We were already a bit late on catching up with Quarter Celtic Brewpub and Meadery after they won a silver medal at the World Beer Cup last month, and then they went ahead and picked up three more medals at the Australian International Beer Awards, including a trophy for the best overall European lager.

Yeah, we would say it has been a good year so far for Quarter Celtic.

I caught up with co-owner Ror McKeown and his son, assistant brewer Keegan McKeown, last week to go over the recent medal hauls, while also previewing what is to come this summer and beyond.

“For the 2024 Australian International Beer Awards, we sent three beers and won three medals,” Ror said. “One that won was Prince of Dort-ness in the Dortmunder category, and then there were 11 other European-style lager categories. Then they took the gold winners from all 12 and pitted them against each other, and that’s how we got best European lager. That was pretty exciting.”

The other winners were Kill or be Kilt (bronze) and We’re Gonna Miss the Helles Outta Ya! (bronze).

Three lagers, three medals. It’s par for the course for head brewer/co-owner Brady McKeown, Ror’s brother.

“Brady and Keegan are really in a lager phase right now, which is kind of their jam,” Ror said. “That totally makes sense for Brady because he’s been brewing for 30 years. Brewers usually lean toward the mellower stuff. When you’re Keegan’s age, it’s more about the IPAs and barrel-aged stuff.”

In addition to Australia, Quarter Celtic also competed in the 2023 Brussels Beer Challenge, winning a silver for Vienna Lager and a bronze for Capri-derhosen (German Red Lager), keeping up a trend of sending beers to competitions around the world.

“I like that Brady sends them to Brussels and lets them compete in categories that are favored on that side of the pond,” Ror said. “But, I think it’s also a testament that Brady is still a student of the game. Brady has been brewing in Albuquerque since I think ’93. But, if you get in his car, there’s always a brew podcast going. If you go in the office, he’s got 20 tabs going about retaining better head, or whatever new things are going.”

Ror said that while his brother certainly has a comfort zone, he is not afraid to try new things, which Keegan echoed.

“With the meads, it’s like he’s pretty much started over, he’s a brand-new brewer,” Keegan said. “He’s been enjoying researching mead and whatever we can do to make the best meads here.”

Other than the Kill or be Kilt, many of the other recent medal winners are just seasonal offerings, but fear not, many are now being brewed again.

Prince of Dort-ness and Capri-derhosen are on deck to be brewed soon, since Great American Beer Festival submissions must be ready by August.

“We have a collab beer (ready to go) which is a West Coast pilsner,” Keegan said. “We have a Vienna and an Italian pilsner coming out. A little bit later, we have a kellerbier. It’s been brewed, we just might hold it back.”

That collaboration, Coin-Op Lager, was brewed with Bossfight (formerly Kilt Check) for the recent United in Beer festival. It will also be submitted to GABF in the collaboration category. Quarter Celtic previously collected a collaboration medal with Palmer Brewery years ago for Mocha Hipster Bomb, and last year those two breweries sent their Birra Al Gusto Di Birra (Italian Pilsner) from United in Beer to the North American Beer Awards and won a gold medal.

“We’ve got beers out for the North American Beer Awards right now, but we’re also looking forward to the Great American Beer Festival (in October), so we’re trying to find a little bit more storage space,” Ror said. “Some of our lagers are doing really, really well in competition.”

Dating back to the 2023 World Beer Cup, Capri-derhosen has earned a gold (WBC), silver (Australia), and bronze (Brussels). Kill or be Kilt picked up two bronzes (2023 and 2024 Australia) and a silver (WBC). Throw in medals for the Vienna, Helles, and Italian Pilsner collaboration, and it has been a lager-tastic 12 months.

“I like that we send as many beers as we can, because even if we don’t win, I like to hear the feedback,” Keegan said. “But, we do win a lot. I like that we send them to the smaller events instead of just the big ones. We get some good feedback. The next time we send one to GABF, we’ll take some notes on what they said at North American.”

Beyond all of that, Quarter Celtic will be out and about this summer at various festivals, from Heights Summerfest to the returning Great New Mexico Beer Festival, both in June, and of course the IPA Challenge in July.

The ownership team is also casually perusing a new part of town for a possible third taproom.

“We are still keeping an eye on the Westside/Rio Rancho,” Ror said. “There’s no illusion, it’s not that everyone wants our beer over there, they want our fish and chips. We took a stab at the Boxing Bear spot (at Corrales and Alameda). We couldn’t come to an agreement on that, so we dropped it. We love the patio, it’s nice and quirky. We put in an offer, couldn’t find a middle ground. (But) it rejuvenated us looking over there.”

Ror said they are not aggressively looking, but if the right opportunity arises, they will be prepared to pounce.

“We don’t want to stretch ourselves too thin, because it’s just me and Brady,” he said. “We want to keep the two locations healthy. The allure of the Westside spot is real.

“We’re not looking to saturate the market. I think the restaurant side that people want could give us a foothold.”

In the meantime, there will be plenty of reasons to keep visiting the two existing Quarter Celtic locations.

“People should come in and try the beers right now, because there’s probably a medal winner in the future,” Ror said. “If you want to taste some great medal winners, they’ll be here today.”

Well, if they insist, we will have to comply and enjoy some patio pints all summer long. A big thanks to Ror and Keegan for the interview, the mead samples, and of course all the great beers and good times over the years.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister