BREWERIES
Albuquerque breweries craft beer inspired by 'The Odyssey’
Flix Brewhouse and Canteen Brewhouse collaborate on Greek honey ale
“The Odyssey” has been a hit on the big screen this summer, and two Duke City breweries have teamed up to create a beer to accompany the blockbuster.
Home at Last, a collaboration between Flix Brewhouse and Canteen Brewhouse, is a honey ale with an ABV of 6.8% and a moniker that pays tribute to Odysseus’ long journey to Ithaca following the Trojan War. The film, which debuted in theaters on July 17, has grossed more than $400 million domestically and over $900 million worldwide as of early August.
As the movie’s release date approached, Flix head brewer Brandon Venaglia and Canteen head brewer Will Moorman, who is a former director of brewing operations at Flix, put their heads together to create a drink that would commemorate the spirit of a film set in ancient Greece.
Venaglia, a noted history buff, was especially enthusiastic about researching what would make a historically accurate beer.
“I am interested in the historical aspect, but we also kind of have to balance,” he said. “I went really far in our discussions and then just kind of pulled back because you also have to have something that's fairly marketable. I just want to do pretty extreme things sometimes, and I have to reel myself in a little bit.”
Still, the beer is as true to history as it can be, as it notably features thyme honey imported from Greece and grape skin extracts. Because, Venaglia says, they weren’t exactly cracking open your standard cold ones in that era.
“When you read ‘The Odyssey,’ there's no mention of beer, per se,” Venaglia said. “I mean, there's mention of alcohol and there's mention of barley. And there's mention of other (drinks) — I guess you would say what we could use to create like a Mediterranean-inspired braggot or a honey ale.”
Though it might not match its big-screen counterpart’s worldwide success, Home at Last has been a hit in its own right. As of this writing, the beer had nearly sold out at Canteen, according to Moorman. As for Flix, the beer is only available at the West Side location because the Tramway location has a different head brewer. While it has sold well in the theater setting, Venaglia expects it to be available for the foreseeable future at Flix. In other words, it could match the theater run of “The Odyssey,” which has been extended to mid-September.
“People were excited to see something interesting, like a honey ale. And I think a lot of people were expecting it to be maybe a little too sweet to drink,” Moorman said. “And then when they tried it, they were like, ‘Holy cow, this is excellent.’ This is all the flavor without being overly sweet.”
BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS: Boxing Bear Brewing recently made the most of its home taproom advantage.
The brewery captured its second consecutive victory at the New Mexico Brewers Guild IPA Challenge on Aug. 1 at Boxing Bear Firestone, taking home the trophy with its Juice Boxer IPA. The Juice Boxer tallied 62 votes over the course of three weekends, ahead of Downshift Brewing’s Neon Bikini (50 votes) and Canteen’s The Color of Rain (47 votes).
Boxing Bear also won the IPA Challenge in 2025 with the Juice Boxer.
ANOTHER COLLAB: At the end of July, Canteen and Boxing Bear released Dangerous Goods, a modern West Coast IPA with a 6.2% ABV.
It follows the current trend of a smoother, less bitter IPA. As another example, Moorman cites Marble’s 111 IPA, which was unveiled as a core beer earlier this year.
“The trends we're seeing are to reduce the amount of caramel malts in these IPAs,” Moorman said. “It's just a different approach to reduce the overall bitterness. I know for a long time it was who can make the most bitter IPA. People have started shying away from that and they're more into drinkability, nuance and just a really big, beautiful expression of these hops without malts being layered over top.”