After several years of turmoil and change, from COVID to a rebuild of the entire brewhouse to turnover at the head brewer position, 2024 was a relatively quiet period for Bathtub Row Brewing in Los Alamos. I sat down with assistant general manager Rob Hipwood and head brewer Adam Auden (separately, and in that order) to discuss past and future events at “The Tub,” as it’s known locally, for our Look Back/Look Ahead Series.

The one major hiccup last year was a glycol chiller breaking in the spring, which interrupted brewing for a good month. They ran out of their own brews with spring and summer being their busiest months in sales, so they relied heavily on guest taps. Second Street Brewery in Santa Fe
supplied much of the slack.

“They were super helpful,” Rob said. “There were times in a pinch where we hadn’t really given them a heads-up, but we ran out of beer and we could call down and say, ‘Hey, is there any chance we could pick up some beer today?’ And, often there would be a keg on the spot.”

The craft beer industry has a reputation for camaraderie, and this stepping up to help another business in a time of need is just another example.

Despite the pause in production, 2024 was another banner year in terms of sales.

“With the exception of January, every month was a record month,” Rob said.

One of their goals for annual sales is to reach $1 million, and they almost did it in 2024.

As a result of all of their success, and despite COVID putting them behind schedule, the co-op behind The Tub was able to pay off the last of their member loans, which were used to get the business off the ground back in 2015.

“We’re now 100-percent debt-free,” Rob said with pride over the accomplishment.

They offered lifetime and annual memberships initially, though they scrapped the annual membership program many years ago. Still, with 1,200 lifetime members out of a cooperative charter-imposed limit of 2,000, there is still room to grow. Many customers probably don’t even realize that it’s not just a place to get a good beer, it’s also a customer-owned co-op. Now that the business is approaching its 10th anniversary, they plan to have a membership drive of sorts and see if they can increase the customer/owner base.

And, of course, a 10th anniversary can’t go by without a celebration, or in this case, an extended celebration.

“April 22 is technically our anniversary, but we’re also going to have a second big celebration on May 24, which was the weekend that the first Tub beers were released,” Rob said.

“But, the idea in addition to April 22 and May 24 is holding eight other small events in the interim. It’s going to be 10 different celebrations between April and May, and it could just be highlighting some of our musicians that have been coming here for most of the years, maybe doing some drawings, and again, the idea of the membership drive.”

One other possibility being toyed with is the idea of inviting back the previous brewers, many of whom are still in New Mexico, to join in the celebration and perhaps help create a special anniversary beer.

There are some changes in the works for 2025, such as finding a way to provide more outdoor seating in the winter. The Tub has a large expanse of patio and lawn seating that is great in the warmer weather, but when the temperatures drop, all that is available is the indoor space. Crowds are naturally smaller then, but even in the winter it gets packed at peak times.

One option would be to enclose the patio with something like plastic and heat the area, but as Rob pointed out, that might affect the hops that they grow around the patio.

“Yeah, I think we would feel like, because of the hops, that we would want something that we could take down and let the hops grow, because that’s such become such a part of our tradition,” he said. “And, one of our funnest events is when we have a call for volunteers to come and pick the hops, and Adam and crew brew on the same day. It’s called our Patio Hop Pale.”

Also in the works is a roof over part of the lawn area, which would be a big help for when it rains.

Other ideas relating to facilities include adding solar panels to the roof to help offset electricity costs and become more “green”.

“And I think Adam and (general manager Doug Osborn) have talked about some ideas to just become as environmentally friendly as we can be for a brewery, which is challenging when water is your primary resource used here,” Rob said.

On the personnel side of things, head brewer Adam has been training now-assistant brewer Emily Blumenthal, who is able to handle some of the brewing entirely on her own. Dave Shepard has been brought in and is also being trained and helping with much of the brewing tasks. Adam explained how the extra help has been beneficial to him.

“It’s been good to be able to get back to some of the head brewer stuff, look at some of the cost analysis, forecasting, planning,” he said.

Adam also emphasized how important staff education is to him.

“We’re focusing more on doing kind of sensory analysis, stuff on both ingredients and finished product, just to try and help understand how those ingredients are contributing to the finished beer,” he said.

Both Adam and Rob realize that an educated and knowledgeable staff will lead to better customer experiences.

One program that is being resurrected is that employees with a birthday in a given month can choose a recipe or style and help brew that beer. Rob explained who got the honor this month.

“In January, I think bartender Nic Montoya-Valdez might be the only one with a January birthday,” Rob said. “So Nic gets to pick a beer. He’s going to brew with Adam on Sunday. We’re going to do a Belgian Tripel.”

I imagine I’m not the only one who enjoys variety in their beer diet, so this program will only bring more and interesting entries to the menu.

Overall, things are going quite smoothly at Bathtub Row. Success has been an effort from a large team of people, all of whom care about the business and product.

“Everyone here has that same desire that this place is here long after we’re not here,” Rob said. “At some point we’re getting older and will move on, but what matters is that this place is still here in 20 years.”

It serves as the “neighborhood pub” for the town of Los Alamos, and it will likely be doing so for years to come.

My thanks to Rob and Adam for taking time out of their busy schedules to talk to me and give us all the scoop about The Tub. If you’ve never been to Los Alamos but are interested in a fun road trip, give it and Bathtub Row Brewing a try! And don’t forget that the annual Stout Invitational will be held at The Tub on March 1. Stay tuned for more details, but you can now purchase tickets.

Cheers!

— Reid