The recent trend of one brewery taking over another is not limited to the Albuquerque metropolitan area, as we recently learned.

Acting off a tip from the Borderlands Craft Beer Community on Facebook, we reached out to Public House 28 head brewer/co-owner Blake Heath for comment on the news that Icebox Brewing of Las Cruces had taken over the brewery.

“Yeah, so Icebox didn’t buy the brewery, per se,” Heath replied via text. “They bought the building and the land. While taking over ph28 operations. With hopes to change over that brewing license in the future. The co-founders of 28, John (Brooker) and myself, are indeed no longer involved at all.”

Heath has quickly landed on his feet, taking over as head brewer at the well-regarded Aurellia’s Bottle Shop and Brewhouse in El Paso, which just happens to be his hometown. Guess we have another reason to visit EP in the future.

Back to the Icebox move, we did reach out to them but never heard back. UPDATE: Icebox general manager Brian Weidauer did email us back and wrote the following: “We are still working on closing the purchase agreement with John. Icebox is currently in an Operating Agreement to run Public House 28, but we do not own the property yet.  Once that is finalized I can provide more info on what we will do with the brewing equipment, rebranding efforts, etc.”

For the time being, Public House 28 will continue to operate under its existing moniker. We visited the brewery that lies along Highway 28 between Las Cruces and Anthony back in the spring. It was a charming spot, but nonetheless always faced a challenge of being so far outside the main population centers in that part of the state.

Icebox already has their main brewery on the west side of Las Cruces, plus three offsite locations in the northern, southern, and central parts of the city. There is also an Icebox taproom in Hatch, and now with the Public House 28 addition to the portfolio they will move past Santa Fe Brewing for the second-most locations of any brewery in New Mexico, trailing only Bosque Brewing.

Keeping all those locations stocked with beer may have been the impetus for taking the Public House 28 space, which now offers them a secondary brewhouse. Again, though, we cannot be sure of exactly what Icebox’s plans are for the future. A full license/name/branding change will likely not occur until March, as small brewer licenses renew at the end of every February.

The Crew is still awaiting official word on a few other notable upcoming stories, and not just whatever is going to happen to Marble Brewery.

• We know who bought Enchanted Circle Brewing in Angel Fire, but are still awaiting word on the official plans for that brewery. Until then, we will not identify the new owners, but we can say they are already in the brewing business (and no, it is not Bosque).
• One smaller Albuquerque brewery will be closing their doors sometime soon, though we do not have an exact date. It will be one of those sad, but understandable decisions.
• One Albuquerque brewpub is changing ownership, and with that will come a rebrand. That story is pure sources only at this point, so we may have to wait a while before anything becomes official. There is apparently no exact timetable, but again, since licenses renew or start anew March 1, that might be a good targeted time frame.

The times keep changing, folks. We will do our best to stay on top of it all. Until then, you all know what to do.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister