First Taste of New Mexico’s “La Cumbre Brewing Co.” at Tap & Bottle Oct 13

What
La Cumbre Brewing Launch Party at Tap & Bottle
When
Friday, October 13
Where
Tap & Bottle
403 N. 6th Ave.
Tap & Bottle North
7254 N. Oracle Rd.
More Info
La Cumbre Launch Party event page on Facebook

The prize jewel from the Land of Enchantment will soon be available in Arizona.

Both Tap & Bottle locations will host launch parties to celebrate Tucson’s first release of beer from New Mexico’s La Cumbre Brewing Co.

While the best brewery in a state is mostly a subjective matter, some breweries hold the best title more convincingly in some states: New Glarus Brewing Co. in Wisconsin; Cigar City Brewing Co. in Florida; Jester King Brewing Co. in Texas; Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. in Iowa; and 3 Floyds Brewing Co. That same consensus shares that the top brewery from our neighbor to the east is La Cumbre.

La Cumbre, which loosely translates to ‘the peak’ from Spanish, will become the first of the aforementioned breweries to distribute in Arizona.

Jeff Erway and Scot Nelson opened La Cumbre Brewing  to the public in an industrial Albuquerque neighborhood in December 2010. Nearly seven years later, the brewery will be bringing its “elevated beers” to Arizona.

“In every beer, our goal is to make it a standard commercial style of that specific beer,” said Erway, La Cumbre president and master brewer. “Ultimately, we want to make beers that represent the apex of the art of brewing.”

There will be much celebration the second week of October across Arizona with four launch parties planned in Phoenix and others planned in the suburbs of Mesa, Tempe and Scottsdale. Tucson is fortunate enough to share in the celebration not once, but twice, thanks to Tap & Bottle owners and former New Mexico residents Scott and Rebecca Safford.

“As longtime fans of La Cumbre when we visit our families in New Mexico, we cannot wait to enjoy and share their amazing beers with Tucson beer lovers,” Rebecca said. “In addition to the La Cumbre beers, we are going to bring back many of our favorite New Mexican foods to have at the launch parties.”

Speaking of the beers, the five of the staple beers from La Cumbre will be made available year-round through the Arizona distributor, but keeping with the Friday the 13th theme, a “lucky” seven beers will be available at each location.

La Cumbre Brewing Co. Launch Party Taps

• Elevated IPA [American IPA] – One of the most sought-after and internet traded beers after winning a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival in its first entry.  The following year, the beer took home the Bronze Medal at the World Beer Cup.
• BEER!  [Pale Lager] – A tip of the cap to the yellow, fizzy macro beers, but this one has won Gold Medals at both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup.
• Malpais Stout [Foreign Extra Stout] – A full-bodied, intense stout brewed with seven different malts. Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup Silver Medal Winner.
• Red Ryeot – [Red Rye Ale] – A big, bold beer with a well-balanced flavor due to the use of seven grains and six hops.
• A Slice of Hefen – [HefeWeizen] – A traditional take on a Bavarian classic that is a total heat-beating thirst quencher.
• Project Dank [Rotating-Hop IPA] 2x National IPA Challenge Champion, CAMRA Michael Jackson Award For Best American Cask Ale 2014, Great American Beer Festival Bronze Medal Winner.

Tap & Bottle North will also have a specialty one-off called Ryeot on Bourbon, a bourbon-barrel aged, imperial version of the Red Ryeot.

The party will run from 5 – 7 p.m. at Tap & Bottle’s north side location with six year-round releases. For those looking for a later start, Tap & Bottle’s Sixth Avenue location will run from 8 – 10 p.m. with the same six beers but will also tap a specialty Nitro Russian Imperial Stout, From Putin With Love.

For something new and unique, be aware that the Project Dank and the two specialty beers are only available on a very limited basis. For an exceptionally fresh IPA, pick the Elevated IPA.

“We have an obsession with consistency, quality and freshness as well,” Erway said. “We want our consumers to have the freshest La Cumbre products as possible. The Elevated IPA we will be enjoying in AZ during launch week was packaged a day before it was shipped to our distributor in AZ.”

For more information, visit the La Cumbre Launch Party at T&B North & Downtown! event page on Facebook.