There’s a bunch of awesome autumnal-themed food and drink events going on this weekend, and I spent a couple days giving myself an ulcer over which one deserved to be featured in this week’s issue. Instead of doing the hard thing and choosing one, I decided to be egalitarian and share the spotlight with four of the events that are worth checking out. So hop in the car, bring a flannel and come hungry. It’s fall, y’all. Get in the damn spirit already.
Food Events
8th Annual New Mexico Brew Fest
NM Brew Fest
In the past decade, New Mexico has begun to rival our neighbors to the north in number of local craft breweries. And in the past eight years, the New Mexico Brew Fest has been highlighting those craft breweries with an annual festival that brings them all together for a day to celebrate one of the things that makes the Land of Enchantment just a little more enchanting: beer.Every year, NMBF is held at Expo New Mexico in the autumn, and the event has gathered quite a following in its relatively short existence. This year, the festival will host 23 local breweries, including newcomers on the scene like Bow & Arrow, Broken Trail and Sidetrack. In addition to all the beer sampling your little heart desires, there will also be some of Albuquerque’s fine food trucks slinging their grub and live music all day.“We couldn’t be prouder of this festival,” says NMBF organizer Kyle Malone. “We bring together the best of New Mexico’s brewers and their legion of fans. Seeing the community come together, and experiencing this overwhelming communal good vibe is pretty special.”The Brew Fest happens on Saturday, Oct. 14, from 1 to 6pm (early admission tickets get you in at 11:30am). General admission tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, and early admission tickets are $45 in advance, $50 at the door. This event is, obviously, for ages 21 and up. Buy your tickets at nmbrewfest.com.
Food Events
The Albuquerque BioPark’s Heritage Farm has a big weekend coming up. This Saturday, Oct 14, they’ll be hosting both their annual Cider Festival and their Harvest Dinner to celebrate the autumn harvest. The Cider Festival will take place at the Cider Barn from 10am to 3pm, and the Harvest Dinner goes from 5 to 9pm.Nestled in the north side of the ABQ BioPark, the Rio Grande Heritage Farm is both a model of a 1930’s farmstead and an actual operating farm that grows crops year-round. Throughout the year, you can visit the farmstead with the kids to learn about how pioneers lived from demonstrations of quilting, cooking and taking care of farm animals.Each autumn, some of the farm’s apple harvest is turned into cider, which you can both taste and learn how to make at the ninth annual Cider Festival. Buy a bottle to take home with you, and don’t pass up on the fresh-pressed grape juice as well. There will also be a chile roaster selling their wares, so bring your cotton totes and stock up, y’all.After you’ve had your fill of cider, you can put the young ones on the hay ride and enjoy some live music at the barn. Odella plays a set from 10:30am to noon, and Higher Ground will play from 12:30 to 2:30pm. Admission to the Cider Festival is included in your ticket to the BioPark.After that, the Harvest Dinner will lay a spread of delicious, farm-fresh food cooked by local chefs for the second year in a row. Hors d’oeuvres will be served by the barn and accompanied by a bourbon tasting. Hors d’oeuvres include grilled vegetable antipasto, roasted bone marrow and garlic spread with grilled baguette, and several different flavors of salsa and hummus.The family-style dinner will be served on long picnic tables in the orchard decorated with floral art by Hong-Elder Floral Workroom. Dinner will be a five-course meal, with cold butternut squash bisque, roasted baby beet salad, a choice of crawfish or vegetarian etoufee, piñon coffee rubbed ribeye or cauliflower with a cinnamon apple rice pudding for dessert. Sounds pretty dang good to me.Wine will be provided by St. Clair Winery in Albuquerque, and a full bar will be available for purchase as well. Tickets to the dinner are $95 per person, with the funds going to maintaining Heritage Farm and the BioPark. You can buy tickets at cabq.gov/culturalservices/biopark/events/harvest-dinner.The event ends with a sopaipilla s’mores station where guests can craft their own unique s’mores from different ingredients.
Food Events
Wagner Farm’s 4th Annual Apple and Pumpkin Festival
Valerie Serna
Listen, I want to get my greasy hands on some decorative autumnal gourds as much as you do. Which is why I’ll be heading to Wagner Farms this weekend for their Annual Apple and Pumpkin Festival to sip some cider, pick some apples and slink through a pumpkin patch on the hunt for the perfect jack-o-lantern material. Admission is free—but cider, apples and pumpkins are not, obviously. Roasted green chile and ristras will be for sale as well, and there will be live music from Severo y Grupo Fuego on Saturday and Radio Fig Jungle and David Espinosa Band on Sunday.The festival goes from 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 14 to 15. You’ll find Wagner Farms at 5000 Corrales Rd in Corrales.
