Back in April, the Brewers Association published their annual list of the 50 largest craft breweries in America, as measured by barrels produced.

No New Mexico brewery cracked that list, nor has one ever come close to doing so, but it still led us to ask the BA if they could send us a list of just our in-state breweries. We received the 2025 report last week, and after realizing we did not save the 2024 report, they were kind enough to follow up and send us that as well so we could compare the numbers.

All of this data is courtesy of The Brewers Association, and the reselling of data is prohibited.

Outside of three New Mexico breweries, most only experienced a slight drop in production. A few saw a slight increase. As always, there are finer details that must be noted going down the list.

Santa Fe Brewing remains the largest producer in New Mexico. They came in at 41,517 barrels in 2024, then dropped to 38,037 in 2025. It’s roughly an 8.3-percent drop from year to year, which is par for the course at many of the larger packaging-and-distribution breweries nationwide.

The big drop was felt over at Marble Brewery, which ended up going through a sale and reorganization throughout 2025. In 2024, the downtown brewery hit 21,982 barrels, only to drop to 12,097 in 2025.

The next two breweries were stable in comparison. La Cumbre went from 16,764 barrels in 2024 to 16,755 in 2025. Ex Novo saw a slight increase from 10,387 barrels in 2024 to 10,447 in 2025.

Special circumstances certainly applied to the No. 5-sized brewery on the list. Bosque Brewing dropped from 9,376 barrels in 2024 to 8,209 barrels in 2025, which ended up being their last year of operation before shutting down all of their physical locations.

At this time, we do not know how The Brewers Association will count the Bosque beers being brewed under contract at Marble for their 2026 report.

For New Mexico’s mid-sized breweries, which we count as those between 1,000 and 5,000 barrels of annual production, the last two years were a mixed bag.

Second Street Brewery jumped slightly from 4,200 barrels in 2024 to 4,370 in 2025. Bow & Arrow Brewing had a modest increase from 1,517 in 2024 to 1,591 in 2025, as did Las Cruces’ Icebox Brewing, going from 1,231 in 2024 to 1,337 in 2025.

Steel Bender Brewyard saw a drop from 3,167 in 2024 to 3,027 in 2025. Tractor Brewing went from 2,214 in 2024 to 1,972 in 2025. Others with slight dips in production included Sierra Blanca Brewing (5,021 to 4,946), Canteen Brewhouse (2,250 to 2,200), and Rio Bravo Brewing (1,267 to 1,205). There was nothing overly dramatic in that bunch, so no one should be concerned about the future of those breweries.

It should be noted that Boxing Bear Brewing did not report their 2024 total to The Brewers Association. Their 2025 total was 2,780 barrels.

For the smaller breweries, those that produced under 1,000 barrels in either year, the shift from year to year was not that pronounced. There are certainly some caveats that can be applied for some of those who saw a production dip.

Turtle Mountain Brewing, for instance, did not have their brewery up and running for more than half of 2025 after they moved it from the original location to TMBC North. That certainly accounted for the bulk of the drop from 899 barrels in 2024 to 389 in 2025. We fully expect they will pass the 2024 total here in 2026.

Sobremesa dropped from 693 barrels to 466, in large part due to closing their doors before 2025 came to an end. Red River Brewing, which has become more focused on their distilling program, went from 628 barrels in 2024 to 525 in 2025.

Otherwise, no other small breweries declined more than 90 barrels from year to year. Quite a few even saw an increase, with Bathtub Row Brewing leading the way with a jump from 615 barrels in 2024 to 762 in 2025.

The rest with modest increases included Boese Brothers Brewing (888 to 931), Taos Mesa Brewing (807 to 817), Downshift Brewing (685 to 744), Brew Lab 101 (493 to 556), Lauter Haus Brewing (400 to 419), 575 Brewing (388 to 407), Sidetrack Brewing (322 to 350), Flock of Moons (302 to 331), Gravity Bound Brewing (296 to 310), and High and Dry Brewing (296 to 310).

In the end, yeah, it pretty much paints the picture we have all been seeing, that times are tougher for breweries than before the 2020-21 pandemic shutdown. But, it also shows that there is still some hope out there for a turnaround, or that at the very least several breweries have found a comfortable production plateau that will keep them going.

Got questions about any of this? Send us a DM on social media or email us at nmdarksidebrewcrew@gmail.com.

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— Stoutmeister