Mike Campbell, a fixture in the local craft brewing community since the 1990s, died on June 26 at the age of 60. His wife, Sheryl, confirmed the sad news to the Brew Crew this week.

Campbell was the owner and brewer at Kilt Check Brewing since it opened in November 2016. He is survived by his wife, children Halstyn Campbell and Chase Campbell, grandchildren Matthew Sena and Kayley Guay, and numerous other relatives, friends, and colleagues in brewing.

It was back in the mid-1990s when Campbell first began to show interest in turning his homebrewing hobby into a possible career. He became friends with the owners of Rio Grande Brewing, and would frequently volunteer to help out in their production brewery, which only sold beer in bottles and kegs offsite from 1994 to 2007.

When the struggling Rio Bravo Restaurant Brewery saw the departure of head brewer Daniel Jaramillo in early 1997, Campbell was eventually hired to get the place back up and running later in the year. That Rio Bravo, which has no connection to the current brewery, later changed its name to Alvarado Brewing before closing for good in 1998.

Campbell went on to work with Brad Kraus at Wolf Canyon Brewing (which is now The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing) on the outskirts of Santa Fe, but the long commute was a bit much up and down Highway 14. When Los Lunas resident/entrepreneur Herb Pluemer went looking for a brewer in 1999 to help him open the new Tractor Brewing, he and Campbell connected and a new brewing chapter began.

Over a span of eight years, Campbell put Tractor on the map, coming up with everything from the “Get Plowed” slogan to the original recipes for beers like Farmer’s Tan Red and Sodbuster Pale Ale. Tractor even hosted the very first round of the first New Mexico IPA Challenge back in 2001.

After Tractor began to run into some financial struggles in 2005, a new management team was brought in to stabilize the brewery. Campbell parted ways with Tractor in 2007, and would eventually head to Memphis to work for Ghost River Brewing from 2008 to 2011.

By 2012, Campbell and his wife returned to Albuquerque, and as luck would have it, the owners of Cazuela’s were looking to start up a brewery inside their Mexican seafood restaurant in Rio Rancho. Campbell had done some networking at a festival at Marble that fall, and by the summer of 2013, he was brewing Cazuela’s first beers. Campbell won a bronze medal at the 2014 World Beer Cup for his oatmeal stout, Beer for my Horses.

Campbell left Cazuela’s in 2015 to begin the somewhat arduous process of opening his own brewery.

First it was going to be called OffKilter Brewing, but another brewery snatched up the name first. Then it opened as Drafty Kilt, only to eventually change its name to Kilt Check in 2018 after running afoul of an Atlanta brewery’s trademarked Scotch ale.

“Even though I’ve put together four breweries, this is the first one that has all been my decisions, my money,” Campbell told us in his first interview with the Crew back in 2016.

Whatever the name, the brewery at 4814 Hardware Drive gained a small but loyal following, attaining neighborhood pub status for many folks in the Northeast Heights. It hosted local music, trivia, and food trucks, as well as everything from a beer collectibles show to a public memorial for Justin Shearer, a close friend of many of us in the Crew whose parents were friends with the Campbell family. The brewery endured the COVID-19 pandemic and frequent state-mandated shutdowns of 2020-21.

Things would return to somewhat normal after that, and Kilt Check would continue along until Campbell’s passing. It is currently closed, and Sheryl did not say what the future plans are for the neighborhood pub.

As of now, a public memorial is planned for Sunday, August 6 at 2 p.m. at Kilt Check. We will share further updates as they are provided by the Campbell family.

The Crew would love to hear from those in the industry who knew him best. If you would like to share a story or two about Mike, please send those over to nmdarksidebrewcrew@gmail.com, and we will compile a tribute story as told by his fellow brewers.

Until then, whenever the next time you purchase a local New Mexico beer, make sure to raise your pint glass in honor of Mike. He will be missed, and our condolences go out to Sheryl, his children, grandchildren, and everyone else who knew him over the years.

— Stoutmeister