Ex Novo brewer Chichura takes long and winding road back to New Mexico

Long before he ever brewed a beer in New Mexico, a young Dave Chichura visited Albuquerque on a two-month brewery tour of America in 1995. He visited the Rio Bravo Restaurant Brewery downtown and Assets Grille in the Northeast Heights. Those two breweries passed into history in 1998 and 2005, respectively, while the young beer lover who visited both would go on to embark upon a brewing journey of his own that would ultimately bring him back to this state 24 years later.

I sat down with Dave over some pints at the Ex Novo taproom in Corrales last week to learn the story of the man behind the beers that so many of us have enjoyed since the brewery opened in May.

“I got into beer when I was in college, strangely enough,” Dave said. “I think it was late in my freshman year in college (in 1989-90), I was in a co-op house at Rutgers

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