Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op is a member-owned brewery and taproom at 163 Central Park Square in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and it has been pouring its own beer since May 2015. It was the town’s first craft brewery, and it belongs to the people who drink there: more than 1,200 lifetime members, according to the co-op’s own history page.
Locals call it “the Tub.” Ten years in, it has grown from a 3.5-barrel brewhouse into a seven-barrel operation with a beer garden, a hop-covered patio, and a calendar full of community events. Here is how it came together, what it brews, and why so many people treat it as their neighborhood living room.
How Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op got its start
The idea took shape in 2012. A group of residents incorporated as the Los Alamos Beer Co-op in September of that year and, by the co-op’s account, met weekly in a small room at the Los Alamos County Library for about three years while they planned the brewery. Their model was an English neighborhood pub where the beer is brewed on the premises.
They chose a cooperative structure because, as the co-op explains it, the seven cooperative principles matched its mission. A cooperative is a business owned and governed by its members, who each get a vote. The community paid for the build. By opening day, the co-op says, more than 470 members had bought in, dozens more had lent the project money, and total member investment came to just over $320,000. The brewery describes itself as the fourth cooperatively run brewery in the United States at the time.
The taproom opened on April 22, 2015, and the first Tub-brewed beers went on tap that May 24. Bill Myers, a founding member and the board president, told the Albuquerque Journal in 2025 that the community itself raised the money that made the opening possible.
Where the name comes from
Bathtub Row is a piece of Los Alamos history. According to the co-op, the name belongs to a set of houses built in 1917 for the Los Alamos Ranch School. During the Manhattan Project, they were the only homes in town with bathtubs, because wartime limits kept iron bath fixtures scarce. Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer lived on the row, and the houses were known for their parties.
That history runs through the beer names, too. Untappd lists a Hoppenheimer IPA, a Prometheus Pilsner, and a Ranch School Rustic Ale among the brewery’s most-logged beers. The website’s tagline turns the old line about a drinking town with a fishing problem into a nod to the town’s other famous trade: science.
What the Tub brews
The brewery describes its approach as a blend of American craft brewing and historic European styles, made with local and imported ingredients, plus some experimenting with unusual ingredients and techniques. The lineup rotates often. Untappd counts around 150 different beers from the co-op over its first decade.
Among the beers Untappd users log most often:
- Hoppenheimer IPA, an American IPA and a long-running house favorite
- Little Bird Blonde, a blonde ale
- New Mexi Lager, a Mexican-style lager
- Witrock, a Belgian-style witbier
- Irish Goodbye Stout, an Irish dry stout
In early October 2026, the taproom’s “Pouring Now” list on the brewery’s website included New Mexi Lager at 5.2% ABV, Hop Freeze Cold IPA at 6.6%, Noble Pils at 5.8%, Oz’s Oatmeal Stout at 5.4%, and Sir Bramling’s Golden Ale at 5.3%. ABV is alcohol by volume, the share of the beer that is alcohol. A cold IPA, for anyone new to the term, is an IPA built on a lager-style base for a crisp, dry finish that lets the hops stand out. A guest IPA from Santa Fe’s Second Street Brewery was on the board, too.
Hops from the patio
One beer is about as local as it gets. Hops climb over the Tub’s patio, and once a year volunteers pick them and the brewers make a Patio Hop Pale the same day, as the NM Dark Side Brew Crew reported in 2025. The same report described a staff birthday program that lets employees pick a style or recipe and help brew it. One bartender’s choice became a Belgian tripel.
Ten years of growth
The original 3.5-barrel system came from Bosque Brewing. In 2023 the co-op moved up to a seven-barrel brewhouse that previously belonged to Toltec Brewing in Albuquerque, roughly doubling what it can brew per batch. Head brewer Adam Auden has been training assistant brewers, and the staff now does sensory work on ingredients and finished beers, according to the Dark Side Brew Crew.
The space grew as well. The Tub added a patio with a firepit and turned its “back 40” lot into a beer garden, served in summer by a bar built into a shipping container. Steph Krantz, a longtime bartender and board member, told the Albuquerque Journal she counts it among the best beer gardens in the state.
The business side has a happy ending too. The co-op says it paid off the last of its member loans by the end of 2024, a year in which sales came within about $30,000 of $1 million, according to Visit Los Alamos. The Tub marked its tenth anniversary with a month of events from April 22 to May 24, 2025, including a jazz night, a beer dinner, a National Homebrew Day celebration, pet adoption days with Española Humane, and a “Big Bang Bash” to close it out.
What regulars love
Read through public reviews and a few themes keep coming up. People talk about how friendly the place is, from the bartenders to the regulars who strike up conversations with travelers. The outdoor space wins plenty of fans, especially the shaded beer garden and the hop-covered patio. Visitors mention live music, food trucks, and a dog-friendly outdoor space, and beer fans point to the mix of a dependable flagship IPA alongside creative one-off brews.
General manager Doug Osborn greets people with “Welcome home,” according to Visit Los Alamos, and that sums up the feel the co-op is going for. The brewery calls itself a family-friendly, inclusive community space. The taproom has a snack menu of chips, pretzels, and jerky, and a rotating lineup of food trucks parks outside for meals.
Is Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op really owned by its members?
Yes. Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op is owned by its members, not outside investors. As of its 2025 anniversary, a lifetime membership cost $250 and came with discounts on pints, crowlers, and merchandise, a vote in co-op elections, and eligibility to serve on the board, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Osborn told the paper the model suits Los Alamos, where many residents work at Los Alamos National Laboratory and would rather own a share of their local pub than start one. The co-op’s charter allows up to 2,000 members.
Visiting Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op
- Address: 163 Central Park Square, Los Alamos, NM 87544, in the town’s historic district
- Hours: noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, noon to 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, per the brewery’s website
- To go: beer to take home can be ordered online or in the taproom
Hours and tap lists change, so check the brewery’s website before you make the drive up the hill.
If you are headed to Los Alamos for Bandelier, the Bradbury Science Museum, or a day on the trails, the Tub makes an easy stop at the end of it. Find Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op on New Mexico Breweries, then browse more New Mexico taprooms on the map to plan your next visit.
