America has been a market saturated with big-name commercial beers for some time, but the consumer has finally had enough; the status quo beer just isn’t cutting it anymore. Retailer shelves that were once seas of Budweiser red and Bud Light blue are now seeing an influx of new, interesting labels such as Rahr & Sons, Saint Arnold, Southern Star and Rogue among thousands of others. Craft beer is experiencing a rapid renaissance of sorts in the United States; at the end of 2013, there were 2,768 microbreweries, brewpubs and regional craft breweries.
It’s been a few years since El Paso has been able to enjoy its own craft beer—the last local brewer, Jaxon’s Restaurant & Brewing Co., closed down in 2012 after having been in continuous operation since 1973.
Soon, El Paso will have its own taps to be proud of again. Ray Campos, Gabe Montoya and his wife Amie, are on the verge of opening the doors to Deadbeach Brewery at 406 Durango, making it a future a part of the Union Plaza Entertainment District, just steps away from a massively popular shopping district, performing arts centers, the El Paso Chihuahuas stadium and a long-established nightlife.
The building in which at one time was the home of swanky nightspot the Motel Bar, is in a state of complete re-genesis; the DJ platform has been removed and a completely new, modern structure has been build in its stead, showcasing rows of giant, gleaming beer tanks. The interior is being gutted— new floors, decorative accents and lighting fixtures will soon fill the Deadbeach tavern. It’s evident that a lot of sweat and heavy lifting has been put into making the brewery a reality; Campos, one of the owners, could be both heard and seen scuffling from area to area, giving contractors specific build instructions. The other owner, Montoya and his wife Amie granted me the following interview.
When did you get your start with beer brewing?
Montoya: I fell in love with craft beer back in 2001. I was a camp counselor in Pennsylvania, in a small town of about 20,000 people with three breweries. These friends of mine and I would go out to bars and try out all these different beers I had never heard of. I’m from El Paso, so all I was used to was Keystone Light and Bud Light, not that there’s anything wrong with that. All of a sudden, I discovered porters, stouts, browns and all these really wonderful full-bodied beers. When I came back to El Paso, I realized that we didn’t have the same experience here except for Jaxon’s Restaurant and Brewing Company. I applied there, got hired and within 3 months I started brewing and continued brewing with them for the next 7 and a half years.
Right from the beginning you jumped into a commercial brewing environment; did you ever home brew?
Montoya: Oh yes, I did home brew, and still do. When I moved back to El Paso, I lived Downtown with two roommates. I would brew in the basement with ‘Mr. Beer’ kits and sometimes I made horrible brews but we made this agreement where we would still drink it even if we knew it was horrible.
Amie: Oh yes… we all had to drink it. Sometimes it was atrocious!
Montoya: It was a team effort! We jumped from Mr. Beer kits to cut open kegs that I pour water and grains in. Everything takes a little bit longer at home, but it’s totally worth it. We have four refrigerators in our house but only one is dedicated to food.
Do you bottle or keg?
Montoya: A little bit of both. Bottling is a pain in the ass, so if we drink enough beer, we won’t have to bottle it.
Amie: Or by the time we get to bottling, the beer is gone.
Montoya: (laughs) Thats true, too.
Tell me a little bit more of the team that’s making this brewery dream a reality.
Montoya: The team is Ray Campos, myself, some homies and that’s it. Ray has a construction background and is a master plumber; we’ve gotten a lot of initial help from a couple of friends. We were digging the foundation, did the demolition ourselves, the plumbing, the painting. Now that we’re close to the end, we’re bringing professionals to come in and expedite what needs to happen.
How did you come up with the name Deadbeach? That’s pretty unique!
Montoya: It was kind of a joke to begin with. I’m a musician and we were in a group called The Deadbeach Boys. Eventually, we started referring to El Paso as the ‘Deadbeach.’ The name just kind of hung out—it was always something very close to all of our hearts; something we knew. So when it came time to choose a name, we wanted to represent what we’re trying to do.
Do you still play in a band?
Montoya: I dabble. I play percussion, the drums, so I get to be really loud.
What are some of the challenges have you’ve faced so far along the way?
Amie: Everybody was scared when we would talk about opening a brewery because they didn’t understand what a brewery was going to entail. They didn’t visualize it themselves. We went to a couple of real estate agents and they were really reserved and always tried to steer us to a warehouse. We kept telling them that we didn’t want a warehouse; we wanted a nice little place with patios and plenty of light.
Montoya: We were looking for a location for a year and a half.
And then you found this place.
Montoya: It was kind of a fluke how we found this place. We were actually looking at a spot on the next street over. This place had been empty for a while and we looked at it before. It had a different vibe— a “pointy shoe” kind of place with $150 bottle service and that wasn’t what we’re trying to portray. The State of Texas actually helped by revamping some of their old beer laws as far as breweries go. As a brewpub we can make on premises, sell on premises and sell a certain amount by self-distributing to the rest of the city.
Are you also going to be selling food here?
Montoya: Yes, definitely. A kitchen is an absolute necessity. El Paso loves to eat! The menu has yet to be decided.
Have you gotten any distribution agreements in place with restaurants in El Paso yet?
Montoya: There’s a three-tier system in Texas that makes it difficult to self-distribute. If you truly self-distribute, that means you can’t offer Sam Adams, Lonestar or any other beer types at your brewpub, only your own. What we will have to do is sell to a distributor, then they would distribute around El Paso for us. Because of that choice, we will be able to offer other beers in addition to our own. We will have 24 taps: 12 of our own and 12 with potential guest beers where we can invite Jester King from Austin or Odell from Colorado.
Which varieties of beer will Deadbeach be offering?
Montoya: We will have three flagship beers: the Llorona Lager which is more of a Bohemian Pilsner—but now we’re getting technical, the Abuelita Porter, a dark coffee stout with Abuelita chocolate and an IPA. I love hops and making big, bold beers.
What kind of impact do you think your brewery will have on El Paso?
Montoya: Craft beer has been on the rise here; there’s the Hoppy Monk, Craft & Social, The Block and Steve O’s. There’s also a couple of home brew clubs that are doing a great job. People like that always push you forward and make you want to try harder. I’ve also heard rumors that there’s other breweries on our heels which is just really fantastic because we are able to lift up a beer culture together.
Amie: Beer, as far as history can go, is something that you celebrated and drank with people that you wanted to spend time with. So, if we’re making beer, then somebody else starts making beer next door, we would want to support each other. We plan to be at every grand opening for any other brewery that pops up.
Is brewing beer more of an art or a science for you?
Montoya: It’s an alchemy; a little bit of everything. You’ve got to have that creative mind to make good beer. Take for example, a brewery in Canutillo. The gentleman makes a sweet tamale beer!
Do you have any academic background in brewing?
Montoya: When I got into brewing, none of that cool stuff was available. I know there’s a school in Vermont and a school in California completely dedicated to brewing. Now, there’s even classes at UTEP and NMSU. I was lucky enough to meet one of those professors, and got to sit in on his class twice. There’s so much science actually going into the process of making beer; you could go take a class in Microbiology and use that knowledge for brewing. I did most of my learning by trial and error and attending beer functions and events. The brewing culture is very open; they’ll share their recipes and talk about everything they’ve learned. It’s a wonderful experience to travel to Santa Fe or Phoenix and meet all these amazing brewers that are more than eager to explain what they’re doing.
What is your time line? When do you think you’ll be opening?
Montoya: That’s the multi-million dollar question! Once there’s beer in the tanks, which will be soon, we’ll be able to provide actual opening day in 2015. Beer takes some time to ferment and turn magical, so it would be kind of rough for me to give an exact date right now.
Awesome. Is there anything else that you like to add?
Montoya: Yes. Beer loves you.
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Text: Crysti Couture | Photo: Alex Durán