Monday, May 14, 2012

ABQ Beer Week Begins.

Don't worry, nothing's going on tonight that you have to change plans for...but Thursday, May 17 will be the start of 10 days of celebrating the best craft beer that Albuquerque and national breweries have to offer. Since there are so many events going on, you may have to do some creative schedule juggling to make it to many of them. I won't even be able to make it to all of them- but I'll damn well represent at the ones I can attend...which means driving by the event, yelling, "I'm just trying to find a place to park!" to the people I'm supposed to meet, then driving along to voyeurize the next event. Try to actually attend these events rather than follow my example- I don't need any traffic messing up my schedule. Here's Thursday's rundown:
Cloth napkin restaurants don't equate to wine-only menus, at least at Chama River Brewing Company. At 6:30 pm, they will be hosting a beer dinner featuring Czech Pils, Rio Chama Amber Ale, Hop Slap IPA, and Vanilla Cream Ale paired with non-TV dinner foods like bacon crusted scallop and Kobe beef flat iron steak. $45 per person, call 342-1800 for reservations.
Celebrate the Chinese New Year just a little late with a good game of Beer Pong! Spectators Sports Bar and Grill will host a "2v2" Beer Pong Tournament Thursday at 7 pm. According to event info: "All teams will play four prelim games. The top 8 or 16 teams (depending on turnout) will advance to a double elimination bracket. Cash Prize! $5 per guy, girls free." Remember, NM laws prohibit the use of actual beer in these events, so...yeah...stupid laws. Is there a law that you can't go to the bar and buy a beer on the side while playing?
This class will be even better than the bowling one I took in college! Marble Brewery is hosting a Beer 101 class, hosted by Marble's Angelo Orona. Visit a full spectrum of 10 different beer styles while Angelo reads off the notes he has written on his hand. Kidding; the man samples as many new beers as anybody and knows his styles. Come get schooled in the class where nobody fails, from 6-8 pm. There is a $10 fee- comes out to $1 per style. And there is no matriculation fee.
A rare sighting of Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock will be on tap at three different bars in town: Stone Face Tavern, Horse and Angel Tavern, and Billy's Long Bar. I'd like my experience to consist of: not getting beat up and actually getting waited on, so I'll probably get my Bock at Billy's. Chocolate Bock was on shelves in bottles for a short time in large bottle format and then as part of a mix-pack. Come out and see what the draft version is like.
Bust your best Izod out of the closet and head to Imbibe, one of Nob Hill's fashionable bars and surprisingly one of the biggest supporters of ABQ Beer Week. They begin a long list of special tappings with the only keg of Ska Brewing's DIFF, a Belgian Wit that has the usual orange peel and coriander, but also has oats and oriental lemongrass as part of the recipe! Stop by Imbibe anytime on Thursday and buy a pint of this rarity from Ska.

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