Every now and again, you can still learn something surprising covering the local brewery scene. For instance, Thirsty Eye Brewing has never thrown an anniversary party since it opened in 2019.

That will change this Friday, and in a way, this party will also mark a joyous farewell of sorts for founding brewer John Kofonow. After seven years of having the coolest side gig in town, he is heading north to Denver, with longtime assistant brewer Arron Vallejos set to take over.

First up, though, the details on Friday’s festivities. The party will run from 5 to 10 p.m. Zia Bros Pizza will be serving up fresh pies on the patio. Inside, Hello Darlin’ will perform from 5 to 7, followed by Kaleidoscope from 8 to 10. There will be some new art on the walls and artists on hand, a raffle, special glasses, gift coupons, and T-shirts. Plus, as a final incentive or two, beer and wine will be $7 per pour, and Kofonow has a nifty little beer surprise on hand.

“Yeah, we decided to do our tea-infused beer this month in a cask that we borrowed from Sidetrack,” he said. “We’re grateful to them. That’s going to be fun. So we’re doing an IPA with kind of a mojito-flavored tea in there.”

The anniversary party will also take the spot of the monthly art show at Exhibit 208 next door, as the co-owner of both, Kim Arthun, has a big show planned for August.

“We normally have an art opening on this second Friday,” Kofonow explained. “But Kim has a really big show he’s gearing up for for next month. So we’e like, let’s throw our party instead, finally. COVID interrupted our first year. You know, we’d only been open 9 or 10 months. So we never got to throw that first one or two, and then it just became a habit not to think about it.”

Now they get to send Kofonow out on a high note. Arthun said that if he was granted three wishes and the chance to do it all over again, he still would have hired his brewer.

“It couldn’t be any better than what John delivered for us from the first day on,” Arthun said. “I mean, he built the system. He ran the program and that’s all we could have hoped for.”

Arthun said he is sad to see Kofonow leave, but both are confident that Vallejos will be able to slide into the head brewer role.

“Yeah, Arron’s going to be great,” Kofonow said. “He knows our system, our processes, all the ways I wanted. I set things up here, so everything is staying consistent.”

“And we didn’t want to change it,” Arthun added.

One of the current Thirsty Eye servers is being trained to take over the assistant brewer role. That should also help keep everything in place.

Kofonow reflected on just how long it took him to find that consistency after Thirsty Eye opened.

“It took me about a 100 batches to get everything really dialed in, and now everything’s been super consistent,” he said. “You can almost do it with your eyes closed if that wasn’t a safety violation. I’m excited for this place and for Arron. I’m sad I am leaving, but I have some other things to do now.”

Kofonow thanked Arthun and his wife Jo Sloan, the brewery’s general manager and co-owner.

“That Kim and Jo always gave me so much trust in this process, I was able to really run from the start with the brewing program,” Kofonow said, noting that he went from an apprenticeship at Chama River Brewing to getting Thirsty Eye up and running in what felt like a much shorter span of time than what it actually was.

Kofonow said that he and Arthun had their first conversation at the former Nob Hill Bar and Grill back in October 2016. Arthun had a concept of bringing the art community and the brewing community together in ways not seen before. He said he was inspired while sitting at Sidetrack Brewing.

“This was an idea that I had sitting in Sidetrack for a couple years after they were open,” Arthun said. “And just sitting at the bar, looking at everything. There was art on the wall, but it wasn’t the focus.”

Arthun conceived of a brewery and gallery that would complement one another. The only issue he had was that neither he nor anyone he knew in the art world had any brewing experience whatsoever. That led him down a path where he talked to then-Chama River head brewer Andrew Krosche, who in turn pointed Arthun to Kofonow. The rest, as they say, is history.

“I think for me, going with Thirsty Eye and Exhibit 208 and the community that we have, it stopped being for me just about brewing the beer and an extra paycheck a long time ago,” Kofonow said. “And, it just became really about everyone that I got to interact with every day and not just here, but getting to know everyone in the Albuquerque and New Mexico brewing community has been more meaningful to me than any one particular beer that I brewed. There’s been plenty that I’ve been super happy with but it’s really like it became about the people involved a long time ago. And that’s what I’m going to miss the most.”

Arthun said it really could not have gone any better.

“Well, in the art community, the larger art community, they really like the idea that we’ve pulled off here,” he said. “I got an award from the College of Fine Arts and I think part of that was just because this is such a great idea that nobody had done. Really, a lot of breweries show art, but you know, as we’ve always said we’re a gallery with a brewhouse.”

Kofonow agreed.

“So yeah, that’s how I describe it — we’re a gallery with a taproom, a taproom that opened inside of the gallery, not the other way around,” he said.

Now, Kofonow is not totally done at Thirsty Eye as of Friday, as he still has a few more projects in the works before he hits the road to Colorado.

“We still have a couple things planned over the next bit,” Kofonow said. “While I’m still transitioning out, I’m still talking with two other breweries about collabs in the next month and a half or so.”

Thirsty Eye has been very active on the collaboration front, including two for the annual festivals at Ex Novo (United in Beer in 2025, and the rebranded Beer Prom in 2026), and a black rice lager with Flock of Moons and Painted Lady. Kofonow said the three breweries have been very interested in bringing that one back for a second run.

“I think I’m technically off the clock as of like three or four days ago,” Kofonow said during our interview last Friday. “But I’m still around for a couple months, so I’m gonna be helping any way I can. I’m gonna tidy up some SOPs and cabinets that are a messy and just being available for Arron and to answer whatever questions he might have.”

Kofonow noted that the lager we were both drinking, Shut the Front Dort, was Vallejos’ first solo recipe, and that this was the second time they have brewed it. The two have gone over recipe construction for some time now.

“He’s going to be good,” Kofonow said. “We’ve got to catalog of I think we’re up to like 70 unique recipes that we’ve brewed. So he can always go back to some crowd favorites whenever he needs to.”

Arthun said he knows that Thirsty Eye is in good hands going forward, while noting just how much of the brewery’s success to date was due to Kofonow.

“Oh, it’s made it a lot of fun, and you know without John, really, the brewery would not be the same,” Arthun said. “I think Jo feels the same way, as we got to know John, he’s such a fine young guy. We’re going to miss him.”

We will also raise our glasses to John. He has become a good friend in addition to being a great brewer. And, well, we have a feeling that he will be back from time to time, whether it will be to just enjoy a beer at a brewery or two or maybe indulge in one of those collaboration brew days.

See you all on Friday at Thirsty Eye!

— Stoutmeister