Beer Week Progress Report -- I Survived

Albuquerque has a Beer Week each year. Who knew? The local brew pubs and trendy night spots host events and tastings. Out-of-town craft breweries "take over" local breweries for a day and serve their stuff. The big event is a beer festival with about 50 breweries and live music and food. Apart from that big event, things are pretty low key.

Several weeks before I went to California I was part of a group of people participating in a "Beer Geek" brewing contest. The contest judging was one of the opening events of Beer Week. There were five competing groups and we all brewed a full grain recipe at Tractor Brewery in Albuquerque on different days. Our beer was a California Blood Orange Pale Ale with a heavy dose of Citra hops in the wort and also Citra dry hopped. Of course, this was not my idea but the group seemed to be happy with it.  Brewing day was mostly people standing around as one or two guys did most of the work....as usual.

We were brewing two batches of our beer so it took almost the whole day. I was mostly interested in the process of full grain brewing at a brewery because I've only been involved in a full grain recipe once before and it was a makeshift, backyard operation. Tractor Brewing has a separate and smallish grain set up that made our task pretty easy.

Last week (actually May 22nd) was the judging...the start of Beer Week.  All five beers were sampled by the five competing groups and other patrons at the brewery. Everyone had a vote...the poll tax was $7.00 but you got a full pint of your favorite of the beers.   The beers included... ours (Blood Orange Pale Ale), a Green Chile IPA (spicy Hatch chiles...and Citra), a Rye IPA (Citra hops, again), a chewy and malty Stout (ABV 8%) and a hoppy Red Ale (included Citra and hopped twice after the initial wort hops).

Guess what...the winner was the malty Stout. The Rye IPA had an aroma of cat piss (sorry Watson) and was very bland otherwise. The Chile IPA was pretty middle of the road for a chile beer and I thought it wasn't bad even though the IBU was 88. The Red Ale was hopped three times but it didn't seem to stand out and the IBU was 65...semi-pleasant but unremarkable. Our Blood Orange Ale seemed very fizzy in the mouth and the oranges and the Citra combined to make a bitter and sour beer that might have passed for a cold and fizzy Belgian sour. The Stout was malty in the nose and taste with a good mouth feel and some fruitiness....it had six kinds of malt and a high alcohol value.  So the results of this flimsy and informal test tend to support my argument that too many hops spoil the brew. I could have enjoyed a pint of the Chile IPA but I'd be happy to have a couple of the stouts. The chile beer ran smack into the local preference for spicy chiles -- one thing Burquenos love more than hops is green chiles and they like them hot.

The winning stout 

Unfortunately, I've been too busy to attend many of the Beer Week events. I missed the big festival and some of the early tastings. They had a couple sour beer tastings at a local liquor store and at one of the brew pubs. Mostly it's about new brews being introduced by local breweries or visiting breweries.




Tuesday (5/27) I went to the Stumbling Steer brewery for a California vs. New Mexico beer event. The California brewery was Sierra Nevada and the New Mexico brewery was Stumbling Steer. Not a worthy match-up. Stumbling Steer is maybe four months old and hasn't made much of an impression yet. I had Sierra Nevada's Kellerweis and nursed it for an hour or so. This is a cellar wheat beer, sort of a farm house beer from Bavaria. It is fermented in open vats like some Belgian beers. The ABV was 4.8% and the IBU was 15 --- about what I guessed. It was a honey/gold cloudy beer. It had banana flavors and aroma but not overly strong. It got better as it warmed up. It was different but not bad...just a style I was not familiar with.

Wednesday 5/28 I stayed home and drank my own home brewed beer, Amber Rye. I haven't really described the beer. I'm coming down to the wire on this batch, it was bottled on November 2nd (Day of the Dead) and I'm running out. The ABV is about 5.3% and the IBU is 44. Hops were Warrior, East Kent Golding and Crystal in that order. I would brew this beer again. It pours dark amber thanks to a little chocolate malt...you could call it a brown ale. The head is pale tan/cream, firm, rocky and cavernous as the bubbles merge. My beer is bottle conditioned so there is some variation in carbonation from one to the next. This one, in a spring-top bottle, sounded like a champagne cork but carbonation was fine.  Aroma is light grassy. Taste starts off malty with a hint of maple sweetness and a little pepper (rye?) and then goes for a long (piney) hoppy finish. Mouth feel is chewy, something that I was striving for because a lot of my beers seem too thin in the mouth. There was a slight chill haze. I think the flavors come out more as it warms a little. This was a salvage brew. The ingredients were purchased a year before I brewed it and were moved twice. My yeast failed in the starter but everything else was great and it is good to know that the grains and extract have a decent shelf life. The hops were in the fridge the whole time as was the yeast.



Thursday 5/29 was Lagunitas Brewing's turn to take over Stumbling Steer. I had two beers. Hop Stoopid is a huge IPA  -- a double or Imperial with an IBU of 100+. I had one at my cousin's so I was trying to remember it while I was drinking. Maybe we are tricked by our memories a little because I expected something a little different. The color was lighter than I remembered. It is all about hops but not as much citrus as I remembered. Maybe a little floral and pine. The mouth feel was good and heavy but, for me, it was a little rough in the throat...maybe my problem. A strong, hoppy beer with not much of a malt presence.  I liked it and could have a couple -- if you drive.



The second Lagunitas beer was Cappuccino Stout. I like coffee and I like beer so I figured this would be right up my alley. This is strong coffee at 9.2% ABV. Color was a pretty, dark ruby brown. The head was not remarkable. I have no idea what the IBU is but it is probably low. Carbonation seemed low. Mouth feel was good, not too much either way. It was malty but not too sweet and it had a long bitter finish. I thought I'd like it more than I did but the coffee eclipsed everything else.



Friday (5/30)  was my last day to do anything for Beer Week. I went to Marble Brewery's west side tap room where they were having a cask ale night. Marble Brewery is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, craft brewery in Albuquerque. They were the brewers who introduced craft brewing and because of that they pretty much defined the taste preferences for folks just coming into craft brewing. When other craft brewers opened up after them they had the dilemma of having to produce beer that resembled Marble Brewery. That's how regional tastes develop. Marble Brewery produces good beer but it is heavily hopped with Citra hops. Most of the beer tastes like a variation on grapefruit juice. They have a good following so that is my opinion.  A voice crying in the wilderness....to coin a phrase.

But I digress... This was my first visit to Marble in about three years.   I walked in and sat at the bar and said I wanted a taste of their most malty beer. That stumped Bob, the bartender. He finally poured me a sample of Marble Red and it was over-hopped and very citrussy. Bob thought for a minute and got me a sample of Oatmeal Stout and Wildflower Wheat.  Both were good, malty beers. The stout was pretty standard but good and better than I expected. The wheat had malt and honey and was refreshing and a good summertime beer. I got a pint of stout.

I struck up a conversation with my neighbor at the bar. He has the same opinion that I have about hops. We hit it off. Turns out this guy is Juan Carlos, the king of Spain...actually he is named after the king of Spain. His mom is from Madrid and named him as sort of a protest against Franco. The "king" just goes by the name of Carlos so no one is confused. He was  drinking a Double White ale that he said was like the wheat. Actually it is a mild Belgian brewed light with coriander and orange peel. I tried it and it was a good, refreshing and light-bodied hazy beer. We had a good conversation about beer and then strayed into a host of other topics. I had a pint of the Wildflower Wheat.  Carlos next opted for a pint - half wheat and half white - and said he liked the mix better than either by themselves.  The cask ale that Marble was featuring turned out to be a beer brewed by a committee. Local brewers joined together to brew the cask ale and each one contributed something. Well, that's an idea, but not a good one. It tasted like a beer brewed by a committee. It's best quality was that it was wet.

I talked Carlos into going over to Kaktus Brewing so we struck out across the desert, heading for Bernalillo.  It is a fairly long drive and Carlos had never been that far north in the local area.   Kaktus was having a jazz night so there was a four piece combo playing out on the patio.  We sat at the bar and introductions were made. Dana, the owner was there and there was about 25 patrons scattered inside and out. Their newest beer is a Czech Dunkel, which I got. Carlos sampled a few and got a pint of Hefe. I got a phone call and ended up talking for about a half hour outside. When I got back, Carlos, who was just bounced out of his second marriage, was scouting out the single women in Kaktus. Kaktus draws a few women because it is quiet and off the beaten path and they also have troupe of belly dancers there every Sunday night...really. Carlos came up short in the date department but said he'd be back. I had a London Porter and Carlos had a second Hefe.  Kaktus has an 80 IBU Jaberwocky IPA but everything else is about 35 IBU or lower. That's not necessarily by design...that's what they have on tap today. Next week it will be different. Kaktus, like Bernalillo, closes early. We were closing the place down at 10 PM.  I headed for home. Carlos was still on the prowl. This was Friday night so he headed off to try his luck somewhere else.

Saturday, May 31st is the end of Beer Week. The last events take place exactly when I have to be at the New Mexico Architectural Foundation's annual meeting. That's OK. This has been fun and I tried a few new things. There is a lot more beer out there. I think I might have a glass of wine.

