Ex Novo Brewing Company is a craft brewery founded in Portland, Oregon, in 2014 that now brews in Corrales, New Mexico, at a production brewery, taproom and beer garden at 4895 Corrales Road. Its founder, Joel Gregory, grew up in Corrales, so the move south was a homecoming as much as an expansion. Today all of Ex Novo’s own taprooms are in New Mexico, and the Corrales site is where the beer is made.
The name is a Latin phrase meaning “anew,” and the brewery has spent its first decade living up to it: a fresh start in Oregon, another in the village where its founder was raised, and a giving model built into the business from day one.
From Portland to Corrales: How Ex Novo Brewing Came Home
Gregory studied electrical engineering in San Luis Obispo, California, then moved to Portland with his wife, who is from Albuquerque. They opened the first Ex Novo there in 2014, according to Edible New Mexico and the Albuquerque Journal, and added a second brewpub in Beaverton, Oregon, five years later.
By 2017 the couple had decided to bring the brewery back to New Mexico. The Corrales taproom opened on May 24, 2019, as NM Dark Side Brew Crew reported at the time, and the company describes the site as its significantly larger brewing home. When it opened, the brewhouse paired a 20-barrel main system with a 5-barrel pilot system for smaller experimental batches. (A brewing barrel is 31 gallons, so a single 20-barrel batch is about 620 gallons of beer.)
The property is a big part of the story. Edible New Mexico describes it as more than three acres on Corrales Road, with room for the production brewery, the pub and plenty of outdoor space. That space later became The Corral, the beer garden described below.
Is Ex Novo Brewing Still in Portland?
No. Ex Novo’s own taprooms are now all in New Mexico. In 2023 Gregory chose to focus the company on New Mexico, and on December 20, 2023, a new Oregon company, Lazy Days Brewing, took over both Oregon pubs: the original on North Flint Avenue in Portland and the Beaverton pizzeria, according to Willamette Week. Under a contract agreement, Lazy Days continues to brew several Ex Novo ales in Oregon, so the name still shows up in the Northwest. If you are in New Mexico, Corrales is the brewery’s headquarters and production home.
Drink Beer, Do Good
Ex Novo was founded as a philanthropic brewery, set up to give its profits to organizations working toward a better world once costs and growth were covered. Edible New Mexico reports that it operated as a nonprofit until 2017 and has kept giving as much as it can since then as a regular business. On its own site, the brewery says it has donated almost $150,000 to local communities, charities and global efforts.
The giving shows up in the beer, too. Stay Goalden, a golden ale made with New Mexico United, supports the team’s Somos Unidos Foundation. The company also runs a staff volunteer program it calls Communitas, which connects its employees with local causes. In 2022, Edible New Mexico named Ex Novo a Local Hero in its beer category.
What Ex Novo Brews
Ex Novo’s lineup leans on classic styles done cleanly, with a few big barrel-aged releases each year. The Corrales tap list published on the brewery’s website includes:
- Mass Ascension: a 6.9% IPA, described as the brewery’s flagship when Corrales opened
- Perle Haggard: a 5.1% German-style pilsner
- Mexican Lager: a 5% lager
- Palm Tree in a Dust Storm: a 6% hazy IPA
- Sidearm Blonde: a 5% blonde ale
A hazy IPA is an IPA brewed to stay cloudy, usually softer and juicier in flavor than a classic bitter IPA. A pilsner is a crisp, pale lager, a style that traces back to the Czech city of Plzeň.
Winter brings the heavy hitters. Kill the Sun is a bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stout the brewery releases around the winter solstice, often in several variants, and Nevermore is a barrel-aged black barleywine. Edible New Mexico has also written about Ex Novo developing barrel-aged sours with local fruit, including peaches from Velarde and raspberries from Heidi’s Raspberry Farm in Corrales.
For its tenth anniversary in 2024, Ex Novo released the Decem series, Latin for “ten.” The Albuquerque Journal reported five collaborations with breweries in Colorado, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington, including a cold IPA with Breakside Brewery in Portland and an Italian pilsner with Cannonball Creek in Colorado.
The Corrales Taproom and The Corral
The Corrales taproom is on Corrales Road, and per the brewery’s website it is open daily from noon, until 9 p.m. most nights and 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Beer is available to go as well as by the glass.
Out back is The Corral, Ex Novo’s beer garden and event space. The brewery lists room for about 140 guests, two bocce courts, three fire pits, two cornhole sets, open grass, and a large shade structure with overhead heating and cooling. A planted area called the Garden of En grows herbs for the cocktail program. The Corral keeps shorter hours than the taproom, Thursday and Friday evenings and from noon on weekends, and parts of it are sometimes booked for private events, so check the brewery’s social pages before planning around it.
Gregory also leads a 90-minute brewery tour with behind-the-scenes access and a tasting, which the brewery books through its website.
What Regulars Love
Public reviews of the Corrales brewery keep coming back to the same few things. People talk about how easy it is to slow down there, with plenty of room to spread out on the grounds. They praise a friendly, helpful staff and a wide beer selection. Food trucks parked out front come up again and again, and so does how well the grounds handle a crowd, whether that is a big group of friends or a private event in the beer garden.
Ex Novo in Albuquerque
Corrales is not the only place to drink Ex Novo in New Mexico. In 2024 the company opened a large downtown location at 701 Central Avenue NW in Albuquerque, which brings together a taproom and restaurant, a lounge called The Bitter Nun, and Sammy’s Cafe & Deli under one roof. Details are on the Ex Novo Albuquerque listing.
Plan Your Visit
Ex Novo’s Corrales brewery is at 4895 Corrales Road, Corrales, NM 87048, a short drive from Albuquerque’s North Valley and Rio Rancho. Hours, the phone number and a map are on the Ex Novo Brewing Corrales listing, and the current tap list is on the brewery’s own site at exnovobrew.com. If you are making a day of it, bring a designated driver or plan a rideshare.
Looking for more stops nearby? Find Ex Novo and the rest of the state’s taprooms on the New Mexico brewery directory and map at New Mexico Breweries.
