The challenge to Blue Corn’s future

Recently, Blue Corn Brewery lost an incredible manager in Gustavo Azurdia. He left amicably for a more personal business venture, but when I learned of his departure, I began to worry about the future state of craft beer at one of my favorite breweries in Santa Fe. Through many conversations, I knew how much he had worked behind the scenes to make Blue Corn a real craft beer establishment. And no, not all breweries are designed that way.

Blue Corn’s history tells us that it started off as a café downtown with traditional New Mexican cuisine. Beer, it seems, was kind of an afterthought. A while later they realized they wanted to serve their own beer, as was the growing trend at the time, but there was no room for a brewhouse in that space, unless they wanted to give up precious dining room realty. To solve the problem, Blue Corn opened a second restaurant on the Southside o

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