Three Rivers Brewery

If you’ve never been to Farmington, up yonder in the northwestern corner of New Mexico, you can’t quite appreciate what an unexpected oasis lies at the corner of South Orchard and East Main: The Three Rivers Brewery. According to natives, Farmington was once a vibrant pastoral ranching community. Over the years, by means of agricultural decline and the rise of the oil business – following the discovery of one of the largest natural gas reserves in the country – Farmington has become a relatively small and somewhat depressed concrete town that serves as rest-stop, but not necessarily a destination, on Highway 68.

That’s part of why the Three Rivers Brewery is such a treasure. Frankly, I don’t think either Santa Fe or Albuquerque can rival the block that constitutes the Three Rivers empire – there is a Brewery, a Restaurant, an Event Hall and a Pizzeria, all side by side down the street. It’s good food, in seriously authentic interiors, with no fewer than 3 full time brewers committed to filling your growlers with the best and most interesting beer you can find. They specialize in signature New Mexican flavors like Arroyo Amber, Feer the Beerd, and Red Mountain Wheat – it’s rare to find this kind of brewing love. If you’re headed to Durango, or Chaco Canyon, you can’t deny yourself a drive-by.