The times are still tough out there, so it was nice to catch up with a brewery that espouses positivity and yet is also honest about the state of beer affairs these days.

That brewery was Steel Bender, which I visited earlier this week for another marathon interview (down to just 37 minutes and 2,750 words this year) for our annual Look Back/Look Ahead Series. We always aim to talk to them in March before their anniversary, which we will preview in full below.

Not wanting to take it easy, I noted that the general belief is that it is always tough to own a restaurant, and now it’s tough to own a packaging-and-production brewery. As Steel Bender is both, it must be particularly difficult right now, right?

“Actually, we’re very fortunate,” said co-owner Ethan Chant, who was joined for the interview by his wife and co-owner/marketing director Shelby Chant, head brewer Ben Lenetsky, brewery operations manager Monica Mondragon, director of taproom operations April Varela, and sales and distribution manager Kilie Garrett.

“The restaurant, it’s been tough since COVID,” Ethan Chant continued. “It’s just about trying to adjust to the price increases in everything, labor and food. It’s been an investment, but luckily our customers have been extraordinarily loyal, and our employees have been turning out a fantastic product. That combination has really, really helped us keep going. We’re very, very fortunate with that.”

“The kitchen is strong,” Shelby Chant added. “The kitchen and the taproom management team is strong.”

Ethan Chant also praised the brewery staff, led by Lenetsky and Mondragon, and the job that they have been doing.

“They’ve been putting out product that’s better than it’s ever been,” he said. “Monica has been especially doing such an amazing job between the scientific process, when we change ingredients, not just throwing a whole bunch of stuff at it, but taking the time. It’s made our beers a lot better.”

That does not mean it is all smiles and high fives.

“Beer sales in terms of distro, across the board, have dropped,” Ethan Chant said. “We’ve seen that. We’re in the very, very fortunate position where it’s not the biggest part of our business. We’re not one of the juggernauts out there. The drop, it’s been relatively small, and we’ve been very, very fortunate with that.

“The places that carry us on-premises have been extraordinarily loyal, and that’s helped us, as well.”

“We’ve been fortunate enough to have incredible people helping us along the last eight years to get this established,” Shelby Chant said. “I truly believe right now this is the strongest we’ve been, across the board. I think, at least as owners, our stress level has changed. What we stress about is different. What we stress about are the things that are more strategic, not about keeping things running. That’s been quite a relief.”

Among those new things to stress over is one that has left many breweries feeling more helpless than normal, and that is what is going in Washington D.C. with all the tariffs and economic upheaval. New tariffs on imported aluminum and steel are expected to send prices skyrocketing.

“That’s going to be a very interesting conversation that we will have with Admiral (Beverage), because technically we sell our beer to Admiral and they sell it to the market,” Ethan Chant said. “It’s going to be a very realistic conversation. And, it is one of those things that it’s hard to anticipate exactly what’s going to happen and what it’s going to look like. It’s just like with COVID. We tried to anticipate how COVID was going to affect things. Our strategy was completely off from what really happened. But, we’ll have our ducks in a row and be aware of all the pieces on the board and where they are, so we can hit it quickly.”

“All you can really do is be as informed as you can possibly be, and know when it’s time to have particular conversations with particular people,” Shelby Chant added.

Ethan Chant and his brothers are still involved in construction and development, and he recalled how years ago there was a panic over the supply and cost of steel. It caused many companies to stockpile their steel reserves, only to see prices suddenly plummet and leave many up the proverbial creek.

“It’s a balance to try and be aware without moving too quickly and making a big mistake,” he said.

For now, Steel Bender will focus on what it can control, while acknowledging what it cannot. This past year, the brewery rolled out a rebranded Red Iron Red as a double red IPA, and released Deep Cuts DIPA in cans.

“The Iron is flying out of our taproom,” Mondragon said. “We just got placed into both Smith’s and Albertsons.”

“Eleven Smith’s, two Albertsons, and a couple liquor stores, Jubilation and Quarters on Yale,” Garrett said. “It just went out on the 3rd (of March).”

“The DIPA is doing really well, especially on draft,” Mondragon said. “But, I think when the DIPA hits shelves off-premise, it will take off there, as well.”

It all goes back to the main challenge for brewers everywhere, which is anticipating and adapting to the changing tastes of customers out on the market.

“Both me and Monica see that the market has an ever-shifting taste,” Lenetsky said. “We have our cores that people have favorites on, and tend to like those products. But, there’s an ever-looming shrink that we see here on a micro scale. It does reflect a little bit. Our core IPAs tend to do well in our taproom. Some seem to do well out in the market. The other beers like the kolsch and Compa tend to be relatively high both here and on the market.

“When it comes to the macro scale of where beer is going, it’s kind of unpredictable. Especially in this state, we tend to be behind in some trends. Some (other) trends are picking up, ones that are nationwide are not focused on in this state. There’s a little bit of lag time. We try to be strategic in what we’re brewing, but we’re also trying to make fun products for us and the community that drinks our product.”

