It seems like only yesterday that I sat down at Flock of Moons and did a running account of the first hour of business at the new brewery at 111 Harvard Dr SE. Except that it was not yesterday, it was a whole year ago. My oh my, how time flies.

Of course, that means it is time to celebrate, and Flock of Moons will be throwing a one-year anniversary bash this Saturday. I caught up with co-owner/head brewer Jeff Tomlinson last week to essentially do their first Look Back/Look Ahead Series feature, now that they have 12 months under their belts in the Bricklight District.

“I think I speak for all three of us owners that it’s hard to wrap our heads around it,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations around that, our one-year anniversary. So much has happened. We think about these little things that have happened and we forgot about. It’s gone by so quick and yet so many things have happened, but maybe that’s why it’s gone by so quick. We’re all still super busy, there’s not of time to just be really introspective and think about it.”

Tomlinson and co-owners Stefanie Luna and Jay Harmon have had time to come up with Saturday’s party. It will kick off at 6 p.m., with free admission, and feature live music from Sage Cornelius and Crazy Bird, the Brazd food truck will be parked out back, and there will even be tarot card readings from Triple Moon Bewitched.

It will be a nice, not overly crazy way to honor the first year in business for Flock of Moons. Tomlinson reflected on all that the last 12 months have been and more.

“I went into this, we all went into this, knowing it would be a lot of work,” he said. “I think the biggest surprise is how much more work it was than any of us anticipated. That was the biggest revelation.”

The two key ways to make all that hard work actually worthwhile are to assemble and retain a great front-of-house staff, and to draw in a crowd of supportive and fun customers.

“Both of those things have happened,” Tomlinson said. “We have such great staff. We’ve retained most of our original staff from when we opened last year. And, the people that left have left for good reasons. We were able to replace them with even more great people. That’s been amazing. I said it’s been a lot of work, but it would be so much more work if our staff didn’t carry as much weight as they do in the front of house.

“As far as the customers go, they’ve been a diverse set of clientele. University people, neighborhood people, some mix of students, maybe mostly older students and grad students. I’ve gotten to know a lot of regulars. It’s kind of rounded out the whole thing for me, personally. We wanted a sense of community and I think we’re doing a good job of developing that through various events. Poetry readings, bands, just hosting faculty meet-ups and things like that for UNM. It’s becoming a place where people just want to come and hang out.”

The top events for the brewery have been those poetry readings, which one might not expect. Then again, Flock of Moons occupies the old Winning Coffee space, and Tomlinson said many of the poets have told the staff that they got their start back then.

“The poetry things have definitely clicked really well,” he said. “I don’t know that all of those people come to our place all the time. But, when we have a poetry night, we pack the place. These are people who came here when it was Winning (Coffee), they cut their poetry teeth in this place. That’s really special. It’s really resonated.”

Tomlinson praised Jesse Mackensen, who has been hosting trivia on Sunday nights and now music bingo every Tuesday, helping Flock of Moons through some of the normally slower nights of the week. Live music has also done well, largely in part due to the fact that the brewery now has the entire patio to use.

“That’s been huge,” Tomlinson said. “That’s allowed us to better capitalize on things like entertainment. It feels more organic, as well. Having access to the fire pit area in the colder months was nice. People can stay warm by the fire with their beer. That was great. We’re really grateful that our landlords gave us that opportunity when our neighbor (505 Spirits) unfortunately closed their doors. It certainly impacted our revenue to get more people in here.”

On the beer side of things, the top sellers should come as a shock to absolutely no one who drinks craft in New Mexico.

“Our two flagship IPAs, our Retrograde Rebel and our Endor both sell really well,” Tomlinson said. “Our best seller is probably our Bandada de Lunas, our Mexican lager. Those are the three we’re trying to keep on tap at all times. Everything else has been seasonal or one-offs, which is great for me as a brewer. For all three of us owners, we’re omnivorous when it comes to beer, we like a lot of different styles.”

Keeping the taps fresh and constantly rotating is a credit to the customers who regularly inhabit Flock of Moons, particularly those who live within walking distance.

“We’re really lucky, again, because of this neighborhood and its diversity,” Tomlinson said. “It’s a little bit younger crowd, compared to some other breweries, so they’re willing to experiment. I can make seven barrels of saison and be reasonably sure I’m going to sell through it. Same goes for our weizen doppelbock, we’re on our last keg of that. Luckily it’s a beer that ages well. Not all of the styles sell great, but saisons for sure. Lager is everything right now, and we’ve gotten a really great reception for our lagers.”

It also helps to have a shiny new brewing system.

“Brewery equipment, our setup has been amazing,” Tomlinson said. “I’ve had no glycol troubles so far. That’s maybe the one that scares me the most. Refrigeration troubles are a problem in general. Thankfully nothing has happened. A few small things, like our hot liquor tank was down for a couple weeks. It’s not super cheap to fix, but it’s not (overly) expensive, either. As far as the performance of the equipment, I couldn’t be happier. I love this brewhouse, it’s largely manual. Coming into this as a home brewer, having a more manual system just feels second nature to me. It’s very hands-on and visceral. It’s worked great.”

Looking ahead to year two of Flock of Moons, Tomlinson said the ultimate goal is to just add to what has already made the brewery successful.

“I think we’re so happy with the way the first year has gone, it’s just more of the same, and building upon what’s happened this year,” he said. “Continuing to bring in people who surprise us, who are interesting and fun. Really, more of the same.”

Tomlinson said he would like for Flock of Moons to be more “steadily cash-flow positive,” to which we are pretty sure 90 other brewery owners in New Mexico would say “us, too.” As for how to do that, pumping up events in the early part of the week will be a focus, and then keeping steady crowds through the slower winter months will help.

“I’m (also) interested to see where all the music stuff goes,” Tomlinson said. “We haven’t had a big budget for music, but we’ve done well with the money we’ve had. Just getting different, eclectic bands and musicians in here has been fun. I’d like to see that continue to develop.”

On the beer side, Tomlinson said he will aim for “a diverse lineup of beer styles that are fun for all of us.” To that end, he is sending a variety of beers to the Great American Beer Festival competition, including Waning Crescent Vienna Lager, Shadowmere Weizen Doppelbock, Quickening Moon Wee Heavy, and Ithilien Helles Lager. It will be the first time that Flock of Moons competes on the national stage.

Local, though, will remain the primary focus.

“People are still finding us,” Tomlinson said. “When we went to the Great New Mexico Beer Festival (last month), we were pouring beers all day, and I would say 80 to 90 percent of the people we were pouring beers for hadn’t heard of us, or heard of us but didn’t know where we were, or knew where we were but hadn’t been here for whatever reason. There’s a lot of people out there, still, that we would love to have check us out.”

This Saturday, or just about any day, would be a great time to visit Flock of Moons if you have never before, or if you have not in a long time, or heck, even if it’s only been a week or two.

A big thanks to Jeff for the interview, and congratulations to him, Stefanie, Jay, and their entire awesome staff on one year in business. We cannot wait to see what year two brings!

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister