It’s the newest addition to Main Street. The Red River Brewing Company is a full-service restaurant and brewery open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.
According to General Manager/Co-owner Michael Calhoun, they have a tasty appetizer menu, sandwiches, salads and burgers, with a special menu during dinner hours: steaks, grilled seafood, pasta dishes and, of course, a wide range of craft beers created on-site with water from the deep wells of the Red River Valley!
RRBC also offers a variety of craft beers from a few other New Mexico breweries, as well as fine New Mexico wines. Ask about the homemade root beer on tap.
There are two bars: a large bar with 12 taps inside the building, and an outside bar with 12 taps located on the large patio. A smaller patio is at the other end of the structure that is modeled after an old Red River mine.
“From the bar area to the Crow’s Nest – a landing area at the top of the stairs on the second floor – patrons can see the beer being made, watch the brewers doing their thing,” Michael says with a big smile. A balcony outside on the second floor overlooks Main Street.
“When the doors are open to spill out onto the patio, those two bars will connect. There is a large sliding door that opens for access to the outside seating and the “Great Ball of Fire” pit. There are also overhead doors that open the building front to the great outdoors!”
A Red River native born and raised in the high country, Michael has returned to the town he grew up in after working 26 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Building the brewery has been the dream of him and Sharon, his wife and Office Manager/Co-owner. The project that started as a big idea has become a reality and is a Calhoun family venture, involving Michael and Sharon, his father Ted Calhoun and wife Linda, his brother Brian Calhoun who served as the architect of the building, and Mike’s son Chris, the Head Brewer.
“We’re excited to have him here,” Michael says. “Chris is the 4th generation of Calhouns working in Red River: my grandfather Glen Calhoun, my dad Ted Calhoun, me, and now Chris.”
With a degree in biology, Chris came to the project from grad school where he studied chemical engineering. “When we started this project in Red River, there was a lot of excitement in the family and Chris caught the bug, too. He wanted be a part of it. He spent time training at the Ouray Brewing Company in Colorado.”
Executive Chef and kitchen manager Steve Garrett hails from the Dallas area where he worked at country clubs and national chain restaurants. He came to Red River as chef for the Outlaw Restaurant.
“When the outside bar is open,” Michael says, “we can expand our selection to an additional 12 beers. That’s 11 to 23 different beers we can have on tap!”
