Home is where the hops are: Bosque Brewing brings production back to New Mexico in partnership with Marble Brewery

ALBUQUERQUE — Bosque Brewing Co. is once again brewing all of its beer in New Mexico through a collaboration with Marble Brewery.

After Bosque moved its core beer production to Colorado for the past nine months, Marble Brewery is now handling the brewing, production and distribution of Bosque’s core beers, the two Albuquerque companies announced in a social media post in late August.

“We’re working together to keep local beer local,” the social media post said. “This new partnership ensures that jobs and dollars stay right here in (New Mexico) for the long run.”

The move comes as the nation’s craft beer industry has experienced contraction, with production of craft beer dropping by 3.9% from 2023 to 2024, which was also the first year since 2005 that the number of breweries closing outpaced those opening, according to a 2024 annual craft brewing industry production report by the Brewers Association.

Some brewers are responding to the contraction, in addition to high costs for ingredients, shifting consumer preferences and increased competition, by partnering up to share brewing space, said Jarrett Babincsak, co-owner and president of sales, marketing and hospitality for Marble.

“Pre-COVID, craft beer was really the hot thing. A lot of breweries popped up... and maybe bit off a little more than they could chew,” Babincsak said. “So now I think what you’re seeing is local breweries trying to find... where there might be some overlap between business models to see if we can be stronger together than separate.”

Babincsak has seen co-brewing partnerships taking place in New Mexico, he said. But he believes the partnership between Bosque and Marble is the first time it’s happened at such a large scale.

Marble and Bosque, two of the most well-known brewers in the state, have been around since 2008 and 2012, respectively. Bosque’s footprint spans nine locations across New Mexico and Marble’s presence encompasses three locations in Albuquerque. The breweries have a large market reach, selling their products in stores across New Mexico and in El Paso, according to Babincsak.

The Bosque beers now being brewed at Marble’s Downtown facility include Pistol Pete’s 1888 Blonde Ale, Up North, Elephants on Parade, Jetty Jack, Riverwalker IPA, Salt Money, Scotia and Weekend Trails.

These beers account for about 65% of Bosque’s product volume, while the remaining 35% are seasonal, specialty beers, which Bosque is still brewing at its brewery facility, Bosque North, in the town of Bernalillo, said Bosque CEO Gabe Jensen.

Bosque North, which also has a taproom, opened in 2018 after two years of construction, which took a little longer than anticipated, Jensen said.

The two-year wait coincided with opportunities to get into grocery stores, prompting the company to partner with Sleeping Giant Brewing Co., a contract brewery in Denver, Colorado, to help meet demand in 2016.

Production returned to Bernalillo once Bosque North was open. But then a new challenge arose: wastewater output constraints.

In December, Bosque leadership announced it would be moving production of its core beers back to Colorado after struggling to reduce wastewater output generated by the Bosque North facility. The move was necessary to “meet the town’s needs” while the company searched for a “long-term solution,” said Jensen, along with COO Jess Griego and Chief Production Officer John Bullard, in a Dec. 31 blog posted on Bosque’s website.

It was during discussions that started two months ago between Bosque and Marble that a solution came into focus.

“We’ve all kind of known each other. The industry is pretty small; New Mexico is pretty small,” Babincsak said. “For a long time, there was a lot of mutual respect for one another, and so it just kind of made sense. They needed someone to brew their beers; they would prefer to have them made in New Mexico. We had just acquired Marble, and we had plenty of capacity, so we had a solution.”

Babincsak and his business partner, co-owner and president of operations Bert Boyce, took over Marble in January. The acquisition came at a time when Marble was going through a financial rough patch and looking for new ownership to return it to a trajectory of “sustainable growth,” Babincsak said.

The peak volume to come out of Marble’s primary Downtown facility was roughly 29,000 barrels before the COVID pandemic; last year, it was about 12,000 barrels, Babincsak said.

With plenty of brewing capacity available, the Marble leaders knew the facility could handle Bosque’s volume and the move would “make both businesses structurally more sound,” Babincsak said.

“There’s room for everybody to be successful,” Babincsak said. “It’s really a win for both of us, and it’s a win for the consumer.”

The partnership will make Bosque’s flagship beers easier to find and more regularly available in more places, Babincsak explained.

Having Bosque’s core beer production back in state creates a “stability” and a “trust” that will also allow the company to spend more time pursuing creative ventures and releasing more specialty beers, Jensen said.

The move will also establish efficiency for Bosque through saved costs and streamlined communication, Jensen said. Opportunities for collaboration could also be a possibility, Babincsak added.

While the partnership hasn’t immediately contributed to more jobs, Babincsak said that is the hope. The short-term focus right now, he said, is to protect the jobs of the 470 people the two companies currently employ and make the companies stronger for future growth.

But bringing production back to New Mexico goes beyond just business, Jensen said.

“We love New Mexico so much. We want the dollars to stay here, the jobs to stay here,” Jensen said. “Having (production) back in New Mexico and in the community, it is a really big deal to us.”