The final fest of the fall arrives Saturday at Boxing Bear Firestone, as Dogtoberfest makes its way to the new mothership after past years at the Corrales taproom.

I caught up with director of operations/co-owner Jay Knigge and events coordinator Astrid Galarza at the Firestone taproom earlier this week to discuss this sixth annual event that starts at noon.

“It just kind of goes back to our roots, what we’re all about,” Knigge said. “Obviously, all of the owners are passionate about dogs, we all have dogs. It’s kind of where the name comes from, from Justin’s original dogs when we opened the place. And so, with Dogtoberfest we’re just looking to close out the Oktoberfest season. Literally, like every time for the last three years we actually have to save our OktoBEARfest for the event. Case in point, we ran out probably two or three weeks ago at most locations as far as draft and cans. We reserved four half-barrels, one for each (taproom). It’s a good way to close out the Oktoberfest and the fall season.”

Galarza had all the important details for Saturday.

“At Firestone, we’ll be having live music from 1 to 6 p.m.,” she said. “We’re hosting the March Divide from 1 to 3 p.m., and from 3 to 6 p.m. we’ll have Hello Darlin’. We’ll also have eight different vendors.

“We of course will have adoptables from the charity that we’re supporting called Cross My Paws. They are a local, small organization that takes in dogs from all over the state. We picked them because we feel we can make a big impact on their organization with the funds that we collect. They’re working on getting a facility to house all of their intakes. Right now, the director of their program is taking in all the dogs at the kennels on her property in the North Valley. We’re working hard on trying to get a facility for them.”

Knigge said supporting a dog charity goes back to the very beginning of Boxing Bear.

“We always like to partner with a dog charity,” he said. “We’ve gone through several different ones every year. We try to pick one that we can make a big impact with. We try to pick one that’s not huge where a small donation amount isn’t going to have a big impact, but one that we can make a big difference with.”

General manager Felicia Gonzales, who was listening in to the interview, later provided the origin story of the very name of the brewery, and how it ties to some old canine companions.

“Boxing Bear basically got its name from the two dogs I had when we opened the business,” co-owner/director of brewing operations Justin Hamilton once said. “One was a girl boxer mix and the other was a boy pitbull who looked like a small bear (his name is actually Sal, not Bear, as some people say). Sometimes the two would wrestle and fight so we would say ‘she’s boxing the bear!’ After throwing a few names around I suggested Boxing Bear and we all just kind of loved its ties to animals (all the owners love dogs), the feel of the name and its ability to be slightly original.”

That love of dogs will extend throughout the event.

“Some of the vendors will also be offering some discounted stuff for the pups, specifically,” Galarza said. “Be Hempful is going to offer $5 off their dog tinctures that they sell, and a percentage of their sales is also going to the charity, so by supporting the vendors you’re also supporting the charity.

“And, the other thing that I forgot to mention that’s been very popular at our (past) events is that Bridges Breeze Photography will be here doing a photo booth for your pup. That is also completely free. He does accept tips. Everybody has been liking those, those have been going really well.”

Knigge said that the layout of the fest will take advantage of the entire Firestone space.

“Astrid’s main focus for Dogtoberfest this year is it always used to be at Corrales, where the main brewery was, but now that the main brewery is here we’re looking to bring all of our bigger events here to this location,” he said. “Because we do have the licensed premises now, which includes the brewery and the back brew yard, we can extend out. This event will be a lot bigger than our normal taproom. The brewery will be open so people can pass through. All of the vendors will be in the fenced-in brew yard back there, as we as all the adoptables. We’ll have a lot of extra square footage that day.”

In addition to the adoptable dogs, vendors, photo booth, and live music, there is of course the beer and the special items one can purchase.

“Free entry, and then we’ve got the one-liter steins, those are going to be $23 with a fill of your choice,” Knigge said. “That can be any beer on tap. These steins and boots will be at all locations, though the main focus for the party is here. The Das Boots are really fun, half-liter, 20 ounces, those are $20 with a fill of your choice as well. You can purchase them individually as well. We have the last of our German alpine hats, those are $22. We sold like another 44 at New Mexico Brew Fest, and we sold those up at Red River as well and did like 144.”

Galarza added that Dona Feliz will be the on-site food truck, so you can pair up some tasty Mexican food with some German-style beers (it works, trust us).

Perhaps the nicest thing about all of this is the start time, as one can easily visit Firestone for an hour or two and have plenty of leeway to make it to the Beer Premier at Rio Bravo, or just about any of the other dozen or so brewery events around town (seriously, it is busy Saturday, so please utilize a designated driver or a rideshare).

A big thanks to Jay, Astrid, and Felicia, and a kudos to everyone at Boxing Bear for their support of our four-legged friends year-round.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister