It’s time to get those competitive fires burning, because Bear Fest is back with a whole new setup of the ultimate backyard games, plus a new beer, food, music, vendors, merchandise and more this Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. at Boxing Bear Firestone.

I was joined by events coordinator Astrid Galarza, social media manager Nick Bridges, head brewer Eddie Dominguez, and director of brewing operations Dylan Davis to go over the new touches to this annual celebratory event.

“The first new thing is the beer, we’ve got a new beer coming out, Backyard Lager,” Davis said. “Bear Fest is one of our favorite events that we always do, first and foremost. It hasn’t always been the easiest event to pull off. We wanted this one to be a strong representation of what we want to do in the future. I think the beer is the first place we started. We wanted something that goes well in the heat to have fun with, that you can enjoy while spending time with your friends and family.”

Backyard Lager will also be available in cans to take home so that you can enjoy it in your actual, um, backyard.

“The other newest component of Bear Fest is the Brewyard Games,” Galarza said. “We’re offering a variety of games for teams of two people. I think we’re going to do up to 20 teams. It’s going to be a day of games.”

Sign-up will start at noon, with the competition running from 1 to 3 p.m. The best part? It’s all free.

“We did it last year for our 10th anniversary,” Galarza continued. “We did a series of yard games and it went over really well. We just wanted to do something more interactive and I started to see a lot of other breweries in the industry doing cornhole tournaments or pickleball. All these yard games are becoming popular. We wanted to make sure we’re staying fun and innovative for our guests and fanbase.”

Besides good old cornhole, there will be Bear Pong, where competitors try to sink balls into 55-gallon drum barrels.

“I honestly think it’s a combination of what we’ve offered in the past and what all of us here like to play,” Dominguez said. “We’ve got cornhole sets, so we’ll play some cornhole. The Bear Pong was a hit last year, so why not bring that back?”

Another new game, at least as far as Bear Fest is concerned, will also roll into the back parking lot.

“We teamed up with Swish Kings and their mobile basketball trailer,” Galarza said. “They’re fairly new, but they’ve been doing events all over the city of Albuquerque. We’re excited to have them here. That will be a fun new component.”

It will not be a full court experience, but something more akin to those basketball shooter games you see at places like Dave & Buster’s.

The back parking lot will be 21-and-over only, though children and pets can attend as long as they stay with a parent or guardian inside the taproom or on the west patio.

“(From) 1 to 3, we’ve given ourselves two hours for everyone to get through the different games,” Galarza said. “Then we’ll have an awards ceremony and we’ll have DJ Clout here throughout the event to MC and keep the energy and the vibe going. We’ll have a dance party at the end. It’s like a big backyard bash, really.”

Oh, yes, there will be awards for the winners.

“We’ll have prizes, too, which should be a big incentive as well,” Galarza said. “It’s always nice to win something.”

Besides that, there will be a special cocktail station in the back lot, serving up margaritas and micheladas made with either Backyard Lager or SomBEARo Lager.

On the merch side of things, Boxing Bear will be selling those special new black baseball-style jerseys.

“We’ll have the baseball jerseys available and then we’ll have the vendor here, Hayaats’i,” Bridges said. “I think they’re from up in the Taos region. They are going to come down and customize their shirt front and back, they can choose a special team name or last name, it’s really a specialized piece of Boxing Bear merch. We only have 100 of them, so we won’t have it for long, for sure.”

Stoutmeister on the front, Dark Side on the back, or the other way around? Hmm, choices, choices.

“We’re also going to have a handful of our super-homey vendors that we always have, because we’re always about supporting local,” Galarza continued. “We have High Desert Flameworks is going to make their return blowing glass and selling their stuff. Leon Looks, Loveliest of Lovelies, and AQT at Work will be here as well as Enchanted Wick, and I think that’s it. We just wanted to go with a select (few), we didn’t want to overwhelm people with a vendor market, but we want to support the people that have supported us in all of our (past) events.”

The 2024 edition of Bear Fest, which capped the brewery’s 10th anniversary, was quite the endeavor. The idea this time around was to keep the spirit but dial down the sheer amount of events in the build-up.

“The original idea kind of came from last year, we were just wanting to do something different and less having people come in to buy different stuff, we’d rather have people come in to spend some time and relax and have fun,” Davis said.

“For the 10-year anniversary, we did 10 events in 10 days or something totally psycho,” Galarza added with a laugh. “One of the events was the Bear Olympics. The people it drew out had a blast. It just had a different energy when people got competitive. It was different than drinking a beer and listening to live music, which is great, but …”

“It also seems since COVID hit and times are different now, events aren’t as popular as they used to be, even with concerts and stuff like that,” Davis said. “We just wanted something outside. We’ll try to keep it cool for everyone. That’s what we’re trying to bring out again, but the very first Bear Fest we did was out in the open. Everyone had so much fun being outside and socializing. That’s what we’re trying to get back to.”

Oh, and they are bringing back the Grizzly Dog, the bacon-wrapped hot dog with toppings on the side, just in case you were worried it might never return.

A big thanks to Astrid, Nick, Eddie, and Dylan for the interview. The Black Mesa Dunkel and forthcoming Helles Good were quite the tasty treats, too.

And, of course, do not forget the sunscreen. Summer is here, and it is going to be a blast, and not just temperature wise (we hope).

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister