Fate of the Fests: Brewery staff members discuss future of off-site events

The times, they are a changing, particularly when it comes to off-site beer festivals. We picked up on it pretty easily just by attending events around Albuquerque this year. The 2022 enthusiasm for the return of festivals was pretty obviously tilted towards the beer drinkers, and not the beer producers. It was an aberration, right?…

Brewers Association paints a mixed picture of craft beer at midyear

The Crew (well, me specifically) received an invitation to watch the Brewers Association’s midyear economic update online today (Thursday). There was nothing earth-shattering from chief economist Bart Watson, but it was still interesting to see where the national trends are going and how those pertain to craft breweries in New Mexico. A summary of the…

Cheers to Change looks to create a more equitable local craft beer industry

Cheers to Change, an initiative created to improve equity and accountability within our local craft brewing industry, quietly came into existence last summer. Now they are starting to make their presence known, and will host their first industry event this week. Bow & Arrow will host the Brewing Industry Pride Night this Wednesday from 5…

Breweries are still left juggling pros and cons of having kitchens

A small news item crossed our desk today (Monday) when we found out that Turtle Mountain is adding new items to its food menu. This is something that happens all the time in the restaurant business, where the palates of diners and their interests ebb and flow, often unpredictably. While several of the dishes look…

Somebody turn down the volume in our taprooms

Recently one of the first questions we were asked about a just-opened brewery came as a bit of a surprise. Rather than ask about the beer or hours or something like that, our reader asked us this simple question: “How loud is it inside?” While we could answer “not too loud,” we did so by…