As the weather begins to get chilly, there’s nothing like a well-crafted beverage to warm your toes and your spirits. There are a wide variety of excellent breweries, distilleries, wineries, and shops around the state where you can sample, enjoy, and purchase local products. Please check their websites to see what they are currently offering, and please give our local businesses your support.
Northern New Mexico
Hervé Wine Bar
The Lescombes Family opened Hervé Wine Bar in May of 2008, just one block west of the historic Santa Fe Plaza. They offer a wide range of locally grown and crafted wines in flights, by the glass, and by the bottle to savor at home. They also have a selection of wine accessories, gourmet cheeses, local craft beer, and other gift items.
Worth Noting: They have a comfortable and stylish lounge, dining area, and an outdoor patio.
139 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, 505-795-7075, lescombeswinery.com/santa-fe-herve
Steel Bender Brewyard
Steel Bender Brewyard is a family-owned brewery and pub serving craft beer and cider and from-scratch pub fare inside their warm and friendly public house located in the heart of the Village of Los Ranchos. They brew nine house beers, several rotating beers, and four seasonal Dynamite kettle sours, and also ferment ciders. They have a full kitchen and large patio.
Worth Noting: Their prolific barrel-aging program uses wine and spirit barrels, with their brews often resting for months or years with locally grown fruit.
8305 2nd St NW, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, 505-433-3537, steelbenderbrewyard.com
Susan’s Fine Wine and Spirits
Susan’s Fine Wine and Spirits is a locally owned business that has offered high-quality and high-value wines, spirits, and beers to customers throughout Northern New Mexico since 2005. They have a vast selection of over 1,000 different wines, an exquisite selection of top-shelf boutique and unusual spirits, and over 400 craft and imported beers and microbrews.
Worth Noting: Their friendly, knowledgeable staff is always happy to provide recommendations for every taste and every budget and help you locate a specific brand or bottle.
1005 S St Francis Dr, Santa Fe, 505-984-1582, sfwineandspirits.com
Rolling Still Distillery
The Lounge is Rolling Still’s boutique tasting room in downtown Taos. The menu highlights Rolling Still’s special Vodka Infusions that celebrate the flavors and culture of New Mexico, such as red chile and a fusion of ponderosa and juniper, and they also serve other local spirits. Their small plates echo their cocktails in flavor with ingredients sourced from local farms and flatbread made in house.
Worth Noting: The Lounge is located in a renovated, historic building with a colorful past. They have places to hang outside, too.
110 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, Taos, 110 Paseo de Pueblo Norte Ste D, Taos, 575-613-0326, rollingstill.com
Red River Brewing Company & Distillery
With two floors inside and out, this is one of the state’s largest breweries and distilleries. Whether it is a beautiful summer evening or snowy winter day, they are equipped to make you comfortable in the crisp mountain air with a brew or cocktail in hand. With twelve beers and a root beer on tap, plus a full cocktail menu and local wines, there is something to pair with each of their many gastropub offerings.
Worth Noting: Heating elements help keep their large patio comfortable year-round.
217 W Main Street, Red River, 575-754-4422, redriverbrewing.com
VARA Winery & Distillery
Vara is an international family of Spanish and American wines and spirits celebrating the origins of the American wine experience thanks to the historical connection of Spain and New Mexico. They take pride in their wines and spirits and offer a delicious Spanish tapas menu that includes traditional selections as well as made-to-order paella.
Worth Noting: Their industrial-chic tasting room and beautiful outdoor seating area has spectacular views of the Sandia Mountains.
315 Alameda Blvd NE, Albuquerque, 505-898-6280, varawines.com
Black Mesa Winery
Black Mesa wines are created berry to bottle on their estate in Velarde, New Mexico. They grow six grape varieties in their vineyards and purchase only the best hand-harvested grapes from select vineyards around New Mexico to supplement their varietals. They sell bottles and glasses and offer wine tastings outside.
Worth Noting: Black Mesa’s Bite Me Hard Cider is made with 100% northern New Mexico apples.
1502 Hwy 68, Velarde, 505-852-2820, blackmesawinery.com
HoneyMoon Brewery
HoneyMoon Brewery is introducing a new category of alcoholic beverage as a refreshing alternative to traditional beers and wines. By using Kombucha as a foundation to brew their beer, as well as a hybridized production process unique to their brewery, they have achieved a tasty, alcoholic beverage that is wonderfully different.
Worth Noting: Their artisanal alcoholic kombucha, a marriage of kombucha and beer, is gluten-free.
907 W Alameda Unit B, Santa Fe, 505-570-0770, honeymoonbrewery.com
Arroyo Vino Wine Shop
The Arroyo Vino Wine Shop’s extensive selection is handpicked by internationally certified wine professionals. They have nearly 1,000 hand-selected wines, beers, and spirits from around the world to choose from and the staff to help you decide.
Worth Noting: The Wine Shop is also the purveyor of the wine list for Arroyo Vino Restaurant.
218 Camino La Tierra, Santa Fe, 505-983-2100, arroyovino.com/wine-shop
Still Spirits
Still Spirits is a craft distillery and cocktail bar in downtown Albuquerque. For their whiskey, instead of using wheat or rye, Still Spirits has opted for the locally available triticale, a hearty Scottish grain. The aesthetic of Still Spirits is low-key and casual—definitely a space you will enjoy as much as the cocktail in your hand.
Worth Noting: They won first place in the New Mexico Distillers Gin Throwdown.
120 Marble Avenue NW, Albuquerque, 505-750-3138, facebook.com/stillspiritsabq
Southern New Mexico
T or C Brewing Co.
This popular watering hole in the heart of the historic downtown hot springs district has a wide variety of beer and cider, from the inky Dark Skies Oatmeal Stout to the light-bodied Airstream Ultra beer . . . and everything in between. Enjoy their patio or order online for safe pickup.
Worth Noting: Their Las Cruces Beer Bar is now open at Arroyo Plaza in Las Cruces.
410 N Broadway Street, Truth or Consequences, 575-297-0289, torcbrewingco.square.site
Spotted Dog Brewery
Mesilla’s only microbrewery is family owned and operated. It has a friendly patio and a number of beers on tap, plus rotating and seasonal brews. Their signature dishes like green chile cheeseburgers, cheeseburger sliders, and seasonal Nosh Board are always on the menu, and there’s a rotating menu of dishes, as well.
Worth Noting: The Dog Platter is a seasonal Nosh Board piled high with bold sausage links, artisan cheeses, pickled vegetables, and spent grain baguette.
2920 Avenida de Mesilla, Las Cruces, 575-650-2729, spotteddogbrewery.com
Dry Point Distillers
Dry Point’s extensive cocktail menu has additional seasonal specials every week. In addition to distilling vodka, gin, and whiskey, Dry Point has several immature brandies. Los Pasos Brandy is made from one-hundred-percent local wine sourced from Rio Grande Vineyards and Winery, located only four miles from Dry Point Distillers.
Worth Noting: They have a newly expanded bar plus a patio.
1680 Calle de Alvarez, Las Cruces, 575-652-3414, drypointdistillersnm.com
Many of the businesses we feature in our Libation Guide are the reason we are able to tell the stories of local food, so please give them your support.
Edible celebrates New Mexico's food culture, season by season. We believe that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing. With our high-quality, aesthetically pleasing and informative publication, we inspire readers to support and celebrate the growers, producers, chefs, beverage and food artisans, and other food professionals in our community.
