United Nations of Beer

Blue Corn Cafe

by Lucia Novara
(Beer Delegate, CO, USA)

Blue Corn Cafe
Santa Fe, NM, USA

So a while back I got to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico for work and decided to take a little out-of-region taste test.

Maybe my loyalty to Colorado brewing was a product of ignorance rather than fact; much like my unswerving and ill-advised loyalty to Mad Dog 20/20 in high school.

I checked out the Blue Corn Café & Brewery just off the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe to test the waters. The Blue Corn has been open since 1994 and since 1997 it has brewed 7,083 barrels and served 1,700,000 pints. Or so the menu says.

They don't bottle, but growlers and kegs are available for purchase. It had a nice sunny, southwest atmosphere with a good drinking patio, so I rounded up a sampler tray of brews and got to work.

Links to my reviews are below:

Honeymoon Wheat

Atomic Blonde Ale

High Altitude Pale Ale

Road Runner IPA

End of the Trail Brown Ale

Plaza Porter

The beers above are on tap at the Blue Corn Cafe 24/7, but they also brew up some specialty batches. These were on offer during my visit:

Smoked Porter

Scotch Ale

In sum, "eh". Unlike Colorado's microbreweries, the Blue Corn Cafe was clearly geared towards tourists rather than locals with good beer palates. It aimed to please rather than shock and awe.

And I like a little shock and awe with my buzz. Granted all of the beers on tap at the Blue Corn Cafe are over 5% ABV, but you can only give so many points for alcohol content.

After this experience, I can definitely say I'm glad to be the Colorado Delegate and will enjoy going home to my land of outlandish micros.