“I think you see it primarily in off-premise accounts being down for everybody across the board,” Mondragon said. “Everybody is trying to get those SKU’s on the shelf, (but) specialities don’t sell out like they used to. Those days of those trendy, one-off kinds of styles that sell really expensive in a four-pack, those aren’t really selling quite as much. People don’t have as much money in their pocket as they used to, so I think they’re going to become more focused on brand loyalty and quality of product. That’s why we really try to maintain our focus on quality of product.”

That focus has helped with the rebranded Red Iron and new Deep Cuts. The former definitely needed that rebrand to help it reach more customers.

“The Red, I think we were talking about this a year ago, we knew we were going to be putting the Red back in cans and we wanted to put it in 16(-ounce cans) as well,” Shelby Chant said. “With that was a little bit of a rebranding on it, primarily to call it what it is. It was Red Iron Red Premium Red Ale, but it’s really a hoppy red, a DIPA. It’s a style that has had a great following with us to the point when we did pull it out of cans, we got a lot of screaming about it. It’s a unique style.”

As for Deep Cuts, it was based on a seasonal that was draft-only in the taproom.

“Deep Cuts is based on the Big E, the beer that Ethan really just loves,” Shelby Chant said.

“I love, but it’s too expensive to make, just like me,” Ethan Chant replied, prompting a round of laughter from everyone in the brewers lounge inside the production building.

“Monica and Ben were really able to come up with a formula, well over a year (ago), that was a DIPA that didn’t taste like a DIPA,” Ethan Chant continued. “It’s not too hot, it’s not too syrupy, a lot of them that you have feels like molasses. It’s a crisp, too-easy-to-drink beer. They exceeded my expectations.”

“We took that same approach with the DIPA that when we changed the recipe for Teddy Roe’s Policy IPA,” Mondragon said. “We wanted to make a great IPA, but we wanted an IPA for people who don’t (always) like drinking IPAs.”

The Policy IPA has been a big hit, as well.

“I always get great feedback from them every time I’m at their locations,” Garrett said of M’tucci’s. “It’s always get feedback on Policy, and all the beers, but they really, really adore that beer. It’s so good.”

“It’s in my top three IPAs that we’ve produced here,” Shelby Chant added. “We’ll be working with Teddy and M’tucci’s on a charity campaign that will be featuring Policy IPA, as well. We’re excited about that. We love working with those guys.”

Speaking of charity efforts and special events, 2024 saw Steel Bender continue with many of those, though one notable fundraiser will not be coming back in 2025.

“We decided last year that it’s been a great five years with One for 5, and it’s time to be done,” Shelby Chant said. “We wanted to end on a high note. We did, and it was an incredible project. It was the first of its kind in the state. It started to fizzle. I think there were numerous reasons it started to fizzle, but I think five years was just too long.”

Steel Bender will still be partnering with other breweries on fundraisers for Agora and Pink Warrior House, and that aforementioned new endeavor with M’tucci’s will be announced in time.

“I think with charities, it’s a way to have the community be involved, and I do think they care about being involved, but you have to do more than just $1 (donated) per pint,” Shelby Chant said. “It’s just not a strong enough message anymore. To me it’s almost the easy way out. We’re not going to not continue to do that, but in conjunction with something bigger. We try to do three really big ones per year.”

For other on-site events, Steel Bender is not looking to suddenly up those in number.

“I think what you’ve got maybe going on right now is people trying to keep their taprooms full, as many hours of the day as possible, and keeping people interested in coming in for the beer and for the food,” Shelby Chant said. “We are so glad we have food. We are so glad we have the incredible food that’s going out that window. But, I think a lot of places are going ‘I’ve got to start doing events three nights a week.’ For us, we’re in the fortunate position that really, we’re still pretty dang crowded.”

There will be a continued drawing back on off-site events, however. That comes as a relief to Varela, who had to balance keeping the taproom properly staffed and then getting a big enough crew out to festivals.

“In the last year, I think in both production and the taproom we’ve been focused on consistency and not trying to do everything,” she said. “That’s been kind of nice to feel like you’re being consistent and not always on a roller coaster. I think that’s been a plus for the last year. I think we’re being mindful of what we’re doing out with the festivals and staffing it with taproom employees.”

“Other than (New Mexico Brewers) Guild events, we’ve pulled out of anything that’s unlimited sampling,” Shelby Chant said. “I hope we effectively killed it.”

Those do appear to be mostly dead, and there was much rejoicing by breweries statewide.

Anniversary plans and barreling to the future

Steel Bender will celebrate their eighth anniversary this Saturday through Monday, with a little something planned for each day. Actually, things kick off in a way with the Friday draft release of Ground Kontrol IPA, a new West Coast from the newest brewer on staff, Kolton Huerta, formerly of Bossfight and Ex Novo.

