A Wrestler, a Volleyball player, and an Australian walk into a bar.

How with the help of local cowboys Las Vegas is having new life breathed into it.

LAS VEGAS, NM. waits on tenterhooks as the impending opening of a new brewery on Las Vegas’ Grand Avenue looks to breathe new life into the sleepy college town. For years Vegas has seen young people from all four corners of the United States, and the world, flock to the mountain town to attend Highlands University and the United World College. New Mexico Highlands University has hosted a healthy number of students largely through their athletics programs, and it is those students crying out for further extracurricular activities. 

In what used to be home to Fred’s lumber on Grand Avenue will soon be home to the “WANTED BREWING COMPANY,” to be opened by early 2020. With few destinations for those on a college budget to relax with a few cheeky pints, good ole’ fashioned American BBQ, and every Highlands Road game on TV, the Wanted Brewery will offer the very thing the huge number of travelling students that occupy the town for most of the year want.

With the recent RMAC championship run of the Cowboys’ basketball team seeing an improvement of not only school spirit, but also local support, the time for an affordable and laid back setting has never been better. If you were lucky enough to be in town during the dream run that the HU cowboys basketball team had in the RMAC tournament you probably knew that the chances of getting a table at B3 on bridge street were pretty slim. The former home of JC’s NY pizza department had standing room only as for the first time in a very long time the cohesion of both locals and students became evident again. It’s this type of atmosphere the owners of B3 are aiming to replicate on a larger scale in the Wanted brewhouse. And it’s an atmosphere that is being set through the employment of locals and students alike.

The current set up of B3: Bbq, Burgers, and Beer on Bridge Street sees a fairly even split of local workers and student-athletes keeping the burgers turning, beer flowing, and customers smiling. It takes local knowledge, the efficiency of a handful of wrestlers, welcoming smiles of a few volleyball players, the charisma owner/brewer Brian, and unrelenting voice of an international football player, to make B3 the favorite spot for natives of the meadow city, and students of Highlands to watch the Cowboys and Cowgirls on the road while having a few refreshments in a safe, community atmosphere. One that will surely be replicated at WANTED.