The Monday, October 26 Tap Root Cafe Christmas Beer Tasting was a hoot. These tasting are generally jovial, albeit benign affairs until someone gets drunk and starts to disrobe. Credit yours truly for social faux pas. Aside from that little debacle toward the end, a wonderful array of top shelf beers was served with some tasty food. The event moved along quickly and included a visit from a semi-jovial Santa Claus who’s appearance fit the part well, but who could have thrown a little more horsepower at the part. I think Santa’s should show up at their respective gigs with a few barley wines under their belt to help spice their festive spirit. This is of course, unless they’re rent-a-Clauses that stand around red buckets in department stores and beg coin. In that case, they generally come pre-loaded anyway and they’re never jovial as a result.
As is the norm at recent Tap Root tastings, there’s always a brown-bag mystery beer. No, that doesn’t imply that participants get a big 4-0 in a bag and have to guess what 8-percent plus liver-washer they’re drinking. It’s a cutesy name for a mystery beer that’s served without identity, leaving patrons to their own sensory prowess to figure out what they’re drinking. I don’t know why, but Will from Café Amsterdam (sitting at another table) and I made immediate eye contact knowing we’d had this exact beer somewhere in our collective, recent past. All I knew at that point is that the beer was wicked hot (alcohol) and Ms. Fermento indicated that it had to be a barley wine. I took some exception to that assumption because there are non-barley wine beers of equal or greater potency. The beer was spiced, dry, clean and clear. I think it dawned on Will and me at the same time that we were drinking Scaldis Noel at a blistering 12.5 percent alcohol. It all came back. I remember being at Café and commenting when Ken Pajak flipped me a sample that I didn’t know I was going to need a HAZMAT license to enjoy a beer. Scaldis is indeed hot this year, but it’s oh-so-good. And, that night, I was pulling double duty because Ms. Fermento is a sampler, not a drinker, meaning that after her first tentative taste or two of a beer (birds sip more, actually) I get the rest. This is why she was driving that night and partially explains my partial disrobement. Santa should have been tipping a couple of these back before handing out the gifts.
Before I partially change the subject, I want to recognize a couple of things. First of all, thanks to the combined efforts of the Tap Root Café, owner Rebecca Moultman, La Bodega’s Pamela Hatzis and the entire staff of Specialty Imports, this is about as much of a renaissance that we’re likely to see in tastings in Anchorage. The larger venues have dropped tastings in general because of the cost and the disruption to constantly busy establishments. It’s understandable, but it’s nice to welcome Tap Root in as a nice, even-keel neighborhood bar and nice to see some specialty tastings spring forth. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Here’s a blast from the past, since we’re on the subject of tastings. Doug Simpson, and I and our respective spouses (excellent DD’s) attended the first Midnight Sun Brewing Company dinner at Humpy’s years ago. Neither of us were prepared for such a thing. This was one of the forerunning tasting in early Anchorage beer and we were giddy with excitement. Well, we were also giddy because we preloaded with two pints before the tasting. The tasting featured eight Midnight Sun beers, artfully paired with scrumptious dishes. The only glitch in the entire gig, if you could call it a glitch, was that full pints of beer were served. Scroll back up. Ms. Fermento only samples. So does Ms. Simpson. Do the math. Doug and I consumed 18 pints of beer that night. Midnight Sun doesn’t make weak beer. We were wrecked and amazingly, I made it to work the next day. What happened to all the great tastings in town?
The next big tasting at The Tap Root is the Homer Brewing Company Beer Tasting on Friday, December 7th from 8 PM – 2 AM. The objective is to showcase Homer Brewing Company beers and five beers will be ceremoniously tapped: Broken Birch Bitter, Red Knot Scottish Ale, China Poot Porter, Holiday Rye Lager and Celestiale 2007. This will be pay as you go, but there’s a $5 cover charge. The band will The Ray-Jen Cajun Band. This gig represents a rare chance to enjoy a big selection of Homer’s beers outside of their own tight confines on the Kenai. In fact, arguably, this is the biggest non-GABBF array of beers that have ever been up in Anchortown at one time. I happen to be a big fan of the Celestiale and look for it every year at the fest, so I’ll hit Tap Root for my allotment of this fine beverage somewhere along the line.
Before heading to Tap Root for the tasting on Monday night, Me’n Ms. Fermento ducked into Mo’s O’Brady’s next to Carr’s on Huffman. It was my first visit since Mo got ousted from the Eastside location on Tudor Road. That’s very naughty of me. Maurice has been a true inspiration in the beer world and is responsible, in part, for bringing craft beer to Alaska in the first place. I covered the move when it happened last year, but had yet to duck into the new joint for a pint. The atmosphere was warming, nicely appointed and reminiscent of an English pub. The bar is simply a cloistered area toward the back of the establishment, separated by partial walls. Rather than eat in the bar area where Monday night football was blaring away, we elected to seat ourselves in the sparsely populated dining area. A sign just inside the entrance said “seat yourself.” In a not-so-busy-restaurant, I’m always suspect of this because it’s easy to be forgotten. I made sure we made eye contact with the single waitress before sitting down midway to the back.
There were five tables of folks being waited on during our visit and our waitress was plenty busy, but prompt and courteous at the same time. She did seem a little hurried and I asked her if another server didn’t show up. She said “Nope, it’s just me tonight.” I got the sense she thrived on being busy. I know the feeling, time passes quicker.
Even from the dining room, the sound of the game was very apparent, but not to the point of being bothersome. As I always do, I jumped up from the table and went into the bar to scope it out and specifically check out the tap line.
As always, there was some confusion about a certain beer. There were 15 beers on tap. The folks at the next table, who turned out to be personal friends and homebrewers, wanted a beer, but the specific beer they wanted was out. The waitress went back into the bar and said it had been replaced with a pumpkin ale by Midnight Sun. I asked her which pumpkin ale. I got the deer in the headlights look. I walked to the bar and asked the bartender which Midnight Sun Pumpkin Ale he was serving. Another fixated buck stared back at me. Somewhat exasperated, he pulled me a sampler. It was Midnight Sun’s Humpback Jack Pumpkin Ale and not what I had hoped, which would have been the Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter. I could see the difference in color while he was bringing it across the bar. I explained this to the people at the next table who also know the difference between the two. It’s no big deal, but sometimes it’s irritating when a server doesn’t know product, which I accept, but when I branch out on my own to get an answer, I reach some degree of rebuff as if I’m an asshole. What would you do if you walked into a deli and said “Hmmmm…I’m going to have a sandwich,” and immediately something was handed over the counter to you. It had bread, some kind of meat, fixings and some dressing. Would you inquire further, or is a sandwich a sandwich? Well, a beer ain’t a beer in my opinion, and even more so, a pumpkin ale aint a pumpkin ale, if you get my drift. If you own a bar and want to feature good beer, your servers should know what they’re serving.
Other beers included Alaskan Brewing Company’s Amber and Winter Ale; Pike’s Kilt Lifter; Pyramid Hefeweizen, Stella Atrois, Rogue’s Mocha Porter, “Raspberry Framboise” (whatever the hell that is….Lindemans? Oud? Boon? After the pumpkin ale debacle I felt spanked and kept my mouth shut), Chimay, Bass Ale, Coors Blue Moon Belgian White; Guinness; Harp, and Coor’s Killian’s Irish Red.
The mead scene in Alaska is really taking off. The first commercial meadery to open in the state was Ring of Fire Meadery in Homer. Laurence Livingston has a long history in both beer and mead. He’s brewed beer at both Cusack’s Brewpub (closed) in midtown Anchorage and out in the Valley at Great Bear Brewing Company, and even did a commercial brewing stint in Hawaii. But his passion’s always been mead. A couple of years back, Livingston realized his dream and opened Ring of Fire Meadery in the old-town section of Homer (178 E. Bunnell Ave: 907-235-2656). Since then, he’s produced an array of beautiful products, and the line continues to evolve and become increasingly diversified. No visit to Homer in the winter or summer would be complete without a visit to this almost mystic establishment.
