EAGLE NEST — A few miles up a sleepy canyon just north of Eagle Nest, something is brewing — literally.

Near the top of the draw, a century-old cabin blends seamlessly into the picturesque landscape, the towering peaks of the Sangre de Cristos rising as a backdrop. From the open door of the cabin wafts the unmistakable aroma of barley and hops.

Welcome to the headquarters of the Comanche Creek Brewing Company, the newest (and perhaps the smallest) New Mexican microbrewery.

But whatever Comanche Creek might lack in size, it more than makes up for it in character.

President Kody Mutz and wife Tasha are the company's only two employees (if you don't count Sienna, the lovable pooch lounging on the cabin stoop).

The couple are still in the process of moving from their home in Colorado to Eagle Nest, but Kody's roots in the area run deep.

The idyllic cabin was once the blacksmithing shop of Kody's great-grandfather. About 120 years ago, his family homesteaded on the site where the brewery sits today. The building had long stood unused and served as a storage shed until a recent renovation. A concrete floor, a new ceiling and some re-chinking work were all it took to turn the dusty shanty into a functioning brewery.

On a recent Saturday, the couple were hard at work inside the cabin, brewing up a batch of its Homestead Amber Ale. The keg-sized, stainless steel tanks still have that new shine to them and stand in sharp contrast to the worn log walls.

On the floor sat three buckets of the mashed barely used to create the syrupy-sweet malt tea that simmered in the brew kettle. Tasha and Kody stood ready to mix in handfuls of hops periodically. Once brewed, the ale goes into a fermenter, tucked away in a corner, where it will stand for about a week and a half.

The operation is a considerable step up from the homebrewing the Mutzes used to do on their stovetop back in Colorado.

At home, the couple experimented with beer recipes, refining them to fit their palates. Subtle changes in the type and amount of ingredients can have a drastic effect on the end product.

"We would tweak recipes or put things together and target where we wanted our flavor profiles to be," Kody said.

Comanche Creek plans to soon unveil its Homestead Amber to the general public, a flavor which the brewery website describes as "a sweet maltiness with subtle hop flavor and a floral finish." Two other beers are in the works for distribution: Gold Rush Golden Ale and Deadman Pale Ale. Both names were derived from the mining history of the immediate surroundings.

Though their small size limits the varieties and amounts they can produce, the Mutzes say they are interested in experimenting.

"The Scots brew with all kinds of ingredients, things like heather tips and gooseberries," Kody said. "We're talking about doing a cherry or a chokecherry beer."

When the Mutzes decided to leave Colorado for the family homestead in New Mexico, it was more than a change of scenery.

Kody left behind a career as a commercial real-estate broker to pursue the Comanche Creek endeavor full-time, and Tasha, who is still spending a lot of her time in Colorado, plans to stay busy helping out in the brewery while keeping her nursing day job.

Not unwittingly, the move also means the couple will leave behind a Colorado market flooded with budding microbreweries.

"They've been growing like crazy and it's starting to filter down here," Kody said.

New Mexico has about 16 existing breweries, compared to almost 100 in Colorado.

If that wasn't enough of a disincentive for a startup, the premier group of Colorado breweries is among the most respected in the nation.

The Mutzes hope the less-competitive New Mexico small-brewery market will give them a chance to get their foot in the door locally.

"Up there, you have to be a large-scale producer to compete, and we're probably one of the smallest production breweries in the nation," Kody said. "We're going to start by focusing on Eagle Nest, Angel Fire, Cimarron, Raton and Taos, and try to grow organically from there."

Up to this point, marketing for the brewery essentially has been by word-of-mouth.

Kody says the licensing process for brewing and distributing has been long, but not especially difficult. Comanche Creek is waiting for approval from the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms before it can get the final go-ahead from state authorities.

If all goes to plan, the Mutzes hope to start getting beer to local distributors by Memorial Day. They plan to start by offering bottled beer, but wouldn't mind seeing Homestead Amber on tap someday.

To find out more about the budding brewery, visit www.comanchecreekbrewingco.com.