The move is complete, the construction dust is out the door, and now only a few finishing touches remain before Turtle Mountain can fire up the brewhouse again and start churning out Hopshell IPA and Wooden Teeth lager again.

I caught up with owner Nico Ortiz and head brewer David Pacheco last week to tour the new space next door to the North taproom and go over everything else for our annual Look Back/Look Ahead Series.

The planning to move the brewery from the original South location to North began back in late 2023. Simply put, the old space had zero room for growth, and was simply incapable of keeping enough beer on tap at both buildings.

“When we built that building in 2005, 2006, I knew at some point there would be a reckoning,” Ortiz said. “We squeezed the brewery in the way back of the building that didn’t have much access. We could only make so much beer in that brewery. There was no room for extra tanks. If something shat the bed, like the hot liquor tank that was in the back of the platform, we would have to move at some point. We got 18 years out of it, which is pretty freaking good. Now we’ve fixed everything that was bad at that brewery.”

The final catalyst to start moving equipment came back in November, when the boiler finally gave out at South. Rather than dismantle the brewhouse to get to the boiler, pull it out, and replace it, the decision was made to take advantage of the slow season and mild winter weather and start moving everything.

“Yeah, in mid-November, the boiler just died,” Pacheco said. “We didn’t want to spend any more money trying to keep it alive. Which was OK, though, because we needed this brewhouse in place to make sure that everything was going to fit for installs and everything. It was kind of the right time. I would liked to have done more reserves (of beer), but god works in mysterious ways.”

Ortiz said the hardest thing was not having a set budget for the entire project.

“We had a set of plans, there was just never a budget,” he said. “We had no idea how much everything was going to cost. The cooler was one small sub-project. The concrete and the flooring was another set cost. We couldn’t get an estimate. It was highly stressful for me. I don’t have a bottomless amount of money. We need to bring this to the finish line but without knowing how much it was going to cost was very hard. That’s what took so long. We’re almost there, and blessedly it didn’t break the bank, so to speak.”

In the end, everything worked out. The brewhouse is set up, the fermenters and brite tanks are in place, and the cold room, which Pacheco said came in at just under 1,000 square feet, is operational. Only a few more electrical checks remain before they get ready to brew again.

“Same old brewhouse from the South, with a new hot liquor tank,” Pacheco said. “All the fermenters here are from South. Two new brite tanks, and these are pre-owned. I believe we got them from Rhode Island and shipped them across the country. That was two years ago or something like that. These vessels along with the hot liquor tank have been here the longest. We had to get them when we had to get them. Luckily, we got them domestically.”

Pacheco said, more than once, that he was glad they did everything when they did, as all the associated costs with everything steel and aluminum have gone up sharply.

“Thank god we got them when we did, because thankfully we’re finishing this project now, rather than starting this,” he said. “It would be, what, 25 or 40 percent more, maybe 200 percent more?”

Turtle Mountain should be set up for some time, now, as far as brewing goes.

“I know it’s been more expensive than what Nico thought, (but) this was our only chance,” Pacheco said. “Seeing the state of how things are in the world, this was our only chance to do it. There’s no way we could have done this at this moment now. I think we made the right decision for the integrity and future of Turtle Mountain. We had to save it. If you were to walk into South today, you’d be like, oh, that’s why they moved. The whole building is falling apart. Too many years of not doing it right.

“Whenever I talk about this place, I talk about legacy. Every head brewer has a legacy, and I never want anybody to like, if I die tomorrow, leave, or get fired, I don’t want anyone to besmirch my name because I set up shit up not the right way. I want people to come in here and replace me. This is how you do it. This is how you set up a brewery.”

The setup will include a steel augur system from the grain room to the brewhouse, a number of brite tanks to help properly age the beer, and there is plenty of room in the cooler for kegs and even more serving vessels.

“2025 is getting both pubs fully stocked with beer, utilizing the brite tanks to give our beer a little more age, which I hope will make our beer better,” Ortiz said. “The beer was good before, but it went straight from fermenter to serving tank. It didn’t really have that brite ability to sit for five or six days.”

Every little thing can help, Ortiz said, because the restaurant side of things is not getting any easier.

“Revenues were up, almost 6 percent, but every other associated cost — labor and insurance and everything else — far eclipsed that 6-percent dollar increase in sales,” he said. “We were less profitable than we were in 2023, which was less profitable than we were in 2022.”

