Best Local Brew

SFR'S 2013 Bar Guide

Earlier this month, SFR unveiled its first-ever Local Beer Championship. We selected one beer from each of 16 New Mexico breweries, then drew names out of a hat for each brew's placement on our Sweet 16 bracket.

The first round of voting eliminated many of the state's smaller breweries, bringing four heavy hitters to the Final Four. In one bracket, India Pale Ales from Albuquerque-based Marble Brewery and Santa Fe's Second Street Brewery went head-to-head; the other bracket stacked Rio Grande/Sierra Blanca Brewing Co.'s Alien Amber against the highly popular Santa Fe Pale Ale.

Eventually, we had a winner: Second Street Brewery's IPA, refreshingly hoppy American-style IPA that's almost always on tap and pairs perfectly with a bluegrass band and some green chile cheese fries for whiling away those summer afternoons in Santa Fe.

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen: New Mexico's voter-selected best local beer. Now, go out and have a pint!

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