I had to stretch my professional palate on Saturday last week by assisting in the judging of the 2007 Humpy’s Bigfish Homebrew Competition. I certainly never mind doing that and stayed in town specifically to do so. This year marks the 13th Bigfish Competition and I find that noteworthy. The judging took place at Subzero Microlounge and things got rolling promptly at 10:00 AM. That’s a great time of the day to start drinking. I judged the porter category, then moved on to judging the semi-final round. By that time I was sufficiently tuned up to assist in the judging of this year’s side-challenge: imperial beers.
This year’s Best of Show winner is someone named Flash Lubitsh-White. I’ve never met him or her. But he or she brews a dandy Belgian Tripel. I didn’t get to taste it because I didn’t stick around to the bitter end this year. Recurring names on the extensive winner’s roster included Mark Ryan, Jason Ditsworth, Steve Schmitt, John Trapp and Breck Tostevin in the mead category. These guys are some pretty worthy brewers. I haven’t brewed beer in going on four years. I’m a homebrew embarrassment and avoid the club meetings for this reason. I’m one of those guys that thinks that Anchorage’s homebrew club, The Great Northern Brewers should be about homebrew, not just mass consumption, so I’ll remain conspicuously absent until I have something to contribute. Those guys get enough freeloaders sucking their wares; they don’t need my help.
The most fun I have at the Bigfish judging is always weighing in on the side challenge. The ever-creative Steve Schmitt comes up with a goofy interpretation every year and brewers are challenged to brew a beer in accordance with Schmitt’s purposely silly guidelines. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with imperial beers, but I get back to the argument that you can imperal-ize just about 
anything by adding more of just about any ingredient, so what’s the point? The exception remains Imperial Stout since it has some historical roots, being the personal fave on Katherine the Great. She was a babe and loved her cups, and she wanted something bigger, so who can argue?
The trick with the side challenge isn’t just the beer. Extra points are awarded for the size of the submission and more importantly, the name. Arguably, Schmitt has the best names for his own beers as evidenced in the versions of the Great Northern Brewers Homebrew Club Recipe Book that I’ve had a hand in producing. Others come close, but no one matches Schmitt’s wit with beer names. Still, the judging is all about the beer and the most points are awarded for the beer’s adherence to style.
This year, six entries were received for this almost cartoon-ish challenge. Forget about the beers for a moment, and check out the names:
Santa On His Lips (Imperial Eisenbock)
Double Legger (Imperial Düsseldorf Honey Alt)
The Shaved German Alt Chick (Imperial Koelsch)
Jack Went Up The Hill To Smoke A Little Wood (Imperial Smoked Stout)
Mohammad The English Teddy Bear (Imperial Dunkelweizen)
Yeah, there were only five names. One beer, an Imperial Berliner Weisse, had no name.
My favorites are a toss up between Jack Went up the Hill To Smoke a Little Wood and Mohammad The English Teddy Bear, but the winning beer went to Breck Tostevin’s The Shaved German Alt Chick. In the end, this big beer had the best overall balance, and despite being big, had great balance and still resembled the base style. Congratulations, Breck!
Don’t forget that volunteers are still needed for the January 18th and 19th, 2008 Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival event at the Eagan Convention Center. Staffing needs are great this year because the state’s distributors backed out on providing their own support for the beers they intend to serve at the event. This is a whole, separate political boondoggle that I don’t intend to cover here, but the bottom line is that serving alcoholic beverages requires a current TAM (Total Alcohol Management) card, and to obtain one, you’ll have to schedule a $40.00 (cash only, no checks or charges), three-four hour class with CHARR (Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant, and Retailer’s Association). Eddie’s Sports Bar (6300 Old Seward Highway, just past Dowling southbound on the right) hosts the training. You’ll have to provide valid ID to attend the class. For updated schedules, call CHARR at (907) 274-8133, Ext 2. The CHARR website lists the current, tentative schedule at www.alaskacharr.com. The classes are first come, first served and it’s recommended that you arrive 30 minutes early. Bring something to write with.
New this year is the ability to test-out of the course if your certification is about to expire and you’ve attended the class before and have a valid TAM card. The cost is the same, but you don’t have to attend the class and you can show up cold call at the CHARR office Monday through Friday between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM to take the test. Call CHARR at (907) 274-8133 for the details.
I’ve been through the class twice to keep my three-year certification current. It’s not boring. No you can’t drink beer during the course (unfortunate). The class is somewhat sobering, but you’ll learn more not only about what to expect out of others when you serve alcohol, but what to expect out of yourself when you consume it. Both classes I attended were different and informative. Plus, having a TAM card puts you in a position of power; you’re as well informed as the barkeep that’s slinging beers at you. It changes the way you look at partaking in our favorite pastime.
So why go through all this hassle just to give up time and serve beers to others when you’d rather be out there drinking it yourself?
First and foremost, you’re supporting Alaska’s beer culture by devoting time volunteering in a capacity that promotes something you love. Second, it gets you into the festival for free. If you volunteer for an evening, you get in for free. The bottom line is that the event needs your help, more than ever.
To volunteer, contact Annie Chavez at Aurora Productions at (907) 562-9911. She’ll guide you through the process.
This month’s First Taste at McGinley’s will be on Friday, December 07 from 5-8 PM at the downtown pub. This month, Ommegang is being featured and Ommegang’s Witte, Abbey and Three Philosophers will be served. Three samples will set you back a mere $8.00, so get in there and get it while it’s cold.
At La Bodega, a couple of more holiday seasonals arrived including Ridgeway Brewing’s Santa’s Butt, Criminally Bad Elf, Insanely Bad Elf, Warm Welcome and Lump of Coal. I wish Americans had a better sense of humor when it came to beer labels. Ridgeway’s out of South Stoke in the UK and they have a lot of fun with product presentation. Also in is Full Sail Brewing Company’s Wreck the Halls, and Jenlain’s Biere de Noel. Although not seasonal specialties, the ever eclectic Dogfish Head Brewery sent forth Raison D’ Etre and Indian Brown. Finally, La Bodega got their allotment of Mad River Brewing Company’s Steelhead Extra Pale Ale.
Fermento’s word to the beer-wise is to buy your bigger, hoppier beers now before the current grain and hop shortage drives the already astronomical price for beer in Alaska beyond the Aurora Borealis. If you didn’t catch it, Both Glacier Brewhouse brewer Kevin Burton and Moose’s Tooth Brewing Company brewer Clarke Pelz did a good job the other night on the Channel Two News discussing the current dilemma. Both took a different approach to describing the situation, but were in consensus on one thing: beer is fixing to get more expensive.
Here are some good choices at The Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company: Just in time for the holidays (and it’s been out a while already) is the Goose’s Winter Warmer. This chewy, chocolaty almost Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome clone is a nice departure from the hop and spice bombs we get assaulted with at this time of year (but always have a place in my liver). This dry-sided, clean beer is definitely an easy sipper, but watch out for the imposing 6+ percent alcohol, it tends to get sneaky as I discovered after downing a number of samples of it while brewing at the Goose last week. I’ve already heaped enough accolades on the English Braggot, (see last week’s blog) so I’ll dispense with that while wishing someone was dispensing me a pint of it right now. I haven’t had it yet, but brewer Clay Brackley has released a Whiskey Barrel Aged Barley Wine, which is a blend of 2005 Old Gander Barley Wine and two different barley wines that Brackley produced in July, all of which were aged on bourbon barrels. The combined beer weighs in at 9.5 percent alcohol, so exercise some caution. The Goose’s Imperial Pilsner is also out and at 7 percent alcohol, commands some respect as well.
Brackley’s been making judicious use of his time while at the Goose and has been laying down some beers to tantalize the taste buds in upcoming releases. Expect his chocolate cherry strong dark American wheat ale (affectionately known as Frozen Kriek Chocolate Wheat) to hit the taps soon. Also, Green Dragon Pale Ale, a beer honoring the Green Dragons Rugby Football Club )which just won the 2007 Alaska Rugby Championship) is slated for release and down the road, look for a 120 Shilling Scotch Ale, sort of like a Braveheart Scottish Ale on testosterone. On the drawing board is Brainkiller, a beer that’s going to be produced using some super-tolerant yeast and Brackley is going to try to bust the 20 percent alcohol benchmark. Don’t expect this beer to be released for at least two years.
Other exciting news is that Brackley is on the cusp of branching out into bottling some of the Goose’s product including a limited run of the barley wine and double IPA. Portability is always a good thing when a growler of big beer is just too much.
Glacier Brewhouse is always a regional hub of gastronomic activity at this time of year as people parade their visiting relatives through the joint in the spirit of showing off some of the state’s best food. Whatever. It only means tougher parking for me and having to elbow my way to the bar for my shots of this year’s 12 Days of Barley Wine celebration that kicks off this Monday (12/10). In all of the years of this event, I’ve only made it through every beer once. I keep telling Burton he needs to issue a punch card or something and people that make every day of the event and drink every beer should get a engraved mug, T-Shirt or something like that. Maybe an embossed “Certified Barley Wine Swiller” card or something. There I go, thinking through my liver again! Last week it was a beer mug mounted camera. What next?
Being the anally incompetent mathematician that I am, like I do every year, I did the math and determined that the AVERAGE 
ALCOHOL CONTENT is 10.42 percent. There are 28 vintage barley wines to sample through the event. The “lightweight” is the 2007 Imperial Blonde and the liverslayer in the bunch is one of a few 11.16 percent selections. There are four cask selections and to do the math, I averaged their alcohol content and used that number (10.5 percent) for each day’s cask selection. My perennial favorite has been the 2006 Russian Imperial Stout that’s been aged for two years in a Ukrainian oak barrel (beer 2, seventh day, 12/16 this year), but it might get shoved this year by what an additional year of aging’s done to the 2006 Triple Barrel Big Woody Barleywine that’s been aged five months in Beam barrels, then five months on Ukrainian oak and a final seven months back on the Beam. Before I post the entire line up, if Barley Wine isn’t your forte, right now on at Glacier are the Blonde, Amber, IPA, DIPA, Bavarian Hefeweizen, Stout, Imperial Blonde, Bock, Bohemian Pilsner and Cask IPA. Here’s the list:
THE TWELVE DAYS OF BARLEYWINE
December 10, 2007 through December 21, 2007
It is the season of giving, and the BrewHouse brewers give to you a phenomenal collection of their most prized possessions – TWENTY-EIGHT vintage barleywines straight from the brewery vault.
THE 1ST DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 10, 2007
1. 2001 Big Woody Barleywine aged in steel. (9.88% alcohol by volume)
2. 2007 Imperial Blonde. (9.00% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 2nd DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 11, 2007
1. 2003 Big Woody Barleywine aged in steel. (10.75% alcohol by volume)
2. 2003 Big Woody Barleywine aged one year in American oak wine barrel. (10.75% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 3rd DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 12, 2007
1. 2004 Big Woody Barleywine aged one and a half years in Jim Beam barrels. (10.75% alcohol by volume)
2. 2004 Cherry XXXmas aged three years in Jim Beam barrels. (10.50% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 4th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 13, 2007
1. 2004 Big Woody Barleywine aged steel. (10.75% alcohol by volume)
2. 2004/2005 Wine barrel/Hungarian barrel Big Woody Barleywine blend. Aged one year on the respective oaks. (10.75% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 5th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 14, 2007
1. 2005 Big Woody Barleywine aged in virgin American oak barrels for one year. (10.75% alcohol by volume)
2. 2007 Razz XXX. (10.00% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 6th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 15, 2007
1. 2005 Big Woody Barleywine aged two years and 9 months in Jim Beam barrels. (10.75% alcohol by volume)
2. 2006 Russian Imperial Stout aged two years in American oak wine barrels from the Silverado Winery. (9.20% alcohol by volume) Gold Medal winner at the 2007 Bistro Barrel Aged Beer Festival, Hayward, CA.