After that, Saturday will see the release of Double Triple Berry Pie Dynamite in cans and on draft, while a certain familiar band will take the stage.

“Again, we’re keeping things simple and fun and all about every aspect of the business — the beer and the food,” Shelby said. “Saturday, we’ve got the release of our Double Triple Berry Dynamite. Next year, we’ll try to add one more word to that.”

The graphic design team just winced a bit at that thought, but I digress.

“We’ve been developing this one probably since November,” Mondragon said. “We had to top the Double Berry Blast. We started looking at holiday desserts and I found triple berry pie.”

Lenetsky said he threw in a little lemon to add some extra zest, and that fans of the Dynamite series should be plenty pleased by the result.

“Then we’ve got Le Chat Lunatique playing noon to 2:30 that day, because they’ve played every anniversary here,” Shelby Chant said.

A little filthy, mangy jazz goes great with beer and food, upon that we can agree.

Sunday will see the arrival of something new, as Steel Bender has been teasing for a while now.

“We’re going to be doing mead, we’re now also Steel Bender Mead Hall,” Shelby Chant said, only slightly joking. “We’re really, really excited about this. We have partnered with Sage Valley Pottery in Corrales, and that’s been an absolute blast. They are doing a limited run of mead tumblers for us. So, it is called Debaucher Mead. That flew out of Kristy’s mouth one night when we were talking about debauchery, and we were talking about mead before that.”

That would be brewer extraordinaire Kristy Bounds getting the naming credit for the Earl Grey tea-infused mead, which checks in at a Brew Crew sessionable 8.6-percent ABV. It was a fun first project in that genre for the brewing team.

“It’s like starting all over again,” Mondragon said. “It’s been interesting.”

“Monica has been taking over a lot of the theory, and I’ve been working with Scott (Cesarz, brew team member and mead aficionado) on the process and bringing that to the brewery,” Lenetsky said. “He’s been bringing bottles in to try and the owners gravitated to it.”

“It’s been really fortunate having him on the team and then he started bringing in this myriad array of all flavors,” Mondragon said. “We’re like, Scott, you want to start a mead program? And he was like, yeah, maybe. We sampled a bunch of his product and thought Earl Grey would be a nice start. It’s another good option for people like wine drinkers.”

For St. Patrick’s Day on Monday, there will be lamb stew and soda bread, plus Reuben sliders added to the food menu for that day only. There will be a couple of additional beer specials, as well, a single sixtel of Freddy’s Got Twenty Imperial Stout aged in a maple barrel, and then Nigel Scottish Ale aged in whiskey barrels.

“We threw it in barrels, it’s the same Nigel from September of last year, and it’s been sitting in barrels for six months now,” Lenetsky said. “It’s M’tucci’s Makers Mark (barrels). It’s been sitting in that for a while. Nice oaky aroma, still a little whiskey on it. It’s the classic malty body that’s a Scotch ale.”

“Good friends give us barrels, and we’ve got more coming,” Shelby Chant added. “And then, we’ve got Dirty Brown Jug Band, which also usually plays for our anniversary, plays 6 to 8.”

Speaking of barrels, that will be an ongoing restart of that project for Mondragon and Lenetsky.

“We’re also working on the barrel program,” she said. “I’d like to do least two releases per year. And then we’re trying to start back on the sour program.”

“I think that’s probably a little later, but once we get barrels, we can get going on the cultures,” Lenetsky added.

There will be more new seasonal and specialty beers, including some where members of the taproom and brewery staff get to collaborate on the pilot system, and the return of some classics. Mondragon said the fans of The Judy are getting restless, so a fresh batch should be in the works before too long.

Otherwise, Steel Bender will keep on keeping on, brewing up all the fan favorites, serving up oodles of delicious food, and supporting the Los Ranchos community and beyond. They have weathered the storm so far, and I at least have faith that will continue.

Oh, yeah, and then there is that first off-site location at the Albuquerque Sunport.

“As of this moment, on March 11, it’s September 1,” Shelby Chant said of the planned opening. “Pre-Balloon Fiesta, so yeah, it’s a city contract. They have to fit the timeline. This is a monster of project management. They have to run a couple places at the same time. I think ours is running parallel to Sadie’s. It did get pushed back a little bit. It was originally supposed to be summer, but we found out a couple weeks ago it will be September 1. The place where we’re supposed to be was Black Mesa Coffee, has been demolished. It was supposed to be demolished the first week of February. They just submitted design a couple weeks ago, final-ish design. Final concept was submitted. It’s been an interesting project, it really has.”

Well, I will be flying east later in September, so hopefully I can snag a little something on my way out of town.

So once again, a huge thank you to Shelby, Ethan, Monica, Ben, April, and Kilie for taking the time to chat before one of their busiest weekends of the year. I look forward to trying that mead and hopefully making it from work in time to snag a pour or two of those special beers on Monday.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister