TART-SMART
Event offers more than 20 sour and barrel-aged specialty beers
Pucker up, buttercup, for more than 20 unique sour beers and barrel-aged specialties during Tart at Heart 2. “About half of them are exclusive to this festival,” said Angelo Orona, president of Craft Kings Consulting, which is putting on the event. “Many of them have never been in the state before, and many of them are debuting at this fest, so I’m really happy and proud to bring some new and interesting flavorful beers to New Mexico for the first time.”
This year’s event will offer unlimited tastings rather than use punch cards as it did last year. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.
Sister bar recently installed a fullservice kitchen and will be offering food pairings that will complement the beers offered at the event. Food is not included in the ticket price but will be available for purchase a la carte, according to Orona.
Regional breweries include California’s Stone Brewing Co. and Ballast Point Brewing Co.
“Stone is sending Locoveza,” Orona said. “… This is their Xocoveza aged in bourbon barrels, and it has a slight sour character to it. They are also sending us a sour brown with Balaton cherries, so we’re really excited about that also. Another regional brewery that is doing something nice for us is Ballast Point. They’re sending us barrel-aged Barmy (ale) and also sending us Sour Wench (blackberry ale), which is part of their sour line. We’re really happy to have those two featured.”
Local favorite La Cumbre Brewing Co. is sending an apricot saison, Marble Brewery will offer its Saison Brux and Brett Stout and Ponderosa Brewing Co. will have its Berliner Weisse.
“This is an interesting beer because it’s a style that is gaining some popularity,” Orono said of the Berliner Weisse. “It’s very unique to the Berlin area in that there are very few breweries based in Berlin that still brew this. It is a throwback to a long time ago. Ponderosa has an interesting example of this beer. Their director of brewing operations (Alan Taylor) was trained in one of the last authentic Berliner Weisse breweries in Berlin, so he was able to actually harvest some yeast from them. That yeast is actually used in the Ponderosa version of this beer, so it’s very unique and very authentic to the true style of Berliner Weisse from Berlin, so we’re really happy about that. It’s going to be a very unique touch.”