Time in a Bottle

Big Horn Mountains 1975

I think everyone has at least one special image or photograph in their head that they pull up into their consciousness and experience it just from memory. Sometimes these may be images that bring back an unpleasant or even horrific experience...an image that they would want to forget if they could.

I hope that most people have another kind of memory image -- one that brings back pleasant remembrances.

In 1973, singer/songwriter Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash at the height of his popularity. He had a huge fan base and several of his songs were released as singles just after his death and became classics of the mid 1970s era.  I was "keeping company" with a young woman who was to become my wife in 1976 and she was a serious Croce fan. She was much more enthusiastic than I was but I enjoyed her enjoying Jim Croce's music because that’s what we did in the 1970s...music was important.

One of those posthumously released songs was "Time in a Bottle". The song was a classic love song of the era. It was probably included in countless weddings.  

If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I'd like to do

Is to save every day

Till Eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you

In the summer of 1975 I managed to talk this city girl into going on a backpacking trip to the Wyoming wilderness. This was very uncharacteristic of her and friends and relatives were astounded that she would agree to do something like that.  Going off to the mountains on a field trip with a guide and an organized group would be challenging enough but going off with one other person -- on foot -- was crazy talk.

We had a couple weekend trips to get in shape for the walk and check out our equipment. I had a stove that wanted to blow up in my face each time I turned it on.  We decided to take her car, which had a standard transmission, so I had to learn how to use a clutch. We had to waterproof everything and rub silicone into our hiking boots that weighed a ton. We tested out the freeze-dried turkey tetrazzini and granola bars. We packed and repacked but finally ended up carrying about 110 pounds of stuff in our two backpacks including the tent, sleeping bags, foam mattresses, food, water and that stove.

If I could make days last forever

If words could make wishes come true

I'd save every day like a treasure and then,

Again, I would spend them with you

We scheduled the trip for late July and finally hit the road, camping along the way. We agreed that we would stay in a real hotel with a real bed after we came out of the mountains but would camp as much as possible.  Half the fun of the trip was just getting there. At one point she decided that she wanted to see a buffalo so we were off on a wild buffalo chase in an overloaded Ford Pinto. We found a small herd but almost left the oil pan at the bottom of a ravine in the process.

We said goodbye to civilization, hoisted our packs and staggered around the parking lot for a while until we eventually disappeared into the Big Horn Mountains and Cloud Peak Wilderness. (We heard that Jimmy Hoffa disappeared that day, as well...) 

Turns out that we had a great time. The mosquitos were bigger and the trout were smaller than we expected. We camped on a breezy ridge overlooking a lake and the wind kept the mosquitos away. We didn't get eaten by bears or mountain lions and had only one serious encounter with a Mule deer. We saw only three people the whole time we were on the trail. 

 If I had a box just for wishes

And dreams that had never come true

The box would be empty

Except for the memory

Of how they were answered by you

We came out of the mountains and went on with the trip. We stayed in that hotel. We had a close encounter with a bear at a later campsite. I convinced her to go camping again. We eventually got married and had a wonderful life together for 31 years.

The picture that most often brings this trip to mind is scratched and faded but the memory is bright and clear.

But there never seems to be enough time

To do the things you want to do

Once you find them

I've looked around enough to know

That you're the one I want to go

Through time with

It's Good to Have Money

Baroness Lucia von Borosini Batten died at the age of 93 about ten years ago.  She was a local person; a socialite in her heyday. She was a German Baroness who was well off to begin with and always married men with wealth...several times...and she accumulated things. Lots of things. Today, some would call her a hoarder but she was a collector that had a few odd interests. For example, she collected miniature liquor bottles. She also collected rare and expensive paintings, tapestries, books, folk and primitive items, New Mexico colonial furniture, and especially Haitian art long before it was fashionable.

Portal

The Baroness purchased a circa 1875 adobe hacienda in a woodsy area of Albuquerque complete with acreage and water rights access to the acequia system. This was around 1954. She and her second husband renovated and restored the adobe structure and moved in.  The Baroness started filling it.  Her third and final husband decided that they needed a library because her books were taking over the house so they built an adjacent structure in the same territorial style as the adobe house but with a large library space. The library looked like it was original to the property. Shortly after work was started, the husband died so Lucia was left to fill the library and the rest of the house with her collections. Nothing seemed to get thrown out.

When the Baroness died she left the house and contents and a large endowment to the local museum foundation. They had no clue that this was going to happen and had to figure out how to manage the property and care for the collections.  Some of her valuable paintings were hanging on the walls of the open courtyard and zaguan. The property was secured and repaired and work began on cataloging the contents. It is still going on. The UNM library took some of the books. Many of the items were sold during a couple estate sales but some of the art and the collection's better items are in the museum. Much of it remains in the house, which serves as the foundations offices. Some of it is warehoused. When the museum staff entered the house you had to walk sideways through some of the rooms because they were filled with art, furniture, carvings, pottery...everything.

Entry to the zaguan and courtyard

An organization I belong to was fortunate to hold it's annual membership meeting in the Batten library and get a tour of the house. The place does not offer tours and access is restricted. They have a live-in caretaker but the offices are busy during the day.  Photography is not permitted inside or outside of the house or library. These pictures are from the museum's brochure.

I wish there were more of these hidden gems. These old adobe structures are melting away...literally.  There are old churches and a few public buildings that are regulary maintained but the vernacular adobe dwellings will slowly disintegrate if left alone. It take someone with deep pockets to bring them back once they start to melt away.

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.