The end of an era is upon us. Boxing Bear Brewing is closing its taproom at Corrales and Alameda, a decade after the company was launched there.

We caught up with co-owner/director of brewing operations Justin Hamilton to learn more about the decision to shut down the taproom, and reminisce about the many great stories it produced over the last 10 years. A couple of us in the Crew even have our own favorite stories about the place, but we will let Hamilton go first.

“We see Corrales as definitely our heart is there, but unfortunately it was time (to leave),” he said.

One of the main reasons, if not the main reason, was that Boxing Bear was only using half the entire space of the building after the brewery was moved to the Firestone location off Jefferson.

“I think every business is seeing ups and downs, and as far as that location, I would keep it 100 percent if I could,” Hamilton said. “With the old brewery area, with the event space, and not only that, but the old Southwest Grape and Grain area, and the kitchen area, we literally had half a building there that we weren’t using. It’s not like we weren’t trying to sublease, we’ve done stuff like that before. It gets hard. Nobody is interested in the back space. It’s suitable for a full business location, but that’s not what we are right now. As a taproom, it would be awesome to keep what we have going now. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone is going to let us. It’s a great building, I wouldn’t want to cut it in half.”

Hamilton said it reminded him of when the then-Il Vicino Brewing made the move from its location on Vassar to the current spot that is now Canteen Brewhouse. They had enough brewing space, but wanted a bigger taproom area. Boxing Bear had plenty of taproom space at Corrales, but needed a much bigger brewing space to keep up with demand.

“I’m going to miss the building, the experiences we had there, and the fact that we were born there,” Hamilton said. “But, I do not miss having to take the stairs off the brewhouse to can beer. We were just too maxed. Not only was it a pain to deal with as far as the canning goes, and we were mobile canning at that point, so I don’t miss that stuff at all.

“Our growth has put us at this awesome place to be here, where we have the ability to get to the point where we’re buying a truckload of cans, a truckload of malt. There were limitations, not only with the room in the brewery, but we also have a normal-sized garage door now. We literally could not bring in a pallet of cans without splitting it. There’s little things like that. You can make adjustments to buildings, but we needed something that was going to suit our abilities way better.”

As for those favorite stories, Hamilton said he had been thinking of so many since we first reached out, and even before that.

“Of course, Bearfest is the big one,” he said. “The first couple we did, we had no idea we were going to have pull like that. One of the pictures we sent to the Journal, Andy was up on the roof and I said holy crap, I didn’t remember it was packed like that. It was so fun. That was when, it was just a different time, there were just a few beer festivals. We fit that niche perfectly for that time. That’s what I really loved. It was like we were at the right place at the right time, with great products. And, a fun thing to do. Being involved with breweries and festivals before, we had an idea with direction, and it went well.”

The events were big, but there were also the smaller, quieter moments, filled with nature. A little too much nature, at times.

“That brewery, being on the banks of the Bosque there, we had animals all over the place,” Hamilton said. “We had frogs, we had snakes. One time there was a snake blocking the entrance. I had to go out there and scare it off. I remember tapping a stick to get it out of there.”

Then there was the wildlife on wings.

“Another great animal story, there was a giant Cooper’s hawk that landed on a table and he was there for like two hours,” Hamilton said. “It turned out he injured himself and didn’t want to fly away. This was back when we had the sandwich press, so I got lots of turkey and put it on the table and he ripped it up and ate a lot of it. We ended up having to call Hawks Aloft, they ended up picking him up. It was stuff like that. That location, it was amazing never having pigeons, because of those hawks.”

With or without the wildlife, the specific location of the brewery was a plus for the entire staff.

“It was a cool experience being there by the Bosque, being able to take walks when I wasn’t busy, which was like twice,” Hamilton said. “But, that was also cool, it was neat to look out the back of the brewery, see the acequia when they started filling it for the season. Stuff like that will always stay with me. I’ll never forget the location.”

And finally, there were the people.

“Our core set of regulars, keeping us open in 2020, literally sitting behind the building in the ditch where they’re off our property in Corrales,” Hamilton said. “They would come in and buy four-packs for weeks. They would bring their folding chairs and all meet each other on the other side. Going through that pandemic owning a business, that was pretty wild, and coming out on the other side being somewhat OK, it’s definitely something I’ll never forget that, either. Our customers kept us alive.”

Two of those frequent customers were Franz Solo and myself, particularly back in the days before the pandemic and before the Firestone taproom opened much closer to where I live. I will let Franz Solo go first with his memories.

“My favorite memories of Boxing Bear Corrales include the first Bearfest in 2015, which happened to fall on my birthday weekend. I remember being just so excited for a fest on the west side of town. The way Boxing Bear does IPAs was a revelation, and I recall enjoying quite a lot of Uppercut at the fest.

“On a fair number of occasions, I would bike from our house to the taproom, and one of my favorite memories was biking to the IPA Challenge there. It was a wonderfully hot July 18th, and I had a lovely ride over for the challenge. The rest is a bit hazy, but a lovely memory of the ambiance and all the rest. I loved hanging out on that patio, and I will miss it.

“One final memory, was bringing my months old daughter to the Vantablack release in 2019. We had metal bands, fantastic stouts, and it was just lovely.

“I’ll miss ye olde spot, so many great hangouts and good times were had.”

As for me, I still remember going over there to interview Hamilton before they opened, seeing it all under construction. The brewing industry was really starting to gather momentum, but there were still fewer than 20 breweries in the metro area when Boxing Bear joined a short list of Westside locations, along with the long-since-closed Broken Bottle and Stumbling Steer.

The brewery opened in July, and we were treated to an invite-only soft opening. We walked in and it was all new and fresh. The big blackboard had four beers listed, all that was available right out of the gate. I enjoyed a Paw Swipe Pale Ale and a Black Bear Stout, while Franz enjoyed a Bear Knuckle DIPA and a Hairy Mit Hefe. It was all just simple and new and different.

My next memory of note was that aforementioned 2015 IPA Challenge, where we decided to sit on the patio, partially shaded, drinking our IPAs even as the summer heat warmed them up a good bit. I still got a sunburn on the back of my neck, but it was one of those rare times when a bunch of us in the Crew were all together in one spot.

Then there was the time I popped in to see if Hamilton had any bottles of Chocolate Milk Stout left around, in the days long before it was canned and available year round. My mission was rather simple, to obtain that medal-winning beer on behalf of Dark Tranquillity lead singer Mikael Stanne. Once I explained that mission, I was handed a case and sent off to join the legendary Swedish metal band on their tour bus behind Launchpad.

Oh, and I do remember that day with Franz’s daughter wearing her giant pink ear protectors as Red Mesa played on the upper level of the taproom. We loaded up on beers, all looking forward to what was set to come in 2020. Whoops.

Now we all have one last chance to make a final memory, as A Final Bearwell takes place this Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be the Silver Sky Blues Band performing, local vendors, and Tomboy Tako will provide the food.

If you have any fun memories/stories of Boxing Bear Corrales that you would like to share, DM them on social media or email us nmdarksidebrewcrew@gmail.com. We will, at the very least, share them with the Boxing Bear staff, or if there are enough, compile them into one final story.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister