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Lift your canteen: ABQ's oldest brewery celebrates 30 years
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The oldest brewery in Albuquerque is celebrating 30 years of successful beer making.
Canteen Brewhouse, which was born in 1994, came onto the Albuquerque brew scene as Il Vicino Brewery. The quaint spot on Vassar Drive NE in Nob Hill brewed craft beers in an intimate pizzeria setting. Over the years it transitioned to I.V.B. and later to Canteen Brewhouse at 2381 Aztec Road NE. The brewery, which has had the same owners since it opened, significantly increased its brewing operation at the Aztec location. In 2016, the brewery added a taproom location at 417 Tramway Blvd. NE.
Lift your canteen: ABQ's oldest brewery celebrates 30 years
鈥淎 lot of people were getting confused because we didn鈥檛 have pizza,鈥� said Jamie Schwebach, general manager at Canteen Brewhouse. 鈥淎nd so since we didn鈥檛 have the same menu and stuff, it was kind of just natural progression for the business to change, but it鈥檚 all the same owners.鈥�
Canteen Brewhouse has won many accolades over the years thanks to its stellar brewers including Brady McKeown, who later opened Quarter Celtic Brewpub with his brother Ror McKeown, and Zach Guilmette, who has been with Canteen Brewhouse off and on for about 13 years and has run the brewing operations as head brewer for eight years.
鈥淲e鈥檝e just been so fortunate to have such strong leadership in our brewhouse making such great beer,鈥� Schwebach said.
Guilmette said it has been great to see Il Vicino Brewing/Canteen Brewhouse maintain such a long run as the second-oldest brewery in the state, with Santa Fe Brewing Company being the oldest.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been fun to grow with the rest of the scene and to help create the Albuquerque brewery scene over the years and see all the different people who used to drink here, some of which are brewers now and opened their own breweries,鈥� Guilmette said. 鈥淎nd I think over 30 years, it鈥檚 interesting to see all the different people who have come and gone customer wise. (There are) just so many regulars. When you are open this long, you make so many friends. And that鈥檚 what has been the greatest part of being part of a brewery that has been around for 30 years.鈥�
Guilmette said his decision to take on head brewer duties and run the brewing operation eight years ago was due to the owners being supportive of creative craft brewing.
鈥淭he three owners really support creative craft brewing, and they allow the brewer to create and use ingredients and just explore, and that makes for fun beer,鈥� he explained. 鈥淎nd I think that customers always respond to creativity and something new.鈥�
Canteen will be celebrating its 30 years of operation with several events on Friday, May 31, through Sunday, June 2, at its Aztec location. A 30th anniversary beer is scheduled to be released in the fall. It is a collaboration beer with New Mexico Pi帽on Coffee that is also celebrating 30 years this year. The beer will be released on Sept. 29. More information can be found at .
Canteen will host 鈥�90s Game Night on Friday, May 31, featuring popular games from the decade that patrons can play throughout the evening.
Its 30th Anniversary Party will kick off at with its Mug Club Member Appreciation from noon to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 1. The party will continue for patrons with live music by Le Chat Lunatique from 1 to 2:30 p.m., Squash Blossom Boys from 3 to 4:30 p.m., Doso Dirtbags from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and Carli鈥檚 Angels from 7 to 9 p.m.
鈥淲e鈥檙e gonna have some throwback food representing the 鈥�90s,鈥� Schwebach said. 鈥淎nd if you were born in 1994, we鈥檙e going to give you a prize, and if you鈥檙e dressed like the 鈥�90s, you get a prize. So just kind of a lot of fun swag release, and a lot of fun merch as well as some great new stickers just for the event to celebrate everything.鈥�
On Sunday, June 2, runners can participate in the Hella Fresh 5K with registration at 8:30 a.m. and the run at 9 a.m. Also on Sunday, Canteen Brewhouse will have a Dirty 30 Bloody Mary Bar and Burritos that will be available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Rudy Boy Experiment will perform from 4 to 7 p.m.
鈥淲e have a route to start from the brewery down Aztec east, and then we鈥檙e going to head north on the diversion channel,鈥� Schwebach said. 鈥�... So we just go down Aztec, down the diversion channel, so it鈥檚 a closed course. That鈥檚 the course we use for a lot of our runs. (It is a $25 registration fee) and it comes with a piece of swag and a beer.鈥�
