La Cumbre

So there's a new brew pub in Albuquerque. It's a mile from my house. I've been three times, and here is what I think of it.

La Cumbre is a pretty unremarkable space in an industrial part of town. It's easy to miss if you are not sure where to go. This is pretty standard with brewpubs, as brewing beer for the masses is kind of an industrial affair. I was there last Tuesday with the Albuquerque Road Runners and Hash House Harriers, we ran along the lovely North Diversion Channel bike path and I had a Noche La Paz after my run. It tasted pretty good. I found it to be strikingly similar although less "bold" (R's two cents!) than Marble Brewery's Dark Holiday. I drank it contentedly and went home.
I returned a couple days later for happy hour with R& J and tasted some more beers. I tried the Malpais Stout, the Pyramid Rock Pale Ale and the IPA whose name I forget at this time. I was not a fan of the IPA, but I've been in sort of a love-hate relationship with the genre ever since the Marble Fest where I drank way too much IPA 1000 in the hot September sun. I really liked the Pyramid Rock Pale ale and vowed to return for more with an empty growler... is there a more ringing endorsement?
On Friday I was back with my favorite stout friend for a quick pint and a growler fill. I'm glad to see the local spot hoppin', but couldn't find a seat at the bar. Before I could form a plan, there was a barkeep on the ready to fill my growler and take our order for pints. Going with a winner I ordered him a Malpais Stout (of course) and myself the Noche La Paz. he didn't like the stout, and we ended up trading. Lucky me!
I'm a big fan of this stout (7.0, pretty...um stout? for a stout) and not lacking on the effervescence. The crystal malt and the toffee...not too burned or too bitter or too chocolatey make this one a daily-drinkin stout, as opposed to a 1-and-done-cuz-I feel-like-I-just-ate-thanksgiving-dinner-in-a-glass stout.

Hot Springs, NM

Ever since I experienced the magic of the Chinati Hot Springs, I've been looking high and low for more springs with a delicously high lithium content. I've been meaning to get up to Ojo Calente, but haven't had the time for the long drive in to the Taos high country, so I settled for a stop over in Truth or Consequences, NM on the way back from Tuscon. Truth or Consequences is a New Mexico town that was re-named for a game show in 1950. The quiz show is long gone and the town formerly known as Hot Springs, is now referred to as T or C.


The town has a snazzy website that lets you book a room online. I picked La Paloma hot springs for their pet policy and was not disappointed. The retro motor court lodging is comprised of CCC worker cabins that have been moved to the site from nearby Elephant Butte.

While the cabin/motor court accommodations are a bit rustic (there were no showers in the rooms) The main attraction here are the baths which are first-come-first-served private enclosed rustic tubs with pebble floors. Soaking is unlimited with an overnight stay in the motel, and there is 24-hour access. Inoffensive new age-y music is piped in the rooms and the water is HOT. The various natural (but privately enclosed) tubs rage from 109 to 104 degrees. The inn provides heavy terry cloth robes and the temperature in T or C, about 150 miles south of Albuquerque is generally mild enough that you can scurry from the bath house to your room through crisp, but not cold, mountain air.

Twenty-four hours of napping and soaking here is just the right amount of time to detox and unwind. I look forward to visiting in the spring and fall when the conditions will be right for some good hikes at Elephant Butte, right up the road.

More Beer = Holiday Ale Fest

Shortly after the trip to Tuscon, where many delicious beers were consumed, I was off to Portland for the Holiday Ale Fest. I was introduced to this notion by my serious beer friends R&J. They've made the pilgrimage from ABQ every year for about 8 years. I was very excited, because ever since I had my first Harpoon Winter Warmer as a teen in Connecticut, I've been a sucker for the winter/holiday beers.
I was also looking forward to seeing a big group of college friends from the Seattle/Portland area. What better than a beer fest with the Iowa peeps!
The trip was over a long weekend, so maximizing beer time was essential. After our late arrival Thursday night, Friday morning we got right down to business when the 'fest opened. It was a lovely day of sampling delicious beers. There weren't many people at the fest on a work day, so we enjoyed the beers lots and lots of beers.

After the beers, there was lots of silliness.

More beer at the Widmer Gasthaus. A long cold walk under the highway invoking David Byrne and the Cathedrals of our modern age, then more beer with Albuquerque friends at Amnesia Brewing, directly next door to where we were staying.
Saturday was the day of the 'fest. We kicked things off recovering at the Country Cat with a serious bloody mary... yes, that's a beef jerky garnish.

Back to the fest for day 2, which was mostly drunkeness and catching up with the Iowa peeps. Even my tasting notes reflect a serious beer-tasting burnout, which ended up with me being physically removed from the ill-tempered gnome tent. Of course I was only removed to go to Deschutes Brewery for more fish and chips and MORE BEER.

Sunday was our last day in Portland.

We woke up early to explore (make a bee line for the waffle sandwich cart!)
YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We wandered around North Portland on foot eating more! After some post-breakfast coffee at the darling Patisserie Pix (no photo's because I was too engaged in my latte with HOMEMADE CARAMEL) killing time until the new-old-fifth quandrant Lompoc opened at 11 am so we could get our taste on.