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 7th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 16, 2007
1. 2006 Big Woody Barleywine aged one and a half years in American oak wine barrels from the Silverado Winery. (11.16% alcohol by volume)
2. 2006 Russian Imperial Stout aged two years in Ukrainian oak barrel. (9.20% alcohol by volume) Gold Medal winner and People’s Choice award at the 2006 Bistro Barrel Aged Beer Festival, Hayward, CA.
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 8th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 17, 2007
1. 2006 Big Woody Barleywine - Double Barrel. Aged 19 months in Jim Beam barrels and then one year in American oak wine barrels from the Silverado Winery that were re-toasted to our brewer’s specifications (11.16% alcohol by volume)
2. 2006 Big Woody Barleywine - Triple Barrel. Aged five months in Jim Beam barrels, then five months in Ukrainian oak, and then seven months in additional Jim Beam Barrels. (11.16% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 9th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 18, 2007
1. 2007 Big Woody Barleywine aged in steel for one year. (9.85% alcohol by volume)
2. 2007 Big Woody Barleywine aged in virgin French oak barrels for one year. (9.85% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 10th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 19, 2007
1. 2007 Big Woody Barleywine aged in Jim Beam barrels for one year. (9.85% alcohol by volume)
2. 2007 Big Woody Barleywine aged one and a half years in American oak wine barrels from the Jlohr Winery. (9.85% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 11th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 20, 2007
1. 2008 Big Woody Barleywine aged in steel. (11.03% alcohol by volume)
2. 2008 Big Woody Barleywine aged ten months in American oak wine barrels from the Honig Winery. (11.03% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
THE 12th DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 21, 2007
1. 2008 Big Woody Barleywine aged in Jim Beam barrels for ten months. (11.03% alcohol by volume)
2. 2007 Russian Imperial Stout aged ten months in American oak wine barrels from the Silverado Winery. (9.20% alcohol by volume)
3. Cask conditioned selection.
CASK BARLEYWINE
Cask conditioned selections will be poured each day.
We will rotate through the following four different cask barleywines.
1. 2007 Big Woody Barleywine aged in steel for one year. (9.85% alcohol by volume)
2. 2006 Big Woody Barleywine - Double Barrel. Aged nineteen months in Jim Beam barrels and then one year in American oak wine barrels from the Silverado Winery that were re-toasted to our brewer’s specifications (11.16% alcohol by volume)
3. 2008 Big Woody Barleywine aged ten months in American oak wine barrels from the Honig Winery. (11.03% alcohol by volume)
4. 2008 Big Woody Barleywine aged in Jim Beam barrels for ten months.
A couple of years ago, Tim Wills was the beer manager at Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse. Tim fought hard to bring in the good stuff and was always amicable enough to wander out and share a pint with his fellow beer lovers when they chanced across the bar. Wanderlust got to him and after a stint in California, where he almost bought a brewpub, he came back to Alaska for two years and another stint at Humpy’s. After marrying his Australian/Alaskan wife Sian, he ended up in the land of his dreams, Australia. He’s opened his own pub over there, the surf-themed Jagged Reef Bar, but hasn’t forgotten his blokes back here on the other side of the world.
Recently, Tim went to great effort to send samples from the Murray’s Craft Brewing Company out of Taylor’s Arm in Australia. It took over two months to get the beers from brewery to bar so we could sample them. They got tangled up in customs in a couple of places, and then getting the likes of me, Billy Opinsky, Rob Weller (Specialty Imports) and Jason Ditsworth together in one place is akin to herding cats, so another couple of weeks got lost there.