On Craft Brewing

This past month I just spent a few days with my cousin, Jim, out in the Bay Area.  Jim is a local expert on Bay Area beer. He's experienced and very focused on the Bay Area beer scene. Jim knows a lot about beer in general as a patron or consumer and the history of craft brewing.   I'm a patron as well but I look at things more as a brewer. Since I've moved to the Southwest from the Midwest I'm very conscious, now, of regional styles and tastes in beer. It used to be assumed that one beer fit all...more or less. The American lager was what you got if you wanted a beer.  I remember some variations..."fire brewed" Strohs was one. When Miller Lite came out it was called a Pilsner beer and no one knew what that was.  I recall people smuggling Coors into St. Louis like it was contraband...but why?  The "one fits all" idea is mostly dead thanks to craft brewing. As an example, my 76 year old neighbor had a 50th birthday party for his daughter-in-law. He served Newcastle Brown, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Tecate, Sol and Dos Eqius. Three Mexican lager beers, an English ale and a California IPA.

Maybe, just maybe, I'm a beer snob. I am a traditionalist. If I have a bias it is that some brewers and many patrons are too enamored with hops and it seems that they think that more is better....sometimes way beyond the standard for the beer style. I think, too often, heavy hopping is a crutch for bad beer. I've talked to several brew-masters about this and they generally agree but they have to brew what sells.


I favor English Ales...which includes the IPA style and I've made several good IPAs. The Bay Area, and even Albuquerque to some extent, is hop crazy, especially for Citra hops.  IPAs, double IPAs and triple IPAs are popular and some of the IBU (bitterness) ratings are in the 130 range. IBU ranges for the standard American lager beer will be around 15 and the range for an American Pale Ale can reach 45. The IBU range for an Imperial IPA (heavily hopped) can go over 100 but most IPAs brewed to the standard will top out at 70-80 IBUs and some are lower.  Hops provide bitterness and aroma but also taste. Much of the Citra hopped beer tastes too much like grapefruit juice.

So - that was the general debate between Jim and me until we got into the Belgian sour beer up at Russian River Brewing. Sour Beer is a traditional style and I've had Sour Beer before but I've never liked it. Belgians have a long history of making innovative beer styles...often with fruit or wild yeast. If I made a beer that tasted like some of the sour beer we had at Russian River I would think that something went horribly wrong in my brewing process. The Belgians strive for that taste, which is achieved by allowing wild yeast or bacteria to intrude (infect?) the beer while brewing. This is yet more proof that there are regional preferences and tastes in beer.  Apparently, in the Bay Area, there are sufficient numbers of brewery patrons who have acquired a taste for Sour Beer because it is available at local breweries. This week was "Beer Week" in Albuquerque and I noticed two out of maybe fifty events offer Sour Beer tasting.


I like that most of the up and coming beers are ales. Some people make a strict distinction between ale and lager and get huffy if you call an ale "beer".  When I brew I favor ale styles and never do a lager. I can't do lagers because I don't have the equipment and there is so much I can do with ales I don't care go the lager route. I'm an extract brewer because life is too short to do a full grain recipe. I'm a slow and careful brewer as it is and an all grain recipe would add hours to the process. My last beer was a Amber Rye Ale and I will break out of my mold a little on my next beer and do a Kolsch but not with much of a cold storage....it's already late May and I'm thirsty.

"The Brewer's Lament"

Your beer conforms to the sour persuasion.

It seems so wrong on the few occasions

that I've given it my full attention.

If I brewed a batch that took on that taste

I'd think my effort had all gone to waste.

So what is the deal with regional beer?

There's Belgian and Baltic and Irish but

Mexican beer has an Austrian root.

So drink what you will, I won't call it swill.

Don't over think it - pour it and drink it.

Stay tuned...it's Beer Week.

The First Woods

Isn't it funny how memories come flooding back? Sometimes a smell or a taste or maybe a visual cue will open the flood gates. I had the occasion to spend the better part of a week reconnecting with several old friends. These were characters from my past and I hadn't spent time with them for several years. There are different types of friends. The 'facebook friend' is often someone you have never actually met face-to-face.  There  are also 'old 'friends and 'life-long' friends.

One life-long friend, a kid I first met in second grade, has been on my mind for a while even though I haven't seen him in almost twenty years. We have been friends for almost 60 years. Our own kids have grown up and we are looking at empty nests and a down-sized life in retirement. He lives in Silicon Valley. I live on the slope above the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico.  Those two places are pretty far apart in many ways.

