Albuquerque Newsdesk

Why you could see more ABQ beers at city events soon

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The next time to you go to a city event that sells beer you might see beers from Marble, Boese Brothers or La Cumbre alongside Bud Light and Corona. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry signed legislation that would encourage local beer at local events. It would not encourage sales at events that don’t already have beer sales, but instead encourage those that already have beer sales to use beer from local breweries. City councilor Don Harris introduced the legislation last month and the council passed the legislation on Nov. 2 on a unanimous vote.

breweries

Councilor wants to encourage more local beers at local events

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Local breweries may have a chance to get themselves in front of more local drinkers if an Albuquerque city councilor has his way. Councilor Don Harris told New Mexico Political Report that his proposal would require Albuquerque venues to make a concerted effort to serve local beers, but that they would not be micromanaged. “It gives the organizer a lot of discretion,” Harris said about how venues would decide which beers to serve.Harris said he began “Seeing that in, some cases, there was no participation by local breweries” at many local events. Chris Jackson, the editor of the Dark Side Brew Crew, a website focused on New Mexico breweries, told New Mexico Political Report that legislation like this could be great for the local beer scene and could put New Mexico on the map as a “beercation destination.”

“Anything you can do to get exposure beyond word of mouth would be a good thing,” Jackson said. Jackson added that right now local breweries work together on “united front” to raise awareness of local brews.

News

Beer and wine delivery bill passes the Senate

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A bill that would allow local districts to vote on whether to allow beer and wine home delivery passed the Senate on Monday afternoon. The vote was 32-10 in favor of passing the legislation, with both bipartisan support and opposition. The legislation would allow adults over the legal drinking age, 21, to order up to two six-packs of beer and two bottles of wine for delivery as long as it comes with at least $20 in food. The restaurant that delivers the alcohol must get at least 70 percent of its gross receipts from the sale of meals to qualify for a beer or wine license. The delivereis would have to stop when the the restaurant stops selling food or at 10:00 p.m., whichever happens first.