It is not all doom and gloom out there in the craft brewing industry.

Stop by Tractor Brewing and you cannot help but feel the sense of optimism and excitement, even after 25 years in business. Winning a first major gold medal certainly helped, but that was only part of the story of how 2024 may have very well been the best year in Tractor history.

I caught up with events and marketing director Jeremy Kinter and head brewer TJ Frederich last week for the annual Look Back/Look Ahead Series.

“From a beer perspective, this year was huge,” Kinter said. “I’ll let TJ attest to that.”

“Going back on the 25-year history, granted I’ve only been here seven years now, I think it’s probably the most successful year in beer that Tractor has ever had,” Frederich replied. “Starting the year off with the Stout Invitational title was where most of (the momentum) started. We picked up a couple medals at the New Mexico Brewfest, (we were) showing well at the World Beer Cup, and it kind of built up some momentum going into GABF. Lo and behold, we finally bring home a medal, not just a medal, a gold medal.

“I was talking at the Brewers Guild social (last week) with one of the other brewers and he asked what does it feel like. I said after years of feeling like you’re getting your head kicked in, it feels pretty good.”

The gold medal for Mustachio Milk Stout in the Sweet or Milk Stout category at the Great American Beer Festival was the biggest award in Tractor’s quarter-century history. The fact that it was for a year-round, canned offering was even sweeter (pun intended).

“I always kind of wanted it to be a beer we keep on year round,” Frederich said. “They’re the easiest to make the adjustments to that we get feedback on. I can brew, say, a hoppy lager once a year, it’s really difficult to make those (changes).”

Since Frederich took over as head brewer, he and his staff have been focused on all aspects of the process of making the beers. That ranges from establishing what is allowable in terms of slight deviations in things like temperature and pH levels, to just making sure every batch measures up to the accepted standards.

“On the second turn of the Mustachio stout that won the medal, Cesar (Adrian Quezada-Hernandez) was the brewer on it,” Frederich said. “We went back and looked at the brew log. It was note after note about something being outside of spec, and then correcting it. That’s something that probably a year or two ago doesn’t happen. It’s zoning in on those SOPs, it really caused the explosion in the quality of beer that we’ve experienced over the last seven to eight months.”

It does not always work out that well. Frederich told the tale of how they all thought Pilsner 15 was on the verge of a GABF medal following the beer receiving great feedback at the prior World Beer Cup. The judges suggested they go one of two ways when tweaking the recipe. Frederich said that they picked the wrong option, but now they have corrected it and have high hopes for the beer’s chances of medaling at the 2025 WBC.

The WBC takes place during the annual Craft Brewers Conference every spring, and Kinter said the conference as a whole was beneficial for Tractor.

“From a momentum perspective, it was nice to go to CBC together — me, TJ, David (Hargis), Skye (Devore),” Kinter said. “We all went. We hadn’t done that in a long time, since pre-pandemic. All of us getting on the same page we were able to change some things. It was really refreshing.”

For Kinter, 2024 was another big year of staging events, focusing on what worked well, and overcoming what did not work well.

“Events did really well in terms of consistency,” he said. “That’s me turning it over to doing more monthly events that are very curated and can draw (crowds), and not relying on big one-off events to get us to where we need to be during the year. It’s been really good from an event perspective in terms of consistency, like having the Goth Night once a month. 90s country covers night, doing jazz on the hill, and then doing like Blazing Beats Bingo on the Westside, and trivia. Those out-performed my expectations.”

Not everything worked out, however, which led to some tough conversations with artists and other performers.

“I tried a lot of events this year that failed pretty badly,” Kinter said. “It was the willingness to move away from that, and it sucks having those hard conversations with people and artists. We know how we feel about artists in general and how involved we are in the creative community. You have to say, hey man, this isn’t working.”

Two of the biggest one-off events of the year were examples of good and bad. The 25th anniversary party with Baracutanga (who were celebrating their 15th anniversary) was a big hit, Kinter said. The Zombie Carniball, which replaced the Stranger Things Arcade Carnival as Tractor’s big pre-Halloween event, had just about everything that could go wrong do just that.

“I had to pivot and do a smaller, pared-down version,” Kinter said. “It did well considering the circumstances, but nowhere near the big blowout we usually do for Halloween. But, even that wasn’t a big blow (financially) because of how well we’ve been doing on a consistent basis.”

Things are still going well at the two Tractor taprooms on the Westside and in Nob Hill. I had actually forgotten that the fourth Tractor location in Los Lunas closed this year (for some reason it stuck in my head as a 2023 casualty).

“Closing Los Lunas in April, though that may be seen as a failure, overall that was good for us,” Kinter said. “With four locations, with one 28 miles outside of town, it’s a lot harder to manage. It stretches you thin. Also, the demographics are completely different there. As a brand, our model has changed a lot since we opened in ’99 there. Our shtick is culture/community, and that didn’t translate as well in Valencia County.”

