I had the opportunity to begin ABQ Beer Week with Beer 101 at Marble Brewery. We tried 10 beers — two of the beers were brewed by Marble, with the other eight being non-local beers established as prime examples of classic beer styles including a pilsner, witbier, Irish red, IPA, barley wine, doppelbock, rauchbier, and hefewiezen.

Beer 101 started out like a class, a class in a brewery and surrounded by beer. There were desks in rows and sheets explaining terminology, brewing processes, and categories of beer tastes. After the preliminaries ended, it was time for the tastings. Each round of tastings began with the Beer 101 staff handing out a sample of the beer to each of the “students” in a manner reminiscent of flight attendants handing out drinks on a plane.  Once the beer had been handed out, we were encouraged to visually inspect the beer for color and clarity. Then, we were told to swirl the beer and take short sniffs to get a feel for the aroma of the beer. Finally, we tasted the beer.  Our “professor,” Angelo Orona (a distributor for Marble with a great sense of humor) asked what sorts of tastes we were experiencing. Roasted? Smoked? Hoppy? Maybe a hint of raisons or banana? Each time someone offered a suggestion, the power of association seemed to bring out a new flavor upon further tastings. Then we were asked to guess the style of the beer and, if we could, the maker. Some of the beers we sampled included Pilsner Urquell, Hoegaarden Wit, and Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen. At the end of each round of tasting, we were given a sheet that described the beer we just tasted and characteristics of the style that it represented.

Ted, Marble’s head brewer, was on hand to field any questions we had such as “Why do some beers have a metallic flavor?” and “How do you keep a witbier from settling when it is on tap?” Ted and our professor were also gracious enough to answer questions regarding the future of Marble. We learned that Marble will soon be opening a taproom on the west side of Albuquerque and will be introducing beer in cans around August.

Overall, I absorbed far more information about beer and brewing than I thought I could in one sitting. As much as I learned, the best part about Beer 101 was sharing the beer drinking experience with a room full of craft beer enthusiasts that shared my appreciation of Albuquerque’s burgeoning craft beer culture. I traded notes with Gordon, a classmate and home brewer, during the entire tasting process. I spoke with Monica from the Albuquerque Brewers Association and hinted at possible future collaborations with the Brew Crew.

All in all, Beer 101 was a sold-out, rousing success. I encourage anyone who is interested in craft beers to attend it the next time it is held. For those who do not wish to wait that long, I encourage you to participate in the many beer tastings occurring all over Albuquerque during Beer Week and join the NM Darkside Brew Crew at Blues and Brews on Sunday, May 27 at Sandia Casino.

Cheers!

— E-Rock

Friday’s Beer Week events

• Imbibe will play host to a special tapping of Green Flash (San Diego) Brewing’s Imperial IPA starting at 5 p.m.
• The Whole Foods at Carlisle and Indian School will have a selection of Sierra Nevada beers to try, along with free cheese to eat, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
• The day’s big event is the 4 p.m. tapping of the 505 Five Collaboration beer at all of the breweries that created this Red Rye hop monster — Chama River, Il Vicino, La Cumbre, Marble, and Nexus.