Having moved to Santa Fe from Los Alamos a few years ago, I don’t get back to Bathtub Row Brewing (AKA “the Tub”) nearly as often as I would like. We recently decided to kill a few birds, so to speak, and meet friends there and conduct our Look Back/Look Ahead interview. It was a lovely Saturday afternoon with a full house, some of them no doubt visiting after skiing at Pajarito Mountain.

The brewer, Adam Auden, agreed to meet for our interview. Rob Hipwood, the assistant general manager, was out of town and contributed some information to this article via email. Adam has been involved in the beer scene in New Mexico for many years now, from working at Steel Bender in Albuquerque to writing for this blog for a period of time. Having been at Bathtub Row for almost 18 months learning under David Seymour, the previous head brewer, Adam was given the opportunity to take the reins after David’s departure. Always a good-natured chap, he did so with gusto.

In an interview that was even more chaotic than usual (an impromptu and informative brewery tour was given by Adam in the middle), we got lucky as we were wandering around the facility and ran into Doug Osborn, the general manager. Though the business has been going strong and has matured in many ways under his many years of leadership, he still has plans to improve things. For example, the addition of solar panels is on the list.

Doug was excited to discuss the success that the Tub has had with Harvest Hosts, a club for RV owners that allows members to park at thousands of wineries, breweries, and other sites around the country. The two dedicated spots just outside the Tub’s back door promise a very short and safe trip back home for RV-based visitors.

Returning to Adam, he showed us the Tub’s brand new brewhouse. Everything from the floor itself on up was redone, which, as you can imagine, was an incredible amount of work. Stripping everything back gave them the opportunity to fix all of the existing problems, large and small, such as the drainage. 

“It was just a big, wet hole in the ground,” Adam said. ”And, that was where our water, brewing chemicals, and everything was ending up. So understandably, the slab was failing some.”

Once the floor was stable, they got to installing brewing equipment acquired from Toltec Brewing in Albuquerque, which closed and was bought by Bosque Brewery. The Tub’s original equipment was from Bosque, interestingly, and they were happy to make an arrangement by which the Tub returned some of that original equipment in part-exchange for Toltec’s. 

“We were lucky with the deal we got on that. It’s a great brewhouse,” Adam said.

On top of that, they invested in a grist case, which they had to buy new. With that addition, “when I’m ready to mash in, I just flip the switch on the auger and it starts bringing grain,” Adam said. 

“It allows this to very much be a one person operation as far as running brew days. Whereas if you’ve got people pouring bags and stuff, and running back and forth, you know, it makes it harder to pay attention to your temperature, and your flow rate, and consistent mash hydration, and mash temperature and everything.”

The new equipment makes life a lot easier for the busy brewer, but he does have some help. Emily Mockler-Wood, long-time bartender and brewery helper, has been getting more involved in the back, cleaning and filling kegs, cleaning tanks, and learning the ropes on other tasks such as transferring finished beer. The Tub has been involved in the Pink Boots Society Collaboration Brew Day event, which celebrates women and non-binary individuals in the fermented/alcoholic beverage industry, and Adam said that he hopes she will be ready to take the reins on this year’s brew.

Regarding the facilities, the outdoor deck and fenced yard area can seat more people than indoors when the weather is good. To manage the crush of customers, the Tub set up a shipping container that can serve all of the beers currently on tap and has been used to serve food from Smokey Shack Texan BBQ out of Española. Adam was kind enough to open it up for some photos on this brisk winter day.

Looking forward, Adam said his goal is to figure out just what “normal” looks like, after several years of major changes. 

“I just want to make sure that we are in a position to be able to keep up with what that looks like,” he said.

In terms of beers, roughly 80 percent of the Tub’s sales are IPAs or lighter lagers. The first priority is to keep those on tap. Beyond that, Adam has a variety of recipes to draw upon, and like most brewers, he’s eager to try some new things. 

“I’ve got a couple of ideas, and I’m sort of mulling over SMASH beers. It’s a way of exploring ingredients that maybe we haven’t explored yet,” he said.

The Tub has had quite a year of change, but things look to be settling down, at last. 2023 was its best year on record in terms of sales, with eight of the last nine months of the year setting new records, and that trajectory is only likely to continue. If you haven’t visited Los Alamos and the Tub, put it on your bucket list!

Cheers!

— Reid