When you’re ready to call it a day before heading back out and doing it all over again, there are sleeping options for every budget. The River Rock Lodge (riverrocklodging.com; 88 Big Pine Drive,Big Sky) in Meadow Village appeals to the luxury traveler. Magnuson Grand City Center (507 W. Main St., Bozeman), located well within walking distance of downtown, is designed with the budget traveler in mind. And of course, inside Gallatin National Forest, there’s great camping along the Gallatin River including Moose Flats and Red Cliff. It definitely makes the beer taste better.
Rio Grande River near Santa Fe, NM
The Rio Grande is famous as a portion of the natural border between Texas and Mexico (hence the John Wayne movie named after it despite being filmed on the Colorado River). But its headwaters are farther north and provide for stellar rafting roughly halfway between the mountainous town of Taos and the high desert town of Santa Fe.
While most visitors to Santa Fe are drawn to its significance as an artistic center and visit the New Mexican Museum of Art (nmartmuseum.org; 107 West Palace Ave.), the Georgia O’Keefe Museum (okeeffemuseum.org; 217 Johnson St.) and its famed adobe architecture, it is splendid as an easel for Mother Nature (desert, mountains, river) and an emerging brewing scene in the Southwest.
John Seiner has been leading various outdoor adventure trips for over a decade including guiding for Kokopelli Rafting Adventures (kokopelliraft.com), which he purchased in 2004. Fortuitously, the offices are located very near the Second Street Brewery (secondstreetbrewery.com, 1814 Second St.) and, confusingly, they opened a second location, The Second Street Brewery at the Railyard (1607 Paseo De Peralta No. 10) that is not on 2nd Street. (Here, you can ask for free samples of meads by Falcon Meadery [falconmead.com] from Santa Fe.) Seiner says he quaffs Rod’s Best Bitter, named after brewer Rod Tweet himself, but he’s quick to note that they are famous for their IPA and the Belgian-style Festivus Ale is incredible. The six to eight house beers do well in washing down pub grub such as fish ’n chips and their New Mexican cuisine, of which Seiner notes that their Green Chile Enchiladas are fantastic. However, if red chilis are more your flavor, The Shed (sfshed.com, 113 ½ E. Palace Ave.) downtown is renowned for theirs, but libations lean toward margies over good beer.
Another brewpub with dual locations is the Blue Corn Café (bluecorncafe.com; 133 Water St. in downtown and 4056 Cerrillos Road on the Southside), with the latter one being a little less tourist-oriented. Head Brewer Brad Kraus makes a variety of styles with the Atomic Blonde and Honeymoon Wheat among the more popular. New Mexican fare rules the day so fans of blue corn, green chili, and reddish-black chipotle will have plenty of options to choose from.
But the beer about town you’re mostly likely to encounter comes from Santa Fe Brewing (santafebrewing.com; 35 Fire Place), now celebrating its 23rd year of brewing. While they recently opened up a second tasting room, drink their famous Chicken Killer Barleywine from the source at the brewery or you can now more easily take some of their beer on the rivers since they just started canning. It just so happens that Adam Bishop, their brewer who created Happy Camper IPA, was a river rafting guide back in Georgia before moving to Santa Fe, where he hopes to run some trips again. Bishop says the other canned beer is their seasonal, an extra hoppy pilsner. They don’t serve any food, so BYOGC (bring yer own green chili). It’s located about eight miles southwest of downtown where New Mexico State Road 14 becomes known as the Turquoise Trail, a scenic byway popular among roadtrippers keen on avoiding the monotony of Interstate-25 to Albuquerque.
Abbey Beverage Co. is a monastic brewery nestled amongst the canyons of northwestern New Mexico.
Considering the put-ins for all the rafting trips are a good hour’s drive north of Santa Fe, there are some interesting breweries around Taos not to be missed! Most notably, fans of monastic beers need to check out the new incarnation the Abbey Beverage Co., set inside The Monastery of Christ in the Desert (christdesert.org/abbey_beverage_company). From Interstate 84 North out of Santa Fe to Highway 285, a 13-mile tumultuous dirt road leads you far off the beaten path, just as the monks want it. Here, brewmaster Kraus from Blue Corn is helping start up this tiny operation. Sure you can find their beers in local markets and liquor stores, but when’s the last time you’ve been to an actual monastery where they grow their own hops for their own liquid bread? You can even reserve a room here, but keep in mind it’s more for those seeking monastic simplicity and solitude than a raucous beercation.
