Hollow Spirits Distillery Expands into Former Bosque Brewing Taproom on Albuquerque's East Side

The formerly vacant Bosque Brewing taproom at Eubank and Spain is coming back to daily life: Frank Holloway, owner of downtown Albuquerque's Hollow Spirits Distillery, plans to open the corner as a pour room and restaurant by May, pending state licensing.

Neighbors who watched the east-side location go dark after Bosque left will notice the most basic change first: the building will be open every day. Hollow Spirits' existing home at First and Mountain operates only when an event fills the calendar, leaving the space empty most weekdays. The Eubank and Spain site is designed for seven-days-a-week operations, with a full restaurant alongside Hollow Spirits' agave spirits menu.

When Holloway toured the space, Bosque had left the kitchen, glassware, seating, and restaurant setup intact. "We went and took a tour, and it was a turn-key place," he said. "Bosque left it as is when they went out, so everything was set up." That existing infrastructure means Hollow Spirits can move into restaurant operations without a full build-out, which supports the May timeline. The new location will also carry two Bosque Brewing beers, keeping a trace of the taproom's previous identity on the menu.

The move marks a genuine shift in how Hollow Spirits operates. Holloway opened the First and Mountain location in 2018, with help from his mother, primarily as a production and storage facility with public access tied to special events. The east-side pour room returns the business to daily restaurant operations, something Holloway described as an opportunity to get back into the restaurant industry after years of event-based service.

His argument for the neighborhood is about energy. "Here, sometimes you come on a weekday, and we don't have an event, and it's empty, which makes you sad," he said. "Over there, there's always gonna be people and that energy, which we all feed off of."

Holloway framed the expansion as honoring what Bosque built at that corner rather than erasing it. "There's family, friends, those hugs, camaraderie. The food will be great, the drinks will be great, but really, what it is is that family 'Cheers and Norm' thing. That's pretty much everything I do it for is the community," he said.

The opening remains contingent on licensing approval, with no confirmed date set beyond the May target.