Dripline Brewery juggles all the ups and downs through 6 months in business

Nothing ever goes completely to plan when opening a business. There are always a few unexpected challenges, some surprise developments, and more. For Dripline Brewery, things have mostly been looking up since they opened last November, becoming the newest brewery in Albuquerque. I caught up with co-owners Guillaume Dupont and Jacob Werenko last week for…

Bombs Away increases capacity to keep up with the demand for lagers

Taking advantage of a rare Tuesday off, I trekked over to Bombs Away Beer Company for their annual Look Back/Look Ahead Series interview. I was so focused on the people ahead of me that I went right past two game-changing additions to the brewery, and I don’t mean the epic Hawaiian shirts that the brewers…

Brew Lab 101 roars back just by keeping things consistent on all fronts

Sometimes, all a brewery really needs to do is just stick to a comfortable routine, providing maximum value for customers with good service, quality beers, and a consistent lineup of events throughout the week. It’s not splashy or anything groundbreaking, but it works, particularly for the good folks at Brew Lab 101. I caught up…

Painted Lady Bed and Brew keeps things spooky and fun all year round

Sometimes the hardest thing for any brewery is to come up with the names for their beers. When Painted Lady Bed and Brew owner Jesse Herron started brewing last year, he became the latest to face that challenge. “I spent probably two years leading up to brewing coming up with names of beers,” he said….

New Mexico Brewers Guild helps its members navigate rough seas

Sometimes good news comes when nothing really happens. At least, that seems to be the case for the New Mexico Brewers Guild and its members, who got to breathe a sigh of relief after a tumultuous 2025 legislative session in Santa Fe. I caught up with executive director Ebbie Edmonston over the phone this weekend…

Turtle Mountain finishes brewery move and prepares to fire it up

The move is complete, the construction dust is out the door, and now only a few finishing touches remain before Turtle Mountain can fire up the brewhouse again and start churning out Hopshell IPA and Wooden Teeth lager again. I caught up with owner Nico Ortiz and head brewer David Pacheco last week to tour…

Steel Bender feels fortunate rolling into year 8 in Los Ranchos

The times are still tough out there, so it was nice to catch up with a brewery that espouses positivity and yet is also honest about the state of beer affairs these days. That brewery was Steel Bender, which I visited earlier this week for another marathon interview (down to just 37 minutes and 2,750…

An eye for art and a thirst for beer: Catching up with Thirsty Eye

On a particularly warm January evening, I met up with brewer John Kofonow, general manager/co-owner Jo Sloan, and co-owner Kim Arthun at the ever-cozy Thirsty Eye Brewing at 206 Broadway Blvd. SE in the historic Huning Highland neighborhood in Albuquerque. For a random Wednesday, it was comfortably busy inside. We sat inside, though it was…