Earlier in June, just before hitting the road for our Southern Colorado beer trek (featured on the page), I reached out to the very busy brew crew of Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery. I had known they had a lot going on and one exciting major development in the works. It was about time I sat down with them for their Look Back/Look Ahead story, which wraps up the series for 2022-23.

Without hesitation, they agreed to meet up, and so after work one day, I made my way down the road to the brewing facility on Bisbee Court, the one with the charming, comfy bar attached, just on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

We convened on the cushioned couches, and over a couple of carbonated craft beverages, I chatted with owner/master brewer and distiller Jason Kirkman, and lead brewer and distiller Michael Chavez about how 2022 went, and how 2023 was going so far.

When I last spoke with the good folks at Tumbleroot, we were still emerging from the weirdness and business woes of the pandemic. Tumbleroot was heavily focused on distribution, while their lead brewer Andy Lane had taken a head brewer position at Hidden Mountain, and they were working on opening a new taproom

2022 had been a very busy year, full of twists, turns, and pivots, and one year later, Kirkman and company are pushing on with new projects and into new spaces.

“Seems like it’s been a hell of a year,” Kirkman said.

In 2022, just as so many businesses continued to deal with high turnover rates and low applicant rates, Tumbleroot did fine with the former; it was the latter seemed to be the real issue. As they began to re-expand their operations to normal, pre-COVID levels, they found the hiring pool was far more shallow than it had been in years past.

Before, they had to practically turn away applicants for lack of available positions. In 2022, they had a much harder time finding people to fill positions, even when actively recruiting.

For instance, they have one important position available now, that they’re still struggling find the right candidate.  

“We would love for someone who has really wanted to be an apprentice brewer show up and respond to our ad,” Kirkman explained. “But, we’re kind of holding out right now, because it just takes so long, especially here, with the brewery, the distillery, the levels of packaging that we do, there are so many different tasks that it’s really not worth putting the time into somebody unless they really want it.”

On the supply chain front, the Tumbleroot team said they’re starting to feel like we’re finally reaching the edge of the woods.

“There was a big crunch last year, in terms of lead times,” Kirkman said. “I think it took the industry a little while to catch up, but we’re pretty good now as far as dialing in to places with quicker lead times, now that we’ve kind of gotten back to a little bit more of a normal state.”

Shipping on the other hand, has reached its own version of a “new normal.”

“They’ll say, yeah, it’ll be there Monday. Oh. yep. Sorry. It’s not going to be there until next Wednesday,” Chavez quipped.

“Pre-pandemic, (shipping) was predictable,” Chavez added. “We’d use this shipping company because it takes this long. And, over and over we would just be able to expect that. Now, when we had to use a different shipping company, it’s on a different schedule altogether. Or, they have no consistent schedule.”

In 2021, Tumbleroot was working on distribution into Colorado. As of now, they have their license, which allows them to be distributed into Colorado, but they’re not hurrying to make any moves across our northern border. Instead, they’re more focused on the local markets, where demands for spirits such as their agave line have gone up quite a bit, and the canned cocktails continue to sell very well.

“Right now, we’re trying to adjust our production to meet those demands, as best we can, and when we feel like we’re on top of that, then we can try to push out a little bit, but I’m really happy,” Kirkman said. “We are doing what we can to serve the New Mexico market with the capacity that we have.”

Tumbleroot’s original concept was to deepen their roots, not their reach, and increasing demand within the state is still their biggest goal.

With reciprocity from the recently pushed-through legislation (meaning local breweries can sell local distillery products), the demand for Tumbleroot’s creations has changed vastly, as some of their biggest accounts are other breweries. The largest change has been the aforementioned agave spirit sales, which have now surpassed their previously more popular gin products.

The 100-percent blue agave spirit, long fermented with tequila yeast, as well as its barrel-aged reposado versions, have been so popular that the demand has increased at a rate the small three-person Tumbleroot team is having trouble keeping up with.

In 2022, Lane accepted a position at Hidden Mountain. Though there was large hole in the workflow of the brewery and distillery, Kirkman told us that now lead brewer Michael Chavez and brewer/cellarman Matthew Kumagai have really stepped up into their roles. Chavez and Kirkman are both especially pleased with Kumagai’s progress in the brewhouse.

“He’s killin’ it,” Chavez said.

For Chavez, stepping into the lead role as brewer has felt like a natural progression.

“I kind of worked my way through all the positions at this point,” he said. “And, it just feels like a much deeper experience and understanding of the whole process, from recipe development, all the way through to carbonations or how things are pouring on tap. I realized that every single one of those steps is a universe of its own, and that you can dive in as far as you want, from every aspect of fermenting to the engineering involved in moving massive amounts of liquids around.”

Chavez said he still feels like he has a lot of a lot to learn, but it’s all starting to become more clear.

“I’m getting to the point where I understand the micro mechanics of each process, rather than just how to get through the process,” he said.

At the end of the day, for Chavez, the best part of brewing is enjoying a beer, and understanding it better.

“Enjoying the bits and pieces of it,” he said. “Recognizing the variations, seeing what about this batch is different from the last, and feeling like there’s progress.”

Tumbleroot’s music venue on Agua Fria Street is also making progress. At least in terms of shows and attendance, things seem to be returning to normal.

