11/7/2023 0 Comments Ice box owner![]() ![]() We wanted it to be a place where people could sit and talk, make new friends. “The big bar was part of our plan, the design from the beginning. “We tried to keep the warehouse feel for sure, but make it feel comfortable enough with some little touches,” Brian said. There were a few businesses that occupied the building in between the closing of Sierra Ice and Water, but none of them did much to modernize the building. ![]() It was kind of a shell of a warehouse.” The brewing area is visible from the entire seating area. Pretty much all of the electrical had to be redone, all the HVAC work is brand new, there wasn’t anything in here. The investment was made to bring all of that in. We put the sprinkler system in so we could keep the brewing equipment open (for viewing), just separated by the railing. “I can show you our walk-in cooler and what we did with that. “There’s lots of room for expansion if we need it,” Brian said. There is a small stage for music, and the SoHo food truck is permanently parked outside. The bar inside is quite large, but there are plenty of tables as well. There is a sizable patio out front, facing north toward Picacho Avenue. Icebox has an open brewing area, visible to the entire seating area for its customers. “We want to throw some new stuff in there and start working on some kettle sours, and some of the trending beers that are out there, but we also really want to focus on what craft beer is and educate people on that.” “With the beers that we have, (I) just try to have the styles that are classic and basic, and we can continue to teach people what craft beer is,” said Garrett, who came from nearby Spotted Dog Brewing. That approach fits the bulk of the local customers, as well as visitors from nearby El Paso, who are not as well versed in the more eclectic beer styles like people in Albuquerque and Santa Fe are used to these days. “I think our approach to the beers is we kind of make sure most of the styles are very approachable to the general public, but also good enough for the real beer connoisseur.” The interior combines a comfortable vibe with the industrial aesthetic. “We worked hard over the past year or two to repurpose at least this front warehouse and get our brewhouse built, get all the equipment in place, get some recipes developed,” Brian said. Sierra Ice and Water was never a brewery before, and it certainly does not have a history dating back to the 19th Century, but it does make for a unique setting for a modern brewery. It remained open as an ice plant until the 1970s, though brewing never resumed after Prohibition. The first major brewery in Albuquerque was the Southwestern Brewery and Ice Company, which lasted from 1889 to 1917, and combined both brewing and ice-making. Since Miller has Icehouse, we didn’t want a cease-and-desist letter from them.“ Icebox is already one of the largest breweries in Las Cruces by square footage. “That’s where the name Icebox comes from. “We found this building, it used to be an old ice (making) plant,” Brian said. The connections that Wright had to the industrial community led them to a building with a long history. We paired up with (brewer) Garrett Denmark and started throwing around ideas of what we could build and what we wanted to do.” I’ve known him for a long time, so we were working together. The owner (John Wright) had an industrial supply business for a long time, a family business, and he recently sold that. “We like the community that craft beer represents, and especially the camaraderie between all the businesses and all the breweries. “We obviously, first and foremost, enjoy beer,” Brian said. seemed to be a natural fit for a brewery. General manager and co-founder Brian Weidauer said that the former home of Sierra Ice and Water at 2825 W. While the brewery has only been open since January, the building it occupies has been around for more than 50 years. Icebox Brewing might just be the most modern, and yet the most historic brewery in Las Cruces. The newest brewery in Las Cruces is located in one of the older buildings in town.
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