Lompoc was the perfect sleepy sunday morning beer tasting spot. Even though our belly's were full, we found some room for delicious beer cheese dip and savored the yummiest beers of the trip.

Although our taste buds were weary, on Sunday afternoon we rallied and went to the Brass Horse pub, which I had been obsessing about the entire trip. The Brass Horse is a serious pub. There was a man in the corner that looked like the Old Man and the Sea, fer reals! The beer list was exhaustive. There were so many good, local beers, that despite the Ale fest, and the 4 other breweries we had already visited, that we had not tasted. After much deliberation over the extensive tap list, I went with a Walking Man Cherry Stout. It was so good. It sounds gross, but the cherry was sublime, and the stout heavy and chocolate-y. It may have been my favorite beer of the trip. Thanks again to our awesome hosts! We will be back... hold on to your hats... did someone say barleywine festival...
Cheers!

Thanksgiving = More Beer!

I went to Tuscon to visit family for thanksgiving. I found the drive to Tucson, while long, to be fairly pleasant. Perhaps in the future I might even stop in Hatch, the high point of excitement along the journey.
I stayed with Dixie at the Lowes Ventana Canyon resort. It's a very fancy resort (where my parents were staying) but they are 100% cool with dogs of any size. The room had a balcony that overlooked a xeriscaped cactus land and tile floors, making it easy to have the puppy crate and the smelly puppy along.
The day after thanksgiving I went to the Nimbus Brewery and Barrio Brewing. Both were in odd industrial parts of the city, and not 100% easy to find until I saw the giant beer sticking out of the side of the building...

But it was lunchtime and it was pretty empty. The best thing about the Nimbus was the cool monkey logo... and that their guest beer was BELLS! from Kalamazoo. I had a Bells Oatmeal Stout, a delicious smoked gouda caramelized onion cheeseburger with bacon fries. Delicious, if not done 100% justice by the photo.

I tasted all the beers in addition to the burger and the Bell's, they were all pretty good.

Not outstanding (damn Marble has my palate soooo picky). I think we filled a growler with some nut brown and were off to the next stop, Barrio.
At Barrio Brewing, one of my dreams came true. I was able to purchase a growler "outfit." I've been carrying my growler in a soft cooler from the dollar store that looks like a diaper bag, so I was really excited to have a proper growler cooler, perfect for hiking on hot summer days.
The beers at Barrio were more... carefully crafted, less mass produced than Nimbus.

Unfortunately, some of the ones we were most excited about, were not as delicious as anticipated. I'm thinking of a coffee porter, perhaps. Some of the beers had the odd taste of chile when they weren't supposed to either. The standouts were a raspberry wheat and a dunklewisen that we filled our growler with and enjoyed all the way to T or C.
After our beer tasting day we spent another night at the resort and headed to the healing waters of Hot Springs, NM.

After a long few days with the familia, it was nice to watch the sunset and drink our growlers at the hot springs, even if the gusty winter winds made the cabin at La Paloma a bit chilly, we had a great time and returned to Abq refreshed and ready to take on the next adventure.

I drink too much beer and don't blog enough, Part 1 Telluride

This first trip of the fall ale season was to Telluride in October. It was advertised as a fall color tour, but of course, it's Colorado, and there were many beers to taste along the way. We drove up to Farmington after work, passing through Chaco Canyon. You can feel the "mystical" powers and energy, as captured in this electrical-storm sunset photo

The point of stopping in Farmington was to sample the beers from 3 Rivers Brewery. Frankly, I was disappointed. The had a very limited selection of pre-filled growlers, and a bar full of unfriendly locals, so we didn't stick around and taste and sample. We did get a perfectly good IPA that kept us going through the night and in to Durango the next day.
The drive to Durango was short and scenic, we rolled in to Durango just in time for breakfast beers at Culver's. It's a smaller pub, with good food and excellent beer. I believe they are known for the bread the bake with their beers. It's been a while since we were up there, and I didn't have my 33 Beers book (http://www.33beers.com/) so I'm not sure what we drank, I will venture a guess, that J. had an ... Oatmeal Stout and I had the IPA.

After Culver's we headed to Steamworks. Steamworks ruled! They had so many yummy, yummy beers. A wonderful helpful friendly tender who gave us free appetizers. It was one of those times you almost wish the beer was non alcoholic so you could sit there and try pints of them all, all day long.

Sadly there was driving, and high mountain passes to be negotiated so we moved on up the road to Telluride.
Not far outside of Durango, the mountains grew steeper and the Aspens more vibrant.

We climbed and climbed in to the mountains and watched the temperature drop. More Aspens, more mountains, and a stop in Silverton for more beer.

Silverton is very sleepy and small, and would probably not exist anymore, were it not for the Silverton-Durango scenic railroad. There was a sleepy local pub, that brewed its own beer, so we stopped in for a pint. It was not very good, and the locals were not very nice. They suggested we head over the pass, and shave our time to Telluride by an hour. I love a good 4x4 challenge, but the jeep roads at 12,000 feet, are best left to people with more expertise than myself. J sensed a rat in their claims and we stuck to our original route over Slumgullion pass and in to Ouray for the hot springs.


