The Wellhead Brewery, Artesia, NM and Kelly's Brewery, Santa Fe, NM

Out in the middle of the oil fields of the Permian Basin in New Mexico is Artesia. It a quaint ranching town that found itself on top of a lot of oil, and is a surprisingly cosmopolitan city. Our first stop on the trip to the National Homebrewers conference was at the Wellhead Restaurant and Brewery.

It's a nice, upscale looking place. We didn't see any brewing equipment. It was clear they intended to be a restaurant first. They served us some great food, but more importantly, they have some great beer. I chose a red ale that was smooth, not as malty as other red ales. Satan had a stout. We decided this place was worth another visit. And since Satan's brother was teaching at the Border Patrol Academy, it's likely we'll be there again.

Our second stop was in Albuquerque, Kelly's Brewpub. We had several choices in Albuquerque, and we decided that a brewpub near a university would be a great place to visit. I had a nice brown ale and an interesting golden ale. We opted for an early dinner. I really liked the atmosphere. I like college areas because they're so laid back, and this place was no different.

We had planned to hit 2nd Street Brewery in Santa Fe, but the 12 hour drive, combined with the two beers at Kelly's wiped us out. We had left Midland at 8am CDT, and got a motel in Santa Fe at 7 pm MDT. We stretched out on the beds, and it was pretty much all over.