Septemberfest 2010

It’s now October, and this year’s Septemberfest was almost three weeks ago, on September 11th. That’s quite a length of time I’ve let pass before writing up this ‘fest review so bear with me while I try to keep my facts straight. It doesn’t help that by a couple of hours in, my faculties may have been somewhat compromised, but I’ll do my best.

This was the third annual Septemberfest held at Marble Brewery here in sunny Albuquerque, and was our second annual visitation of said Septemberfest. Our posse rolled up just after noon, and there were already a few folks in line and a bunch inside the gate sampling beer. As we’d pre-purchased our wristbands at Marble a week or two before (and received a free pint at the time for doing so) we simply needed to adorn our wrists with their bright orange glow, get stamped, receive the ticket for our free pint, and pick up our free pint glass on the way in. The Septemberfest logo this year was stellar, and we once again purchased t-shirts. Passing through the gate, we see there are already folks lined-up at every booth; this was taken a mere 18 minutes after the gates opened.

This festival is small enough to fit in Marble’s parking lot, and that’s one of the things that makes it so great. The beer aficionado doesn’t feel overwhelmed, and we were able to taste multiple beers from each of the 12 breweries without completely destroying ourselves. Last year they had piles of little plastic 1oz. cups intended for tastings that were a huge waste, and filled the garbage cans by the end of the day. Although we were rinsing ours and reusing them, plenty of people weren’t, and it was sad to see. Happily, there were no plastic cups this year, and the beer samples were served in your free pint glass. Here’s Danica, thrilled to have her first sample in-glass, with Dea in the background feverishly annotating her beer log:

Each participant was provided a checklist for taking beer notes which, when we’re only talking 12 breweries, came to a manageable half-page. I don’t have a good shot of my completed checklist, and although the finished version exhibits increased brevity and decreased legibility as the day wore on, I find it to be a very valuable tool.

Most of the breweries had either laminated printouts or whiteboards describing their available beers, and the booth attendants were often the brewers themselves. This afforded a great opportunity to get some in-depth descriptions of the brews — and what went into each — from the very artisans who’d created them.

I tried every IPA and Red available. Yes, I know, I’m so predictable! Second Street had my favorite IPA in the “IPA 1000″ described above. Fantastic hoppy aroma, big hop flavor with a pleasant citrus and pine taste, but without being too over-the-top. My notes say “Hops! But sweetness to balance. >Green Zia”. The Green Zia was from Hallenbrick and was a damn fine IPA, but the bitterness was so forward that it seemed to squash the flavor a bit.

Because so many of the exhibited beers were 7%+ ABV and 6 hours of tastings made for a dangerous combination last year, narrowing down the beer with which to fill my glass (using my “free pint” ticket) was one of my main focuses as I tasted. That honor was awarded to a Marble offering simply called “Imperial Red”. My notes say, “! Good red! Hopped, nice alcohol bite.” That pretty much sums it up – a hoppy, strong red that combined my favorite aspects of reds and IPA’s.

All in all, a fabulously warm and sunny day spent drinking killer beer with great friends while meeting and chatting with other friendly New Mexicans. Pretty perfect. Well done Marble, and every brewery and festival goer in attendance!

This concludes this edition of Marsh’s Layman Brew Review. Tomorrow is yet another beer festival, the 2010 New Mexico Brew Fest & Music Showcase, and I’ll try to get that review out before three weeks passes. And then there’s another one on the 16th…busy month.

Thanks for reading!