Cheers to Craft Beer in New Mexico

Big and small cities alike are enjoying local craft breweries in the Land of Enchantment. In fact, there are 104 (and still growing!).

By Amy Antonation on December 14, 2023

Lisa Burke/Marble Brewery

New Mexicans love craft beer. According to the Brewers Association, the state had 104 craft breweries in 2022 and was ranked the 10th highest in the nation for most breweries per capita. It’s clear: Craft beer in New Mexico is flourishing. 

“We’re very independent and very local,” Ebbie Edmonston, executive director of the New Mexico Brewers Guild, says of its membership. While Edmonston took the reins of the organization in 2023, she’s worked in the state’s craft beer industry for a decade. 

“I think the culture has changed a lot,” she says, pointing to the increase in the number of breweries in the past 10 years as well as the rise of “beer vacations” and “the number of tourists coming into town saying, ‘I want to check out the breweries.’” 

Award-winning craft beer in New Mexico is a draw for locals and visitors. At the 2022 Great American Beer Festival, Santa Fe’s Rowley Farmhouse Ales, Corrales’ Ex Novo Brewing Company and Albuquerque’s Quarter Celtic Brewpub all took home medals. 

Nathan Lambrecht

Big Brews in New Mexico

Without a doubt, one of the biggest breweries in the New Mexico craft beer scene is Santa Fe Brewing Co. (SFBC), founded in 1988. It’s the oldest and largest beer producer in the state, turning out 45,000 barrels per year, with five taprooms in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Marble Brewery and La Cumbre Brewing Co., both based in Albuquerque, are other production leaders. 

Even after 35 years, SFBC continues to lean into its roots as a true New Mexico original selling approximately 90% of its product in the state. 

“Every brewery wants to sell as much as they can in their own city, county and state,” says brewmaster Bert Boyce. “We doubled down on our ‘New Mexico first’ strategy, and that’s worked for us.” 

By choice, the brewery maintains a small distribution territory (Arizona, Colorado and El Paso, Texas) that ensures only fresh brews reach customers. 

The operation even has a small hop farm located between Santa Fe and Taos where it grows native New Mexican hops for occasional use in select batches of experimental beer. Independent operation La Capilla Hops Farm in Santa Fe is another source for local hops and supplies several regional breweries. 

Sergio Salvador

Small Suds in the Land of Enchantment

Craft beer in New Mexico isn’t just a big-city thing. “I have made it a personal goal to visit every single brewery in the state in this first year,” Edmonston says. “It is hard! I have to put a lot more miles on my car.” 

The Ale Trail map lists breweries throughout the state, including in smaller cities and towns; places like Sierra Blanca Brewing Company in Moriarty, one of the state’s oldest craft breweries with a scenic beer garden. There’s also Truth or Consequences Brewing Company in T or C, where a cold beverage pairs nicely with a dip in one of the local hot springs. 

Then, there’s Red River Brewing Company & Distillery in the northern town of Red River, which is home to under 600 residents. Co-owner and general manager Michael Calhoun was born and raised in the small mountain community, and after a career working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, he returned to his hometown with his wife, Sharon, and opened the brewery and 385-seat restaurant in 2018. 

“The economy here is 100% tourism,” says Calhoun, so visitors who enjoy the area’s mountain recreation are the vast majority of his business. The operation was immediately successful because of its novelty in a stable market. Calhoun eventually added the distillery “because some people are not into beer, believe it or not,” he says. “We’d have people come in and order a margarita, and it always kind of broke my heart when I had to say no.” 

Now, the distillery is the fastest-growing segment of the business. A dedicated spirits production facility opened in 2023, which not only increased spirits capacity, but also freed up production space in the brewhouse. Calhoun estimates Red River made 700 barrels of beer in 2022 and will top 1,000 barrels in 2023. 

“It doesn’t make us too big,” Calhoun says. “It makes us just right.”