Ring of Fire’s claim to fame is using only natural, sulfite- and preservative-free ingredients. Only raw, unheated honey is obtained from small Western United States beekeepers. Only local Alaska hand harvested fruits are used in Ring of Fire’s meads and only pure, organic juices are used the cysers. There’s no doubt this stuff’s good for you.
If you happen to be in Homer this Saturday (December 01), call ahead to the Homestead Restaurant (907-235-8723) and make reservations for the 7:00 PM, $65.00 Ring of Fire Meadery mead dinner. A five-course dinner will be provided and each course paired with a Ring of Fire mead. Without going into a lot of detail, courses will include Pate de Lapin paired with Rhubarb Mead; fresh Kachemak Bay oysters topped with raspberry granita and paired with Raspberry Melomel; Petaou Salad paired with Black Currant Reserve Mead; and Siagon boar chop or Siagon sablefish paired with Orange Blossom Mead. That sounds pretty exotic to me considering the last time I had a Ring of Fire Meadery product, I was eating a hamburger while driving out of Homer toward Kenai. It was mighty tasty even then, so if you appreciate good food and excellent mead, this would be an event for you.
Other new products are in the works at Ring of Fire. Ring of Fire’s Blueberry Melomel has always been a big hit but more exciting still is the Big Oak version of this beer. Some is aging in both bourbon and brandy barrels. The release date isn’t set just yet. A Local Fireweed Honey Varietal Mead is perking away. It’s produced with 100 percent Alaskan fireweed honey. Finally, here’s one for you. How about a Hawaiian Vanilla Bean Meddeglyn? This interesting mead is made with sun-dried, hand-pollinated Big Island vanilla beans. This is undergoing some extended aging and is slated to be released sometime in the spring.
A new line of meads is flowing at Ring of Fire. The line is called The Orange Blossom and the individual meads are made using pure, raw orange blossom honey. I haven’t tried the mead yet, but the flavors reportedly include orange candy, peppermint and caramel wheat. This stuff sounds great.
Fortunately for us, we don’t have to drive all the way to Homer to enjoy Livingston’s products. Both Tap Root Café and Café Amsterdam regularly feature products from Ring of Fire. Ring of Fire’s Pear Cyser is on tap at Tap Root Café right now, and Cosmic Mead, Raspberry Melomel and Ring of Fire’s Birch, Cherry and Red Current Reserve Meads are available in the bottle. Café Amsterdam is offering Ring of Fire’s Raspberry-Pomegranate Cyser on tap and bottles of Cosmic Mead, Hamlet Honeymoon Mead, Rasperry Melomel, Orange Blossom and Local Cherry Reserve are commonly available.
Down Southeastern way in Juneau, Alaskan Brewing Company’s cooking up this year’s barley wine in 22 ounce bomber bottles. This is the first year for a bottled release and as indicated in previous blogs, when this comes out, I intend to buy some and lay it down. I have a strong vertical collection of Alaskan Smoked Porter, but this will launch a new venture for the barley wine. There’s some confusion because some of us have come to know this beer as Big Nugget Barley Wine based on at least a couple of vintages of the beer being aged deep within a mine shaft at the AJ Mine in Juneau. I’m guessing that the brewery no longer makes the distinction and has treated the beers as one in the same. A recent press release indicates that “typically” the beer is cellared in the mine. I’ve been told that the name was shortened to the more generic (current) name to remain in convention with the other beers’ names within the line. No matter; it’s prestigious stuff, having won silver medals at the 2003 Great American Beer Festival, the 2004 Great Alaskan Beer and Barley Wine festival and most recently the 2004 version took the good at the 2007 Toronado Barley Wine Festival and having it around in bottles is a bonus to vintage collectors like me.
