Wooden Teeth in the International-Style Pilsener category, which had 86 entries.
“It’s so exciting to be able to bring home a medal for Turtle Mountain,” said head brewer Mick Hahn.
Albuquerque’s La Cumbre Brewing Co. once again was awarded silver for its Malpais Stout. The two time silver-medal stout won in the Export Stout category, which had 52 entries.
“As we grow, I am continuously and increasingly impressed with the high standard that our team upholds and this medal is evidence and a testament to that high standard,” said Jeff Erway, La Cumber president and master brewer.
Santa Fe’s Rowley Farmhouse Ales, which has been on the brewery scene for only a couple years, beat out a few operations with more years of operation. Rowley received a silver medal for its Germophile in the Berliner-Style Weisse category, which had 115 entries.
And Bosque Brewing Co. won bronze for its homage beer to its Pistol Pete’s 1888 Ale, in the Golden or Blonde Ale category. The category had 127 entries.
“That was a big one for us,” said John Bullard, Bosque Brewing’s head brewer. “We had just launched Pistol Pete’s 1888 in the six packs and it just hit the shelves...
“When (Bosque managing director Gabe Jensen) got in touch with NMSU about the beer, we needed a beer style and wanted somthing very approachable, easy drinking and appealing to a large demographic so we designed a blonde ale and Pistol Pete’s 1888 came about,” he said.
The festival is one of the largest commercial beer competitions in the world. It received 8,496 entries and 49 collaboration entries from 2,404 breweries throughout the United States.