‘Nothing else like it’
Santa Fe Brewing opens taproom at Tin Can Alley
Santa Fe Brewing Co. fans can get a sneak peek of its newest taproom at Tin Can Alley.
Patrons will have to wait to explore the entire space but can walk in to stock up on the brewery’s packaged product. Most breweries remain closed due to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s amended public health order allowing only restaurants and venues that made more than half their revenue from food sales last year to reopen at 50% capacity.
Patrons are in for a welcome surprise when the brewery is allowed to open.
“It’s quite large,” Jarrett Babincsak, vice president of Santa Fe Brewing Co. “It’s big, huge. It has open indoor, outdoor seating throughout the entire space. It’s really designed to feel like you’re outside regardless of where in the space you are. A lot of patio space, 30-foot ceilings that are vented and open, so it really does bring the inside outside and vice versa. … It’s really pretty unique. There’s definitely nothing else like it in New Mexico.”
The taproom at Tin Can Alley is two levels. Patrons will find spectacular views from the patios upstairs.
“It’s amazing,” Babincsak said of the views. “I know when it was being built and pretty much every Friday through this quarantine there’s no one there, so I’ll just sneak over there and stand on the patio and imagine what it’s going to be like to have our friends and family up there for Friday happy hour, having a beer, watching the sun go down. They have views of the Sandia Mountains, and then on the opposite side of the property, that west patio kind of facing that valley back there, with the sun setting or when Balloon Fiesta is taking place and being able to look that direction, it’s just kind of incredible views from everywhere around the space.”
The space also features a corner with stadium seating and bars that will feature the same beer taps and packaged product upstairs as well as downstairs. Both levels also have stages for live music. Shade, air conditioning and a misting system will keep things cool on hot summer days, and heating will be provided in the colder months. A fire pit will also help keep guests warm.
“There’s really cool, kind of unique things that you’ll discover when you go as a patron and walk the space,” Babincsak said. “You’ll find some really cool kind of hidden places to sit with your friends and neat spots to hang out. … We have Santa Fe Brewing Co. hops from our hop farm growing on vines. There’s just a lot of neat touches that speak to our brand. The murals we had commissioned by local artist Joerael Numina. He did an awesome job on the big tower there with all the branding and then incorporating stuff from our brand with Chicken Killer (barley wine), you know, the dog chasing the rooster on the patio, so there’s just a lot of really neat things to discover throughout the entire space.”
The taproom is three times the size of the one at Green Jeans Farmery. The taproom, which opened in 2015, was the first Santa Fe Brewing taproom in Albuquerque. The taproom at Tin Can Alley can host a little more than 970 patrons. Santa Fe Brewing’s owners felt comfortable putting another taproom at Tin Can Alley and continuing the relationship with its developer, Roy Soloman, who also developed Green Jeans Farmery.
“We just felt really comfortable with the group of people that would be working on the project together,” Babincsak said. “Obviously, when you bring that many people into a project you have a lot of personalities, a lot of opinions, a lot of thoughts, but you know, the passion for people and quality and just a really great energy and thoughtfulness kind of from all of the tenants made us feel really comfortable embarking on a new project as big and aspirational as Tin Can Alley turned out to be.”