If it still seems like time makes no sense anymore, then consider the fact that Thirsty Eye Brewing will celebrate its fifth anniversary in June.

Wait, what? It seems like the funky little pub opened just the other day on Broadway in East Downtown. But, it’s true, Thirsty Eye officially opened back on June 14, 2019, so this summer will mark another small-but-important milestone.

I caught up with the trio of co-owner Kim Arthun, co-owner/general manager Jo Sloan, and head brewer John Kofonow for our Look Back/Look Ahead Series to go over some of the other milestones that the brewery achieved in 2023, and what they hope to accomplish in 2024.

“On the brewing side, we hit a couple of milestones that I was really excited about,” Kofonow said. “We got our first national medal for the Citrus Buzz at the National Honey Beer Competition. We also hit a production milestone that I’ve been aiming for for years now. We hit 100 barrels of production, just barely. It’s funny, because I have friends in town that do that in two shifts.

“It was a big increase for us, a 12 to 13-percent increase for us in production. Arron (Vallejos) was a big help in getting that done. Having some help means we can turn tanks over faster and everything. We were able to keep lagers on longer over the course of the year. That’s a big goal for me for this upcoming year. We get lots of requests for lagers and pilsners. I’m going to worry less about hitting production milestones and more about hitting some favorites and getting some requests accomplished.”

“I think I say this every year, but it amazes me what you’re able to pull out of that little corner there,” Arthun added. “It’s pretty amazing. Even before COVID, we never had this many of our beers on tap constantly. That’s great.”

Among the more popular one-offs were again the Odin’s Monocle series, where Kofonow takes the Odin’s Eye and infuses it with a different variety from Old Barrel Tea Company.

“We do that for the art openings,” Sloan said. “It coincides with the art opening and then we usually have it for the weekend, which is nice.”

Kofonow said that for this year, they may go back and do some repeat versions, particularly for those that generated the most buzz among customers.

Sticking with the theme of collaborating with other local companies, Thirsty Eye also did its first coffee-infused beer, Ton Up or Shut Up, with some folks that Kofonow knows well.

“We did a collab coffee lager with Rust is Gold, who have been friends of mine for a long time,” he said. “We’re doing a second one which is an imperial coffee stout, and we’ll debut that at WinterBrew (this Friday), which will also be our first time participating in WinterBrew. We’re really excited about that. Santa Fe folks don’t know our beers yet unless they travel down here and seek us out. Rust, these beans are freshly roasted in house, and we picked out a really nice blend. We did some events at their place last summer. Working with them, working with Old Barrel, it’s really nice to get those community relationships built.”

Thirsty Eye also kept up those relationships with other breweries. They took some kegs of their most popular seasonal, Biscochito Liquido, over to Sidetrack to utilize the canning machine.

“Dan (Herr) and Anne (O’Neill) were great allowing us to try it out, bring some kegs over there,” Kofonow said. “Cordell (Rincon) has that dialed in right now.”

Kofonow said he hopes to do some more collaboration beers in 2024, though nothing is official as of yet.

“I think we just tightened so many relationships and friendships with a lot of the breweries in town (in 2023),” he said. “Doing those collabs are a lot of fun. You get to change things up for a bit, try out a different process, try out some different equipment, and create something special that both of your audiences are really going to like.”

Beyond the beer, Thirsty Eye is also known for art and music, alongside its neighboring art gallery, Exhibit 208. Arthun said that the gallery is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a huge show.

“We had our best year financially at the gallery,” he said. “We had our second best month in 25 years this month. It helps during Dry January to have people buying art.

“The show has got 48 artists and got a nice write-up in Southwest Contemporary about our milestone. Moving ahead, we’ve got shows locked in until April of next year.”

Thirsty Eye will also keep holding its special music nights where multiple local bands will perform covers of songs by a single artist or group.

“Those have been really fun,” Sloan said. “We’ve done eight. We’re getting ready to plan another one with Bernie King.”

“They’re so much fun, they’re all local musicians,” Kofonow added. “They put a lot of effort into it. They each only play a couple songs, but everyone wants to try. The crowd is singing and dancing along, because they know all the songs.”

“It’s a nice way for us to hear musicians we’ve never heard before,” Arthun said. “It almost, I would see universally, after they play here once, they play here again.”

Thirsty Eye also hosts a local poetry group, and will host readings during the upcoming 45th annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference in February.

Beyond that and WinterBrew, Kofonow said they have some plans lined up on the brewing side this year.

“From the beer side, I’ll probably not be doing as many new seasonals,” he said. “We’ve had so many hits the last couple years, that we’re just going to bring back a lot of our favorites. I’ll put less focus on production volume. We’re going to do the return of Dude? Dude. Dude!, our hazy IPA. That won us our first local medal (in 2022 at the Great New Mexico Beer Fest). A lot more lagers and pilsners. That’s basically what I want to drink year round, anyway.”

Sloan said there is a new spring beer festival coming up, and Kofonow added that they hope to get back to Brewdoso, the two-day festival in Ruidoso. He said that one may be held earlier this year after taking place over Father’s Day weekend in 2023.

“That was a crowd that of course they had never heard of us,” Kofonow said. “It was so much fun to introduce our beer to a lot of new people. It was fun to get to visit with our friends down there like Downshift and Little Toad Creek.”

It is always fun to get out and see some friends, particularly those with beer. If you still have not visited Thirsty Eye, make sure to head over to 208 Broadway SE and enjoy a pint in the cozy interior or on the chill patio out back (weather permitting, of course).

A big thanks to Kim, Jo, and John for meeting up once again. We will definitely be back for that imperial coffee stout.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister