Turtle Mountain unveils three new beers to celebrate its anniversary

Turtle Mountain Brewing Company is pregaming for its impending 25th anniversary with a lavish dinner paired with new release beers.The Brewers’ Fall Feast begins at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, at Turtle Mountain North, 7835 Enchanted Hills Blvd. NE, in Rio Rancho. It is a precursor for its 25th Anniversary celebration in March 2024.A trip to New Orleans and the remembrance of a special patron inspired the first course on the menu. The premier course features a smoked duck andouille sausage gumbo with a crawfish fritter, complemented by Mr. Hoover’s Steam Ale.

“The gumbo in the first course is inspired by the fact that I visited New Orleans about a month ago,” said chef Chris Blanshine. “The crawfish fritter was just an idea that I had, something a little different.”The beer selected to accompany Blanshine’s gumbo and fritter honors loyal customer John Hoover, who had been a regular at Turtle Mountain’s original location since it opened in 1999. Hoover would regularly come in to enjoy his favorite steam beer. The brewer received a scolding by Hoover when his beloved steam beer would run out.“He actually lost part of his finger in a cigar smoking incident,” said Nico Ortiz, owner of Turtle Mountain. “He had like two-thirds of a finger. He would shake his partial finger at the brewer and say, ‘Where’s my steam? You’re out of my steam.’ He was a very sweet man and when he passed away, we honored him, and we honored his memory by renaming his favorite beer, Mr. Hoover’s Steam.”The dinner shifts to influences of Asia with Koi No Yokan Japanese Lager accompanied by jumbo sea scallops, charred bok choy, spicy lemongrass broth and chile strips.

“When I ask brewers around town how they brewed their Japanese rice lager, they generally don’t actually use Japanese hops,” said David Pacheco, Turtle Mountain head brewer. “We actually do use a Japanese hop. It’s called Sorachi Ace and you get a lot of cedar with it, a little bit of dill, and lemongrass. It’s a true, unique hop, which you don’t really find in those flavor profiles of American, German, New Zealand hops. It’s only a Japanese varietal, which is a very interesting kind … We also finish that off with some aroma hops with Lemondrop. It gives you some nice lemon character.”Things get heartier with the third course comprised of bacon wrapped Kurobuta pork tenderloin, brown butter bourbon sweet potato puree, roasted heirloom carrots, ancho chile honey glaze, and bee pollen. It is served with Nectarkeeper Brown Ale.

“The course was inspired by the beer that (Pacheco) brewed and definitely is 100% inspired by the local honey that he bought to make this brown ale,” Blanshine said. “I tried to work around that. I felt it was a great beer to go with pork and then add in a little vanilla note with the bourbon that is going in the sweet potatoes and the nuttiness from the brown butter.And then I’m going to use the honey in the dish that I’m actually going to break down with the beer. I’m going to take the honey and the beer and ancho chile and make a glaze with that and that adds a little bit of smokiness, and we are going to finish that in our wood fired oven, so it will add a little bit of extra smokiness to it.”Local honey from Bee’s Honey was used to create Nectarkeeper Brown Ale.“We got something around 14 gallons of unfiltered wildflower New Mexico honey,” Pacheco said. “It came out to something like 160 pounds of honey, which was kind of crazy, but it went well. Usually, honey tends to take a long time to ferment out. There’s a lot more complex sugars in there as opposed to regular where you get a lot of glucose, maltose, dextrose.There’s some truly complex sugar molecules in honey, so it tends to break it down at a slower rate.”Blanshine keeps things simple but savory with a stout-braised beef short rib for the fourth course. Creamy Parmesan polenta, stout sauce, and fried parsnip ribbons add a nice balance that is not overpowering and allows the short rib to shine. A Beskar Basilisk Stout enhances the flavors with its coastal wheat profile.“You generally just don’t want to over hop a stout unless you’re going for a truly American (style),” Pacheco explained. “I kind of went middle ground with this one. I really wanted to let the malts speak for themselves.”A maple cheesecake with a pecan graham cracker crust with poached apple and caramel served with Okturtlefest concludes the feast.“Oktürtlefest is generally a stable equal proportion of Pilsner malt, Munich and Vienna,” Pacheco said. “Lately, I’ve been hovering towards more Munich malts … (It is a) little bit darker of an Oktoberfest, maybe a little bit darker than what is stylistically called for. I just like darker flavors. It all should be bread, toast, biscuit flavors. So very simple hopping for fall for that one as well. It’s just Hallertauer Mittelfrüher, which is just the classic German hop. It finishes well, good viscous mouthfeel without being too cloyingly sweet.”Tickets for the delectable event are available at

. The feast is $100 per person and includes tax and gratuity. More information is available at

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