On the 11th day of Christmas, Santa Beer gave to me...

a smoky porter from Chama River Brewing - El Fumador!

Remember this guy? I don't know if he ever had a name on the X-Files other than "The Smoking Man." Just remember kids that if you smoke, you'll end up looking like him, regardless if you have a Y chromosome or not. Anyway, yesterday I had a choice to make after work: Go to the gym and run 3 miles....or partake in a beer at Chama River, where it was $2.50 pint night. I just wasn't feeling the gym, so figured a beer was in order. So, upon getting there, I found the El Fumador porter to be intriguing, especially since I had stopped off at my favorite local tobacconists (Stag Tobacconists on Juan Tabo and Montgomery) for some Christmas cigars earlier...


The nice bartender brought over this pint, which looked like someone managed to bottle a cloud of black smoke, then topped it off with a creamy tan head. Take a whiff and you'll get aromas of smoke, chocolate, coffee and malt. The beer doesn't have a terribly intense smell, which is ok as the taste definitely makes up for it. You can taste the alcohol, which is mixed in with some caramel, strong coffee and bitter smokiness. That bitterness will stick around in the back of your throat, sorta like a film in your mouth. This was a good beer with a sturdy 7.0% ABV - I think the bitterness threw me off initially, but it ended up being a very enjoyable brew.

Apperance -5.0/5.0 - Perfect pitch black, creamy tan head
Smell - 3.5/5.0 - Smoke, chocolate, coffee, malt - lighter aroma
Taste - 3.5/5.0 - Alcohol, caramel, coffee and bitter smokyness
Feel - 3.0/5.0 - Bitterness with an aftertaste that sticks around the back of your throat
Drinkability - 3.0/5.0 - A good porter, but the bitterness threw me off. This is redeemed by the nice ABV though

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Brew

So sue me, Chama River doesn't have a whole lot of logos I can use. But the inspiration for Chama River's Dr. Strangehop Imperial IPA seemed highly appropriate. Did you realize that Russians have vodka running through their veins, rather than blood? I didn't either, but then I found out that true-blooded American drinkers have hops running through their veins.

The Dr. Strangehop was an extremely hoppy brew - but in a really good way. The cloudy and light amber look of the beer was nice, but it was the fragrant citrus aroma was what really sold me on the beer. Compared to another local Imperial IPA (from Marble), I feel like the Dr. Strangehop Imperial IPA was far more masterfully blended so that the bitterness was illustrated in the beer, but not so up-front that it overpowered the beer. The beer's aftertaste was nice in that it lingered for a little bit, but did not outright dissipate. For being at 120+ IBUs and 8.9% ABV, this was indeed a potent brew, but it was very drinkable and enjoyable over a nice crab cake and green chile stew.

Appearance - 3.5/5.0 - The cloudiness was semi-unique for an IPA and the color was very appealing.
Scent - 4.5/5.0 - The citrusly fragrance was really appealing and inticing to drink.
Taste - 4.5/5.0 - Hoppy, bitter, but well blended to make for a high quality taste.
Feel -4.0/5.0 - Strong taste that lingered, but not in a bad way.
Drinkability - 4.5/5.0 - If I was in the mood to drink potent Imperial IPAs all day, this would be a beer I would pick as part of the rotation.

Chama River Menege A Tripel & Amber

Tina and I like to go up to Pendaries, NM (it's a little past Las Vegas, NM) - it's peaceful and relaxing. Especially, when you pack a growler or two. So, one of the last go-arounds, we stopped off at Chama River Brewing to see what they had to offer. We ended up getting their Menege A Tripel & the Rio Chama Amber. One impressed, one did not.

The Menege A Tripel was a strong tripel representation from Chama River. The beer had a very "wheatish" look to it, making the brew seem more like a combination of a wheat beer and a belgium tripel. There is a lot of crisp banana & apricot flavors with a short fruity aftertaste. The beer isn't really that sweet - just enough to get that fruity flavor in there. With a 8.6% ABV, it was strong and fit with other tripels I've had lately (the Kerberes Tripel from Flying Dog was 8.5%).

Look - 4.0/5.0 - The unique blend of a wheat and tripel was intriguing.
Smell - 4.0/5.0 - The banana and apricot flavors are pleasant and not so overpowering that you feel like you snorted a line of sugar.
Taste - 4.0/5.0 - A pretty standard tripel - strong, flavorful and crisp.
Feel - 4.0/5.0 - The lack of being overly sweet was very nice
Drinkability - 3.5/5.0 - The premium charged to get this one counts against it - while the beer was enjoyable, the extra $3 to get the growler make my wallet a sad panda.

The Rio Chama Amber was the disappointment of the pair. The aroma from the beer was...unique, but in a bad way. It was bordering skunky and that prevented much of any good scents from being detected. The beer had a slightly bitter taste and mild, lingering aftertaste. I had to keep drinking it to avoid that aftertaste from sticking around. This beer had to be served cold cold cold, which is where it had the best taste (and that's saying something).

Look - 3.0/5.0 - A standard amber color, nothing to write home about.
Smell - 2.0/5.0 - Yikes, skunky.
Taste - 2.5/5.0 - The bitter taste was nice, but then had a lingering aftertaste that wasn't terribly enjoyable.
Feel - 2.5/5.0 - Lingering aftertaste...bleh.
Drinkability - 2.0 - Very disappointing - they have enough beer there that I can avoid this one.

On a side note - I'm part of the Albuquerque 20/30 Club and we put on an annual charity event called the Equestrian Cup. This is the first year we would get local breweries to add their beers to the tasting menus (normally just really good food and wine). We asked Chama River and they denied us saying "We have given enough this year."

All I wanted was 2-3 kegs to have to feature their beer and market themselves...didn't think I was asking for that much. Anyway, if you go there, talk to them and tell them you want to see Chama River beer at the Equestrian Cup!!! That, or if you know someone who can make something happen, I'll owe you a beer.