Ultimately, after a strong opening in November 2019, the Los Lunas taproom never recovered from being shut down during the pandemic. The food concept that they opened with did not return following the lockdown, and there was some friction between the more conservative customers in Los Lunas and the perception that Tractor leans more to the left.

“We have a very strong personal love for Valencia County and Los Lunas,” Kinter said. “We wish them all the best. Hopefully one day we’ll make it down there (again). As of right now, we’re very happy with our three locations and where we’re at.”

Getting back to the beer, Frederich said that even down a taproom from 2023, this year ended up seeing a significant increase in production.

“We had a discussion shortly before Look Back/Look Ahead (interview) last year where we said let’s focus on the basics,” he said. “We had heard some rumblings, things that were going on in the local brewing community, breweries that weren’t doing well. We were starting to feel some momentum shifting our way. We hadn’t seen it on paper yet, but I knew I was making more beer than last year. November through February, I was slammed back there.

“Usually November and December I get to chill, get out to the taprooms and fix some stuff. I think it was the day after the Christmas party last year where I went we’re almost out of beer. The first quarter of 2024, we made more beer than we did in any quarter of 2023. The second quarter was kind of laid back and chill, and then things really started to get going. When we got to the third quarter things really went crazy.”

Kinter said it also helped the front-of-house staff when it came to going back to basics. The new orientation process includes having all servers/bartenders sit down with Frederich to learn more about how Tractor operates, and further connect the two parts of the business.

“I tell them about the beers, the history, what we’re striving for back there,” he said. “They finally get to put a face to the guy back there making beer. It’s not some random weird dude.”

That newfound communication between the bartenders and the brewers has made for a much smoother operation. That in turn is good for the customers, too.

“It just speaks to that communication level, and the attention to detail that our severs have now because of their beer knowledge,” Kinter said. “We’ve always made it mandatory that they have be Cicerone beer certified. This adds another element to that. Talking with the brewer is much different than taking a test, and a lot better (for everyone).”

So while not everything was perfect for Tractor, it was a strong showing in 2024.

“It’s been a good year for us,” Kinter said. “We’re honestly very happy with where we’re at. We’re going to continue to strive and make changes.”

More beers and more events on deck for 2025

Frederich said that he and Kinter are in constant communication about everything, including getting the beer calendar planned out and promoted. This year, Tractor planned on 20 seasonal brews, and only fell one short of that mark.

“That has been something we’re going to try to continue into next year,” Frederich said. “Our seasonal brews are planned out through December of next year. We kind of played with some flavors over the past year, that’s how we came up with the Double Stuffed Stout from the Stout Invitational. We had the Dreamsicle that went over really well. That will be back next year. The Pistachio Cream Ale will be back. I can’t not brew that. There’s always Turkey Drool, Traktoberfest, and Javi (Lager). We’re going to play a lot of the hits.”

As for new brews, there are some plans in the works.

“Even though we have our big goals of focusing in on (procedural) things this year, we were still working on a couple styles on the side, and coming up with better policies and procedures, especially around IPAs what our hopping procedures should be, hop ratios, things like that,” Frederich said.

“You’re going to see quite a few (new) IPAs next year. We’re going to really, really focus in on lagers. That probably takes care of 95 percent of what we’re planning for next year. We (also) have something in the works with Satellite Coffee. I’m really excited to see how that comes out.”

“It’s a unique community partnership,” Kinter added. “Another big thing that’s on the horizon that we talked about at CBC, and TJ and I had talked about as well, is we’re debuting a new logo. A new direction in terms of aesthetics, we’re going to go for more cohesive branding. We’re changing our cans, the way they look. That’s on the horizon, as well. We’re changing our lineups, even in the distro field.”

“No wonder I’m tired,” Frederich remarked with a slight smile.

Kinter said he has some new ideas for events, too. One that has been a hit so far was a flamenco/Spanish music night, and that will likely become a monthly feature.

“From an event perspective, like TJ said, we’re playing the hits a little bit, keeping what we have on board, adding more, trying some new things out,” he said. “I’m going to continue to experiment with different types of events.”

Kinter said they are also working more with the New Mexico Brewers Guild and other breweries.

“I initiated a secret shopper program with several other breweries, where we exchange (constructive criticism) like industry professionals, instead of just using Yelp elite reviewers,” he said. “That’s catching on, I’ve had several breweries involved in that. We love it, it’s a great program, and it’s not malicious. It’s constructive. It’s people we trust and people that trust us, too.”

Kinter said off-site events are no longer a major focus for Tractor, but they will still participate in the ones that consistently pull strong numbers from year to year. He also said that Tractor hopes for the return of ABQ Beer Week in 2025, though those plans are still not finalized. Still, the positive vibes of 2024 are something that Tractor is looking to carry over into 2025.

“It’s going to be a good year,” Kinter said. “TJ and I are pumped to take on even more responsibility. Coming off a banner year, we can’t not be excited about what’s going to happen.”

As always, a huge thank you to Jeremy and TJ for taking the time to chat about everything. It is quite refreshing to get a dose of positivity these days. Plus, a dose of Turkey Drool. I love that darn beer.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister