Alaska celebrates beer in all of its glory every year with the Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival (GABBF) at the Eagan Center. I’ve attended every festival in the 12 year history of the event and will be in attendance at this year’s gig. The festival’s gone through a lot of twists and turns over the years and has arrived where it is today through the efforts of a number of truly dedicated beer aficionados in our community, most notably Billy Opinsky, one of the owners of Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse and the originator of the idea that Alaskans might enjoy a festival that truly celebrates big beer. This is the one time of year where the highly competitive brewing and distribution facets of the alcohol industry set down their arms and join forces for the common good. That “common good” is ensuring that you, the year-round consumer of all of the great products that our distributors and publicans take the risk to bring to us, have an educational and noteworthy experience.
I would also be remiss in not recognizing the efforts of the event organizer, Aurora Productions (AP). Where the distributors flex a lot of beer procurement muscles to ensure that what’s served at the festival mostly reflects the theme of big beer and bring in suds we normally wouldn’t see up here, it’s AP that has the organizational prowess to orchestrate the whole thing and ensure it has the longevity to happen in years to come. In particular, Annie Chavez is the Oz behind the curtain, and if you chance into her at the festival, give her a hug. She’ll be easy to recognize because she’s the little dynamo of energy that juggles all of the balls at the gig, so just look for the person that’s moving faster than anyone else.
After two weeks of heralding the benefits of buying your fest tickets online, I received a rash of criticism because doing so through the AP website (http://www.auroraproductions.net/beer-barley.html) could conceivably cost you an additional $5.50 per ticket. Clicking on the “Purchase Your Tickets Online” tab links you right on out to the Ticketmaster website. The tickets cost $30.00 for the regular Friday and Saturday events, and $40.00 for the Saturday afternoon 2-5 pm Connoisseur’s Session. But there’s more. If you want to use the “TicketfasterNOW” feature which enables you to print your own tickets, it’ll cost you an additional $2.50. Moving along in the online purchase scenario, you’re assessed another $3.50 for an Order Processing Charge. This total of $5.50 is charged for EACH ticket. So, assuming me and the missus want to attend all three sessions and wanted to buy the tickets online, the event would set me back and additional $33.00 in tack on fees. To me, this is an undeniable rip off. The whole concept of these internet add on fees totally asses me up. First of all, most organizations encourage you to conduct your business online because it costs them less money. Does anyone remember the pre-internet days when you hoped that you got the prettiest of the 15 tellers in the bank that you memorized the features of while you stood in line and average of 15 minutes to conduct a two minute transaction? By moving the bulk of administrative services online, organizations were able to downsize expensive staff by letting you do the bulk of your own transactions. Did these same organizations pass the savings on to us? Nope. Most saw the opportunity to capitalize on another profit driver by assessing fees for using online services. It’s an odd world out there. Some organizations even assess penalties for NOT using online processing, then turn around and assess fees when you do so.
But what you absolutely, positively HAVE to understand a couple of things in the GABBF situations. First of all, AP added the online ticket sale OPTION due to customer demand. Consistently, over the past couple of years, Annie Chavez has fielded phone calls and emails imploring the installation of such an option. There were a couple of instances where people flew up from the Lower 48 only to arrive at the gig to find out it was sold out. That ain’t right! Many locals demanded the service as well. So, as a good customer service gesture, AP got with the Eagan Convention Center and explored online ticket sales. The Eagan is under contract with Ticketmaster for any advanced sales. The bottom line is that AP reaps none of the gouging profit.
Someone emailed me and asked how come the tickets couldn’t be sold independently and locally at perhaps Glacier Brewhouse, Humpy’s, Arctic Brewing Supply, or other sudsworthy locations. How come Aurora Productions doesn’t just sell them in advance? It’s not that simple. AP has a staff of about three. There’s an accountability issue. Crowd control at the fest has become a genuine issue in the past couple of years, and tighter control had to be instituted. No one that attended the Saturday night festival a couple of years ago will forget the instance when a near-riot broke out and people were banging on the windows from the outside trying to get in. This is all part tightening things up, and knowing how many tickets are sold is crucial. Spamming out tickets to various organizations with varying attention to detail simply wouldn’t work.
Point #2: You don’t HAVE to buy your tickets online. You can still use the standard, more-or-less default method of waiting in line prior to the fest and hoping the gig isn’t sold out. Unless you arrive later in the evening, it’s very highly unlikely that the fest will sell out. Online ticket sales for the event have not been robust so far. In fact, they’ve been scant. Now that AP’s launched the pre-fest media blitz that’s fixing to happen pretty quick. Still, it’s not likely that online sales will outpace door sales. Most attendees are repeat festgoers and habitually just show up and stand in line because like lemmings, it’s what they’ve always done.
But here’s the real point. It’s your choice. You can show up, stand in line with every one else and hope to get in, or you can “upgrade” with an online purchase, know for sure you’re getting in. I’m hoping that somehow AP will have the wherewithal to advance online ticket purchasers to the front for Cadillac processing and quick access to the goods. Just that might make online purchasing worth it.
