Thursday, August 24, 2017

Cheddar's Just Got a Little Busier

The sad news in the local beer world today is the closing of Chama River Brewing Company. The mix of fine dining with craft beer worked for a long time, but the increasing number of breweries with a more welcoming atmosphere and led to Chama's demise. I have many fond memories of Chama River, the first of which came when it was still Blue Corn Cafe. This was where I first saw Ted Rice, who went on to found Marble Brewery. He was lugging around sacks of grain and I remember thinking, "Man, that does not look fun." I had fun drinking his Chama creations, most notably the Dangerous Intentions Pale Ale.
The first NM IPA Challenge I attended was at Chama in 2005. Il Vicino won with their Wet Mountain IPA.
I enjoyed the busy but fun discounted Wednesday pint nights, drinking Copper John Pale Ale and Sleeping Dog Stout.
I went to a beer dinner there once. Quail legs. Never again.
I interviewed Jeff Erway there when he was Head Brewer during the early days of this blog. The March Hare, Dr. Strangehop, and Dr. Hopgood ring a bell?
Justin Hamilton and John Bullard both put their time in as brewers at Chama and they're both the better for it, I'd say. Not sure if any of the former servers went on to table waiting greatness at other establishments.
It's a part of Albuquerque brewery history that meant a lot to many of us who have been around the scene for a while, and I'm sorry to see them close. Raise a glass to the memory of Chama River Brewing Company.


Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Stone is Barely Legal

Finally, Stone is old enough to drink itself. The iconic brewery that is as determined to remain independent as it is to making every variety of IPA possible has added another to its portfolio: 21st Anniversary Hail to the Hop Thief DIPA. Stone didn't throw every popular hop into this one, choosing instead to use Magnum, Pekko (which they featured in last year's dry-hopped Old Guardian Barleywine), Hopsteiner experimental 06300 (featured in the Heretic-Stone-Beachwood collaboration beer), and, ok, one popular hop, Mosaic. The finished product is 9.8% ABV and a relatively tame 80 IBUs. So does the choice of hops work in this beer? Well, the taste is classic Stone West Coat Style DIPA, which they are as responsible for creating as Pizza Port and Green Flash. There's a big, big hop punch but also a grapefruit candy-ish flavor that you may love, or it may not be your thing. I don't know. I can see it being a big hit. The price is classic Stone as well: $9 bucks gets you a piece of history, as long as you live in one of the 49 states that carries Stone. West Virginia gets nothing.

Monday, August 14, 2017

It's Hopfest Time Again

Want 10% off Hopfest tickets? Sure you do! Go here and enter the code MONDAYS to save 10%. Only good till midnight tonight! General Admission tickets are only $30 as it is, but those three bucks could buy you a couple of Clif bars to sustain you for the millions of unlimited samples you're going to drink. Or it can be a tip for your Uber driver. Oh, what's that? You're still boycotting Uber? Well, keep banging those protest drums, and remember: righteous indignation is only cool if I'm the indignant one. And I usually am indignant about most things, but I'm excited for Hopfest. I've said before that Hopfest is my favorite beer fest in NM, though the one that was put on at the zoo a couple of years ago has to be a close second, right? Anyone still waiting in line for a beer there?

Hopfest is happening on August 26th from 2-6 at Isleta Casino and Resort, the hottest hangout between I-40 and the Los Lunas Chili's. Over 70 breweries will be pouring a multitude of styles. Betcha can't drink just one. There will also be three stages with seven bands playing throughout the fest. There are additional pay as you go events this year, such as a $10 beer and cheese pairing featuring Marble beers and Whole Foods cheeses. There's also a $10 sensory analysis class offered by Craft King Consulting's Angelo Orona. Learn why your beer tastes the way it does and why you like it. Angelo will tell you. He's not scared. A free event features Chris Jackson, author of Albuquerque Beer: Duke City History on Tap. He'll be signing copies of his book. The book is not free.

The ticket prices are as follows:
$60 for VIP, which gets you an hour of extra sampling plus VIP pours every hour, food pairings, and a souvenir. This is where my money would go.
$40 for Extra Hoppy Hour, which does not mean you have to drink hoppy beers for a whole hour, but rather you have an hour more of drinking than the other entrants.
$30 general admission gets you in the door for 3 hours of glorious beer sampling.

There is a ticket party happening Tuesday from 5-8 at Rio Bravo Brewing, and you can go to either Tractor location to buy tickets as well, just in case you aren't into that online buying stuff. And aren't a human.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

IPA Day

It's National IPA Day. I know for some that's every day. For others, it's all Gose, all the time. AB InBev seems to be pushing the Golden Road and 10 Barrel stuff hard- you can see the stack of 10 Barrel's Apocalypse IPA pictured at Whole Foods for the low price of $10.99. I broke down and bought a single bottle to test out. IF it was good, I would tell you, big bad corporate owners and all. But this beer blew. A few sips and down the drain it went. Happy IPA Day indeed. Know what else I did? I bought a mixed six-pack at Smiths. Really. But it was because they had the Sam Adams Brewing the Dream pack broken down into singles. And since Bosque was one of the featured breweries that took part in the Accion program and subsequently landed John Bullard's face on a Sam Adams bottle, I had to put a couple of those Bosque Desert Kaleidoscope IPAs in the mix, along with the new Stone Hop Revolver single hop (Mandarina Bavaria), two of the 2017 Sierra Oktoberfests, and...a Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA. Haven't rushed to open that one yet. The Sierra was fine. The Stone was fine. The Sam Adams/ Bosque beer was, well...leave it to Sam Adams to dull down a Bosque IPA. Tasted extremely old school, which isn't an indictment, but it certainly isn't a glowing endorsement especially when you taste it side by side with one of Bosque's taproom IPAs. Cool to see the Bosque guys on the bottle, at least: I'll put it next to my Ben Miller Sam Adams bottle. Anybody else still have an unopened one of those?