Also, Alaskan just sent up a couple of drums of their most excellent Baltic Porter. Baltic porters are one of my faves because they’re heartier, more robust, generally darker and certainly bigger brown or robust porters. This coincides nicely with an errant, but not forgotten (well stashed) keg of last year’s Baltic Porter that showed up mysteriously at Humpy’s. I’m haranguing Beer Manager Christoff over there to put these two beauts on side-by-side. The style gained some recognition a couple of years ago when local homebrewer Jason Ditsworth one the side competition to the Humpy’s Bigfish Homebrew Competition with his Raisin Bran Porter. This beer was subsequently brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company and made a real splash in town and went on for some national recognition. I fell in love with it then. Not to bring any discredit on the competition, the venue (SubZero) where the beer was judged or the efforts of all that entered this silly little side competition, but event organizer Steve Schmitt mandated that co-judge Breck Tostevin and I judge the beer in the SubZero men’s room. Please don’t tie my love for Baltic Porter to men’s’ rooms. Oh, the crazy profiles in homebrewing!
On Thursday night, I rushed through Humpy’s on my way to an exclusive tasting of Australian beers (more later) and sampled the 2006 Alaskan Baltic Porter. I tried to professionally evaluate the beer but got lost at the “Ohmigod” point when I graced my lips with the beer. As would be typical for Humpy’s, my beer was served hypothermic, flat, and with zero head, but appropriately so in a small wine glass. On the positive side, my very energetic server recommended the beer, knowing I would enjoy it. I was immediately lost in a panoply of flavors that wrecked my mind trying to figure out where this beer had gone in the short course of one year. My recollections collided with expectations which collided with surprise. “Metamorphosis,” I screamed (inwardly). Over the year, the beer became more malt forward and what bittering hops the former incantation boasted had faded, revealing a beer that turns over and over and over on the palate. A year’s graceful aging rendered this stuff down to almost barley wine class, although it’s still a porter with rich chocolate notes, background toasty elements and some alcohol character. I can’t recommend strongly enough that you get in and get a pint of this magical elixir; no doubt it’s fleeting and hopefully by the time you read this, the 2007 version will be on tap for compare.
I finally got around to sampling Stone Brewing Company’s 11th Anniversary Ale. I’ve been excited about this beer because until now, I’d never heard of a “Black IPA” before. Everyone expects a hop bomb out of Stone, especially as an anniversary ale, so my interest was piqued. Before I get to tasting notes, I’ll sum it all up. This is a Schwarzbier on testosterone. Okay, a Schwarz is different, but I get the distinct, clean, lager notes under a big, bodacious, heavy malt, but hop pronounced beer. It’s a big beer at 8.7 percent alcohol, shoving it way beyond a Schwarz, but that’s okay; the dark malt foundation still pushes through. A fresh, piney, and slightly citrusy hop dominance reigns king. The dark brown, opaque beer with minimal head comes across in the flavor initially with an even dose of dark malt, rich in dry chocolate surrounded by dark fruits including plums, red table grapes, figs and even pine boughs (from the hops). Additional hop flavors provide an almost Juicyfruit gum profile, followed by a dry finish. The mouthfeel is smooth and silky with just enough carbonation to float borderline cloying effects.
I followed this with Great Divide Brewing Company’s Hop Pale Ale (6.1 percent). I think I got an old sample, or a bottle that wasn’t what the brewer intended because I couldn’t get around a cheese-like aroma that masked some remarkable hop elements that I’d expect from this brewery. Rather than banter on about trying to bail out the beer, I’ll write it off to weariness in transport and improper handling somewhere along the line and look for it again down the road.
La Bodega is a great repository for Christmas and seasonal specialty beers. There are so many of them rolling in right now and I want to try them all. At last count, just in the domestics (and not counting the local and international Christmas seasonal beers, I counted 12). Here’s where La Bodega has the edge. Liquor stores aren’t stupid and the beers are priced accordingly. Something new is going to be priced heavier than something that’s on it’s way out. Here’s a good example. Look around at the price of something like Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. I saw that as high as friggin’ $12.99 a six at certain stores. At the same time, Pete’s Rally Cap, a summer seasonal that somehow got overstocked, was blowing out the door at the Brown Jug Warehouse store at $4.99 a six. I’m digressing, but the one beer that’s been the umpire in the game has been Deschutes Jubelale. It’s weathered nicely at about $12.99 a half rack since it got here this year and that’s a fair price.