Ortiz said that the brewery side of things has always subsidized the restaurant side, especially when considering just the staffing (three brewers versus 100-plus cooks/servers/bartenders).

“The brewery brings in all this money but it gets vacuumed up into the abyss of the restaurant,” Ortiz said, but still noting that one cannot exist without the other. “Turtle Mountain has the same issue as Nexus, as Ken (Carson) does. Ken tried and failed to do a Nexus taproom that had beer and no food. Turtle couldn’t do that. Our beers are good, but people associate us with food. It’s a blessing and a curse.”

Being a part of the brewing scene also has added benefits, as Turtle Mountain got some help from their industry friends during this transitional period.

“Circling back, 2024 was definitely not a bad year,” Ortiz said. “It was a planning year. It was a year of, all right, we committed moving the brewery. Especially in November, the clock is ticking. There’s only so much (left). All the server tanks are full of beer, but there’s no more beer going in.

“Jeff (Erway) definitely did us a solid by brewing up 15 barrels of Hopshell (at La Cumbre). Flix did a solid, too. Definitely a major shout-out to everyone. The beer side of the business is still one of the best businesses to be in. Having the legacy of 26 years coming up, having that longevity in Rio Rancho has definitely bought us a lot of allegiance. I would definitely not want to be a brand-new brewery trying to get going.”

“It’s that brand loyalty, they love their brand loyalty in Rio Rancho,” Pacheco added. “We are Rio Rancho. We are the brewery of Rio Rancho. We’ve been here for so damn long. Major life events have been happening within these walls.”

2025 is all about catching up

Now that the hardest work is (hopefully) done, Turtle Mountain will be getting back to basics on the brewing side.

“I think we’re very eager to catch up and really flex what this place can do,” Pacheco said. “There will come a point when both South and North will have all the beer that they need. That’s when we’ll go into very strategically some choice restaurants and start giving them beer in kegs.”

Ortiz said he put in for a wholesaler license again after he let the prior one expire back during the COVID lockdown.

“We’re going to be doing some limited accounts,” he said. “We’re not going into Albuquerque. We’re not chasing people for money. It’s not worth it. Limited offsite distribution in kegs only.”

Pacheco said they decided not to purchase a canning line, for reasons that predated the current federal tariffs that will greatly increase the costs of the aluminum that breweries use, which mainly comes from Canada.

“Even before those tariffs, before this administration, we didn’t want to do that because a canning line, one, (takes) a lot of space,” he said. “It shrinks quickly. Two, we spend all this money just to lose your profit margin on the product and just for your product to sit in the warm shelves in some store. It doesn’t seem very honest to the product. We want to keep control of the quality of our product and preserve the brand for as long as possible.”

“First and foremost, let’s get the pubs back up and running,” Ortiz added. “Hopefully we can make beer for less (cost) than years before. First, we have this ginormous bill that has to get paid down. 2025 is pretty much a thank god we’re done with this project and let the brewer guys get back to making beer.”

Ortiz joked that maybe with the improved brewing setup, Turtle Mountain might be able to fare better at local competitions like the Stout Invitational and IPA Challenge.

“I don’t take it too personal, for the record,” Pacheco said. “That’s chaos over there.”

“I was not too reluctant to invest the money in the brewery side,” Ortiz added. “It’s what drives the profitability. Giving David and his boys a playground to make the highest-margin product we sell. It cost a lot of money but will definitely pay itself back.”

That, in many ways, is the whole story boiled down to its essence, that the brewery move was the defining element of 2024, and will be for 2025, too.

“That’s pretty much it,” Ortiz said. “You’re standing in what was 2024 and what’s going to be 2025. This consumed our last year and this will consume our current year as far as getting operational. I’m hoping the beers are going to be worthy of the ginormous investment that we’re sitting in. I have confidence that (David) and the boys will make that happen.”

Or, as North general manager Adam Galarneau said after listening to this interview, “I’m just happy that it’s all done.”

When the brewery starts humming and later when those first beers are ready, we will be sure to let everyone know. In the meantime, a hearty toast to everyone at Turtle Mountain for their hard work these last 26 years, and a big thank you to Nico, David, and Adam.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister