Sometimes good news comes when nothing really happens. At least, that seems to be the case for the New Mexico Brewers Guild and its members, who got to breathe a sigh of relief after a tumultuous 2025 legislative session in Santa Fe.

I caught up with executive director Ebbie Edmonston over the phone this weekend for a quick recap of this year’s session, plus everything else involving the Guild for our annual Look Back/Look Ahead Series.

The legislature wrapped its session Saturday, and while Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham indicated that she will call a special session in the months ahead, that will be focused on crime and public safety. That means legislators cannot try to raise alcohol taxes or anything of that sort until next year.

This year’s session saw one particular piece of legislation, House Bill 417, catch the eye of the Guild and its members. That bill would have seen an additional 6-percent tax placed on every alcohol beverage sold in New Mexico, on tap of the existing excise tax that breweries pay directly.

“The bill that we were really focusing on was HB417, the one that would increase the surtax,” Edmonston said. “It would put a tax on the consumer, a sales tax, not excise, which affects the breweries directly. We were happy to get the exemptions in the House Taxation and Revenue Committee.”

That committee would have exempted New Mexico’s craft producers — breweries, cideries, wineries, distilleries — from having drinks taxed that they sold directly to the public. It would have still affected offsite package sales and from accounts at other New Mexico businesses like bars and restaurants.

In the end, though, efforts to revive the bill by its supporters failed as time ran out.

“That bill moved on and it died,” Edmonston said. “We’re happy it didn’t get finalized. We might see something like that next year, though.”

Most breweries also opposed parts of the Paid Family Medical Leave Act, largely in how it called for an increase in taxes on small businesses.

“That one also died,” Edmonston said. “From my understanding, the sponsor of that bill was not happy how it ended up with all the other amendments. It kind of got out of hand from what they intended it to be. I’m happy that it’s not going to be affecting small businesses, but I completely understand he thought behind it. I hope everyone can come together and work out something that’s fair for businesses and their employees in the future.”

In the end, the brewing industry escaped the session unscathed. With that part of the job behind her for a year, Edmonston reflected on how 2024 went for the Guild, particularly amid the economic upheaval that has affected breweries nationwide.

“The events did really well,” she said, before noting the two newest Guild events that started last year. “Fete de la Funk was the first year, it was received well. We did Zombie Crawl in the fall. It had some hiccups, but I’m definitely interested in pursuing that idea moving forward. Every idea starts somewhere and then you have to pivot and accept that it might not work well. Learning from those hiccups and little mistakes and pivoting to improve is all you can do.”

In addition to holding monthly Guild socials at brewery members, they also introduced a new feature in 2024.

“The Pint Sized Seminars, I’m really happy with those,” Edmonston said. “It basically is a social, but we wanted to give the associate members a chance to really come and talk about their industry, their company and what exciting things they’re doing. Mix and mingle with the breweries of New Mexico.”

It was good to have positive little moments like those amid all the uncertainty for the present and future of the brewing industry.

“Overall, I think the industry is definitely in a time of flux,” Edmonston said. “There’s a lot of things happening right now that unfortunately we just have to watch and see how things play out, and that determines what our actions are. That’s very generalized.”

As many brewery owners have told us over the years, you can only really worry about what you can control. What happens at, say, the federal level is completely out of your hands. The same goes for any environmental disruptions, like the way forest fires in the Pacific Northwest damaged the hop crop a few years back.

In a way, it also translates to Edmonston’s job. She and I both noted how executive director is more like two or three jobs in one role.

“I’m going into my third year and I’ve had to learn to put more on the board members,” Edmonston said. “That first year, I didn’t really understand what it meant to have a board. There’s more and more work. I honestly can’t do it all. I need you to do certain things. Allyson York (of Quarter Celtic), who’s now the president, joked that this is her free job. You might get some free beers, but it’s dedication to the industry and a love of the beer community.”

The 2025 events season has already gotten underway for the Guild, with both January’s WinterBrew and March’s Stout Invitational being big hits. The aforementioned Fete de la Funk is up next, moving from Rowley Farmhouse Ales in Santa Fe to Flock of Moons in Albuquerque’s Bricklight District across from UNM.

“Fete de la Funk, you know I have a passion for sours, saisons, and funky beers,” Edmonston said. “This is a passion project. I used to love Tart at Heart, I don’t what happened to it. We tried to reach out to the organizer but just missed each other.

“For this year, I’m excited to have it back. We have 10 breweries this year. We do have a specialty food truck, Ocean Desert. Kookie Jones and the Groove Maneuvers will perform from 12:30 to 3:30. Some fun beers, fun food, and good music. We’re really excited to be on that patio.”

While Stout Invitational is always hosted by Bathtub Row, Edmonston said it feels like Fete de la Funk will rotate around the brewing scene.

“Yeah, I think so,” she said. “Obviously, Stout Invitational has been around before I started, but Bathtub Row has really made it their own. They put so much work into it on their side of things. They take such good care of us. For Fete de la Funk, we’ll keep rotating. For now, it will hop around. That’s another reason I wanted to try for Albuquerque this year. You never know if there are more sour people in Albuquerque.”

The Guild’s annual golf tournament is the next event on the calendar, followed by the NMBG Collab Brew Day at Bosque North on June 6, the new NMBG Cornhole Tournament at Ex Novo on June 14, and Pint Glass Day will be June 18. As for what that pint glass will look like this year, Edmonston kept that a secret for now.

“Hopefully we’ll be releasing the artwork this coming week,” she said.

The IPA Challenge will follow in July, taking place this year with rounds in Santa Fe, Las Cruces, and Albuquerque. Locations, exact dates, and ticket links will follow in due time.

For now, Edmonston said she is taking a breather from legislative issues, though there are other things affecting breweries. The Guild is working with the City of Albuquerque’s Environmental Health Department to help streamline a new required process for breweries (more on that later). The Guild also has a new partnership with the New Mexico Department of Agriculture that helped breweries get free shipping for their competition entries to the World Beer Cup, which is being held at the Craft Brewers Conference in Indianapolis this year.

In other words, there really is no stretch of the year where Edmonston and the Guild board of directors aren’t busy. We thank one and all for their service to the industry, and especially for Ebbie taking some time out of her weekend to chat.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister