We ended our Halloween celebrations with dinner and a drink at (Steelbender Brewery)[https://steelbenderbrewyard.com/#home-1-section], one of the newer craft beer breweries that are popping up all over the city.
The first thing that struck me about this brewery in the North Valley of Albuquerque was the really awesome edison light bulb lit patio. Unfortunately, we had to sit inside as it is a little chilly at night in these parts in autumn. The inside, while modernly decorated with a gorgeous exposed brick wall and sleek wooden floors, had distractingly bad dim lighting. They made up for any follies, however, with amazing food.
Steelbender’s menu has no dearth of vegetarian options, with a menu that has vegetarian buffalo wings and a vegetarian “pulled pork” sandwich, both made out of high protein seitan. The portions were huge, and we were not disappointed with the food. Our out of town guests were delighted by the many local options. Steelbender’s menu is full of locally made breads, locally harvested green chiles, and other than their beer made in house, they also offer local wines from Albuquerque breweries.
As for the beer, I can’t say that it stood out much, compared to other breweries. But the IPA I had was good. Their beer list has more interesting options, like ales with the addition of fruit purees and the usual brewery finds of stouts, ambers, and lagers.
Basically, the gist of this brewery to me is bad lighting, good beer, great food.
(The bad indoor lighting, made most of my pictures of the food and beer worthless, or I would share more pictures, sorry!)