As we continue our Look Back/Look Ahead Series, we checked in with Boese Brew Co. to see how their past year has gone and what interesting plans they have in store for us in 2023.

Boese Brew Co. has expanded their operations (quite impressively) in the past few years, and they’ve done a fabulous job of maintaining and growing each of their locations and events.

“2022 was a good year for us. We had the open of our Long Pour cocktail bar in Los Alamos at the end of 2021, so this is our first full year of operating that cocktail bar,” owner George Boese said. “Another big thing on the docket is we just got our building permit approved to work on an expansion project for our bar, Desert Dogs, in Santa Fe. It’s a great spot, but it’s been a little space-constrained, especially for the bar staff and the kitchen since we opened it.”

Located upstairs at 112 W. San Francisco St., Desert Dogs was the offsite location for Boese Brew Co., which originally opened as Boese Brothers Brewing in downtown Albuquerque at 601 Gold Ave. SW. There is also a second Albuquerque location at 7849 Tramway Blvd. NE.

Boese Brew Co. was also busy slinging suds to patrons at the Los Alamos Summer Concert Series, which George said was no small feat.

“(It was) a 15-concert series in the summertime that we were the exclusive alcohol vendor at, so that made for kind of a crazy summer for us,” he said. “It was fun to be busy, but it’s nice to be settling back into a more normal schedule.”

That all stemmed from the two Boese-owned locations in Los Alamos, the brewpub at 145 Central Park Square, and the aforementioned Long Pour, which is right next door.

As far as new brews coming our way, George said the brewery is looking to please our palates with some old favorites in 2023.

“Our process is leaning into some of our longtime, returning seasonal beers” he said. “In the summertime, we always do a hazy white IPA called Zeus Juice. People complain that we don’t do that one all year round, but it’s like it won’t be very fun if you come in and it’s just six IPAs all the time … although, I’m sure plenty of people would like that.”

And, unless you’re been a fan since the early days, you may not yet have had the pleasure of trying their classic Burly Brown, which George said was making a comeback back when we did this interview. It is indeed now on tap at all locations.

“We have one more kind of IPA-riff beer is one that we haven’t since 2015, literally our first year … which is basically the string version of a brown ale that’s hopped up like an IPA,” George said. “So we’re gonna bring that back as a winter IPA style seasonal this year.

“When we started in 2015, people were doing more of the black IPAs, but it hasn’t been as popular, with everyone moving towards hazy everything. I really like hazy IPAs and have enjoyed those for a long time, but I am getting kind of burned out on the sweeter, fruity tasting IPAs, so it’s fun to have some that are classically (bitter) … there’s that fruit element, too, but at it’s core it’s a very bitter beer still.”

After a successful event in fall 2022, Boese is looking to bring some excitement back to the Los Alamos area later this year.

“We moved our larger Oktoberfest celebration to Los Alamos, and did it at Ashley Pond Park, and invited five other breweries out there to serve with us,” George said. “I think we’re going to make that an even larger Oktoberfest celebration next year, invite a couple more breweries, and do even more music. In the September time frame is (when) we usually aim for with that.”

With five locations serving their beer, plus cocktails, food, and festivals, Boese Brew Co. has done an admirable job making their goods available to so many of us. If you haven’t visited them yet, stop in for a throwback pint, or to play Geeks Who Drink at their Heights taproom on Wednesdays, where you just might catch a couple of us Crew members.

May the beer be with you, always.

— Erin