Distilleries continue to grow throughout New Mexico

Apr. 20—New Mexico's distilled spirits community continues to grow throughout the state.

As of 2016, there were more than 30 licensed distilleries in the Land of Enchantment and the number continues to rise.

"You've got some that are just small single production facilities and you've got others that have multiple tasting rooms around the state," Scott Feuille, board president of the New Mexico Distillers Guild, said. "So a lot of good growth. Obviously, during the COVID era, that kind of slowed down a little bit. But fortunately, most of the distilleries survived COVID and are now kind of getting back to the point they were before. And so we're starting to see some growth."

One of the newer distilleries on board with a large operation is Altar Spirits out of Santa Fe founded by master distiller Caley Shoemaker.

"It's a female-owned and run distillery," Feuille said. "And they are really putting a nice presence in Santa Fe. One of the brands that they help manufacture is Big Nose Kate (Western) Whiskey. I know they've got some celebrity involvement... So it's kind of neat. It's a robust community that's growing."

Winning awards

New Mexico distilleries are receiving recognition with accolades from prestigious competitions including Vara Winery & Distillery, where Feuille is a partner and distiller. He is also the distiller and founder of Taylor Garrett Spirits.

"A lot of the distilleries here are starting to win national level awards," Feuille said. "We won some awards for some of our spirits, but I know that Safe House (Distilling Co.) has won some awards at some of the trade shows and others are starting to win and be recognized as well. One of the other big movements that's happening with some of the distilleries catching on to the national trends and really doing well is with the canned cocktails."

In addition to its award winning bottled spirits, Safe House offers several canned cocktails including Teller Vodka Cocktail Blueberry Lavender Lemonade, Teller Vodka Cocktail Watermelon Lemonade, and Teller Vodka Cocktail Grapefruit Hibiscus Lemonade.

Safe House is not the only distillery branching out. One of New Mexico's oldest distilleries, Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery, based out of Silver City with a taproom in Las Cruces, plans to grow its reach.

"Little Toad Creek is in the middle of a big expansion project," Feuille said. "They're doing quite a bit of canning. And I think they've got a whole new facility that's going into Deming, where they're going to do a lot of heavy production. It's all very exciting from the perspective of what we're doing from a growth perspective, what we're doing from a quality of product perspective, and we've got a lot of room to continue to grow."

Following footsteps

New Mexico's distilling community hopes to follow in the state's brewing community's footsteps.

"They've kind of blazed the trail for us," Feuille said of the brewing community's impact. "So our goal as a guild is to get New Mexico on the map as a distilling destination much like our brewing scene is on the national map as a brewing destination. So we're using several different means to do that. We're trying to really get the word out to our local restaurants that they can carry New Mexico spirits for a relatively low fee when it's compared to carrying other national level spirits. And that we have enough of a representation of the different styles of spirits and they're at a level of quality that any restaurant can offer a top notch cocktail and spirits program using New Mexico spirits."

The distillers guild also is trying to reach other corners of New Mexico.

"We have really nice communities outside (of Albuquerque and Santa Fe)," Feuille said. "So we've done festivals up in Red River, we're looking at doing some festivals down south and even in the southeast around Lovington and Hobbs. And hopefully, eventually, out to the northwest as well and do something out in the Farmington region. It's spreading. All corners of the state are represented and it's exciting."

Distilleries can be found in Farmington, Las Vegas, Raton, Taos, and beyond.

"One of the new ones that I think is going to be coming on board soon is one out in Lovington," Feuille said. "They're getting some grants from the Lovington Economic Development (Corporation). There's just development everywhere."

Enchanting flavors

Many local distilleries are using botanicals and ingredients that are unique to New Mexico.

"(There are) several whiskeys that are being made with New Mexico corn, you know, the cool variations that we have here," Feuille said. "Left Turn (Distilling) does that and Algodones Distillery is doing a blue corn whiskey... Santa Fe Spirits is using a lot of local botanicals as are the other distilleries for their gins. (Vara is) also making some pretty cool liqueurs and vermouths that are using some local ingredients. We're using New Mexico pecan wood to help age some of the spirits that we do."

Over in Taos, Ponderosa Whiskey Co. uses ponderosa pine sap in some of its treatments. Santa Fe Spirits' Atapiño Liqueur features ponderosa pine resin for a unique New Mexico flavor.

"There's so many of us that are using what we have here in New Mexico that has added benefit to the economy," Feuille said. "We've got vodkas with New Mexico green chile and red chile. We've got liqueurs. 505 Spirits is doing a lot of really cool work with a lot of different locally sourced ingredients and some of their liqueurs are very New Mexico... They do a prickly pear liqueur and so they are all using really cool New Mexico ingredients."

The New Mexico Distillers Guild has been working closely with the New Mexico Restaurant Association to get local spirits into dining establishments. As part of its collaborative effort, it held a Spirits Showcase last September at Central New Mexico Community College's main campus.

"We invited a bunch of restaurateurs to come in and do tastings and kind of see what New Mexico spirits have to offer," Feuille said. "... That's the kind of outreach that we're trying to do in the community and work with the different organizations."

The New Mexico Distillers Guild is looking to expand its membership. More information can be found at nmdistillers.org.

"We've opened it up to associate memberships," Feuille said. "Any business that might see a benefit to joining the organization can join us as an associate even if they're not a distillery. We've got a couple of suppliers from around the country and they'll come in and do presentations at our meetings, which is kind of cool. It allows them to kind of see what's going on with the distilling organization... We're looking at building that membership as well."