There’s a Banksy on the wall next to the irrigation canal, or something like one. A shadow little girl holding a heart-shaped balloon. You can’t even see it unless you’re sitting on this platform, where I am, drinking a beer. Or maybe from the nearby parking lot, if you looked hard enough.
I’m sitting on this strange observation deck at Vision City Brewstillery, so named for the brewery and distilling operation going on behind closed doors. It’s in a very familiar location, the old Boxing Bear OG location. There was also a homebrew store next door if I recall – they may even still be there, I should check. Anyways, this was something even before Boxing Bear was here, but it’ll be the BBBC space for a long time, until people recognize Vision City by name.
The old patio has an elevated deck that goes over the horse/bike trail that runs next to the canal here, and there’s a strong whiff of horse shit and wet dirt on the breeze. I’m being literal, there’s an actual horse hitch directly in front of me for the locals – it’s only a couple mile ride down here from deep in Corrales. The canal is empty for the year, but it’s muddy down there, and you still wouldn’t want to get stuck at the bottom of one of these because it’s really freaking hard to get out (ask me how I know). It’s one of those very-late fall afternoons, with a golden sun hanging low, colors in the trees, and no clouds in the sky. I had several similar days in Iowa recently, and they’re worth holding onto when you can take a minute to enjoy.
I’m looking at a blonde ale from nearby Ex Novo (they’re right up the street here in Corrales) and it’s more suited to the moment than the imperial red I had from Unhinged earlier, and more drinkable. I’ve been hitting the Imperial/Double red beers a bit lately, since everyone has one out at the same time. The unhinged was drinkable, but I’m partial to La Cumbre’s effort, and Steel Bender had a good one. They’re kind of hard to compare when they’re not in front of you, and God forbid you get one that’s warm, it’ll be the end of that love affair because of the huge malty nature and even astringent character that might emerge if left to mellow.
The Blonde is, on the other hand, clean and clear, a very nice color as it’s name would suggest, and soft on the tongue. You could drink a few of these in a sitting and not feel too bad about it. I’ve found myself leaning still more into the lagers and lighter ales of the scene here, but still get tempted by the big beers because…of habit, I guess. My slim physique has suffered from indulgence but I’m still partial to barrel aged bangers, and ’tis the season for big beers.
Thar be Dragons
Every week I venture out and meet up with some retired dudes I’ve known since they were working Joes (one of them is named Joe). We rotate responsibility for choosing, and the person who chooses pays. I think they were pretty consistent before I moved here, that is, they usually went to Quarter Celtic on Thursdays for fish and chips (and their award-winning beers). I have pushed them to try and explore new breweries, or barring that, at least some new places to drink and eat. We’ve been to several new places since then, and I’ve been lucky in picking places that were actually quite cheap for 4 thirsty guys to visit.
One huge surprise was a place called Brekkie Brekkie, a newer breakfast-themed joint that’s attached to a brewery that specializes in lagers and light beers (for now). We all had a filling breakfast meal, three pints,and I left a fat tip for the excellent service, and it was less than $30 a person. The $3 happy-hour pints were key in these maths. The space itself echoes popular brunch places I’ve been to in Portland, with lots of lighting, wood, and some very ‘earthy’ vibes. The layout and service work well together, with nowhere for our server to disappear to, a problem we’ve run into all too often.
Another spot they boys are fond of here in Albuquerque is Nexus Brewing, a little place that also specializes in soul food and southern-inspired dishes. The food is superb, the beers are passable, and the service on a Thursday afternoon can be abysmal. There are multiple kitchen doors to disappear behind and the staff tend to hang out just on the other side, leading us to have to flag down our server on more than one visit. Once the old dudes focus on the service we’re getting, it’s over – one of my friends will just stare, glowering, whenever someone who isn’t our server walks by. He doesn’t understand that it won’t make any difference, in the moment, to ruffle feathers, because he’s never worked a service gig (or at least, not in 50 years). I have empathy, but not sympathy, for the servers, because a lot of the time, they’re terrible at their job.
Old Man Beer Hour Club
The boys demand to be fed – that’s the main stipulation for the choice. Beer is a given, and they like their red and amber ales, with a predilection for scotch/Scottish ales in particular. There is a decent selection of these beers here in ABQ, another little surprise I’ve come across. The depth of styles and the particular focus on certain kinds of beers is also a given these days, no matter where you’re at (except maybe the Las Vegas airport, BOOOO), and down here it’s trending to darker ales. I just enjoyed a dark corn lager, for instance, that was light and complex and flavorful, especially when compared directly with the light variant from the same brewer.
It’s the season for darker beers in general (lets count all the BBA releases in November and December) but it feels like the drinkers and brewers of New Mexico walked right past the IPA isle, didn’t even look at the hazies, and went to that one door labeled ‘Dark Delights’ in the bottle shop of my dreams. I’ve had three different imperial red ales in the last couple of weeks, something both unnecessary and indulgent at the same time that steps beyond barrel-ageing beer. The amount and type of grain used in reds make it a hard style to get just right (not too sweet or too bitter from the malts) and that has to take into account the hopping schedule you’re planning to use. Then go ahead and try to double everything, except that these things don’t all scale equally, so a recipe that was spot-on at 5-6% isn’t palatable when you boost it to 9%.
These are just some of the reasons I’ve always been fascinated by the process of getting to higher ABV blends without the handful of problems that comes with higher sugar contents – I love mead, for instance, and the way honey doesn’t submit to mold as easily as it does to yeast is trick of chemistry that I barely grasp but sometimes…it’s hard to not see some design in the universe.
Halleluja
Well don’t get too carried away. Just because we have these natural elements that easily become a tool for/of enjoyment of humans doesn’t mean much – they’re just as easily an artifact of the shared environments and basic chemistry of life on our planet. This coffee I’m drinking right now (I have changed venues and times to 6am and the legendary Frontier Restaurant) was probably part of the diet of some distant apelike cousin of ours, as likely as some godlike being made it, randomly among all the other plants, particularly useful to evolved humankind. The evolutionary steps to get to fermented beer is another thing, and Jeff Alworth does a lot of explaining in his various Beer Bibles, so I’m not going to go there.
The last time religion came up at the old man beer hour club, fingers were getting pointed and tempers were boiling up, so even for devoted debaters the topic is usually forbidden around the beer table. Leave that weird shit at home, and just enjoy the strange science of fermentation as a demonstration of man’s ingenuity in a hostile environment.
The procrastination continues apace; I have let this languish in draft hell for more than a few weeks, intending to grab some more photos and pretty the place up a bit, but then I remembered that this is the Lager of Beer Blogs, and I’m not inclined to rush things. Tune in next time for more grumblings and rumblings and maybe some legit writing from my alter ego(s).