Our time together was a little awkward at first. I complained about the traffic and the stressful and irrational life that folks lead in the Bay Area. He related, for the third time, an unpleasant experience he had travelling in New Mexico about fifteen years ago. We had a couple beers and burgers at a roadside restaurant and drove over the coastal ranges and along Highway 1. We stopped at a few places. We saw a Gray Whale and her calf swimming among the rocks near Santa Cruz. Many of our former experiences involved time spent in cars together and the afternoon drive seemed natural. It was a pleasant time but a little stiff.

Later that evening we talked more and watched a couple music DVDs of aging rock stars that we liked back in the 1970s. His wife was part of the conversation so we were trying to explain and elaborate on our mutual experiences. We talked of other mutual friends we had. We actually lived on the same dorm floor in college so we knew a bunch of people. We had a few small town college adventures and not all of them involved wheels or alcohol. Slowly the years started to peel away.

Finally we were talking about high school and grade school and cub scouts. Or school burned down in second grade so we spent three years huddled in make-shift classrooms in church basements. It was tough on the kids but maybe tougher on the teachers. Then we went on to stories about "the old neighborhood". We had the run of the place in ways that today's kids will never know. Back then it was a semi-rural suburban area and only sparsely developed. Little league games were played in an old wheat field. We were all so cool with little wheat stalks hanging out of out mouths. We had wars throwing Osage Oranges at each other. They looked soft but hurt like hell if you got hit. He used the term "first woods" at one point to relate a story. We had a "first" woods and a "second" woods but that term probably hasn't been spoken in fifty years and it just popped out of his mouth as if he used it every day. We were both surprised -- me to hear it again and him to have spoken it. That opened the flood gate and all sorts of stories poured out. Tales of running from snakes and chasing rabbits in the cornfield. We remembered the old abandoned trolley line that was unused since the 1904 World's Fair. We recounted our adventures in the creek that flowed through the Second Woods that was once called Dead Horse Creek -- what a great name for our adventures back in the 1950s.  We dug a deep "fox hole" out in the First Woods and used it as sort of a club house. It was camouflaged so no one would see it unless they knew it was there. My brother caught pleurisy from the dampness and a telephone lineman fell into the fox hole so we had to fill it in. We talked for hours and started up again the next day on yet another short road trip. We had most of it covered by the time my visit was over. We remembered a few things differently but most of it seemed to be right.

This was the tail-end of a trip to the Bay Area for a wedding of another old friend...his fourth. That went well. Then I spent a couple days with my cousin on his houseboat and we relived family history and shared stories and remembrances and drank some beer. Family, friends and remembrances are common and basic but are one of our most prized and cherished possessions. The time we spend together is a precious gift.

Sociopaths in Power?

Here's an idea....not mine, but worth considering...a blog post by Tom Fleming on his Red Room blog.   Shared April 10, 2014. He has a book: The President's Mortician

How Republican Sociopaths Have Ruined America

BLOG POST BY TIM FLEMING - APR.10.2014 - 2:21 PM

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Much of what ails society today is the proliferation of sociopaths.  I’m not just talking about hardened criminals either; sociopaths are everywhere, in all walks of life.  In fact, the traits they possess are the very traits which impel one to succeed and rise to positions of power in a capitalistic society.  CEOs, Wall Street billionaires, politicians, military chiefs, intelligence operatives, and  right-wing talking heads are among those who have used their sociopathological personality disorders to rule America.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could identify a sociopath before he/she comes to power?  Think of how much better our lives and our country would be if only we knew who the conscienceless bastards really were before we voted for them, came under their employ, listened to their cons, fell prey to their manipulation.  The problem is, they are not easily identified because they wear masks.  They try to fit in by mimicking normal behavior in public.  Some are even charming.  They seduce us with their outward appearance of normalcy, but inside they are godless devils bent on perverting the greater good for their own means.

In the past 35 years America has slowly been transformed from a nation of common purpose  to a nation of the rich, by wealthy, and for the sociopathic few.  That’s because  many of the people in power (mostly Republicans) have been crass opportunists concerned with self- advancement  at the expense of the greater good.  In the age of Reagan, the self-centeredness was heightened to a virtue.  The 1980s gave rise to a rogue’s gallery of Gordon Gekkos and their “greed is good” philosophy.  It wasn’t just Reagan and his policies though, it was the sociopaths he ushered into public service—the Bushes, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Oliver North, William Casey  and a whole band of despicable criminals. The country became more selfish, less communal, and more cynical.  It was then that we started letting the Almighty buck rule all facets of American life.  The more money you had, the more admired you were.  Fuck generosity and compassion for the less fortunate. 

