Taos Bakes is Launching a Beer

Yes, you read that right. For the past month we’ve been brewing up a special co-branded beer with High and Dry Brewing out of Albuquerque, New Mexico that uses shavings from our Almond Agave as the base. We’re calling the beer the Taos Bakes Hazy Pale Ale.

Is it weird to brew a beer with a bar? On paper, maybe, but Andrew Kalemba, the owner of High and Dry, is one of the most creative and adventurous brewers in New Mexico and knew it would be delicious. He and Brooks Thostenson, our co-founder and chief innovation officer, chose to Almond Agave because the bar features a healthy dose of oats and agave, both of which are found in many other beer recipes.

“The bar creates a really solid, simple base for the beer, but I was also excited to play with some of the other bar ingredients like raisins to see what happened,” Andrew says. “To add a bit of citrus, which compliments the bar flavors, we decided to add in a lighter variety of Cascade hops as well.”

The beer will launch May 24 as part of ABQ Beer Week. For $6, everyone will get a cold pint and any flavor Taos Bake they want as a pairing. The beer will only be available at High and Dry on that Friday, and possibly through the weekend, depending on supply. But both Taos and High and Dry hope to extend the partnership to other projects down the road.

“One of our core tenants is working with other like-minded businesses here in New Mexico that are out there creating innovative products and supporting the local economy,” Andrew says. “Taos obviously cares deeply about its products and its community, as do we, so it was a no-brainer to link up.”

To take the partnership one step further, Taos and High and Dry will be donating $2 from every pint sold to Three Sisters Kitchen, an Albuquerque non-profit that runs a test kitchen and development program for local food entrepreneurs who want to build their own food businesses.

“It took us a LONG time to figure out how to run our food business, so we’re more than happy to support Three Sisters Kitchen, which is doing an incredible job of giving local entrepreneurs the tools they need to get everything in order more quickly and efficiently,” Brooks says.