Okay, back to why La Bodega gets my disposable beer income at this time of year. Let’s just say the average price for a six pack of seasonal Christmas ale is $7.99. I could be way off, but that seems average. There are more, I’m sure, but again, I counted 12 different selections the other day. Were I to have to buy a six pack of each to sample them, it would set me back $95.88. La Bodega sells individual bottles of beer or whole six packs. An individual bottle costs around $1.49 unless the brand is super premium. So, that same $95.88 expense elsewhere just became a $17.88 expense at La Bodega. Of course, realizing this and realizing that I just saved 78 bucks, I’ll turn right around and plunk down another fifty or so for some really killer Belgian Ales. I think the other liquor stores cite increased administrative expense and time thrown at setting up pricing for individual bottles of beer, to which I reply: balderdash! They may cite that La Bodega is a smaller store and can deal with it, but La Bodega stocks as many specialty beers as any of the other bigger stores do and it’s just Pamela Hatzis, setting up the pricing. She doesn’t have a staff of people doing this work, so in reality, it’s probably a bigger chore. To me, it’s a level of dedication and commitment to the drinker, not the till that stands out. I shop at all the stores for different reasons, but I always shop La Bodega first when it comes for experimentation with new beers.
Of particular interest at La Bodega is the recent arrival of Gulden Draak Vintage Ale, a tasty seasonal selection, along with Scaldis Noel (remember your HAZMAT card) and a number of globally inspired gift packs that you can buy with the good hearted intention of shopping ahead for that special friend, then tearing into it when you get to the car. On the non-seasonal side, Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA, Raison D’ Etre and Indian Brown are all in at La Bodega, as is the hugely unique and special (seasonal) Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence.
Café Amsterdam got a new Unibroue Draft Tower on Wednesday, November 29th. “Yeah, big deal,” you might say. Well, it is a big deal. These awesome towers are limited, specialty, very expensive brewery items that are carefully allotted to select accounts in select regions. By accounts, I mean distributors. The distributors want the towers to show up not so much at the more prolific accounts in town, but rather the establishments where their installation will enhance ambience, décor and of course feature a beer that’s doing well for one reason or another. And, it’s not simply a matter of unbolting one tower and replacing it with another. These ornaments are easily 3-5 times as big as a standard tap stanchion and require drilling and special installation. It’s a commitment on both ends. Only five were allotted to Alaska and not all to Anchorage, so Café’s proud display is indeed special. Check it out. Sorry about the not-so-hot picture; it came from a cell phone camera.
That just gave me an idea! Someone should invent a beer mug camera. Except for shutterbugs like me, nothing gets raised to close to eye level more in my life than my beer mug, so why not press it into double duty. Where’s James Bond’s staff when you need them?
If you didn’t catch it, a November 28, 2007 Anchorage Daily News article featured a moose that apparently got hammered on fermented crab apples in the back yard of Bernie’s Bungalow Lounge. This was after he’d adorned his rack with a set of Christmas lights lifted from Town Square Park and wandered over to Bernie’s for an impromptu “cocktail.” Apparently he was no threat to the public or patrons and just sort of stood there with a hammered look about himself. Poor guy. I’ve been there too. Anyway, surf out to the Anchorage Daily News website and find the story. Columnist Julia O’Malley did a fabulous job of livening the event up with good prose and I’m not doing it any justice here. I just wanted to point it out.
Here’s what’s on at Humpy’s this week. Aside from the Baltic Porter, go for Homer’s Dunkel Lager, Leavenworth’s Friesian Pilsner, Kassik’s Strong Scotch, and St. Feuillien Cuvee de Noel 2005, just because they’re fleeting.
Wheats / Fruits
Moose’s Tooth Wild Country Raspberry Wheat
Pyramid Apricot
Pyramid Hefeweisen
Lindemans Framboise ###
Golden Ales / Pilseners / California Common
Homer Dunkel Lager
Midnight Sun Gold Strike Kolsch
Leavenworth Friesian Pilsner Lager
Pilsner Urquell *
Pale Ales / E.S.B.’s (medium hop bitterness)
Alaskan Pale Ale
Moose’s Tooth Polar Pale Ale
Deschutes Bond St. Hop Trip Pale Ale
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Alaskan E.S.B.
