Pi Brewing, formerly known as Nicky V's Pizzeria, is still very much a restaurant that serves their own beer which typically means the focus is on the food, leaving the beer inconsistent and often times very few on tap. There have been times we've ventured to Pi and absolutely loved all the beer, and there have been equal times where we've gone and half the taps are blown and the couple beers they do have aren't very good. It's just an extremely hit-or-miss, inconsistent brewery.
We were fortunate this round to have all eight taps flowing for this flight:
Prohibition Pilsner
Unwindulax
Pineapple Express
Amber's Amber
Cardinal Sin
Discordia IPA
Barreled Bourbon Vanilla Porter
Zinister Dichotomy
The Prohibition Pilsner had a good wheat flavor but also had a bit of a bite upfront. It was a very mild, tame and drinkable beer, but would have been more enjoyable had it been served a little colder. A major factor in the flavors that come out in a beer is the temperature, you actually don't want the mountains to turn blue for good craft beers, but you definitely don't want them served warm either.
The Unwindulax was a German sour ale and was similar in color to the pilsner. This is a very easy sour, if you're interested in expanding your palate into the world of sours, this is a great one to start with. A lot of sours get their tart flavor from fruit mixtures or use fruit to tone down the tart flavors, but this German sour was brewed to incorporate the sour yeast flavor, and it was done properly.
The Pineapple Express was a hefeweizen style beer and was very light and simple. The usual banana and bubble gum flavors were present but not overbearing, which made this a very easy to drink beer. This is another beer that Pi served a little on the warmer side, so had it been colder, it would have been even better and more refreshing.
The Amber's Amber Ale was very light in color, and smelled sweet and malty. The taste on the other hand was a little weak. It still tasted like an amber, but it was very watery and weak.
The Cardinal Sin Red Ale had that great crimson color expected of a good red ale. Unfortunately, much like the amber, the flavor just wasn't there. It tasted like an Irish red, but the flavor was weak and just disappointing.
The Discordia IPA was just bad. On occasion, not often, we leave a sample unfinished. This was one of those occasions. This IPA was only slightly hoppy and very much tasted like dirty, sweaty gym socks. Just really not good at all.
The Barreled BVP was a great recovery from the IPA. It was so smooth, had great vanilla flavor that expanded through the whole beer from the forefront all the way through to the after taste. It was very light for a porter, almost more of a brown, but a great dark beer for the summer.
The Zinister Dichotomy was another sour, this time brewed with raspberries and aged in wine barrels. This was an excellent sour, another that was very drinkable and quite delicious. Not as easy as the German Sour, but still easier than most. If you like wine, this is a great beer to try out.
Megan's overall opinion: I want to like Pi, I have liked Pi before, but I just wish they would be more consistent in their brewing. They had a couple beers this time around that I really enjoyed, the BVP and the Zinister were really good and I think should be staples in their list. The IPA was terrible, and I think because Albuquerque is such a hop-headed town, every brewery feels the need to have an IPA on tap, but I think Pi would be better off without one. The rest of the beers were alright, just nothing special. The food is great and as a restaurant that seems to be more their focus, but hopefully they can focus a little more on the beer.
Randy's overall opinion: Biggest surprise for me was the fact that I actually liked a sour! Zinister, the raspberry sour beer was not a sweaty cheek punch of tart but was refreshingly mild and flavorful. Now, I'm not saying it was my favorite beer on the list but I'll say it was second! That should go down in the record books as I never thought I would have a sour in my top favorites. Speaking of my favorite, the BVP (Vanilla Porter) is always the go-to while here. Very consistently done and the one that keeps me wanting to return to Pi. Now, the place itself is an awesome pizza/ pasta joint. The food is really good and the space is used well. Location and parking are left to be desired but it's manageable. The beers need to be consistent all around. Seems like every time we go, the beer menu is totally different from the previous time (except for the BVP thank goodness). As a whole, I feel they have taken a step backwards since the beginning. They do have a decent enough variety to choose from but really need to make them better. This is a tough beer town and being mediocre gets you forgotten about.
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