The Tractor Brewing duo of head brewer TJ Frederich and operations manager Jeremy Kinter came prepared this year for their Look Back/Look Ahead Series interview, which is hardly uncommon for them, but this time around they went the extra mile.

They knew the three primary questions — biggest challenge of 2025, biggest accomplishment, big goal/idea/plan for 2026 — in advance, so that helped, but when they busted out their phones to go over the bullet points they had compiled, I knew it was going to be a good interview.

Still, there was something that Frederich said deeper in the interview that merits being brought to the front. He was talking about what was a year of growth for Tractor, bucking the industry’s downward trend, and shared this bit of wisdom:

“You know the thing I tell the crew in the back is that pressure is a privilege, and we have to come in every day and know that we’re continuing to grow. And we’re doing a lot of things right, but we have to continue to build on those things that are allowing us to achieve those goals.”

Honestly, he might want to make a sign with pressure is a privilege and put it up in every brewery around town.

Anyway, going back through those questions from one through three, Frederich kicked things off by reflecting on the ups and downs of the past year from the perspective of the brewing staff.

“I can start in the brewery,” Frederich said. “You know, I think our biggest challenge in the brewery this year was sort of dealing with success. We started 2025 fresh off of the GABF gold (for Mustachio Milk Stout) in 2024, and you know, God bless my fellow industry people who sat around and told me like, oh, it’s not that big a deal. You’ll see like a week or two bump, and then it kind of goes on its merry way.

“Yeah, that was terrible and nice. Well, almost instantaneously, we saw a bump in demand for not only Mustachio, but a lot of our four beers in both the taprooms and in distribution. And you know, having to deal with that success brings (new) challenges.”

The only constant at breweries is change, and that includes in staffing.

“We had turnover in the back,” Frederich said. “So there was training involved all the while the demand continued to go up. And you know, we had to deliver the product to both tap rooms and to distribution. But, we had to deliver it at the (higher) level. That was expected of someone who won a gold medal. You know, I think we did a hell of a job delivering on that.”

That still was not easy to deliver.

“But, there were some scary weeks in the brewery,” Frederich said. “Like, man, are we going to get this out in time for distribution? Or are we going to have this in time for taprooms? You know, it just resulted in us having to change processes.

“I had to look at reports differently. I had to look at tank space and how we were utilizing that tank space, and you know, making sure everyone in the back was as efficient as they could possibly be. Those are things that we had to have more communication and have weekly meetings just to make sure that we were on the same page about beer releases, and when they were coming out.”

The changes they did make ended up working out, though as Frederich pointed out, he would often tell the staff he was going to take the next Friday off. That never really happened throughout 2025.

As for Kinter, we often wonder if he ever takes time off (relax, he does, we saw him enjoying the mellow vibes of Lasso Brewing just a few weeks ago).

“So the biggest challenge coming off of successful 2024 was trying to build on that success actually from a staffing point,” Kinter said. “I’ve had rougher years. But, our staff is really good. I had to move some people around that have been with the company (for years) that took a step back. But from a staffing perspective, I’m very happy with where we’re at and where we were in 2025 and where we’re at currently in 2026.”

Kinter said that he reflected on the fact that rather than one big challenge on the front-of-house side, it was more a matter of multiple little challenges throughout 2025.

“It’s like a death by a thousand cuts,” he said. “I hate that cliché, but it’s small stuff like launching a new (point-of-sale) system. You know, dealing with ever-rotating food trucks, losing a GM, or moving people around from location to location. And, doing that and then also things like being in a downturn in the craft beer industry, fighting and bucking that trend.”

Kinter has added more responsibilities over time, but planning out events remains a major part of his job. One thing that he noticed in 2025 was that the most consistent events that Tractor has are not always drawing the crowds like they used to, forcing him and the event operators to get more creative.

“You have to add new spins,” Kinter said. “You gotta do something different. You got to really put in the work in terms of marketing to get people into your taproom, especially here at Wells Park. We don’t have a lot of foot traffic, and it’s an event-driven location. So yeah, those those are are the challenges.”

Throughout its history, Tractor has tended to be a brewery that focuses on the positive, so it came as little surprise that Kinter wanted to tackle the second question, about the brewery’s biggest accomplishment(s) of 2025.

“I’m just going to dive into the next question, if that’s OK,” he said. “The biggest accomplishment for 2025 is, front-of-house-wise, we were up (in sales) overall, which is a big accomplishment. And, Nob Hill is seeing one of the best years in recent memory I’ve ever seen in my tenure as the operations manager, which is a really, really good sign.