Since then, sociopaths have started illicit wars, drained the national treasury, raped Mother Nature, ruined the climate, and given rise to Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, et al.  There seem to be more sociopaths than human beings in positions of power.  Maybe that was the whole point.  Now the Extreme Court (uh..er…Supreme Court) has gotten in on the act, by making it easier for sociopathic billionaires to control (read subvert) the democratic process.  Smarmy Vegas casino operators (like Shel Adelson) and fascist industrialists (like the Koch brothers) have far more say in how our government operates than 99% of us.

As a public service then, I am herewith giving you tips on how to spot a sociopath.  If you recognize them in someone, alert authorities and resist the urge to succumb to their wiles.

Traits of a Sociopath (based on the work of psychologists Robert Hare):  While some experts believe that sociopathy has a genetic origin, Hare believed that a sociopath’s behavior “is shaped by social forces and is the result of a dysfunctional environment.”  Hare formed a list of traits common to sociopaths.  Here are the most prevalent:

--Sociopaths are manipulative and very skilled at taking advantage of the good intentions of others .  Allen Dulles, former CIA chief, is a good example.  He was appointed by President Eisenhower in 1953 after promising Ike that the CIA could avoid WWIII by overthrowing socialist and communist countries around the globe via bloodless coups.  Eisenhower, a decent man shaken by the horrors of the second World War, turned over foreign policy to Allen and his brother Foster.  The Dulles brothers, sociopaths of the worst kind, turned America into quasi-fascist Orwellian state by using their enormous power to control the media, murder innocent citizens, evoke hatred of America around the globe, and cover up the assassination of JFK.  All the while, the Dulleses were enriching themselves and their corporate partners—the Forbeses, the Browns, the Rockefellers, the DuPonts, the Hunts—the oldest, richest families in the country.  And Kennedy haters all.

--They have a grandiose sense of self; they think they are better than everyone else, and if they have more money or power than others they use this to their constant advantage.  Moreover, the fact that a sociopath may be wealthier than others or in a position of power over others merely confirms in the sociopath’s mind that he/she is better than others.  In the modern age, who feels more entitled than the richest among us?  The Koch brothers, desperately trying to buy the government, runs roughshod over the poor, the elderly, minorities, and social safety nets.  They care only their own profits.  We should have carved a big “S” in their foreheads at birth, just as Brad Pitt marked Christoph Waltz with a swastika in “Inglourious Basterds.”  Our lives would be much better if we knew whom we were dealing with upfront. 

--They are pathological liars; when they are committing acts that harm the greater good of society, they never tell the truth, even if they are caught in a lie.  To this day, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and their lackeys still deny that the Iraq war was about oil, despite all evidence to the contrary.

--They have no remorse or guilt, regardless of how heinous their actions are.  When recently asked if he would do anything differently, if he had to do it all over again, Cheney responded, “No.”

--They lack empathy and are callous in their treatment of others.  Mitt Romney dismissed 47% of the country with one glib comment. 

--They are contemptuous of those who seek to understand them.  One of Allen Dulles’s protégés, Frank Wisner, head of the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird in the 1950s, once famously bragged, “The press claims to be free and open in America.  But they are nothing but my personal puppets.  I can pull any string I want and they will follow along.”

--They do not perceive that anything is wrong with them.  Even if they are proven wrong, and even if all about them acknowledge their wrongdoing, the sociopath will never admit to wrongdoing.  See Dick Cheney quote above.

--They are authoritarians; in many cases, they were raised in authoritarian homes where the appearance of uniformity and conformity far outweighed love, compassion, empathy, and charity as laudable qualities.  Henry Kissinger once said of Richard Nixon (a raging sociopath), “Imagine what he could have been if anyone had ever loved him.”

--They are secretive; at all costs they strive to keep their true behaviors and thoughts hidden.  Allen and Foster Dulles, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, Richard Nixon, and Oliver North were nothing if not secretive.

--They are paranoid.  Can you imagine anyone more paranoid than Dick Nixon?

--They diligently present a “normal” outward appearance when engaging others.  This is what confounds us about all sociopaths.  Usually we don’t unmask them until it is too late.

--They experience pleasure from enslaving their victims.  And all people they encounter are potential victims, even loved ones.  “Loved ones” is a misnomer, because sociopaths are incapable of love.  Again, Dick Cheney is the perfect example of someone who seemed to derive pleasure from inflicting pain.  Witness the detainees at Guantanamo.  Cheney does not consider what he did torture, yet a 600-page nonpartisan report says he did exactly that.

--When they collaborate, they feed off one another, and their actions become even more diabolical.  No better example of this than the Cheney-Rumsfeld partnerships during the two Bush presidencies.

 http://www.amazon.com/Presidents-Mortician-Tim-Fleming/dp/098882907X