Once we got to Telluride we had a great meal and lots of red wine with my aunt. My uncle brough home some steak from the CSA ranch he's been working at. He tried to recruit us to go out and ride the next day. There were calves that needed porcupine quills removed from their snouts, but I thought I was a bit too green to be riding a horse on a working expedition, so I politely declined. Instead we thought we'd tackle and easy "locals" hike recommended by my aunt.

For starters, NOTHING is easy at 10,000 ft, not even for those who are acclimated at 5,000 feet and eat 2.7 mile hikes for an afternoon snack. My friends, this 2.7 miles, felt like 13.1 of a half marathon and took nearly as long. This locals hike afforded absolutely stunning views, herds of elk on the valley floor, the ski mountain, the Tomboy Mine, Bridal Veil Falls, Mt. Wilson (aka the Coors Can Mtn)more mountains clear to Utah and of course, beautiful aspen forests.
I laughed, I cried, I found a lost great dane named George. Then we headed to... the brewpub, to refresh our souls with MORE BEER!

I figured Smugglers was alright, after all my college aged cousin had left an empty growler in the kitchen of our guest house. Well, it is just that, alright. It's the only game in town, but it did not hold up to the high standards put forth by our local Albuquerque pub, or Steamworks or Culvers. Nevertheless, we drank all our tasters and hastened back to the house to rest our weary legs. Our trip was nearing it's close and the next day we were heading back toward Creede, to check out more snowy mountain passes, more pubs and more abandoned mining towns.

Canoncito Hike

Another beautiful sunset hike in the east mountains. Last week I hiked an easy out and back from the Sulphur Springs picnic area. Last night I stopped a bit closer to the interstate and hiked the Canoncito Trail, up to a waterfall, across on the Faulty Trail and back to the Cole Springs picnic area. This hike was more strenuous than last week's and took a lot longer. I got the info from my 60 hikes within 60 miles book.

I parked on the side of a dirt road next to a graveyard, and proceeded through an ominous looking gate. Apparently the private land owners have gated the road (and a about 3/4 closer to Hwy 14 than is indicated in the book) but you can still walk up the road, to the trailhead, and even further to the now desolate Cole Springs picnic area. After chugging up the dirt road (pace yourself, the elevation gain is here!) I came to the trail head for Canoncito. At this point there are options, you can go straight up Bart's trail, known for being "the hard way up" or take the rolling Canoncito. Not in the mood for a challenge, I took the Canoncito up to a series of waterfalls and a spring. This would be a great place to kick back and relax in the summertime, as the spring has formed shallow pools good for wading and splashing. Dixie enjoyed the mud. The trail is steeper and slippery with a good bit of deadfalls as you make your way past the springs, but no worries, less than half a mile from the waterfalls is the left turn on to the Faulty Trail to loop back to the car.
I had hiked the Faulty Trail the week before out of Sulphur Springs and found it to be similar, gradual ups and downs (heading back to the car it was mostly downhill). It's well maintained and offered some spectacular vistas of the Sandias and Tijeras melting into sunset in the distance.


Although I fairly certain this hike is too challenging for non-acclimated visitors, I can see myself hiking up there with a bottle of wine and some cheese to enjoy the sunset again in the not to distant future. Knowing what I know of the Faulty Trail, thus far, I would also like to hike it up from Cole Springs on a longer day hike. It's terrain is fairly groomed and someday, I see a better trained me practicing some trail runs up there.
Night was falling as I emerged from the woods at the Cole Springs picnic area. I guess because the gate is lower on the road than indicated in the book, I was going to be hiking the rest of the way to the car in the dark. I would estimate this was about 1.5 miles. It was truly a study in being observant when heading out in the daylight, so as to have my bearings in the woods as the sun fell below the horizon. Out of the forest and on the road, I did have enough ambient light to keep walking without my headlamp, enjoying the dusk and hoping that I would not get eaten by a bear. It was a ways on the road, but it was all downhill. Down, down, down until I reached the gate, the cemetery and the car. I stopped a moment to take in the stars (a night so clear, and just obscured from the city lights enough you could even begin to see the faint outline of the milky way) hopped in my car and was back in Albuquerque for a tasty dinner of green chile stew and pumpkin beer in 30 minutes. I'm not sure it's the best idea to be hiking through cougar country on a new trail in the dark, but me n Dixie lived to tell the tail and will be back next Tuesday with more hiking adventures.

Marble Septemberfest

I like beer, and I like tasting. I also like the Marble Brewery, and hang out there a good bit, so it makes sense I was present for Septemberfest!
Several breweries from around New Mexico came together for an afternoon of tasting. It was pretty hot in the early afternoon hours, but I was able to soothe my sweaty soul with tasty treats like Apricot Wheat and IPA 1000. I drank a lot of tasty beer that day. I could drink a lot more with out the sun beating down on me. I got a free pint glass... and a temporary tattoo. In the words of Ice Cube, it was a good day.