Festival overload is hurting the NM craft brewing scene

As the snow falls outside, it currently feels about as far removed from festival season as can be in New Mexico. The period that begins with ABQ Beer Week in May and ends with NM Brew Fest in October saw more festivals than ever this year. That is not a good thing.

Back on Friday I had the chance to talk with Turtle Mountain owner Nico Ortiz about a wide variety of topics. One of the major areas of concern for Nico, who sits on the NM Brewers Guild as the President of the Board of Directors (La Cumbre’s Jeff Erway and Bosque’s Gabe Jensen also sit on the Board), was this year’s festival overload. Particularly from July through October, there seemed to be a different festival every weekend. Not all were centered on beer, but almost all had local craft breweries represented. Why was this a bad thing? Too many festivals forced people to pick and choose. Sadly, they did not pick th

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