India Pale Ales (med - high hop bitterness)
Humpy’s Sockeye Red by Midnight Sun
Kassik’s Brew Stop Dry Hopped Morning Wood I.P.A.
Midnight Sun Wet Hop I.P.A. #
Moose’s Tooth Fairweather I.P.A.
Bridgeport I.P.A.
Dogfish Head 90 Minute I.P.A. # (9%)
Elysian Avatar Jasmine I.P.A.
Belgian Ales
St. Bernardus Grotten Brown ###
Strong Belgian Ales (Alcohol by Volume over 7.5%)
Midnight Sun Sloth Belgian Imperial Stout
Midnight Sun Wrath Belgian Double I.P.A. # (8.2%)
Chimay Cing Cents Triple #### (8%)
Delirium Tremens ### (8.5%)
Gouden Carolus Classic ### (8%)
Pater Lieven Triple ### (8%)
Unibroue Maudite ## (8%)
Seasonal / Special
Homer Holiday Rye Lager
Rogue’s Dad’s Little Helper Malt Liquor # (8%)
Stone’s Double Bastard Ale ## (10%)
Barley Wines
Deschutes Mirror Mirror Barley Wine ## (8%)
Amber Ales / Bocks / Dopplebocks / Scottish
Alaskan Amber Ale
Midnight Sun Oosik Amber
Rogue Dead Guy Maibock Ale
Kassik’s Brew Stop Caribou Kilt Strong Scotch # (8.5%)
Mac Tarnahan’s Scottish Ale
Brown Ales
Midnight Sun Kodiak Brown Ale
Pike St. Tandem Double Ale (7%)
Porters / Stouts
Alaskan Baltic Porter # (9.9%) 2006 ed
Midnight Sun Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Pike St. 5X Extra Stout (7%)
Guinness Stout *
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout **
Christmas Special Ales
Alaskan Winter Ale
Midnight Sun Cohoho Imperial I.P.A. # (8%)
Avery Old Jubilation # (8%)
Blue Moon Full Moon Winter Ale
Full Sail Wassail
Pyramid Snowcap
St. Feuillien Cuvee de Noel 2005
Dr Fermento Beer Calendar
11/30/07 Arctic Brewing Supply Bigfish Homebrew Competition Entries Due 10:00 AM $$ Per Entry
11/30/07 Midnight Sun Brewing Company Pride Belgian Style Strong Pale Ale Release 6 – 9 PM Free
12/01/07 Homestead Restaurant (Homer) Ring of Fire Meadery Dinner 7:00 PM ??
12/01/07 SubZero Microlounge Bigfish Homebrew Competition Judging 10:00 AM Free
12/01/07 Café Amsterdam Sleeping Lady Brewing Company’s American Strong Ale 6-9 PM Pay As You Go
12/07/07 Midnight Sun Brewing Company Release of MSBC Pilsner 6:00 pm Free
12/07/07 Tap Root Café Homer Brewing Company Beer Release 8:00 PM Pay As You Go
12/08/07 Snow Goose Restaurant GNBC Christmas Party 7:00 PM $10.00
12/10/07 Glacier Brewhouse 12 Days of Barleywine (12/10 – 12/21) Daily Pay As You Go
12/13/07 Sub Zero Microlounge MSBC Lust Pre-Release 7 – 9 PM Pay As You Go
12/14/07 Midnight Sun Brewing Company Lust Belgian Style Dark Strong Ale Release 6 – 9 PM Free
12/15/07 2008 IMF Entries Due International Mead Maker Competition Mail In Per Entry
12/15/07 Café Amsterdam MSBC Firkin Pilsner Party 6:00 PM Pay As You Go
12/29/07 Tap Root Café MSBC Seven Deadly Sins Party 8:00 PM $$??
01/18/07 Eagan Convention Center Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival 4:00 PM $30.00
01/19/07 Eagan convention Center Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival 5:00 PM $30.00
02/08/08 Snow Goose Restaurant Fur Rondy Homebrew Comp. Entries Accptd 11:00 AM $$ Per Entry
02/09/08 Snow Goose Restaurant Fur Rondy Homebrew Competition Judging 10:00 AM Free
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