Alien Brewpub ~ Albuquerque, New Mexico

First visit: Nov 2024

The original plan was to have Italian food, but both Mrs. RJG and I weren't really in the mood for a pasta dish, and besides we really didn't see a place that caught our eye. Maybe next time we're town, we'll try one for lunch. Now what? After some deliberation, we decided on a brewpub that had hamburgers.

Alien Brewpub, which is Sierra Blanca / Rio Grande Brewing, is an old fashioned brewpub. It reminds me of Heavy Seas in Baltimore before they closed up (we have a writeup in the RJG somewhere), and many other places from the 90s and 00s. A little bit different than the historic Phantom Canyon (Colorado Springs) or Montana Brewing (Billings) that we've covered here. More of a mix of sports pub meets brewery, and the latter has a set list of beers that doesn't change much. More sports bar than brewery I'd submit. Near a large indoor shopping mall with familiar big box anchors. These places have been steadily going out of business in recent years, and based on the crowd on this Saturday night, one wonders how much life this particular Alien has left.

No matter, if the food is good, we would have succeeded in our quest for a quality dinner. And the good news is that the pride of the cooks won out on this night. Mrs. RJG had the UFO Burger with cheese and green chile strips ordered well done. Also came with regular French fries. She really enjoyed it (and the fries were hot). I had the Alien Burger which features a green chile tempura, now that was different. Like a piece of fish on top except it was a chile. I liked it. Also came with smoked applewood bacon. Also had the curly fries with a nice seasoning. Burgers were large and filling. Excellent all around. Probably not a place we'll be returning to, if it will even be around to go back to. But if we lived in ABQ, it would be in the RJG Rotation for as long as possible.

11/16/24 (new entry)