I Eat my Words and Drink Everything Else, Part 2

Let's see, we were talking about Wet Mountain with simcoe hops. I wish they could keep this on tap at Il Vicino all the time, especially since I had to gulp it down because I was afraid the rest of the casks would be gone before I got to try them. Sure enough, the next on the list, Three Rivers Scotch Ale (which I believe was their Hopscotch, an 8% scotch ale) was kicked when I went to try it. Hey, I just noticed something in the above picture: there is one girl, but there are two purses. Which one of those guys brought a purse???

At least I got to try the Dr. Hopgood from Chama River. the Dr. is an Imperial Red/IPA hybrid (in my mind, at least) that reminds me of Gordon from Oskar Blues, but better. And not in a can. I think I loved it, but again was also thinking about trying the last two beers so I had to drink it a little faster than planned. My brain didn't mind too much. Between the beer and the relentless sun, I was getting fried quickly. Thankfully Marble went the extra mile on their new patio and had large umbrellas installed over the picnic tables.
From talking to some people and overhearing others I found that the next beer, Chama's Sleeping Dog Stout with French oak was the consensus favorite. I thought it was nice but can only imagine how good it would be in the winter months.

The final beer was Santa Fe's State Porter, oaked and dry-hopped. I have a bottle of the imperial in my fridge but have never tried it. I thought this beer was great and would have gotten it as my full pint except for the fact that is is a 10% beer. I don't need to have that much fun in the middle of the afternoon.

I decided to have the Dr. Hopgood as my pint, but it had bitten the dust. I went with the Marble Red instead. Speaking of biting the dust, I saw one guy fall down and several glasses shatter over the course of the day. The last glass I saw break was on top of the bar one second and in pieces on the bar the next. It happened right in front of Ryan, the bar manager, who was already looking beat before that happened. after the glass broke, and the beer had spilled over the back of the bar he had this look on his face like, "Somebody, please kill me now!"

What I never saw that day was any fights or even an argument, which is rare for a gathering in Albuquerque. I swear, you get a bunch of people together in this city and you are guaranteed to see people hitting each other. Go downtown on any weekend night if you don't believe me. I guess we beer connoisseurs have a level of class that bely our vintage Schaefer Beer t-shirts.

Congratulations to Marble for throwing their first successful fest and I can't wait for the IPA challenge there next month!