Brewery ‘Mothership’ set for summer 2022 reopening
Beer, food and music enthusiasts are still in for quite a long wait before the Taos Mesa Brewing Mothership on U.S. 64 West opens for business again after a fire knocked the business for a loop last year.
Jayson Wylie, co-founder and chief executive officer of the brewery, which also operates the Taos Taproom on Paseo del Pueblo Sur, said he plans to reopen the Mothership in summer 2022, but he emphasized that even that is just a projection.
A fire July 2, 2020 caused extensive damage to the building and his efforts to rebuild have been thwarted by the pandemic. Wylie’s project, like many others around Taos County, has struggled to meet deadlines because of a spike in demand for commercial contractors, building materials, lien holders and insurance.
“The supply chain interruption, in addition to being able to secure commercial contractors right now, is proving more difficult than we initially thought,” said Wylie.
For example, Wylie said he ordered steel arches in March from a building manufacturer, but the manufacturer said they estimate the Mothership won’t receive them until January 2022.
His Taproom location has also struggled with the same staffing issues other businesses have faced during the pandemic. Supplies, he said, have also been difficult to come by over the last year-and-ahalf.
The Mothership first opened in 2012 to great success, hosting nightly events and bringing in local and big-name acts to an indoor stage and outdoor amphitheater. Wylie said some of his favorite shows were by the Melvins, Ween, Kikagaku Moyo and “so many more.”
But for almost 20 months, according to Wylie, the live music industry has also taken a financial hit, especially in New Mexico. Still, he hopes to add on to the amphitheater and make some additions, such as green rooms, extra storage space, a heated outdoor patio and a PA system.
“We’re very much committed to all the things we did before,” Wylie said. “We’ll just do it in a different way.”
Wylie said doubling down on the Brewery’s ability to host events outdoors seems like the right move in light of the current pandemic, and the possibility of others down the road.
“We figured that we wanted to be able to brace for any kind of impact, post COVID world or another pandemic,” he said. “And, I think it’d be naïve to think this is the last we’ve had to deal with something like this. But at any rate, we’ve got an intense focus on really improving our outdoor facilities and diversifying so we can stay in this for the long haul.”