After we posted last week that Google was reporting that Cazuela’s Mexican Grill and Brewery was permanently closed, there was still a need for more confirmation on our part that we could add it to the list of breweries that have shut their doors.

Enter Turtle Mountain owner Nico Ortiz, who said he was curious enough to drive over and check it out. Hey, whatever saves us the long drive to Rio Rancho (added note, watch for the speed cameras on Alameda, they do not adhere to the only 10 mph over will be ticketed rule).

Ortiz sent us this on Facebook:

“I can confirm that Cazuela’s has closed. I did a drive by last week and ran into Francisco (Saenz) the owner in the parking lot. He said he just got tired of kitchen employees who wouldn’t show up or show up drunk, leaving him to man the kitchen himself. His adjacent driving school and MVD makes more money with less headache, so he’s focusing on that.”

Well, that’s one way to decide to bow out.

Then Ortiz added this nugget:

“He did say (Santa Fe) Brewing had reached out to him about taking over the space. If you have $15k per month, he would entertain leasing the turnkey space to you.”

None of us have $15k lying around, so we will let the professionals handle this. It is interesting to see at least a rumored interest by Santa Fe Brewing. None of the major breweries have shown much of an appetite for adding new taprooms in the last couple of years, save for Bosque. It might be worth monitoring to see if SFBC or anyone else is considering expansion again.

Anyway, it is still a sad thing to see another brewery close. While it may not have been a place that anyone in the Crew frequented, we are betting that they had their proud regulars, who now have one less place to go to have a little fun amid all the doom and gloom out there.

Make sure to give your favorite spot(s) a little extra love this fall/winter as they enter the slow season. And to Cazuela’s, we raise one up in memory of that excellent batch of Beer for my Horses oatmeal stout that won a bronze medal at the World Beer Cup many years ago.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister