Friday, January 25, 2013

It's 420 Somewhere. Here, to be Exact.

Lagunitas, the Petaluma, CA brewery known for making beers with "dank" hops (and also once raided by nosy agents hoping to find green stuff besides hops in the brewhouse, now has beers on New Mexico shelves. Jubilation has pretty much the gamut of the Lagunitas portfolio, in cluding the Pils, Maximus IPA, Hop Stoopid DIPA, Lagunitas Sucks! IPA Little Sumpin' Sumpin' DIPA (they're kind of into hops), Cappuccino Stout, etc.
It's a brewery worth checking out if you like the hoppy stuff, for sure.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Having a Cow Over Milk Stouts

This town loves Milk Stouts. You only need to go to any of the fests where Left Hand is represented and watch people go gaga over their Milk Stout. I don't get it either, but I do like to sit and imagine the scene just so I can get mad. Since we are in the Imperial Age when it comes to beer styles, it is fitting that we now have Imperial Milk Stouts. Cigar City out of Tampa, FL is the first brewery that I can remember doing one, but since we can't get theirs here, how about a nice glass of Lugene? That's not my phone's auto correct messing up again
(like it does when I type "can" and get "Congee", whatever the fuck that is). No, Lugene is Odell Brewing's take on the Imperial Milk Stout style, and Lugene is also the name of the man who for years would haul away Odell's spent grains to feed to his cows (who have probably been fed to you...and the cycle continues...). Lugene could very well be considered a dessert beer, as there is strong chocolate flavor and a sweetness that isn't cloying but could be if it came in a 40 oz. bottle. Luckily, the beer is packaged in 4-packs of drinkable 12 oz. bottles and sells for $9.99 at Jubilation. Maybe you can rave over this 8.5% ABV beer at the next fest.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Two Girls One New Mexico Cup

Bet you're thirsty already! You'll have to wait till February 16th, however, as that is when the first New Mexico Cup competition/festival takes place at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The New Mexico Cup differs from other fests in that the lineup of New Mexico beers (and wines...who let that stuff in?) will be critiqued by celebrity judges (will there be a Caleb Crump sighting??), professional judges (people in the biz who know their stuff), and you, the ticketholders. If you aren't holding your ticket yet, go here to purchase. General Admission tickets cost$20 and include unlimited sampling of NM beer and wine from 2-6. For $30 you can get a VIP ticket that allows you that important extra hour of drinking with entrance at 1. If you're still coherent by 6 pm, stick around for the awards ceremony. Hoist the winning brewers on your shoulders and take a victory lap downtown! Relish in the applause from the drifters outside the train station!
There is a $6 parking fee at the Convention Center, so get mom to drop you off. Vendors will be onsite so there is no need to sneak that summer sausage in. And it wouldn't be a fest without music- though bands are still being finalized, you can be sure that you will hear something musical. I'm hoping it will be something that lets me show off my "Wonderbuns" dance.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

A New Level of Freshness

I'm not talking about my latest YouTube rap freestyle. Talking about fresh beer here. Stone Brewing Co. has been at the forefront of the beer freshness almost as long as, dare I say, the Budweiser people. They have a section on their website where you can turn in stores that have outdated Stone beers on their shelves (STOP SNITCHIN'!!). A side note- I would like to turn in Sprouts Market on Academy for trying to sell that canned on 4.7.11 G'Knight that I saw last night. Shame on youz. With IPAs being the fastest to lose flavor (and the internet beer forum participants decrying how bad an IPA becomes after a short while- a few days according to some), Stone introduced Enjoy By, a series of IPAs marketed to select cities and meant to be consumed within one month of purchase. Enjoy by 02.15.13 is the third installment, and guess what city rates high enough to get it? Nope, it's not Biloxi. Albuquerque has it, more specifically Jubilation. I got to try the last version that made it to Denver and it was great, even if it had already been out for more than a week. Get yours before the hops fade. The clock is ticking...

Monday, January 14, 2013

Will Boulder Get its Mojo Back?

Funny how our tastes change over time. For instance, I used to think that Campbell's Chicken and Dumplings soup paired with a glass of Hi-C Ecto Cooler was just about the best meal you could have. And though those two products are now gone from production, I don't think that pairing would be something I'd take half a day preparing again (non- microwave instructions, of course) if they were available to me.
I also used to regularly purchase Boulder Brewing's Mojo IPA, especially when Sunflower Market had six-packs for $5.99. But that IPA seems to have been passed by other IPAs over time, or my tastes have changes to Campbell's IPA with white and wild rice. There's nothing bad about Mojo, just not what I'm looking for IPA-wise these days. Boulder's Planet Porter and Singletrack Copper Ale are still around, but nothing about either of those, especially the packaging, has me interested in buying them. That packaging, depicting the quintessential Colorado outdoorsy activities like putting up a tent after mountain biking uphill for fifty miles have me wishing for a rental car and a suite at the Hyatt every time I see them. Climate control and room service are my friends.
Boulder's newest release, Honey of a Saison, has me intrigued, if for the ABV alone. And also because there aren't any mountains on the label. The beer is 11.5% ABV, so how do we label this one? It does use a Saison yeast. Imperial Saison? Fine, let's go with that. Dupont would roll over in his Delaware grave, but whatever. Honey of a Saison also uses Colorado wildflower honey in this beer (not to be confused with the New Mexico wildflower honey Marble uses in their Wildflower Wheat). This is certainly the highest ABV of Boulder's releases that I can recall, perhaps a nod to the trend of more extreme styles. And here's to a trend of beer labels with pictures of hotel rooms.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Done Hibernating

And a happy new year to you all. It's been a couple of weeks since I've updated, and I'd like to thank the good folks at CenturyLink for being the major reason behind the delay. And here I thought Comcast was bad! Moving houses had us deciding to change internet providers, and if the move itself wasn't bad enough (of course it was), the delay on getting someone to go out to a box and flip the switch to get us online was maddening.
But I'm back, and here to push another fest on you! The NM Brewers Guild presents WinterBrew, held on January 25th at the Santa Fe Farmers Market from 4-8. The $15 entry fee gets you a commemorative tasting glass that you can put in a box along with all the other glasses you don't want and give away when you are moving. The fee also gets you $5 in tokens good towards beer from the variety of NM breweries represented. Beer will be available in pints or 1/2 pints. Small plates from some of the alll fancy Santa Fe chefs will be up for sale as well, and your tokens are good towards the food. WinterBrew will be an intimate event, with only 650 tickets available. You can purchase tickets at your local brewery or online at NMBeer.org. You can buy me a housewarming gift at most any store, though don't go getting me anything from IKEA. Thank you.