The little brewpub is part of an establishment called The Pub With No Beer. Taylor’s Arm is located on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. The little place supports a population of 50, probably all of which are big imbibers of this locally produced stuff. The brewery produces eight or so beers including a couple of seasonals and specialties. Tim was gracious enough to send five of them to us to sample.
The beers were all good, well-produced beers. A couple were a bit travel-weary but held their own in the lineup. If anything, the beers are benign by American standards and certainly benign by Pacific Northwest standards, and especially by Alaskan standards. This does not imply defect or poor design, but rather distinctly different regional preferences.
We started with the Sassy Blonde, a very light 4.5 percent alcohol beer that’s obviously designed to ward off the region’s heat through a multi-beer session once or twice in the afternoon, or perhaps all day long. This is a Belgian-style ale be designed and as evidenced by the yeast’s influence in the aroma that includes some distinct spicy/peppery notes and a slight tart note in the beer’s edges. The beer was flavorful, but thin with light grains dominating the profile. Some light hints of caramel malt showed up about mid sip. It would be interesting to know the water composition in the area because this could lead to the effect especially if it’s heavy on the mineral side. The beer is otherwise quite straightforward with an interesting, dry, course hop character throughout. I can easily picture myself tossing back a number of cups of this stuff under a shade tree.
The Nirvana Pale is somewhat of a hybrid according to the brewery, blending the hoppier American style with the drier English style. The beer poured nicely, mostly clear with a quickly rocking head that just as quickly faded to a thinner collar around the edges. There’s definitely more hop presence in the nose (somewhat fruity and very slightly citrusy), the beer is fruitier all the way around and more malt was used to produce the beer than in the blonde. The much more solid malt foundation amply supported the same hop coarseness that came forth in the flavor along with a slight salty note. The bitterness is a bit firmer in the back of the beer than the front. We began to really suspect the water as the culprit (although not necessarily a bad culprit) especially after learning that the beer is spiced with New Zealand grown Cascade and Hallertau malts.
The Grand Cru was next. At 8.8 percent alcohol, sweet candy notes along with some honey and brown sugar come across in the nose in this very light-colored beer. The flavor is lightly fruity rather than being spicy and peppery. At first, the beer didn’t seem complex, but as Rob Weller noted, “the latent complexity unfolds as you drink it.” Indeed, the beer definitely wakes up on the palate some if it’s not swallowed too quickly. A good, solid malt foundation props up some dried-fruit notes. The beer is velvety and very soft on the palate and finishes dry in the end. The group liked this beer the best. It reminded some of Corsendonk.
The assemblage of hop heads started salivating over the Icon 2IPA even before it was decanted. Again, the brewery considers this a mixture of Atlantic and Pacific influences with the cross of an American IPA and an “Imperial India Pale Ale.” Unfortunately, our sample must not have traveled well because something converted to impart a slight nail-polish essence in an otherwise palate-slaughtering hoppy beer. At 7.5 percent alcohol, its deceptively easy to drink. Even with the big hops, the beer had good balance and mouthfeel, substantial, definable malt underpinnings and some well-rounded hop flavor. Even with some advanced citrus character, it seemed more like an English style IPA than an American version and is perhaps intended that way. It might even pass for an old ale with the strength and combination of flavors.
We finished the session up with the Anniversary Ale, a 10 percent which came across like a well-rounded barley wine. A beautiful, candy-sweet nose emanated off the top of the glass with some nice fruit character in a mostly dry aromatic presentation. The flavor provided an initial sweet hit followed by a boozy center and surrounding wheat-like tartness. The beer comes across sweetish overall, but rich and alluring with enough complexity to bait sip after sip.
