Formerly: Club Bar · Green Front · Capitol Bar
Socorro, New Mexico · Founded 1896
A working Socorro bar and brewery with an 1896 Italian-immigrant saloon lineage, a judge's courtroom-and-jail past, and beers first brewed on site in 2021.
Capitol Bar & Brewery stands at 110 Plaza Street in Socorro, New Mexico, carrying a bar lineage that began in 1896 with Giovanni Biavaschi and his brother Tobaschi. After the original owners' business troubles, Judge Amos Green ran the place as Club Bar, held court there, and used a back room as a jail. The Green family later moved the business next door and renamed it Capitol Bar in 1939; the DeBrine family took over in 1980 and added a brewery in 2021.
Italian immigrant Giovanni Biavaschi and his brother Tobaschi opened a popular Socorro saloon that sold local wine. Giovanni also operated a vineyard or winery outside town, according to later local-history accounts.
Source: New Mexico Magazine, "Socorro Saloon Gets An Update," October 1, 2024; New Mexico Darkside Brew Crew, "Capitol Bar adds to its long history in Socorro by brewing its own beer," July 29, 2021; The Bite, "Pints with a Past: Socorro Beer is Brewed in History," February 19, 2026
After Biavaschi encountered business trouble in the early twentieth century, Judge Amos Green reopened the venue as the Club Bar. Local histories say Green held court in the bar and used a back room as a jail.
Source: New Mexico Magazine, October 1, 2024; New Mexico Darkside Brew Crew, July 29, 2021; The Bite, February 19, 2026
During Prohibition, local accounts say Amos Green operated the business as a pool hall and a speakeasy, with a trapdoor behind the bar that allegedly led to an escape route through the basement. The story is not independently verified through period police or court records.
Source: New Mexico Magazine, October 1, 2024; New Mexico Darkside Brew Crew, July 29, 2021
The Capitol Bar historical account says Emilio Green applied for a tax stamp in anticipation of repeal and that the Green Front became Socorro's first legalized bar. The claimed first-in-Socorro status requires local license-record verification.
Source: Capitol Bar & Brewery, About page, accessed September 1, 2026
Ownership passed to Emilio Green's sons, Willie and Frankie, who renamed the business Capitol Bar and moved it next door.
Source: Capitol Bar & Brewery, About page, accessed September 1, 2026
Earl DeBrine's father, a New York native attending New Mexico Tech, leased and eventually bought the bar, according to New Mexico Magazine.
Source: New Mexico Magazine, "Socorro Saloon Gets An Update," October 1, 2024
Capitol Bar added a brewery during the COVID-era closure and began brewing beer on site. Its first beers, Amos and Jailbreak, referenced Judge Amos Green and the old jail room where the brewery was installed.
Source: New Mexico Darkside Brew Crew, "Capitol Bar adds to its long history in Socorro by brewing its own beer," July 29, 2021; The Bite, "Pints with a Past: Socorro Beer is Brewed in History," February 19, 2026
Capitol Bar & Brewery continues operating at 110 Plaza Street as a full bar and brewery in Socorro.
Source: Capitol Bar & Brewery official website, accessed September 1, 2026; The Bite, February 19, 2026; Visit Socorro, Capitol Bar
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
New Mexico Magazine, a 2021 brewery history, and a 2026 regional beer feature consistently identify Giovanni Biavaschi and his brother Tobaschi as the founders of an 1896 Socorro saloon. The account is strong and coherent, but this review did not retrieve an 1896 city directory, license, deed, advertisement, or newspaper item to document the opening directly.
The reviewed accounts say Biavaschi and Tobaschi opened a saloon in 1896. They say that after the original owners encountered business trouble, Judge Amos Green ran the later Club Bar, held court there, and used a back room as a jail. That history explains the courtroom-and-jail association but does not establish that the building was originally constructed as a county courthouse and jail.
The reviewed history identifies Giovanni Biavaschi and Tobaschi as 1896 founders, followed by Judge Amos Green and the Green family, then the DeBrine family from 1980. No reviewed source supports a Baca family ownership chain, much less four generations of continuous Baca control.
Contemporaneous 2021 brewery coverage announced the debut of Capitol's first two house beers, and current business materials say brewing began in May 2021. The brewery was installed in the former jail room, where the old cell door remains part of the site story.
The historical record describes ownership and name changes, a Prohibition-era pool-hall/speakeasy period, and a 1939 move next door when Willie and Frankie Green renamed the business Capitol Bar. That move alone defeats a same-building continuity claim, while the reviewed sources do not document uninterrupted lawful bar service across Prohibition or later closures.
New Mexico Magazine reports that Earl DeBrine's father leased and eventually bought the bar in 1980, while current brewery coverage identifies Earl DeBrine as the present owner/operator. The family's decades-long stewardship is well supported, although this review did not inspect the 1980 sale, lease, corporate, liquor-license, or property-title documents.
Capitol Bar was founded in 1896 by Giovanni Baca in a former county courthouse and jail.
Recent historical accounts identify the 1896 saloon founders as Italian immigrant Giovanni Biavaschi and his brother Tobaschi. The building's courtroom and jail association came later, when Judge Amos Green operated the business as Club Bar, held court there, and used a back room as a jail.
Source: New Mexico Magazine, "Socorro Saloon Gets An Update," October 1, 2024; New Mexico Darkside Brew Crew, July 29, 2021; The Bite, February 19, 2026
Capitol Bar has been owned continuously by the Baca family for four generations.
The reviewed history traces the venue through Biavaschi and Tobaschi, Judge Amos Green and the Green family, and the DeBrine family from 1980. No evidence supports a Baca ownership chain.
Source: New Mexico Magazine, October 1, 2024; Capitol Bar & Brewery, About page, accessed September 1, 2026
Capitol Bar installed its on-site brewery in 2015.
The bar began brewing beer on site in 2021, after installing the brewery during the COVID-era closure. Contemporary coverage documented the launch of its first house beers that year.
Source: New Mexico Darkside Brew Crew, July 29, 2021; The Bite, February 19, 2026
Capitol Bar has remained in the same building and operated unchanged as a bar since 1896.
The business changed owners and names, and the Green family moved it next door when they renamed it Capitol Bar in 1939. Its 1896 heritage is meaningful, but the record does not establish an unchanged, same-building, uninterrupted bar operation.
Source: Capitol Bar & Brewery, About page, accessed September 1, 2026; New Mexico Magazine, October 1, 2024
Capitol Bar survived because each generation found a new use for the same small-town gathering-place idea. A wine-serving immigrant saloon became Judge Amos Green's courtroom, jail, pool hall, and alleged speakeasy; the Green family rebranded it after repeal; and the DeBrine family eventually built a modern brewery in the old jail room. The present business does not need a mythical unbroken ownership chain to be remarkable: its history is valuable precisely because it records the changes that kept a Socorro bar relevant.
Capitol Bar & Brewery traces its Socorro bar lineage to 1896, when Italian immigrant Giovanni Biavaschi and his brother Tobaschi opened a saloon selling local wine. The place later became Judge Amos Green's Club Bar, where local histories say he held court and used a back room as a jail. The Green family moved the business next door and renamed it Capitol Bar in 1939, the DeBrine family acquired it in 1980, and brewing began on site in 2021.
Capitol Bar is one of Socorro's oldest and most historically notable watering holes, with a reported lineage dating to 1896. This review does not establish it as the oldest continuously operating bar in Socorro or New Mexico because the record includes ownership and name changes, a 1939 move to the neighboring building, and no complete comparison of older local tavern licenses or operating histories.
Not according to the best-reviewed historical sequence. Capitol Bar's lineage began as a 1896 saloon, then Judge Amos Green later operated it as Club Bar, held court inside, and used a back room as a jail. The courthouse-and-jail story refers to Green's use of the bar, not to a documented original county-government building purpose.
Capitol Bar began brewing beer on site in 2021. The brewery was installed during the COVID-era closure in the former jail room, and the first house beers, Amos and Jailbreak, honored Judge Amos Green and the building's jail history.
Earl DeBrine is identified as the current owner/operator in recent Socorro coverage. New Mexico Magazine reports that his father leased and eventually bought the bar in 1980, beginning the DeBrine family's decades-long involvement. The current legal ownership structure and liquor-license details were not reviewed for this entry.
110 Plaza St, Socorro, NM 87801
(575) 835-1193
Capitol Bar & Brewery is at 110 Plaza Street on Socorro's historic plaza. It offers a full bar and house-brewed beer; check current kitchen, brewery, and event hours directly before visiting.