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About the Episode
You can’t love New Mexico without loving New Mexico beer! And in our opinion, Santa Fe Brewing Company is the best beer in New Mexico. On this episode, Brian Locke tells us how it’s done and how his company tires to honor the culture and heritage of New Mexico in SFBC. Make sure to listen to this one with a cold one near by!
Links
Santa Fe Brewing Company
I Love New Mexico blog page
I Love New Mexico Instagram
I Love New Mexico Facebook
Bunny’s website
Original Music by: Kene Terry
Episode Transcript
Bunny: (00:10)
Hi there and welcome to the, I love New Mexico podcast. Today, Just like every other time, I always say, wow, we have the coolest guests, but I’m just gonna say when Johanna and I decided to do this podcast, we, we sat together and we were thinking, wow, we wanna, you know, we wanna meet people that we are dying to meet. We wanna talk about places that we love to hang out. And, and at the top of our list was Santa Fe brewing company. So Johanna sit out on inquiry and we got our guests today. Um, Brian Locke, who is the boss over at Santa Fe brewing, which is the, if I, as I understand the largest and the oldest brewery in the state of New Mexico, am I correct Brian?
Brian: (00:55)
Yes, you are correct.
Bunny: (00:58)
So we’re so excited because we love to hang out at your place all the time and we drink your beer. So thank you for being our guest.
Brian: (01:06)
Thank you for the support. I’m glad to hear that you enjoy our place.
Bunny: (01:11)
Yeah, I thought about, um, what am I gonna tell him? What’s my favorite? And I thought, no, we’ll talk about that later, but we just, just as always, first of all, I’m Bunny Terry and joined by my co-host and producer, Johanna Medina, Brian Locke of Santa Fe brewing company is our guest today. And as always, Brian, we just start, I could read your bio, I’ve read a bunch of articles. I’ve read a bunch of your interviews, but I think the coolest thing is for people to hear your story. What’s your New Mexico story. How did you end up here and what are you doing with your days now?
Brian: (01:45)
Well, let’s see, where should I start? Let’s start with the passion of beer. So, you know, growing up in Portland, Oregon as a youngster, um, and witnessing a lot of the craft beer movement in Portland, it was very intriguing for me. So, actually ventured into trying to home brew in high school, which definitely wasn’t the most, um, accepted thing for, from my parents’ perspective, but, um, they allowed me to do it. So that was, that was good first step in, in the rest of how things unfolded. So, I dabble a little bit with the home brewing thing in high school. I did it during the summers. I knew I wanted to be in the industry. It just intrigued me. And I think the biggest thing that intrigued me was at the time Full Sail brewing in Portland was one of the first breweries that opened. And so I remember going into the grocery stores and seeing, you know, all the major domestic beer that everybody sees all the time. And then all of a sudden you see this random product that’s, you know, made locally and, um, you know, it just, just it’s intriguing and it has, uh, you know, roots and it’s local. And so I really thought that was a neat thing. And, um, I decided that was kind of what I wanted to pursue back in the day and kind of continued that thought process, um, all the way through, uh, college. I went to school in, um, in Dallas and SMU and, um, during that time continued to brew a little bit, but, um, not so much, but definitely kept the, the passion and the goal for trying to open a brewery as, as kind of my career goal. And, uh, I met a gentleman there who was from Las Vegas, New Mexico, and, um, Carlos Mueller and he and I became pretty close friends and he, uh, he knew that I wanted to start a brewery when I was in college. And so we graduated, I went back to Portland and worked at a brewery, uh, up in Portland called Northwestern, uh, for a little while, um, and kept in touch with Carlos. And, uh, he about six months after being back up in Portland in the middle of 1995, he called me up and said, Hey, I know you wanna start a brewery Santa Fe, the place. And, I said, oh, okay. He said, there, you know, it’s a great town. There’s not a brewery there yet. It’s, um, you know, of any significance I should say because they’re Santa Fe bring existed, but, um, you know, certainly there was more room I think, in the, in the market. So, um, you know, I, I kind of said, this is my opportunity. Portland was pretty saturated at the time with breweries and I figured, you know, no time like the present to move and, start my dream. So I moved down to New Mexico in, uh, middle of nine to five. Um, and by the early part of 96 had met Santa Fe brewing company’s founder, Mike Levi, and his, uh, tie, um, and, uh, another acquaintance of Carlos, uh, Dave Forrester. So the four of us negotiated and bought the brewery from Mike Levi who found it in 1988. So we bought it in 96, um, and myself and the three partners moved the brewery from Gadale out to, dinosaur trail, which we were located from 97 until oh three. And then in early oh three, I bought out my three partners, um, uh, very amicably, uh, I’ll add, I’m still friends with, with all of them. So, um, it wasn’t like a hostile takeover, um, which was, uh, which was nice. So it was a very pleasant experience. Um, you know, they were ready to move on and, and pursue other goals and passions.
