Sunday, December 13, 2009

Albuquerque's Kegnoscenti Converge

I had the pleasure of being invited to hobnob with some of Albuquerque's finest beer writers, brewers, and drinkers Friday night. The gathering was held at a secret North Valley location, so secret that I couldn't find the place. You ever try finding a house in the North Valley? There are no street lights, the houses are all dark...maybe its was all part of the plan to keep the nosy beer nellies away. When entering the meeting place, I first noticed the large group of beer elite wearing sinister-looking hooded robes. I then noticed the food table with some nice homemade pretzels and an assortment of cheeses, complete with toothpicks so you didn't have to get your hands all over the individual cubes. Very sinister.

Part of the admission requirements included a sacrifice of beer from my fridge, so I gave up a Sly Fox 2007 Christmas Ale and Voodoo Love Child, a Tripel with raspberries, cherries, and passion fruit. My gifts were added to the beer manger and we began the tasting. Due to the secrecy of this gathering, I can't divulge the details of the night (secret handshakes, the "What's Under my Robe?" game), so I will just give a rundown of the beers we tasted: Jolly Pumpkin Noel De Calabaza, Sly Fox Christmas, Deschutes Jubelale, Great Lakes Christmas, Breckenridge Christmas, Big Sky Powder Hound, 08 Alaskan Smoked Porter, Odell Isolation, Goose Island Christmas, Pike Entire Wood Aged Stout, Rogue, Santa's Private Reserve, Yellow Snow, Hazelnut Brown, '07/'08/'09 Sierra Celebration, Pere Noel, Full Sail Wreck the Halls, Avec Les Bons Voeux, Nice Chouffe, Sly Fox Ichor, Weyerbacher Merry Monks, Voodoo Love Child, Scaldis Noel, Golden Carolus Noel, Delerium Noel, Deschutes Mirror Mirror, Anchor Christmas, Carver Barleywine, North Coast Old Stock, and finally, a homebrewed barleywine that was the best I ever tasted. And I'm not just saying that because that same robe-clad group is standing over me with a bucket of hot wort. And while the hazing to become part of this group rivals that of Skull and Bones or Alpha Beta fraternity, I feel honored to have been invited. Plus I got a nice Trader Joe's wine bag as a door prize.

5 comments:

Glibbidy said...

That was a 2006 Ichor, and a limited edition bottle conditioned Merry Monks bottled this past Spring..

whochacha said...

yeah but did they have one of these?
http://www.drinkngame.com/

you ain't nobody till you gots the arkeg!

ABQbeergeek said...

See, everyone- I told you this was a hardcore beer event! a three year aged Ichor and a limited edition Merry Monks. I would have known this but the blindfold made it hard to tell what all the beers were.

Whochacha- hurry up and win that lottery so you can buy that for us. I might let you come over and play Joust. Or you could come over and we could play Body Part Joust. Ewww.

Unknown said...

dear ABQbeergeek, will you be posting a follow-up blog informing your readership who won the "What's Under my Robe" game?

ABQbeergeek said...

Yeah Andreas, you'd like details on that, I'm sure. Of course I won-everyone else was packing pony bottles, while I always have a bomber.