Lizard Tail Brewing for the longest time has been the only brewery located in the eastern part of Albuquerque. This will soon change with the addition of a couple big time taprooms building on that side of town. This could very well be the reason Lizard Tail has survived this long; their beer alone probably wouldn't make it among the likes of La Cumbre or Bosque. Not to say the beer was bad, it just wasn't one of the greats.
Lizard Tail did, however, have a huge variety in their flights, including 15 different styles. We had to break the flights up quite a bit in order to fit them all on the table. We started with the regular, year-round offerings:
Bluetail Blond
Horned Honey Pale
Chameleon Amber
Reptilian IPA
Chuckwalla Abbey
Red Earth Irish
Basilisk Brown
Desert Dweller Dubbel
Desert Night India Black
Oatmeal Stout
The Bluetail Blond was a wheaty and very easy and simple, refreshing beer. Unfortunately, this beer had a terrible smell to it that really ruined the taste. If you plugged your nose, this could be a decent beer, but the odor was difficult to get passed.
The Horned Honey Pale was very nice, sweet, honey-flavored beer that was refreshing and very easy to drink. There was a slight hop flavor that accented the sweetness in the honey, and that crisp finish makes for a great pale.
The Chameleon Amber was smooth and a little sweet, but had great flavor. Not as malty as a lot of ambers we've come across, but still that easy, gateway brew that can open the door to more complex craft beers.
The Reptilian IPA was a great IPA. It had excellent hop character and none of that bitterness usually associated with an IPA. It was smooth yet crisp and an excellent example of a west coast American IPA. The Legless DIPA was out during our visit, but we've heard great things of that beer as well.
The Chuckwalla Abbey a sweet, slightly Belgian-style beer, not quite has bold or pungent as a true Belgian, but similar in character. The Abbey tasted slightly of apples and was another easy to drink beer.
The Red Earth Irish was very malty as to be expected from an Irish red ale. The flavor was very malty, and almost had a cereal-type, or earthy flavor. This malty beer was surprisingly crisp and refreshing.
The Basilisk Brown was very smooth and creamy. There wasn't much flavor to the beer, but there was a nutty-taste to it. A decent brown, not anywhere near the greatest ever, but not the worst ever either.
The Desert Dweller Dubbel was very sour and strong in alcohol. It had similar attributes to a barley wine or very strong, sour, amber ale. Definitely not their best beer.
The Desert Night India Black was a fantastic black ale with all the right flavors and just the right balance. Very malty and smooth, this black stout-like ale is crisp enough for summer and mysterious enough to keep you coming back for more.
The Oatmeal Stout, much like the Desert Night was very dark, rich, and malty. This was a good depiction of what a stout ought to taste like and represented the style well. It had flavors of coffee and oatmeal and was very malty. This has been one of the best Oatmeal Stouts we have had locally.
Lizard Tail also had a variety of seasonal brews including:
Saison
Raspberry Wit
Wakatu SHPA
Strawberry IPA
Long-nosed Trippel
The Saison was very interesting and complex in its flavors. It was smooth and wheaty but also had a slightly spicy flavor like red chile or Halls Original cough drops.
The Raspberry Wit was a light pink color and looked like ruby red grapefruit juice. It tasted very tart and slightly like raspberries but also had an off flavor like dirty dish water. It wasn't terrible, but really wasn't very good either.
The Wakatu Single Hopped Pale Ale was a very simple and easy to drink pale. This beer is the perfect way to start venturing into IPAs, it has a simple hop flavor that isn't too bitter and is as easy to drink as a wheat.
The Strawberry IPA sounds like a great pairing of flavors, but this beer just didn't quite make it. It smelled heavily of strawberries, strawberry shortcake even, but the taste was just a bit too tart. The strawberry and hop flavors didn't come through very well at and was really disappointing for such a great concept in flavors.
The Long-nosed Trippel was a little bit sour and a little bit sweet. Instead of being compliments to each other, these flavors seemed to mix into a taste comparable to a household cleaner. Not an uncommon flaw, but a pretty major beer flaw.
Randy's overall opinion: This place is better than it should be. A dismal hole-in-the-wall lingering among the dire hopes of crappy strip-mall companions, tucked away behind the dark window shades and dim lighting of the interior. You would never know there was a brewery to be found here. It seems as though there is no desire to enhance the ambiance or appearance. They just brew beer and have the same regulars to keep the doors open week after week. Ok, ok, enough of that....Over the year-ish that it has been since we had been back, Lizard Tail has obviously come a long way in their beer department. The Black Ale and Reptilian IPA were both really good. There were a few that I was not cool with, such as the Dubbel and the Trippel. However, I will give them credit for trying styles of beer that are not commonly found here. This is a brewery that is commonly overlooked and understandably so, but they do have something to offer....as long as you are looking for a beer and not an atmosphere.
http://www.lizardtailbrewing.com/home
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