I finally made my first visit to the hallowed halls of the Albuquerque club that made headlines every weekend: Banana Joe's! I imagine they served beer there...seems like a "$1.50 Miller Lite longnecks all night!" kind of place. I never made it there during its heyday. The best part about being there at this time was the fact that this former club of ill-repute has been closed since 2003, meaning I barely had to wait in line to get in, and the dress code was very relaxed. I was visiting the site to get a preview of the future home of Goat Head Brewing, with the grand tour given by the Craft Brewer mastermind of Goat Head, Majin Garcia. The site will be a combination music venue/brewpub, hosting both local and big-name bands from a variety of musical genres. A large stage has already been constructed, though the important work, building a brewery, is just about to begin. Majin showed the first-floor area where the brewing equipment will be placed; a wall separating it from the concert space will eventually be replaced by glass, allowing for a behind the scenes view of the brewing process. The beer will be piped directly from the tanks to the bar, located on a second-floor balcony. The bar area is spacious, giving Majin plenty of leeway to toy with seating ideas.
The biggest draw, aside from Majin's beers, may be the rooftop deck, which will also house a bar. The roof offers a nice view of the downtown shenanigans but with a detached sort of perspective, like watching gorillas at the zoo. The roof also will offer reprieve for patrons who wanted craft beer but didn't realize there was a death metal show that night. Majin plans to have acoustic acts on the roof (probably not death metal ones) during the warm months. This place is still a long time coming but will be a welcome addition to our local beer scene.
Monday, October 11, 2010
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2 comments:
Hot spit on a griddle! I can't wait!
What?!? You never went to Banana Joes? All the cool kids went there ;)
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