Back when I was attending the United in Beer festival at Ex Novo, a brewery staff member asked if I knew who was moving into a certain location west of the Rio Grande.

Then, when I was talking to the Quarter Celtic staff, they also mentioned that someone was moving into that space.

While speculative thoughts bounced around my head, I was also waiting on Vision City brewer/co-owner Martin Ulloa to get back to me on a story for our Look Back/Look Ahead Series. He kept telling me to wait a little longer as he would have something big to announce.

I did not put two and two together until Ulloa said he was ready, but rather than meet at Vision City’s location inside the International Indoor Soccer Arena at 1311 Cuesta Arriba Ct NE, he asked to meet at 10200 Corrales Rd.

Yup, Vision City is moving into the former Boxing Bear location that just became available in May.

“Well, Vision City, part of our name was geared toward Rio Rancho, the City of Vision,” Ulloa said. “It’s also being visionaries and having the dream of opening a brewery. Making the move westward was always the goal. This opportunity came across my plate, and I thought this would be a really cool expansion for us. As I heard Boxing Bear was going to close this location, I thought this would be a really good fit for us.”

In many ways, the location is the perfect spot for Vision City. The building is already plumbed and ready for a brewery to be installed in the back. It has the beer draft system ready. People already know it as a place that serves craft beer.

“I think a lot of it will be centered around community engagement,” Ulloa said. “It will be up to the patrons and what they want to see here. We are going to grow into the space. For us, it’s producing as much as we can put on tap for both locations. We’ll add some other familiar (guest) taps. I do expect to pull some Boxing Bear beers here, and other local breweries.”

Vision City has a 3.5-barrel brewhouse that it purchased from Brew Lab 101, which is more than enough for the soccer arena location. It may not be enough to cover the Westside taproom, and Ulloa said they may have to look for a bigger brewing system in the future, which is more probable than not. For the time being, they will keep the brewery at the arena and use an offsite taproom license, though that plan is subject to change.

“It comes with its challenges,” Ulloa said of his current setup. “Our brewing space is right next to where folks drink. I have to make sure nothing can go wrong. I can’t have a tank leak or anything like that. It’s small, but it’s been great, and now as we grow, folks will appreciate the next steps.”

One step will be to add a kitchen to the Westside taproom, which Boxing Bear had once upon a time.

“We have yet to decide on the exact menu that we want to move forward with, but I’d definitely like it to be more of a deli,” Ulloa said.

Despite their current cozy confines, Ulloa said that Vision City has seen a lot of growth in the past year, which he hopes will carry over to the Westside.

“We’ve grown, just in consumers and in having a community following, we’ve seen a lot more community engagement, and not just in the soccer (playing) folks,” he said. “They’ll stay after games and imbibe. Now the community, that residential neighborhood, they’ve found out we’ve done a good job of being consistent. Now they know there’s a local brewpub they can walk over to when they want.”

That local pub vibe, which Boxing Bear certainly had, is something that Ulloa is aiming for with Vision City.

“I would like to be everyone’s ‘that’s my local brewpub,’” he said. “The three core values I hold for our brewery are quality, customer service, and community. If we can be successful at those three things, I think we can become the local brewery, the local taproom, the true watering hole of the neighborhood. We’re in a really good spot between Corrales and the North Valley. We have a really good opportunity to make this home for a lot of people, who want to drink seriously good drinks.”

Ulloa also said that the Corrales location was what ultimately launched Boxing Bear into the realm of one of the top breweries in the metro area.

“This is the vehicle that helped them grow into multiple locations,” he said. “I see that as a model for me. This could be the next stage of evolution for Vision City, and help propel us forward.”

Ulloa said that the patrons at the arena favor lighter beers, like Mexican lagers, and fruited beers, from a lime salt lager to any sort of fruited wheat. He expects that folks on the Westside will be into the same, but he is willing to experiment a little to see if there are any other different styles preferred by customers on that side of the river.

Though Vision City opened as a brewstillery, Ulloa said that spirits are taking a back seat for now.

“Spirits hasn’t been the biggest focus for us,” he said. “Right now, we’ve been focusing on the beer. Spirits will be a part of our future. We have a lot of things coming up that will be exciting.”

As for a timeline, Ulloa said it will be a little easier to project an opening date for just the taproom than if they were moving brewing operations at the outset. Still, he is aware that dealing with the City of Albuquerque and its labyrinthine bureaucracy can make any projected date more tentative than truly set in stone.

“I’m shooting for closer to the fall,” Ulloa said. “We have our goals, but a lot of it will be the licensing and permitting. Most of the work, as you said, has already been done. The brewery is ready to be installed. It has all the utility that’s needed. We’ll have a fresh coat of paint and a couple changes we’d like to make (to the taproom). If we can open closer to September, I’ll be happy.”

A big thanks to Martin for the interview, it was definitely worth the wait so that we could share this news with everyone. We will work to keep everyone up to date on Vision City’s progress and when that opening date is ready to be announced, we will make sure to share it with one and all.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister