Las Cruces Tour de Beer

As so often happens, life started getting in the way. Every weekend, we seemed to get caught up in school, household chores and catching up on sleep. Before we knew it, it was Monday again and the weekend had vanished. Traveling around with the Army, we have been given a very unique opportunity to view a new region of the country every couple years. The last year in El Paso, we have not been taking full advantage of this opportunity.

So I came up with the idea that every weekend we would take turns surprising each other on a date. The date could be routine if we weren't feeling creative, but the point was to try new things together. There are some stipulations to the experiment: we have to choose a date that we think the other might at least remotely enjoy, and it can only involve the two of us (and perhaps the pups). After we leave El Paso, and any other duty station for that matter, we likely won't be returning. Therefore, we want to experience as much as we can in the short time we are here.

Chris went first. Our first "surprise date" was three weekends ago. That Saturday there just so happened to be the Las Cruces Tour de Beer. Needless to say, Chris and I both love craft beer. At the Southern New Mexico Fairgrounds, over thirty-two breweries from arond the country set up sampling booths. We paid $15 at the gate which got us a customized pint glass and 10 sample tickets. There were also fair ground food stands, face painting, live music and some carnival games. We got there earlier than most of the crowds and took our time sampling brews from breweries we'd never heard of. I particularly liked Kona Brewing and Chris like Wasatch Brewing. High Desert was also there, a local favorite of ours. Left Hand Brewing and Isotopes were good too. After we finished our samples, we each went back to get a full pint of our favorite. By the middle of the afternoon, the lines were about 20 minutes long. There were some fantastic bands playing though. Our favorite band was a local Las Cruces group called "Beans and Crackers." They mixed country with rock n' roll. The lead singer had a perfect impression of Johnny Cash. By late afternoon we were exhausted and decided to head back to Las Cruces to find dinner. In keeping with the spirit of the day, we took a gamble on the Pecan Brewery and Grill. The food was fantastic, albeit a little pricy. After a long day of beer sampling and standing in the summer New Mexican sun, we dragged ourselves home and turned in early.