Our ongoing series of updates on local breweries and how the pandemic has affected them a month-plus into this situation continues with Bosque Brewing. To say that things have been constantly changing there might be an understatement. Take a look at the timeline from mid-March onward.

• March 16: closed all locations
• March 18: reopened all locations for beer to-go, except North (Bernalillo)
• March 21: North reopened for beer only, while Las Cruces Public House is closed
• March 24: all locations closed except for Restoration Pizza and Las Cruces Telshor
• April 3: all locations reopened for beer and food to-go

With 19 days of continuous operation under their belts, it appears that the Bosque owners have found an agreeable format for the business. We reached out to two of the owners, Gabe Jensen and Jess Griego, and here were their responses to our questions.

NMDSBC: What pandemic era innovations have worked out for your brewery?

Jensen: We’d been talking about adding Grubhub delivery for quite a while before all this happened, especially at Restoration Pizza. Now that we’ve added it, I imagine we’ll keep it going even after things open back up. I’m not sure how things will change as we all come out of this, but I have to imagine that to-go and delivery will become a part of our business going forward.

NMDSBC: Has online ordering (should you have it) been a bonus or a headache?

Griego: Any revenue coming in (regardless of the ordering method) has been appreciated and we are grateful to our community for rallying around us during this crisis.

NMDSBC: Have sales remained constant or are they fluctuating week-by-week, day-by-day?

Jensen: I would say they’ve been all over the place, but it really is hard to tell as we’ve changed hours, offerings, ways to order, which taprooms are open, etc.

NMDSBC: Have customers responded positively to any beer/food discounts? Or have you found most people are still unaware?

Jensen: Our ($32) case deal has been a big hit. It’s very easy for a server to mention it and get people to go from two six-packs to a whole case.

NMDSBC: For packaging breweries, how much of a hit have you taken with liquor stores being shut down?

Jensen: It’s too early to tell, but we imagine it will affect things.

NMDSBC: What are some ideas you have coming up? Please include any special beer releases you would already like to start letting people know about.

Jensen: We are really excited to bring back a very popular specialty from last spring. We will be canning our pickle gose in May.

NMDSBC: If the stay-at-home order is extended to mid or late May, or even beyond, is there a point where the current to-go-only model is not going to be feasible for your brewery?

Griego: We are taking everything one day at a time right now, and will continue to keep as many individuals employed as we can regardless of the changing restrictions and timelines.

Thanks to Gabe and Jess for getting back to us this time around. We wish plenty of luck going forward and hope that things have indeed stabilized for them.

Check back Wednesday for another edition of The Week Ahead in Beer for updated lists of available cans and beers for growler/crowler fills, plus this series will continue with at least one more story, before going back to two stories per day on Thursday.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister