Cue the 90s pop culture references. How many? All of them.

Canteen Brewhouse is turning 30 years old and throwing it back to the decade that they started as Il Vicino Brewing with some epic events this Thursday through Sunday, with the big party set for Saturday.

It was way back in 1994 that Rick Post, Greg Atkin, and Tom White, the owners of Il Vicino, decided that their little wood-fired pizza restaurant in Nob Hill needed to jump on a growing trend of local spots adding breweries to their businesses. First Rob Chavez and later Brady McKeown had the task of creating beers in a 10-foot-by-10-foot in the back of the restaurant.

Over time, the brewery outgrew that space, moving to a building on Vassar north of Comanche. While that building had enough area to brew in, it lacked much of a taproom presence. The Canteen was built, the brewery moved over, and eventually the name change happened, though the ownership and beers remained the same.

Now under the leadership of head brewer Zach Guilmette and general manager Jamie Schwebach, Canteen has remained one of the top craft breweries in New Mexico, and the second oldest in the state after Santa Fe Brewing.

So all of that brings us to this week, where Canteen will celebrate three decades in business, with everyone invited to join in on the festivities.

“We’re pretty stoked, oh yeah, it’s going to be really rad,” Schwebach said.

“An excellent adventure,” Guilmette added.

Things will kick off Thursday with Crazy Bird, an appropriate band that specializes in 90s cover songs. The show starts at 6 p.m.

Friday will see more board games than you can shake a stick at, but much like Parker Lewis, you can’t really lose.

“Friday we’re going to have a 90s game night, so we went with our childhood favorites — Taboo, Operation, Uno, Jumanji, Mouse Trap, Jenga, Life, Scategories,” Schwebach said. “Rubik’s cube, I really want to see someone do a Rubik’s cube really quick, because all of us have tried and we really suck. I know they’re out there.

“That’s going to be really chill, come play some games, have fun. Try to see if you can get the funny bone out of the little Operation (guy).”

All of those games will be free to play, of course, so get some nostalgia going and head on over. It’s not like you have to worry about the VCR recording Friday night’s X-Files episode or anything.

“Saturday, we’re doing a 90s-themed party,” Schwebach said. “From 12 to 1, we’ve got a Mug Club member event, so if they come, they get a couple special things. We’ve got Le Chat (Lunatique) playing, followed by Squash Blossom Boys, Doso Dirtbags, and finally Carli’s Angels.”

The 90s theme will be everywhere, including on the people working, and hopefully many of you that show up.

“Some of the stuff we’re most excited about on Saturday is we want to encourage people to have fun,” Schwebach said. “Dress like 90s, because we started in the 90s. Some of our owners will be dressing like they did in the 90s, because we don’t clean out our closets.”

Drinking on an empty stomach is a bad idea, regardless of your outerwear, so there will even be some 90s-themed food items.

“We’re doing a lot of 90s forward food, so our version of a Lunchable,” Schwebach said. “We’re going to have a bake sale with brownies and Gold Bars and Rice Krispy Treats, all not infused with marijuana, just need to clarify, this is child friendly. We have logo commemorative glasses. We’ll have games out. We’ll have renditions of our own versions of Mad Libs, as well as fortune tellers.”

There will also be popsicles, Otter Pops, Capri-Suns, and more sweet treats. For more hearty food, there will be a pop-up offering barbecue like pulled pork and pulled chicken, plus the now famous Canteen hot dog cart will be fired up and serving.

“We’re going to tape off part of the parking lot,” Schwebach said. “We’re going to have out there in the beer garden, you can get your Lunchables, your hot dogs, and all your candy and our little bake sale, plus beer. We’ll have tents and shade out there, with seating.”

In other words, get there early, because parking in the lot will be limited, and the two sides of Aztec fill up quickly. If you cannot get there early, we highly recommend taking a rideshare, particularly if you plan to stay late, too.

“We’re just hanging out, having fun, enjoying each other’s company without the stresses of the world,” Schwebach said. “If we could only go back to the 90s, that was pretty stress free.”

Well, there was some stress, like trying to figure out what the hell Metallica was doing when they came up with Load and Re-Load, but we digress.

“Thinking about turning 30 is cool, too,” Schwebach said. “One of the other things we’re doing is if you were born in 1994, you’re going to come up to our booth in our parking lot and you’re going to get a prize. Our members are getting a special treat. We’ve got some sweet merch that we’re going to be selling. It’s going to be a good throwback. It’s going to be fun, we’re having a good time with it.”

The weekend will conclude with a Bloody Mary bar on Sunday, which should help with recovery, or you can get really adventurous and join in one of Canteen’s trademark fun runs. Hey, show no fear and all that.

“We’ll also have a Hella Fresh 5K Run (at 10 a.m.),” Schwebach said. “We’re encouraging anyone that has a boom box to run with a boom box.”

Well, of course you would encourage that. I mean, your Walkman would skip like crazy if you bounced along while running. And, let’s face it, you never wanted to disrupt an amazing album like Fight’s War of Words.

Ahem, back to the reminiscing about turning 30.

“We’re very fortunate to be working that our owners have had for 30 years, selling beer through all the name changes,” Schwebach said. “It’s the same guys running the brewery. I’m thankful that Zach has been here for over eight years. Dougie just celebrated his 24th year with us.”

“I wonder how many barrels of pilsner he has drank over the years,” Guilmette said, and yes, the two of them did try to do some math to project it, but they eventually gave up.

“This place has had a great role in helping to create the craft beer industry in Albuquerque,” Guilmette continued. “These three owners have definitely supported all of that creativity and growth in craft beer. In 30 years, you make a lot of friends, and that’s what’s so nice, to see so many faces that you’ve seen and recognized for decades.”

Though there was some talk about bringing back some 90s beers, the Canteen brew team decided to just stick with what they already have on tap. After all, while some people get nostalgic about Wet Mountain IPA and the like, memories get a bit fuzzy over 30 years as to what that tasted like.

“All those old names, it would be fun to bring them back, but then I could hear people say this doesn’t taste like Wet Mountain,” Guilmette said.

Regardless, it should still be a fun time this weekend. For any business to reach 30 years, particularly one born in an era where it was still called a microbrewery and such things were only for a small niche audience, it is a remarkable accomplishment.

“I think it’s interesting, too, being in craft beer for 30 years, as we’re looking at what craft beer is doing across America,” Schwebach said. “We’re seeing more NAs, more cocktails, and all of that. We’re still happy to be here.”

We are all happy to still have Canteen in our lives. It will be too hot to bust out the flannel, but dig out that one shirt you still have (Ozzfest ’99, baby!) from the decade, Lyft or Uber over, and party it up with Canteen this weekend.

A big thanks to Jamie, Zach, and everyone at Canteen for all their hard work, and all the fun they have provided over the decades.

Cheers to 30 years!

— Stoutmeister