Brian: (05:44)
And I think we’re tired of making like $10 an hour. And so they’re like, let’s get a real career. Um, so I was the one who was like, oh, you know, I think I can take this thing and run with it. I want to, I want to still pursue it. So fortunate enough to get an SBA loan, um, bought out my partners, got some extra capital for some capital equipment purchases. Um, moved over to our current location here on fireplace and, um, pursued the purchase of, of the bridge, which is our music venue now. Um, and the property included water rights, which, um, I’ll add in, I think that’s one of the most, um, unique, uh, parts of our brewing process because there’s not a lot of breweries that use, uh, a hundred percent natural, well water for their brewing water most, um, maybe don’t have the opportunity to do that, but, um, most of the time, if you’re using water to brew with, you want to put it through an RO system or reverse osmosis just to remove the chlorine and the fluorides and all the things they add to the water. So, um, one of the things I think I, um, am very proud of and, uh, why I think our beer is so, so good is because we use natural, um, well water. So that was really what, what was exciting about pursuing the property we are on now is because it came with commercial water rights. So we do continue to brew all our beer with, um, with the well water. Um, and, uh, in 2005 I’ve built, um, what, uh, what now is, uh, kind of what I call the hot side of brewhouse side, um, and then, uh, released cans or launched cans, uh, in 2010. So we were kind of one of the, definitely the first in New Mexico to launch cans, but probably also the, you know, the, the first wave I’ll say of craft breweries that got into canning the beer. I feel like we were in that first wave, um, which I think was really important for New Mexico, uh, just to be able to have a local product that’s so portable, uh, that you can take anywhere that you can camp, that you can bike.
Brian: (07:54)
You can ski, you can go anywhere. You don’t have to worry about glass and breakage. And it’s, it’s just a much better vessel, I think in general. So, um, pursued that in 2010, uh, launched those cans and noted at the time, um, that, you know, it, it became so popular and grew so fast that, uh, I looked around and said, I don’t have enough room or capacity to keep up with the demand that’s occurring. So in 2012, I started pursuing some of the land that was adjacent to the brewery here and was fortunate enough to, uh, purchase, um, uh, about a three and a half acre lot that was adjacent to the brewery. So, um, the total acreage that we now sit on is about eight acres. Um, and the, I, the idea and the vision was to build something that I would not have to add onto in the future because I had experienced the growth and I had witnessed, uh, how difficult it is to continue to build out a production facility. And so I really tried to make it a point to go, maybe at that time over the top, or much bigger than maybe I needed, um, which I think was the best decision I made looking back at it now because I have plenty of space and plenty of warehouse and brewing capacity. And, um, so in 2015, I started building, um, two warehouses that are on site that are the packaging halls. Um, in 2006, 16 late, we commissioned our new canning line, um, which we just recently upgraded in April to 300 cans a minute. So it’s a very fast efficient machine now, which is very exciting. Uh, and then in 2018 started building out the new tap room that we currently are in. Um, and then of course we opened it in December of 2019, so three months before the pandemic
Bunny: (09:55)
perfect.
Brian: (09:58)
Um, so, so, yeah, and now, uh, you know, 2022, this has been a great year so far. Um, you know, we finally have been able to utilize all of the, the beer garden space and, uh, I feel like people have discovered our place here that may have not known it existed. Um, and I think that’s, you know, larger part due to word of mouth, but also, um, you know, just having a destination type, um, space in Santa Fe, I think is really nice for the community and tourists. And, um, so I feel very, uh, happy this year that we’re, we’re, we’re back into more of a normal state of, of things.
Johanna: (10:39)
Yeah. And it’s such a beautiful space. I love that headquarters, um, location. I mean, you have, you have tap rooms all over the place. I live in El Dorado, so I go to the El Dorado tap room at least once a week, I have to admit, and then you have breaker room in town and, um, and then tap rooms in Albuquerque and all over they’re, they’re all great. And they’re all kind of unique, I think, to the area. That’s what I love about, um, each tap room, but, um, headquarters is awesome that this the outdoor space and like it’s actually kid friendly, cuz I have a two year old. I’m like, well, I take my kid there and it’s, it’s fun for everybody
Brian: (11:15)
Yes.
Bunny: (11:17)
Well, and I, you just reminded me of something because you, we talk a lot here about, um, landscape, you know, what, what, where you are physically, um, in New Mexico and you just reminded me of something when I, I, you don’t know this Brian, but I was diagnosed with cancer with stage four, colon cancer in November of 2012. And then in March of 2013, I went to Houston and had surgery. And after that, you know, I, because I had part of my liver removed, I couldn’t drink. But when I was, was coming home from a checkup that I had down there, I don’t think Johanna even knows this. I was on the road driving from Cline’s corners. And I realized that Todd Snyder who’s one of my favorite musicians was gonna be at the bridge. And I thought this may make me cry. I thought I wanna see Todd Snyder. And I just got this amazing checkup, six months after my surgery. And I’m going to the bridge to see Todd Snyder. I couldn’t drink then cuz I was still recovering from this liver surgery, but I stood at the bridge and watched Todd Snyder and then Johanna and I, you know, we’ve been to see Hayes, Carl, I can’t even name all the people we’ve been to, you know, James McMurry. You can kind of tell what my taste is but then we moved over to what you, I think. Did you call it the hotspot? The second building?
Brian: (12:47)
Yeah. We call it HQ here. Um,
Bunny: (12:51)
Yeah. Well and so it’s just that space where you’ve had Santa Fe brewing is, you know, it’s so it’s our space. It’s I feel like it’s one of the places where I recovered. So I wanna thank you for it. It’s so cool. Anybody who hasn’t been there needs to go
Brian: (13:08)
Tomorrow. That’s great. I like this story. Thanks for
Johanna: (13:11)
Sharing. I’m curious too, because I’ve done. Yeah. Before COVID when, uh, they were doing tours and everything at head at the headquarters in the, the brewing space, they talked a lot about, um, kind of the, the local, I dunno know how to put it, like the resources that were used to, to that are used to brew at Santa Fe. Um, and is there anything in your opinion that makes, uh, brewing in New Mexico, uh, unique or very like special is something about the terrain or the land that makes it better for the hops? I don’t know. I’m not an expert, obviously. I just like to drink it. But what is your, what are your thoughts on the, the location and brewing in New Mexico?
Brian: (13:54)
Well, I think the market of the industry of craft brewing in New Mexico, um, has really elevated the whole quality of everybody’s, uh, product. So, um, one of the things I really appreciate is the, uh, the amount of really good beer that all of the breweries are really creating. So I it’s, it’s creating this kind of, uh, destination, um, place in the us where, you know, a lot of people think of New Mexico and they think of art and they think of food and they think of culture. Um, and maybe they didn’t don’t think that much of, of breweries or wineries, but I think that in the last really 10 years we’ve come just so far with our quality and the amount of breweries that have opened. And so now we’re really, I think, um, seen across the country as a, as also a beer destination, the place to go and, and, you know, try all the different beers, cuz there’s just a lot of people making really good beer here. And I think that’s one of the things that I’ve always, uh, you know, not always, I should say, um, I’d say within the last five years or so started to realize that I needed to put my ego aside and not brew beer that I wanted to drink because it’s not about me, but I wanted to brew beer that new Mexicos wanted to drink because that’s the core market, right? That’s our backyard. Those are the people we brew beer for. So, um, that’s a difficult thing to do from a brewery’s perspective, cuz a lot of times, you know, a brew master and the brewers will have a certain style that they really like and they wanna brew that beer because they really like it. And I understand that, but in reality we’re not brewing beer for ourselves, we’re brewing beer for the community and the people. So really what I think we’ve done is listen to those people, listen to our community and try to really make beer and brew beer. That is, you know, that is, uh, kind of what the, the people here in New Mexico, like the flavor profiles they like, um, and to your point bunny that, um, the landscape and the packaging and the colors and, you know, all of that comes into play when we come out with a new product. And so I think it’s, um, I, I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place. Um, it’s, it’s awesome weather and, and great people and uh, great community here. And um, it’s, uh, you know, I, I like it as much now as I did when I first started. So it’s, it’s, it’s um, I feel lucky to be in that position. Yeah.
Johanna: (16:37)
Which one is your favorite right now? Which of your beers is your favorite ?
Brian: (16:43)
Uh, right now Octoberfest, which is our seasonal fall year. Um, that’s probably my favorite seasonal that we do. Um, I look forward to the fall every year mm-hmm um, and not only that, because fall also is our busiest, you know, festival time. Cause there’s so many events around the state and the weather’s usually really nice and yeah. Um, the October Fest that Mars in style beer just is really good this time of
Johanna: (17:11)
Year. Yeah. That one’s my favorite too, but if it’s not a seasonal time, um, I love the new, um, NMX standard. That’s like another and that’s oh, good. The can is so pretty. I would, I kind of wanna know what the story is behind that. The design on that can, because it has, you know, the outline of the state and the sense that I don’t know. I dunno if we have time to go into that, but I do love that can and that design, I have the shirt even
Bunny: (17:33)
I think, well, we do because well, and we gotta talk about that and then we have to talk about how, you know, I mean, happy camper that packaging mm-hmm is, is so iconic for new Mexicans and I, and when people are, who are away, see it, they’re like I got, I have to have a six pack. So I’d love to talk about how you, who, who does your package? Because it’s all brilliant.
Brian: (17:56)
Oh, thank You. Yes. Um, well the New Mexico standard, so that was a beer that we, um, identified kind of, uh, that we wanted to come up with a product that could, everybody could drink and that was kind of made for anyone. And everyone didn’t matter if you liked beer, didn’t like beer only liked domestic beer. Um, we were kind of trying to create a badge of New Mexico honor of something you could hold in your hand, if you were a new Mexican and you were proud and it was, you know, the can reminded you of the place you are. And, um, and so that’s where it kind of derived from. And, and I think there’s been a couple, um, instances where we’ve followed other successful breweries in the country. And a little bit of the modeling behind the New Mexico standards was based on some of the other breweries that we’ve seen around the country that have created a brand that really is made for their own local community. So, um, in our case, we were like, we’re, we’re only selling this beer in New Mexico. We’re not se sending it outta state. This is special. This is just for New Mexico. Um, and that’s, you know, how we kind of came up with the, um, the, the brand and then, you know, fortunately my graphic designers, um, my, my wife’s brother owns an ad agency graphic designer, um, in Kansas city called behemoth. Um, so he’s done our packaging and our marketing and our advertising and a lot of our social media for really the past two decades. Um, so he’s really familiar with the brand. He knows where we’re coming from and he’s the one who created the New Mexico standard kind of imagery on that can it’s in as well as the happy camper that that was happy camper IP was his first, um, you know, really design of a can and a package back in 2010. But, um, you know, most recently he did the New Mexico standard. So, um, it, it was lucky that I had a very talented, uh, graphic designer kind of in the family, so to speak, um, uh, he’s, he’s really good at what he does and he’s a great writer also. So all of the, um, I don’t know if you ever read the little love on the cans.
Johanna: (20:18)
That’s my favorite thing to read with the cans. Yeah. Yes
Brian: (20:22)
so those are, those are all his, um, you know, he’s, he’s just a really good writer and he gets our brand and, you know, you know, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We, we like, you know, to have fun and, and, you know, he, he gets that, so he does a good job for us.
Bunny: (20:39)
That’s awesome. So I’m curious about whether, uh, are you, I mean, if somebody, because we have listeners, we hope that are from everywhere in the country, are, can people pick up your beer out outta state elsewhere? Where do, where do you probably sell the most outta state and how do they find you?
Brian: (21:00)
So, so we’re regional now in, uh, we distribute to every state that touches New Mexico, uh, except for Oklahoma, we were in Oklahoma. We just pulled out last year, mostly for logistics, but, um, so yeah, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, um, a little bit of Utah, uh, those are, those are bigger out-of-state markets, um, that you can find over beer. Um, you know, aside from New Mexico standard, you know, um, like I said, we kind of keep that one here, um, for New Mexico. So, uh, we, we, we actually made a decision about eight years ago to start bringing our market a little bit closer to our state and focusing more on New Mexico rather than starting to go further out. Um, we were in nine states back in 2015 and now we’re in five. So we’ve really kind of squeezed our market down. And I feel like it was a really good decision because we focused all our efforts here. Um, and you know, honestly, um, selling beer here is much better margins than selling it across state lines, cuz you’ve got freight and you’ve got sales reps that you have to hire and there’s a lot of support systems and um, with everybody being Uber local now and always wanting to find the local product, it’s just that much more important to really have our roots here.
Johanna: (22:22)
Yeah. I love that. Plus it makes it that much more unique. Like when I have friends that come out in from outta state, I’m like, okay, we gotta go to Santa Fe and you gotta try these things and, you know, take a six pack home with you cuz this is where you’re gonna get it. But yeah, I feel like we’re really lucky to have the brewery here and it just it’s so good.
Bunny: (22:45)
And tell us I’m sure you guys, uh, have won some awards, um, for what you’re brewing. I’d love to hear about that. Sure.
Brian: (22:55)
Uh, so the great American beer festival is probably the one that most people, um, know, um, in terms of beer competitions, it’s always up in Denver every fall. Um, so our nut brown, a one a metal there, but it was probably in 1997. So it was a long time ago. Um, we won a, uh, medal up there for a Creek, which was a, it’s a Barage sour. Um, and I think we won that in 2008. Um, and then the other competition that’s pretty popular is the world beer cup. Um, and that’s more of an international competition, uh, that we, uh, we have the State Penn Porter that, that won a medal, um, at the world beer cup. Um, we also have the, the, uh, Creek or a barrelage beer win, uh, win a little beer cup metal for that as well. Um, a lot of our, I would say accolades are, are, you know, locally, um, kind of, uh, oriented, you know, with the state fair, they have kind of a whole competition. So we won a lot of medals for a lot of different beers at the state fair. Um, and there’s, uh, let’s see, there’s, there’s just kind of really some random competitions all over the country that you could send beer to. Um, but I feel like at this point, Santa Fe Brewery is established enough people know our brands, people know the product well enough that, um, I don’t feel it’s as important to win medals for me. I would rather have, um, you know, the population of New Mexico embrace a certain style. And if that’s what they like, then I’m happy because that’s what they’re drinking. So it, to me, it’s not necessarily what the judges think is the best. It’s more about what the people think is the best.
Bunny: (24:49)
Well, that’s kind of why, I thought about this, I read about the state fair awards and I thought that’s the cool thing is that, I mean, Johanna was at the state fair yesterday. I mean, that’s us, that’s our piece. So yeah.
Johanna: (24:58)
And the fact that you get that, like you, you really honor that and respect that, like this is a New Mexico beer. We want new Mexicans to like it. So that’s
Bunny: (25:06)
Awesome. Yeah. So what’s your favorite thing other, other than Santa Fe brewing? What’s your favorite thing about living here?
Brian: (25:15)
Uh, well, I mean the weather’s, I grew up in Portland, so, uh, you know, growing up in the gray and the rain and then coming out here is it’s in, it’s really nice to be in the sunshine. So the weather, I really love, I love the outdoors and all the things that it has to offer here. You know, the size of New Mexico in terms of populations are really great size cuz you know, I never feel like I’m in traffic or in a hurry to get somewhere and there’s a delay or something. It just, um, that’s really nice. And then, you know, the people here the diversity, the culture, the you know, in a lot of people have moved here from other places, but I feel like, you know, if you’re, if you’re coming here, you know, you belong here. And if you, figured out the first six months that you don’t like it, then you don’t belong here. And I’ve embraced the idea of being here and I, I really enjoy it. So it’s just great. There’s so many things to offer in terms of, uh, you know, Carlsbad, caverns. I, I spent Thanksgiving four years ago with my family down at first time I’d been to Carlsbad cabins and it’s just amazing. So to know that that’s that close to, you know, Santa Fe and yeah, just, it there’s just so much to offer here.
Bunny: (26:40)
Is it different than you thought it was gonna be like when you lived in Portland? Is it really different?
Brian: (26:47)
Yeah, definitely different. Um, you know, the, just the, the overall, um, mentality of the people I think is different here. Um, you know, it’s truly like a, nobody seems to be in a real rush, which I kinda like. Um, whereas maybe up in Portland where I grew up, it seemed like a lot more people were like driven to go do something really fast and they have to get some more quick and they drink more coffee than they, you know, it’s just, it’s just much faster. And so I really enjoy the kind of more calm, um, you know, land of Manana.
Johanna: (27:27)
That’s exactly what I was about to say. That’s so funny. So what’s next for Santa Fe and what’s coming up, you got any new plans
Brian: (27:38)
Yeah. Well, do you live in El Dorado? So the tap house, we were expanding that, I don’t know if you were aware mm-hmm um, so that’s kind of, one of the bigger projects on our, on our play right now is to finish that, uh, build out in that tap room. Um, we’ve also, you know, explored opening tap rooms in other parts of the state. Um, Las Cruses in particular is one that we’ve looked at quite a bit. We were on the root path to open something right before the pandemic. And obviously that kind of, um, you know, kind of delayed that idea. So, um, I think there’s, there’s, there’s no concrete plans at this time, but you know, there’s definitely discussions around, um, additional tap room openings. And those would maybe be west side of Albuquerque might be Las Cruses. These are just some of the places that we’re kind of exploring as the next potential spot. Um, and then, uh, you know, we, I think you probably are aware what the legislation that changed in New Mexico in July, where distilleries and breweries are now, um, able to serve each other’s products at their taproom. So that was kind of a big deal for us because now we’re able to offer spirits at the headquarters here. We offer ’em at both our locations in Albuquerque Tin Can Alley and Green Jeans. And this will be nice for you, Joan, um, that we are offering spirits at the tap house once we do our expansions. So that’ll be another, another place where we offer those and that there are discussions now applying for our own distiller’s license and coming out with our own spirits.
Johanna: (29:26)
Oh, wow. That’s exciting.
Bunny: (29:30)
Yes, that is exciting. Yeah.
Johanna: (29:32)
That’s awesome.
Bunny: (29:33)
And what a cool law, I mean, what a great idea, I mean, I don’t know if you were part of the lobbying effort for that, but that, that was what a relief that they changed those laws don’t you think?
Brian: (29:46)
Oh yeah, no, it’s, it’s great to be able to support other local producers. And, uh, we’d had the reciprocity with wineries for a number of years, which was great. So we could always serve local wines at our places, but now that they open it up to spirits it’s yeah, it’s a great thing and it’s really just supporting all other local local products, which is, which is really nice.
Bunny: (30:11)
And what about events? You have something coming up at the headquarters, right?
Brian: (30:15)
Yeah. October Fiesta. Yeah. That’s October 1st. And, uh, second, I believe it’s two days this year. Um, we, uh, it’s, it’s kind of one of our, um, initiatives this year that we that we’re starting, it’s called four NM, the number four and then NM. So it’s four events that we do, um, here at headquarters. We try to do one in the, each season. So fall, summer, spring, winter. The fall event is October Fiesta, but they’re all, um, meant to raise, uh, money for nonprofits and charities. And so they target specific you know, uh, businesses or nonprofits or whatever each event is, is different. So we did one earlier this spring called spring runoff, um, and that, uh, we raised money for the Santa Fe watershed. That was more geared towards, um, resources in New Mexico resources here at Santa Fe protecting, you know, the forest, things like that. And then we did, uh, another event in July, um, that was a summer event that, you know, supported, culture and education in New Mexico. So, um, you know, putting more of our funds and raising money for education and, um, culture. And then this, uh, this fall, we have October Fiesta, um, in the past, we’ve typically let our fans decide which charities or nonprofits that we decide to support. So I think we’ll do that again this year. In the past we’ve had, um, the humane society, um, we’ve had, uh, it’s kind of just whatever the fans kind of feel like, um, is, you know, is their passion. So, and then the last one of the year is in the winter. It’s kind of our Christmas tree decorating contests kind of drive. And so those are the four events every year that we try to, to give back to the community and, and support them.
Bunny: (32:32)
Nice.
Johanna: (32:33)
I’ve been to all of those. So , I’m very happy to hear that that will continue.
Bunny: (32:39)
I love it. I love the event there. Good. And when so how does that work? I think I went to one in maybe this summer, but what’s, what’s the timeframe. And, how does it look? I mean, if you were, if you’d never attended, what would it look like?
Brian: (32:53)
It’s a pretty well, they have been much I think more well attended than we anticipated. So the spring runoff was really the first time we had opened up the whole property to be able to walk from the headquarters at the beer garden, over to the bridge where we had events. And so we had the parking lot kind of closed where the whole I’m gonna call it a campus, um, was open. So you could really go anywhere. And I think that’s kind of the difference between, you know, our normal operations of, you know, what might be happening out here. Those are big deals, they’re big events, and we really try to make them unique and that you can kind of explore the whole place.
Bunny: (33:34)
Well, I’m going, are you Johanna yes, of course, of course. Already on my calendar. Of course, of course. So we’ll look you up and drink a beer with you, Brian. Can we do that?
Brian: (33:47)
Absolutely great.
Bunny: (33:48)
Yeah, I’ll love that. So I have to tell you that my husband, who is not necessarily a beer drinker has now, everywhere we go, but this happened at the Annex in Logan, not very long ago, he said, you guys have social hour on tap. Right. And they’re like, no, but he said, well, get it. So , he’s a huge social hour fan, so yeah, you’ve won another fan. Awesome.
Brian: (34:13)
Yeah. That’s great to hear. Yeah, yeah. That is, that’s a, yeah, that’s one of the interesting things that, uh, I think I was just, uh, meeting with my VP of sales and he brought up the fact that, um, brands that we’ve launched in the last five years, one of which includes social hour represent 72% of our total sales. So I think what that kind of tells me and tells us is, you know, you gotta continue to innovate. You gotta come, continue to come up with new and exciting brands because people’s, you know, tastes change and they evolve and they want something new and different. So, uh, and that’s another reason I think that we’ve been successful is that we’ve never relied on sticking to a particular product just because we like it. And we think it’s good. We, we know that we have to, to come up with new, exciting things to keep the consumers engaged.
Bunny: (35:09)
Yeah. Well, it’s working, so keep it up. yeah, we love it. We love it. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. Oh yeah. I’m sorry. No, no, no. It’s just, this is so much fun to have this conversation, but you know, now I wanna have a beer and it’s 11 o’clock in the morning. so
Brian: (35:28)
Bunny: (35:31)
But thank you so much, Brian, for being here and we are gonna, we’re gonna link folks. I know that if there’s anybody in the world who hasn’t heard of Santa Fe brewing, they’re gonna, they’re gonna find the links on the podcast. And, um, and we’ll see ’em all at October Fiesta, right? Yeah.
Brian: (35:48)
Right. Yeah. Thank you very much for having me on. It’s been fun.
Bunny: (35:53)
It’s really been fun.
Brian: (35:54)
It’s Been great to catch up with you.
Bunny: (35:56)
Yeah. Yeah. We’ll see you soon. And to everybody else out there, thanks for checking in. Thanks for listening and for liking, finding us first, wherever you find a podcast and for liking, reviewing and subscribing, we really appreciate it. Thanks, Brian.
Brian: (36:13)
Thank you.