READY TO ROLL
Rio Rancho’s Brew Lab 101 Beer & Cider Co. plans grand opening
Afamily-friendly environment where the community can gather is what Brew Lab 101 Beer & Cider Co. provides. “We’re really trying to be a very family-friendly, neighborhoodcentric type brewery,” owner and brewer Scott Salvas said. “We’re not trying to really be one of the big guys. We’re just trying to be a great neighborhood hangout for families. We’re dog-friendly. You can have dogs inside and out because we don’t have a kitchen. Obviously, (we’re) kid-friendly. We just want it to be a welcoming place with lots of different types of things.”
The Rio Rancho brewery and cidery, which has been in its soft opening stage, has received quite a response. It was at full capacity for three hours straight the day it opened to the public in late June, Salvas said. A few things were tightened up, and employees continued to be trained during the soft opening. Now Brew Lab 101
is ready to celebrate with a grand opening from noon to midnight on July 6. The event will feature live music, food trucks and more.
Brew Lab 101 has three of its own craft beers and two of its ciders on tap. The Bull is a modern West Coast India Pale Ale made with a newer variety of hops. The Sassy Brunette is an American amber/red ale and Event Horizon is an Oatmeal Stout.
“We have our Newton’s Apple, which is my standard, traditional apple hard cider, and then we have a cherry cider, which we call Cherry Bomb,” Salvas said of the ciders. “Cherry Bomb has been selling really, really well.”
Guest taps fill out the rest of the 14 taps currently offered. There are plans to add more Brew Lab 101 beers and ciders on tap soon. Salvas is considering doing a hazy IPA, a hoppy red ale, a Scottish heavy, and a witbier.
“We have a three-barrel brewing system, which is a relatively smaller system,” Salvas said. “That’s where we’re going to do a lot of our seasonals and rotational beers. I also work with one of the breweries in town where I go in, take over their system and brew some of my recipes for my bigger ones, like the amber and IPA. (I try) to brew very large batches of that and try to do, like, 10 barrels. Ciders we do in a one-barrel system, so we keep those pretty small.”
Salvas plans on having rotating food trucks on-site but also allows outside food, including pizza delivery or food delivery services such as Grubhub. There also are restaurants nearby that come in, take patrons orders’ and deliver their food. A children’s area will keep the little ones entertained.
“We have a really cool kids’ area,” Salvas said. “It basically doubles as a stage when we have bands, and when we don’t have bands, it doubles as a kids’ area. We have a huge chalkboard wall and there’s tables and chairs for kids and games and puzzles, and we’ll have a TV up for cartoons for the kids.”