Featured
Getting Sidetrack-ed: ABQ brewery celebrates eight years with special canning and event
Published
Modified
Eight has been great for Sidetrack Brewing Company.
The quaint pub, located at 413 Second St. SW, is celebrating eight years of operation with a special event and special canning of some of its beers.
Over the years, the brewery has kept things simple and true to its brewing beginnings.
鈥淲e鈥檙e pretty close to how we originally started,鈥� said co-owner Dan Herr. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not really interested in growth. We鈥檝e got a small location and that鈥檚 where we are. And we鈥檝e just always kind of focused on trying to make our spot a little bit better each year instead of trying to make it bigger. I think that gives us a lot of luxuries in that we don鈥檛 have to worry as much about market shares and distribution and a lot of the things that end up getting very complicated and sort of very costly. Until you plateau, and you鈥檙e able to sort of make those things profitable.鈥�
Herr and co-owner Anne O鈥橬eill have kept things as easy as possible.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got the same brewing system that we started with,鈥� Herr said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a seven barrel brewing system and we just try and make things better as we go along.鈥�
Getting Sidetrack-ed: ABQ brewery celebrates eight years with special canning and event
Herr began as the original brewer and brought in a new brewer in 2019.
鈥淲e brought in a brewer who was more educated, more experienced and just a little bit better versed in the things that it takes to produce beer for our little pub,鈥� Herr explained. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e now on our second brewer (Cordell Rincon). And he鈥檚 been with us for about a year and a half. But we鈥檝e stayed true to the kinds of beer that we have had success with and that our customers like.鈥�
Keeping it simple has been the key to success for Sidetrack.
鈥淚 hate to say it, but (our beer is) not so flashy or not necessarily with a lot of the trends that happen in the brewing world,鈥� Herr said. 鈥淲e just do traditional styles and try to keep the ABV (alcohol by volume) at a reasonable range and make things that we just call drinkable beer.鈥�
The brewery will commemorate eight years with an event from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27. There will be some raffles and prize giveaways. It will also feature a pop-up with Oni restaurant. More information is available at .
鈥淥ni restaurant, they used to do pop-ups with us all the time, pretty frequently,鈥� O鈥橬eill said. 鈥淚 guess this was before the pandemic and then they opened up their own restaurant. So we stopped doing pop-ups with them. And so we reached out to them and asked if they were interested in coming back. People love Oni. They do ramen noodles, Japanese inspired food.鈥�
Some of Sidetrack鈥檚 original beers will be brewed to commemorate eight years.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got our Pub Ale and we鈥檙e going to have a batch of that,鈥� Herr said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 just one of the staples that we had available. It hasn鈥檛 actually been available for the last few months. So we have a batch of Pub Ale. We have an IPA, that鈥檚 called Turntable IPA, that is one of the recipes that I brewed when I was a brewer. And it鈥檚 kind of making an appearance for our eighth anniversary. And then we have a California Common beer that is also referred to as a steam lager. So it鈥檚 sort of a caramel colored lager beer that is fermented at warmer temperatures. So it鈥檚 kind of a unique style. But we鈥檝e got those three beers that are going to be available for our anniversary, in addition to all of our other typical lineup.鈥�
The beers will also be available in cans.
鈥淥ne of the new things for Sidetrack is we started canning in 2023,鈥� O鈥橬eill said. 鈥淪o we now have some of our beers in cans. We do four packs and so that鈥檚 a new thing. We only sell the four packs out of our taproom. So some of our beers we鈥檙e brewing that day for our anniversary will be in four packs, the Pub Ale, Turntable IPA and the California Common, will all be in four packs. So it鈥檚 been kind of fun experiencing that and doing packaging out of the taproom.鈥�
