New Mexico Beer Guide 2016 updated

Yeah, the thing that I hear, and it does bother me, is that because of the hopping level, clarity is not something that really can be accomplished, and that's just false. Complete and udder hogwash. So far the response has been about 50/50. Some people have said it's the best Dank we have ever made. Others don't appreciate the appearance... I'm somewhere in the middle.

 

Yeah... I guess we should have stuck with a more typical hopping to see the difference, but the bitterness is way lower on this batch and the hops definitely lean more toward the fruity side of things... Glad you liked it.

 

Thought I was grabbing a bottle of the latest Dank when I grabbed my Mind PHOQ at Jubilation the other day. Dated 3/15/16. Turned out to be the prior batch though. Will definitely give this hazy version a try. Never tried any of the IPA's from the Northeast (or any IPA brewed in the spirit of those IPA's...which a few Colorado breweries have recently done, to create a bit of a local hype train) but curious to see what the fuss is all about.

Did see that Equinox SMASH made it to Bosque's Nob Hill Public House and that this is the first of 6 in the SMASH series. I would have thought it was the 2nd, with the Citra SMASH being the first? Either way, I'll be there this week sometime giving it a try for sure. Excited to find out what else the series brings us. Like i posted before, crossing my fingers really, really, really hard for an Amarillo SMASH. A Nelson Sauvin SMASH and Galaxy SMASH would have me ecstatic as well.

 

My own two cents about La Cumbre's hazy Project Dank.

I actually compared the appearance to when La Cumbre does their firkin cask ipas. Same sort of unforced slightly hazy feel. It did feel a bit softer on the tongue. I did not experience any sort of large or different type of bursts of aromatic hops. So the haze didnt help with that imho.

2015 Wet hopped dank and the 2/22/16 come to mind as memorable. This latest hazy attempt, which I got to try Sunday was about on par with the many other Danks that are all very good, but sorta missing something. In all its time since bombers started, I think I've only missed 5 batches. Not an expert, just a drunk I presume.

It's a tough one. Do you go all out and turn people off? Do you go too light and people wonder what the difference even is. I do like the project continuing. Reading about the NE haze in the homebrew forums makes my head hurt. From different hop oils, to adding different types of malts (flaked oats), to different yeasts (some slower to drop), to slowing down the cold break and getting chill haze, to doing a bad job on the transfer (transfering with more yeast than you probably should), to just unflitering. Homebrewing, I notice if I shake the keg or transfer it from one area to the next, pints start to become hazy again. That sediment gets picked up again and may take another 5 days to drop. If we're careful, we can get pretty clean looking beer doing about 5 steps correctly. I do remember a Lagunitas Born Yesterday that had visible hop specks floating in the beer. 4 months it took for them to either dissolve or fall to become sediment (i had a 4 month old bottle). I guess there's lots of experimenting on the project front. I'm all for it.

I know Marble had a DIPA many months back that had this small bit of haze, that when shown in the light, had an orange juice appearance. That's obviously more on the malt color but sometimes one small difference in the brewing process can get some haze. Some hazy beers look better than others. Treehouse, to me, look like homebrew I did on batch #2 where many things went wrong. Trillium looks like a carboy you just shook with yeast on day #0 of fermenting. I guess more power to us all.. Choices!

 

Hit up Bosque earlier and tried the Equinox Smash.

Liked it and happy to familiarize myself with the Equinox hop. I definitely see its contribution to the last batch of Project Dank. I did enjoy the hop on its own more than paired with the other other hops too. I see the Mosaic comparison, and like Mosaic, I imagine this is a hop with limited appeal for me. My guess i that after trying a couple more Equinox heavy beers I will be burnt out and uninterested in the variety (in general). For now though, I would definitely drink this beer again.

 

I didn't find the new project dank to be all that hazy. It may be unfiltered or unfined or whatever but I wouldn't call it hazy. Beers that truly fit the haze craze have the appearance of orange juice or pineapple juice. You cannot see through them even when held up to the light. That being said I still think this version of dank was good although it did have less hop bite to it and did feel lighter. Felt like a session dank compared to what I've come to expect from one of my all-time favorite IPAs. I wouldn't use the term disappointed but quite honestly my expectations were high for this batch and I don't believe the steps, or lack thereof, taken to produce an east coast style dank were successful. Jeff you asked for our opinion in your blog and if you read this I place a vote in favor of just continuing with your previous incarnations of dank (while continuing with the experimental tweaking of course). I would love to see La Cumbre experiment more with east coast style IPAs but perhaps that could be a new IPA altogether.

 

^ I agree. "Unfliltered" does not equal NE hazy in its truest sense. There are 5 steps that may work all together (or 1 by 1) that create that hazy mess. But IMHO, when Project Dank is working, it's that juicy/ white grape flavor/ melon flavor that captivates me. It's been done so so many times. That can/HAS won over America. There is really no emulation needed in that truest sense. Time for a 3rd IPA experiment, and leave Dank where it has strived at being.

I agree with @toothirsty, no offense to cascade hopback, its a general waste of time. Having a sort of secondary experiment, if yall so desire, is where its at. I know Father Nelson is likely coming up in April. So no complaints on my end as far as variety.

But I do think it's time to grow out, and maybe set DANK where it has (rated) best, leave it there, and go with a true experiment. Ya'll are doing great things. I have zero doubts you can't achieve what the hazy NY/MA/CT/NH/VT has achieved. I guess it's a matter of it being a priority to "prove yourselves". I think you've proven yourselves enough. So it's a tough situation.

 

Thanks for the tips. Picked up some Elevated at Albertsons last night. Lunch at Five Star burger and had a couple of Bosque Riverwalkers. Stopped at Susan's and got some Rye Not, Dank, scale tipper, momma always said, and duel cezanne magnifique. Passed on the mind phoq as I don't care for coffee.

 

Oops, red ryeot (not rye not). Also the Dank was 3/15.

 

Having the latest Project Dank right now. Not my favorite of the series but still plenty enjoyable. Still find that batch from January to have been my favorite to date.

 

Gave Bosque's Riverwalk IPA second chance last night, wanting to see how my opinion of it might change now that I have become a Bosque fan. Similar to my experience with their Lager I did enjoy it more this second go round but it definitely remains an undwhelming beer, especially by Bosque standards. I imagine if they could just up the hop load to that beer it could become great.

Also made it back to Quarter Celtic. Was not nearly as impressed this second go round with them. Everything tasted a bit watered down. Will have to revisit to see which account is the outlier.

 

Father Nelson & Apricot Sour certainly have my attention. I also saw Marble has a new, pilot pilsner on tap right now, Bark. Want to try that one too.

Both La Cumbre and Bosque have some Marzens on tap right now. Not usually a fan of the style but tried both and enjoyed both, with La Cumbre being my favorite of the two.

...and thanks for the update on Bow & Arrow. Wasn't a fan of the beer of theirs I tried during my first visit but was thinking about giving them a second try shortly. Looks like I will hold off for a little longer.

 

@ONovoMexicano Good looks on P Dank being available at other places for "retail". I know Sprouts has it for $8.50 usually.

Marble DIPA back in bombers.. 4/5 dated. Wasn't overly impressed. Okay price point but after having some Exodus in cans (which is very very solid), I felt price cheated. Marble DIPA felt very old school. Quite a straight bitter bite. Mostly pine. Some slight pine. Nothing tropical about it AT ALL. Draft revisit tomorrow for sure.

Exodus fell in a category just above Marble DIPA. At 3 times better a value, I just see no reason why Marble DIPA exisits in bomber form. Exodus reminds me also of an old school IPA. Not overly dry or complex. At times it feels when Exodus would show up on draft, it was sometimes the best IPA in town (batch by batch variation, even with marble and LC leaves me stumped lol). Now in cans, I want to say it falls within the elevated, riverwalk, marble ipa wheelhouse. Top6 for sure.
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La Cumbre does German offerings right. VMO for years has had a crisp dry edge, one thing I look for in the lagers. Their latest VMO is no exception. Malt sweetness lulls you to sleep.

I may or may not make Marbles thing. I have a brew club membership with my dad. We've been sharing and holding onto membership cards since 2011. I have heard that it's a one person per card entry for that event. I may just casually check things out this Sunday.

But don't dismiss Double White in cans coming the 21st of April. Very exciting can offerings coming up so quickly.

FINALLY, Beers that are pretty common but now available in single format cans that are as cheap as growlers.. That's all I really expect out of breweries in NM. Nothing wrong with keeping expectations grounded. I think they'd sell a crap load of sub $10/six pack double whites and Canteens

 

Great thread. I'll study this before heading out to NM for our annual cabin trip. I went to Marble and a few others in ABQ a while back with a friend who was living there. Had a good time at all, but Marble was most memorable. They have one of my favorite bottle caps. Not sure how well it shows up in the photo, but the green part is kind of luminescent.
In Taos, Eske's is a nice place to hang out at. Food is OK. Beer is pretty good. Service can be spotty, but I guess that's true at lots of places in Taos, where the management style can be hippie cool / indifferent. Very hippie indifferent service at Taos Mesa, but the food and beer were both good.