WALKING THROUGH the gleaming front doors at Hollow Spirits Distillery’s new Northeast Heights location in Albuquerque, you’re immediately struck by the familiar rhythms of a brewhouse. The former Bosque Brewing Co. space is packed with customers. Servers weave through the industrial-casual room carrying updated spins on pub classics like crispy fish and chips. Friends crowd around tables and bartenders keep drinks moving across the bar. Some glasses hold local beer and New Mexico wines, but most are filled with cocktails built around liquor distilled by Hollow Spirits itself.
For owner and distiller Frank Holloway, who started in restaurants as a busser before founding Hollow Spirits in 2018—and still jumps into the kitchen to learn prep work—the new space is all about approachability and hospitality. “It’s not about us, it’s more about you,” he says. “What I’m really trying to bring back is just that whole service aspect—having fun and not being too into ourselves.”
With production and event hosting ramping up at Hollow Spirits’ original Albuquerque taproom on First Street, Holloway saw an opportunity to bring his craft cocktails to the East Side. But it was his mother who first spotted the potential in the nearly 6,000-square-foot former brewery. “The stars kept lining up to where I couldn’t say no,” Holloway says.
Tasting flights offer a chance to sample Hollow Spirits' locally distilled liquor.
Photograph courtesy of Hollow Spirits.
The cocktail menu draws from Hollow Spirits’ broad lineup, from lavender vodka and barrel-aged gin to silver agave spirits, with a special focus on its flagship whiskeys. The Salted Maple Old Fashioned is a perfect place to start, using its maple-finished Red 86 bourbon with just a touch of saline to balance the sweetness. The pour house’s customer-first ethos shines when you ask a bartender to “Make Me Something Good.” (Yes, it’s on the menu.) Simply tell them the flavors you like and leave the rest to them. One version mixes agave spirit, lime, cucumber, and jalapeño into a refreshing summer crusher.
It’s that accessibility that makes Hollow Spirits feel less like an expanded tasting room than a new kind of neighborhood pub, where locally distilled spirits get the easygoing treatment once reserved for craft beer. “We want people to get comfortable,” Holloway says. “Let’s just get a drink and have fun.”
