BREWING ENTHUSIASM
9th annual Hopfest adds seminar to educate beer lovers
Hopfest organizers like to change things up and offer something different for beer enthusiasts each year. This year is no different for the event, which will be held on Saturday, Aug. 27, at Isleta Resort & Casino. The New Mexico Brewers Guild Sensory Analysis Seminar has been added to educate beer lovers on what they’re drinking. The seminar will last 30 minutes, but educators will stick around for questions.
Attendees also will get a New Mexico Brewers Guild goblet and a special tasting of Sierra Blanca Brewing Co.’s Whiskey Stout, its 25th anniversary beer, according to Hopfest organizer Marne Gaston. “During Beer Week, we did an event called bad beer tasting, and it was really popular,” Gaston says. “People really enjoyed it. It was really informative. There’s an off-flavor kit that you can get, and then you can taste these things and then you know what’s gone wrong so if you get bad beer, you know why. They’re going to do that at the festival. Along with an overview of beer descriptors.”
The seminar is limited, and a cap was being determined, but Gaston said the class would most likely be limited to 50 to 100 people. The seminar is $10, and a portion of the proceeds benefit the New Mexico Brewers Guild, which helps local breweries, Gaston says.
In true Hopfest fashion, there will be a few new breweries and a cidery participating. They include Albuquerque’s Quarter Celtic and Sandia Hard Cider, Angel Fire’s Enchanted Circle Brewing, Los Alamos’ Bathtub Row Brewing Co-Op and Taos’ Eske’s Brew Pub, as well as California’s The Dudes’ Brewing Co. and Firestone Walker Brewing Co., which recently became available in Albuquerque and is the sponsor of Hopfest, according to Gaston.
The event will feature several stages with seven bands or solo performers.
VIP ticket holders get to enjoy the exclusive perk of tasting 11 specialty craft beers with various food pairings inside a private VIP room. The exclusive tasting begins at 3 p.m. and there will be a beer tapping every 15 minutes. Founders Brewing Co. is bringing its Devil Dancer Triple IPA. Mother Road Brewing Co. has a Coffee Lost Highway. Full Sail has a Bourbon Barrel Wheatwine. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has the Narwhal Imperial Stout. Santa Fe Brewing Co. is bringing Sangre. Pi Brewing is bringing a Wild Red Sour. Enchanted Circle has its IPA. A collaboration between BJ’s Brewhouse and Green Flash Brewing Co. called Hop Pact IPA also will be part of the VIP tasting lineup. Rio Bravo Brewing Co. is bringing its Piñon Coffee Porter. Marble Brewery has its last case of White Out that it will be bringing, and Lagunitas has its new 12th of Never, Gaston says.
A portion of the Hopfest proceeds benefit local charities including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, American Lung Association, Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Mexico, University of New Mexico Children’s Hospital, All Faiths Receiving Home, El Ranchito de los Niños and others.