Celebrate 35 years with Santa Fe Brewing Company

The oldest brewery in New Mexico is celebrating 35 years with a Desert Party and commemorative cans of its flagship IPA.

“It’s an incredible milestone (for Santa Fe Brewing Company),” said Evan Wrons, senior marketing manager. “A little bit of background is that we have put out the Happy Camper can, which is a commemorative can. Happy Camper is kind of an iconic IPA in New Mexico. It was the first IPA that was canned in New Mexico. We thought it would be cool to kind of use (a commemorative can) to celebrate our birthday and do something special for people... (It) will be available throughout the year.”

Grab some commemorative Happy Camper and celebrate Santa Fe Brewing Co.’s 35 years of operation during its Desert Party at its headquarters, 35 Fire Place, in Santa Fe. The celebration will take place Saturday, July 8. The event will feature live music, an art walk, vendors, art activities and food. Checkout Spanish Broom at 2:45 p.m., Just Velvet at 5 p.m., and JJ and the Hooligans at 6:45 p.m. at the Beer Hall. Just across the way, at The Bridge, take in the sounds of Ripwilliams at 4:15 p.m., Alex Blocker at 5:45 p.m., The Boomroots Collective at 7:45 p.m. and The Humanones at 9 p.m. More information is available at santafebrewing.com.

Admission to the event is a suggested donation with all funds benefiting local arts and culture nonprofits ARTsmart Santa Fe, Teatro Paraguas and Alto: Arts Integration.

“They cover different facets of the arts community for us in New Mexico,” Wrons said. “Also, a big part of why we do this is that we launched our 4NM program. 4NM is the the nonprofit initiative that we started ... Why we call it 4NM is that we support four different areas of New Mexico life, arts and culture, clean environment, clean water, outdoor recreation, and then just community support.”

Art activities will include a poetry workshop that begins at 2:45 p.m. on the second floor of the Beer Hall. Also taking place will be make your own earrings workshop, mandala making, paper making, pottery wheel demos, live portraits, leather stamping and more.

Over the years, Santa Fe Brewing Co. has expanded its product distribution into Colorado, Arizona, and El Paso, but it continues to put New Mexico first.

“We’ve kind of condensed our distribution to focus on New Mexico just because the demand has grown and we really want to make sure that we’re taking care of our state,” Wrons said. “We really have actually honed in on just focusing on New Mexico and it’s actually been benefiting us more so than expanding.”

The brewery continues to grow its brand by experimenting with different styles of beers.

“Our NMX Standard has been growing as a beer,” Wrons said. “We’ve been really excited to see how that’s been going. We really made that as a beer for everyone. I think the can has been getting a lot of great feedback. We are just now releasing Slightly Social, which is another version of our Social Hour, but it has just orange. And we recently released Social Experiment, which is another version of Social Hour, but with cherry and lemon. So that’s been really exciting to launch these new versions of Social Hour.”

Santa Fe Brewing Co. aims to please with a variety of flavor profiles. Its Cholla Fizz, a boozy fruit juice that packs a bunch, has become a hit with patrons seeking something outside the norm. A new canned cocktail line of margaritas named Sky Island has also taken off with customers looking for a refreshing twist on this New Mexico favorite.

“It’s great to have so much history and then really to just continue to provide experiences and products for New Mexicans that align with who we are,” Wrons said. “I think that’s really so important to us is that we want to represent New Mexico to the fullest and we’re super proud to be from the state.”