“And, it speaks to the revitalization that has happened there in Nob Hill with businesses. I know you always see the doom and gloom stuff. But, you don’t hear about the good stuff that’s happening in Nob Hill with that community, and with Nob Hill Main Street and other businesses around there. So I would like to put that spin on it. And then, that was our biggest accomplishment for for that year.”

If Nob Hill had hands, we would give it a high five. But seriously, that is great to hear that things are looking up for a prominent Albuquerque neighborhood that went through a hell of a stretch from the Albuquerque Rapid Transit construction debacle and then right into the COVID lockdown. We raise our glasses to that.

Moving along, it was Kinter’s answer to that second question about the sales growth for Tractor that led to Frederich’s pressure is a privilege comment.

“I think, from the brewing side, our biggest accomplishment in 2025 was proving that we could continue to grow while improving quality,” Frederich said. “You know, one of the things that really stuck out to me this year is we continue to hear from guests, and even distributors. Yesterday, we were told that our beers are more consistent than they’ve ever been. And, we saw that reflected in, just like (Jeremy) said, being up in sales and (with) new placements throughout not only the metro, but even down south in Roswell and places like that.”

Frederich said it has been even more gratifying to hear from customers about how much they are enjoying the beers, and how people who have come in for a first visit in the past year are now semi-regulars at the bar. That, more than anything, has kept up that pressure to continue producing better and better beer and cider.

“We talk about there being the pressure to constantly perform in the back to make sure that we’re constantly being innovative, and making not just improvements, but detailed improvements and not just large-scale, brush-over things,” he said.

“I’d say from like my perspective in front of house with customers, I hear a lot of compliments on the beer, which is really nice,” Kinter added. “Now it’s just about getting them in the door. We have good events, we have great staff, we have incredible beer and incredible products. So I know that we have that, and we can stand by that. It’s just, seeing them walk in through that door. Now it’s a matter of getting those people here.”

That in turn brought us to discussing the main goal for 2026.

“So with the biggest goal/project/idea for 2026, of course the biggest goal is to be up (in sales) once again,” Kinter said. “Which I’m very optimistic (we can do) by integrating what I’m calling more passive events in the afternoon, like art-making classes. We have this hat bar that sets up on the Westside, (plus) book clubs and stuff like that. That just brings a little bit more traffic in but isn’t like music that will interrupt people, because I struggle finding that balance, especially with Nob Hill, because people go in there because it’s a neighborhood pub. People go in there just wanting to do work or have a conversation.

“And, same as always, I know it sounds like a broken record, but coming up with new and innovative events and not having to necessarily rely too much on our large-scale events like the Zombie Carnival, like Drag Queen Bingo.”

As for the brewing side, Frederich said his objective for this year is to not just keep the seasonals rolling out on a regular basis, but to take a good long look at the mainstays in the Tractor lineup.

“And then, as far as our biggest goal/project/idea for 2026 from the brewery/back-of-house side, I think it just means continuing to refine our core lineup,” he said. “You know, we have a great core lineup of beers. Some of those are beers that have been on tap since … gosh, since probably Tractor’s inception. But, you know, continuing to refine recipes to reflect changes in taste, continuing to add beers that draw those people in like you said.”

One trick that Frederich has pulled has been to release a seasonal that is actually a re-working of a core beer recipe, see how customers respond, and then decide if he wants to make some of those changes to a year-round brew.

“So everything in the back has been extremely deliberate,” he said. “You know, we want to continue rolling out some focused seasonals and specialty releases that our brands can look forward to without losing our identity. I like to think we make very approachable beer that doesn’t really have all the frills and stuff like that. But, you do still want to make some stuff with with the frills to get those fringe craft drinkers in.”

As for the most popular seasonal of 2025, it was once again the Pistachio Cream Ale.

“I think one of those that is turned into one of our most popular seasonals is your Pistachio Cream Ale,” Kinter said.

“I tried to have fun once,” Frederich replied, shaking his head.

“They even talked about it yesterday (at the distributor), about offering it to the market because they don’t have a cream ale offering anymore,” Kinter continued.

Good luck sourcing all those pistachios, gentlemen, should that come to pass.

Until then, a huge thank you to TJ and Jeremy for all of those detailed responses to our questions. It is always an enjoyable interview. Oh, and the Bohemian Shade Czech Dark Lager is quite the good, crushable winter offering. Heck, the whole lineup is replete with delicious dark brews right now, so if you have not been into Tractor in a while and those styles are your jam, pick a taproom and head on over ASAP.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister