To kick off the 2024 portion of the current run of Look Back/Look Ahead Series articles, I managed to catch up with New Mexico Brewers Guild executive director Ebbie Edmonston over the phone before things start to get a bit crazy for her up in Santa Fe.

After all, she has a key board of directors meeting coming up next week to plan out the year, and then comes the first big event, WinterBrew, and do not forget that the State Legislature begins its 30-day session this month.

At the very least, Edmonston has a year under her belt in the job. She was appointed in early 2023 after Tess Vidalis resigned only a year into the role.

“Looking back, I kind of can’t believe I did all that stuff,” Edmonston said. “You do your end-of-year recaps and I look at all the events I either put on or attended with a booth, and it’s a lot. I’m super proud of everything that we accomplished this past year. I learned a lot. I hope that we can just make 2024 even better, but we’ll see.”

As for prioritizing this month’s many events, one clearly comes first.

“WinterBrew definitely is, I would say, taking up more time, just because I have to start doing the permits farther out,” Edmonston said. “The legislative session, thankfully, the NMBG we have a great couple of lobbyists that really know what they’re doing. We put a lot of trust and faith into them and their expertise.”

WinterBrew will be back at the Santa Fe Farmers Market at the Railyard again this year. It is set for Friday, January 26, with VIP hour starting at 5 p.m. and general admission entry at 6. It runs until 9, but typically last call is closer to 8:30, and the Rail Runner departs right about 9 for those using it get back and forth. (As an aside, our best advice for VIP ticket holders is to take the 104 Express, which leaves ABQ downtown at 2:19 p.m., Montano station at 2:32, and Los Ranchos/Journal Center at 2:38, and arrives at the Santa Fe Railyard at 3:52 p.m. You can then hang out at Second Street, Nuckolls, or anywhere else in the area for an hour.)

“Compared to last year, it was my first event, I was very nervous and anxious and the City (of Santa Fe) definitely threw me some curveballs,” Edmonston said. “I didn’t realize I needed a certain permit, and then I was getting it in under the wire. This year, permitting has gone much, much easier, but there has been a changeover within the city. The woman I work with now is much nicer than the people I worked with last year.”

Participating breweries this year will include Santa Fe area spots like Beer Creek, Rowley Farmhouse Ales, Santa Fe Brewing, Second Street, and Tumbleroot, plus breweries from the north (Bathtub Row, Red River), south (Downshift), and of course the Albuquerque metro area (Bosque, Canteen, Ex Novo, La Cumbre, Marble, Sidetrack, Sunday Service Motor Company, Thirsty Eye). Tickets are still available, but be forewarned that this event always sells out, so get them now if you can make the trek. Also, Second Street and Restoration Pizza will be providing the food inside the event this year.

WinterBrew may have been the initial focus for Edmonston last year, and again this year, but it was far from the only event on her calendar. She also helped bring back both the Blazin’ Brewfest in Las Cruces in June and the Beer Premier in October. The former had not been held since 2019, while the latter had popped up in 2021, but not in 2022.

“I had actually never been down to Las Cruces at all before that event,” Edmonston said. “It was really nice to get down there, put faces to the names that I see in all these emails. I learned the different pace of what the southern breweries deal with. I think I was a little bit, hmm, not arrogant, but I went into Blazin’ with WinterBrew being under my belt, and oh yeah, I can do this no problem, and that was a learning experience. I wish I had taken more of their advice and feedback.

“But, I made my mistakes, and now we’re going into Blazin’ Brewfest for this next year and I hope to bring a lot of what I learned from the southern breweries, bring them in and ask what do you want to do, because really this is your chance to shine.”

Edmonston said she is already working out when and where the festival will be held this year in Las Cruces, and hopes to have things nailed down much sooner than later.

As for Beer Premier, it certainly gave the rather creative Edmonston a chance to shine when it came to her costume.

“I really enjoyed Beer Premier,” she said. “I also have a personal love for costumes, so any chance where you can combine two of my favorite things, which are beer and costumes, I’m all in. I wish we had a little bit higher turnout for that event. This is the one chance for breweries to do something crazy. Beer doesn’t always need to be so serious. It doesn’t need to be about medals and awards, we can also have fun with it, come together for the love of beer. There needs to be more fun.”

Last year, Edmonston talked about adding some new events to the Guild calendar, but ultimately the focus was on bringing back the old favorites and strengthening other returning events like the IPA Challenge. For 2024, she might just have some new ideas to present to the rest of the Guild leadership.

“I do have a board meeting coming up this next week, and that’s basically where all of the ideas that have been percolating are going to be proposed,” Edmonston said. “It’s really up to the board. I’m in an awkward position. Yes, I represent the Guild, but I wasn’t elected into this position. I don’t necessarily speak for all of my members, the board members do. They get to decide what we do. I hope they like some of these ideas that we’ve come up with. We’ve definitely looked at other guilds who have similar sizes of members to us. Looking at what they’re doing, how we can adapt that to our market. We’ll see. I can’t really say yes or no, if we have any new things coming up just yet, but hopefully in a week I can say yes.”

While events are the most visible part of an executive director’s job at the Guild, Edmonston also works on things involving state government. Her main role is to act as a sort of liaison between the Guild members and the lobbying team, keeping the communication channels open. This year’s session is right around the corner, running from January 16 to February 15.

“Last year’s session, yet again, completely a learning experience,” Edmonston said. “I really had never paid attention to politics in this regard before. I think I learned a lot. Going back to our great lobbyists — Al Park and Jason Weaks, and of course (Tractor co-owner) Skye Devore, drawing on her insight — I think the breweries managed really well. That giant excise tax bill did not get passed, but that doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen again. I think excise tax is something that a lot of people are interested in. We’ll see what this year brings. Unfortunately, I can’t comment on this upcoming session just yet.”

There have certainly been rumblings among some of the elected officials about the excise tax, again, but for a 30-day session, the governor calls most of the shots, so to speak. The Crew will do our best to remain on top of things as they progress in more rapid fashion this year with the shorter session.

Beyond all of that, as Edmonston has said, 2023 was the great learning experience, coming to understand and adapt to the job. For 2024, she will look to truly put her stamp on things, even amidst a rapidly changing landscape for craft beer.

“I don’t think anybody can really explain to you everything that goes into this job,” Edmonston said. “I talked to Tess and I talked to Leah (Black) before I took this position, but it’s a lot. I learned that over-planning is always the right thing to do. My partner might not agree, because he sees how stressed I get, but having your A-plan, B-plan, C-plan, I overthink and all of my overthinking paid off.

“I’m very, very proud that the IPA Challenge went as well as it did. I hope that I can keep producing events people want to go to, and they look forward to going to. I really want in 2024 to bring a new life to the Guild, and get people excited about it again. Unfortunately, across the beer industry in the nation we’re seeing sales are dropping off of people going to beer events. There’s a lot of options now. You can get seltzers, you can get wine, or ready-to-drink cocktails. What is it about beer that people love? I think it’s the community, and New Mexico has a great community in regards to beer. Focusing on that is a guaranteed win.”

Yeah, it is a pretty darn good community. A big thanks to Ebbie for squeezing us into her busy schedule, before it gets even busier. We will see her and hopefully many of you at WinterBrew on January 26, and at many other Guild events after that.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister