Brewery Buzz
One great brewery with two great brands! Rich and Suzanne Weber established Sierra Blanca Brewery 1996.
Rio Grande Brewery was purchased by Rich and Suzanne Weber in 2007. The Rio Grande beers continue to grow in production everyday. The response from our customers has been great and distribution throughout New Mexico is strong.
With sales strong for the brewery in New Mexico we have begun to expand into other states. In 2009, Alien Amber Ale landed in Texas and Louisiana. From there we ventured into Arizona and Oklahoma. You can currently find Alien Amber, Alien Wheat, and Pancho Verde Cerveza in these states. Check out the find our beers page to discover what fine brews are in your state.
Over the past year there has been big things happening at the brewery. We partnered with Adam Krafft of Uptown Sports bar to open a brew pub. ABQ Brew opened in March 2010 and has seen great success. We use this facility to brew specialty brews on our pilot system and feature our current line up of draft.
In August, we won six awards at the New Mexico State Fair. We had two styles that won two awards each. Desert Pilsner won best overall lager and a gold for the pilsner category. The Nutbrown won best overall ale and a gold in the brown category. Pancho Verde Cerveza took a gold in the vegetable spice beer category. Lastly, the Rio Grande Ipa took a bronze in the Ipa category.
With the brewery continuing to grow we needed some extra hands to assist in the brewing process. We are excited to announce that Zach Guilmette has joined our team as head brewer. In 1997, Zach took a road trip around the west and discovered his interest for beer. After his trip he began home brewing. From there he decided to continue his passion for brewing beer at Kelly’s Brew Pub in Albuquerque, NM. While Zach was brewing there he did an intensive brewing program at the American Brewers Guild.
In 2008, Zach moved on to Otter Creek Brewing Co. in Middlebury, VT. While brewing there they won a gold medal in 2009 for their Vermont Lager at the GABF. While he enjoyed brewing in Vermont, Zach wanted to get back to the southwest where the beer culture is starting to evolve. There are many great breweries in this area and he wanted to be able to contribute in the movement.
There will be many things happening at the brewery over the next year. Coming in the fall of 2011 is Rio Grande Brew Pub and Grill. It will be post security at the Albuquerque International Airport. We will also have monthly specialty brews that we will be featuring in Zach’s Corner on the first page. Keep checking back to see what we are up to because there’s always something brewing!
See you at the brewery!
CHEERS!
Rich and Sue Weber