All in all, the group agreed that these regionally specific beers are purpose fit for their environment and that it would be much more fun to go over there and sample them in their own environment because humans travel much better than beers do and arrive with a raging thirst. I thought it was a real tip of the hat for Tim to go to the lengths he did to provide us with a taste of his new home.
A beer confidant in my office obtained a couple of cans of beer from Taiwan. A pilot friend of his brought them back as this friend of mine’s kindled interest in beer has led him down the path of homebrewing recently and he’s become style-curious as a result. He almost sheepishly warned me that this beer wasn’t anything special, but took great interest in the fact that the can had absolutely no recognizable writing on it other than the name Taiwan Beer on the front panel and oddly American instructions on top concerning how to open the can. “Lift Ring” and “Don’t Litter” on one side of the opening and “Push Back” and “Please Recycle” on the other. I guess some things die hard, even in other countries.
Research indicates the beer is brewed by the Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan. I guess they build all of their vices in one industry over there. I’m also assuming that this is a government run entity based on the .gov suffix in their website address. The website was down so I couldn’t conduct any online foamy international relationships. No matter. I, too, was intrigued by the simple naming convention. How come we don’t have a “United States Beer?”
The brewery produces a bundle of other beers with zippy names including Gold Medal Taiwan Beer, Taiwan Dark Beer, Taiwan Draft Beer, and Taiwan Light Beer. I hope they are better than this one.
The aroma is definitely lager-ish with sulfur-notes indicative of quick fermentation and not enough time on the yeast. Telltale corn-like dymethel sulfide notes abound over the top of the glass. There were very faint light grain notes obscured under the rest and the essence of very faint, bland background notes of stale hops.
The beer pours light golden and crystal clear in the glass. The beer is light enough that it almost looks white toward the bottom when poured into my favorite Aventinus wheat beer glass. A thin, wispy head forms and collars around the edge of the glass, but sticks around for the length of the sample, which I made decidedly short.
My sample was heavily oxidized which is odd for canned beer but indicative of poor processing at the factory where ambient air is perhaps not purged prior to filling or some other malady that made my particular beer close to undrinkable. Underneath that lies a very thin, very pale grain character that’s coarse and uninviting. Bittering hops provide just shy of balance against the malt, and the beer is sweetish overall. The beer finishes quite dry and crisp. Refer back to my rant on the Aussie beers above when I say I’d like to drink this a little closer to the tit to see what the brewer really intended. I can’t imagine that this flavor profile is conducive to good drinking in Taiwan. Even stripping away the obvious oxidation and DMS flaw, this beer is insipid at best, but that’s probably by design.
Still, just for the record, I love it when people think of me when they travel (or in this case, when their friends do) and bring me back something from far abroad. I don’t have to like it to study it, so it’s always appreciated. Thanks Eric!
Here’s the Humpy’s list effective Tuesday, December 04:
Wheats / Fruits
Moose’s Tooth Wild Country Raspberry Wheat
Moose’s Tooth Hard Apple Ale
Pyramid Apricot
Pyramid Hefeweisen
Lindemans Framboise ###
Golden Ales / Pilseners / California Common
Homer Dunkel Lager
Midnight Sun Gold Strike Kolsch
Reissdorf Kolsch *
Leavenworth Friesian Pilsner Lager
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.
Big Sky I.P.A.
Bridgeport I.P.A.
Dogfish Head 90 Minute I.P.A. # (9%)
Belgian Ales
Blue Moon Belgian White Ale
St. Bernardus Grotten Brown ###
Strong Belgian Ales (Alcohol by Volume over 7.5%)
Midnight Sun Sloth Belgian Imperial Stout ### (10.2%)
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%)
Full Sail Wassail
Pyramid Snowcap
Sierra Celebration
St. Feuillien Cuvee de Noel 2005 ### (8.5%)
8 oz glass $6.50 / 13 oz glass $9.50
Dr Fermento Beer Calendar
12/07/07 McGinley’s Pub First Taste: Brewery Ommegang 5-8 PM $8.00
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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