Double Barrel Beer Tasting @ Il Vicino

I was won over quite some time ago by Il Vicino after having a bad first experience, both with the beer and the service. Thankfully, some folks including our CM Howie encouraged me to give it another shot. I did and I’m glad.
But this is not to say these guys don’t disappoint from time to time or swing and miss with some of their brews.
I’d say their Albuquerque Beer Week event was not so much a swing and a miss so much as it was a deep flyball that got in but that they only managed to turn into a single.
The barrel-​aged brews sounded good. They looked good. But they weren’t so delicious as to cause me to cancel the rest of my day’s plans and camp out under the tarpaulin.
Both beers were attempts at Belgians and both fell victim to what must less than stellar Belgians do: yeast that isn’t as spicy and fruity and zesty as that used by actual Belgian breweries. The result is that where Affligem or some other Belgian product would have a number of different tastes swirling around on the tongue and leaving the drinker with much to ponder, Il Vicino’s Belgians don’t have that same yeast character. Also, where the great Belgians mask their high alcohol content with a good balance of malts, yeast and even hops, IVC’s Belgians had a strong presence of alcohol.
Now, I’m just one person but that’s my assessment. These two Belgians came as part of a flight with a saison that also wasn’t entirely memorable, as well as an IPA and the 505‑2013, all for $ 7. The price was reasonable, it was nice to try them all, but I guess I had such great anticipation and the product didn’t quite live up to the hype.
I’ll continue to support IVC and I should really commend them for trying out some Belgians when it would have been easy just to make a couple more IPAs to add to that saturated market, but this event ultimately was just fair.

Beer week is in full swing!
Yes, Unilocal faithful, you’re welcome to review an event. In this case, the double beer cask tasting isn’t an event, per se, but rather a week of new beer pours from this local brew fave. I have a revelation to provide to the uninitiated: Il Vicino just released one of the finest IPAs I’ve tasted in this city and it’s insanely dangerous.
The 505‑2013 (like a phone number, get it?) is ABV 9% and unbelievably clean. The weight of the flavor in this bastard, it measures up to La Cumbre’s Elevated, without the otherwise obvious alcohol stink of the typical pour. It’s really, really easy to drink, with plenty of floral notes and a light amber color. Don’t do more than two of these, unless you have a designated driver or a taxi on speed-​dial. Amazing.
Concerning the cask beers, I tried the golden and dark Belgian offerings and both were four star. The golden is a crowd-​pleaser, not sweet, challenging to the palate and a tad hoppy. The dark version is exceptional, the cask aging really comes through. It’s brown shugah.
You can sip these new offerings — and plenty more — throughout the week. Il Vicino has brewed some beers that hustle the local flow and challenge the very best. So git on down to this canteen, pardner. They’re hopping up the local expectations.