“Coming out of the pandemic our relationships with all the promoters has deepened, so we’re getting a lot more of the bigger shows,” Kirkman said. “That’s gotten huge. That really is the bread and butter of our business. That means more to what Tumbleroot is and our ability to be successful and to sell our product than any other aspect of what we do. So, we’re really blessed to have that space and to continue deepening relationships with everyone from the from the local bands to the promoters.”

Since opening in 2018, both the indoor and outdoor spaces of the 2791 Agua Fria Street location have been in a constant state of evolution. The large, spacious patio has indeed gone through many transformations, from adding more seating, building a stage (mid-pandemic), to the latest metamorphosis, with the outdoor bar service area having recently been extended in both size and in offerings.

“We’re focusing on having a broader beer selection out there, so more beer taps, and also do more draft cocktails,” Kirkman said.

Offering more variety of beer and canned cocktails actually translates to more production, because, according to Kirkman, the Agua Fria space is mainly what drives their beer sales.

The larger bar will also be a testing ground for launching new product lines, as well as a platform for the new kitchen program they are currently cooking up. Details on that are still to come.

Inside, they’ve modified the sound, extended the stage, and have no plans of slowing down in terms of music and events they’ll offer, whether it’s the Latin beats of Nosotros, the face-melting guitars of Metal Monday bands, or the big-ticket shows that Kirkman mentioned.

Jason Fitzpatrick, co-founder and manager of operations of the Agua Fria location told us that music and events are back in full force, with the venue open seven days a week now and music at least three of those nights on a slow week.

Mas Chile is still serving food outside, and the sushi pop-ups from Brent Jung continue to rock ‘n’ roll.

“Whether it’s music, an artist’s market, a fundraiser, or community meetings, it’s a space that is available and open to whatever the community wants. I don’t think there really is another space in town like it,” Kirkman added.

Speaking of unique spaces, the Pottery Pub, Tumbleroot’s third taproom, opened in January of this year, and so far it’s been a major success. It’s been really well received by both locals and visitors to the downtown area.

“People comment that there’s nothing like it out there in the world, which is kind of cool,” Kirkman said.

The concept began when Kirkman’s wife Angela started looking around for a new gallery space for Paseo Pottery — a studio she took over in 2018 and converted into a not exactly non-profit, but highly charitable organization — when the lease was not going to be renewed by the owners.

When they arrived at the 135 West Palace Ave space, the Kirkmans and Tumbleroot crew began to imagine how else the space might also be utilized.

“We thought, ‘Wow, this would be a great space. We could do retail as well. And then, we could do a small bar, and then it just kind of snowballed from there,’” Kirkman said.

They looked at the space as a gallery that could also serve as both a bar to sell Tumbleroot’s products and as a gallery space for his wife’s ceramic art, sensing a good synergy between the two.

In fact, all of the beer and cocktails they serve come in ceramic vessels, from beer mugs to coupes and collins ‘glasses’.

If you’re worried about ceramics not being the most ideal of drinking vessels, well, worry not (too much). The Kirkmans have put plenty of thought into that.

“For each type of drink we went through the process of what characteristics we really want, shape texture, especially for beer,” he said.

At the top of Kirkman’s list was getting the new glassware “beer-clean,” he explained. And so, they chose a very light, porcelain-like, smooth, white ceramic for the job.

“That gave us all the qualities that we wanted in terms of maintaining body and carbonation levels. We also pre-chill them so we get good pours, and still, when you’re looking in, you can get the color of the beer,” Kirkman explained.

The Pottery Pub is quite a unique space, where you can browse for pottery, taste spirits, have a whole cocktail, or purchase packaged goods to go. You can solo in for a beer, or you can sit at any of the community tables, where you can play with clay, as you jaw with your neighbors about the latest goings on. They even have a monthly contest for best designs.

“I think for people who like to be active, it allows them to kind of hang out for a while with their friends,” Kirkman said. “So it serves that. It’s got all of those elements. It’s a good community space. It’s well-located, just a couple blocks from the plaza.”

As mentioned, it’s been very well received by locals, but they’ve certainly seen an uptick in tourist business as the temps began to warm. But, knowing that tourist business is highly seasonal, Kirkman said he aims to keep the Pottery Pub as local friendly as possible.

“We’re not trying to be pretentious or fancy, just really making people comfortable,” he said. “We have the same pricing downtown as we do with all our other locations. I think that, plus a laid-back atmosphere, has attracted a lot of locals. It’s a good mix.”

In 2023, both Kirkman and Chavez said they are really proud of what they’re doing.

“I think our gins are top notch,” Chavez said. “I think our canned cocktails are super accessible. We have really good beers, and we have variety. We have a really good group of people designing amazing cocktails that are constantly switching in and out. We have a variety of spaces. We have this cool art space, this really large venue space, with a huge patio attached to it. And, we have this whole educational side with the tours here (at Bisbee Ct).”

“We do a variety of things,” Kirkman added. “But we are also committed to doing it from scratch. All of our spirits are from organic base materials. We ferment and distill in-house. We’re not buying neutral spirits or anything like that, so it’s all done from scratch, the cocktails are made from our own spirits. And, a lot of our distillation and fermentation time go right into each canned cocktail.”

*****

A special thank you to Jason Kirkman and Michael Chavez for sitting down with us. We look forward enjoying each of your cool spaces for years to come. To the success of your business(es), cheers!

— Luke