BrewFest
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Bryan Bennett

On May 3rd and 4th there was a BeerFest held at the State Fair Grounds in
Albuquerque. I managed to get by for a couple of hours on Friday evening,
expecting to whet my thirst on brews from an advertised 20+ breweries. I
was going to have to show up late, so I doubted that I could hit every
brewery there, but I was going to give it my heartiest beer-swilling try.

I was certainly correct in that I couldn't hit 20 or more breweries in the
2 hours I was there. Several of the breweries didn't show up on Friday! And
one, Assets, had already left by the time I arrived!!

Figuring that my objective of hitting every brewery represented would now
be much easier to accomplish I grabbed my punch card and forged ahead.

Perhaps I should explain the punch card. For the $8.00 admission fee you
were given a punch card with the numbers 1 through 16 on it. I quickly
realized that every brewery had been assigned a number. You were allowed 2
samplers at each brewery and they would punch out their number on the card.
After that if you wanted more from that brewery you had to purchase pints
at $3.25 each.

Okay, now on to the beer. I'll warn you now that I wasn't taking notes so
I don't remember everything I sampled. My first stop was at O'Ryans Tavern
out of Las Cruces. I had an American Pale that was very well done; nicely
hopped with a good, sharp bite as it went down. This one ended up being the
only pint I purchased for the evening.

Next up was an amber ale from Il Vicini (did I spell that right?) that had
nice character and balance. Went down real easy.

Stopped by to sample Eske's brews next. Unfortunately I was a bit
disappointed with both of his offerings. Maybe I got the bottom of the
kegs.

For the life of me I cannot remember what I sampled from Rio Bravo, but I
remember that I really liked one of them. Next time I take a notepad!!

I now decided to tackle the line stretched out from the Colorado brewers.
Rogue, Breckenridge and one other were all represented at one table. I
finally got to the front of the line and, just as the bartender poured me
two samples from Rouge, the State Fair people shut down the beer lines. It
was only 8:40 of an event that was advertised to go 'till 9:00pm. Needless
to say there was a lot of grumbling from both the paying customers and the
brewers. At least I did get a sample of Rouge's Hazelnut Brown Ale. This
stuff was fantastic. Wonderful aroma with nice chocolate and coffee
overtones. Easily the best beer I sampled though I didn't ever get to Rio
Grande or several others.

All-in-all the event was a bit disappointing, but this was mostly from
disorganization. I was hoping that some of the breweries would have tasting
glasses or coasters and such, but I didn't see anything of the sort.
Hopefully next time this is done all advertised breweries will show up and
there will be better coordination between the organizers and the Fair.