There have also been some grumblings about the change in hours at this year’s GABBF. In years past, the Fest generally started at 4 pm on Friday and ran until 10:00 PM. This was followed by a 2 pm – 10 pm Saturday schedule. This year, the Friday session runs from 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM and the Saturday event has been broken into two sessions. The first session is the 2:00 pm – 5:00 PM Connoisseur’s Session followed by the 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM final Saturday evening session. Each session is priced independently, so don’t expect to attend the Connoisseur’s Session and turn around and walk right back into the regular evening gig. The Connoisseur’s Session is also more expensive for less time, but there’s a reason for this. First of all the session benefits the Brewer’s Guild of Alaska, our local breweries’ voice in Alaska and abroad. They need support and support this venue in full, so it’s fitting. But what’s in it for you? Each participating brewery has produced a special beer that will only be served at the Connoisseur’s Session. There’s reason enough right there.
I know of a couple of specialties. First, Alaskan’s going to be pouring a 1996 Smoked Porter. Reflect on this for a minute. That’s a 12 
year old smoked porter. This beer is virtually unattainable except from private collections, so it’s destined to be a masterpiece. Here’s a little more bait: it’s on tap. Paired with that will be this year’s version (2007) so sampling the two side by side is destined to be a treat.
Another Connoisseur Session only beer will be the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company’s Spartan Warrior Imperial Stout. I have to be careful here because I have a personal investment in this beer, having participated in its manufacture on November 23rd. Without regurgitating my upcoming January 17, 2008 Anchorage Press Brew Review on this beer, it was brewed in memory of my son in law who was lost to the war in Iraq on January 20th, 1997, almost exactly a year ago from its release date and the Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival. Indeed, I was being conveyed to the festival by Ms. Fermento when we got a frantic cell phone call from my daughter announcing his demise. I implore you to read the Press article on this beer, but to make a long story short, Lisa and Dennis Urban worked with the Goose to launch this beer that honors not only Jeffrey Bission (my son in law), but all of the Ft. Richardson soldiers that didn’t come back with their unit. The Goose graciously donated ingredients and the proceeds of the sale of each pint of beer to a memorial on Ft. Richardson for our lost.
I’m sure that all of the other participating breweries will have something incredibly special on tap, so my recommendation is that if you only attend one session this year, the Connoisseur Session is the one.
This session is destined to be less crowded and the crowd that does show up will likely be more serious about what they’re sampling. I expect it to be more toned down and dignified. Also, if it’s important to you, you’ll be able to experience the energy of anticipation as participating breweries anxiously await the release of the results of the 2008 Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Judging. For the first time, 
the winners won’t be announced on Friday night. This is a big departure and we’ll see how it goes. I’m attending all three sessions, assuming that the booze cops don’t sense my karma on the re-entry to the Saturday evening session. This is something you should be mindful of as well.
What follows is my own suggested “Survival Guide” for this mondo event. Plan on attending and I’ll see you there.
It takes real strategy to explore the GABBF properly. First of all, you have to be prepared for the magnitude of the event. Even with small samples, Rule #1 is Don’t Drink and Drive. This is not a festival to take lightly. You know the routine; inconveniencing spouses and friends with a late night ride home or footing the bill for a cab is far less inconvenient or expensive than going to jail. One more tip. If you unwisely drive downtown (another disadvantage is having to find parking) thinking you can be disciplined (impossible with the fermented candy at this gig) but wisely change your mind and decide to cab it home, you might want to jot down where you left your car. ‘Nuff Said. Rule #2 is Eat Big. We generally learn this shortly after the first couple of keg parties in high school, but just as a review, alcohol processes slower and in a more metered fashion on a full stomach than an empty one. Rule #3: Hydrate or Die. Water is your friend. I try to match GABBF booze ounce-for-ounce with water as I consume (not try to slam four quarts before going to bed…it’s too late). Water isn’t going to prevent the buzz, but it will mitigate tomorrow’s headache. Rule #4: Know What You’re Drinking. There’s nothing lamer than firing for effect and making a spectacle of yourself in a big public arena. Leave that to the pros like me that don’t have a reputation to sully. Try to convince yourself that this is an educational event and you can learn a ton of you use your five senses to evaluate each sample and jot some notes down in your program.
Your program is your road map across the ocean of foam that will spread out before you. Here’s some inside information on the program. Every year, although the program may look the same, it’s a new document. Billy Opinsky and a select group of friends convene and re-create the menu of great beer you find before you. I have a collection of every GABBF program from day one, and I’m intensely proud of that. Does it have any value? Probably not, but that’s not the point. If you review the program before marching out on the floor, you’ll better make use of your time. Focus on the eclectic and new, not just your own favorite brands and styles. S-T-R-E-T-C-H that liver and expand your palate and mind.
You’ll quickly find that the big hubbub of activity is always at the special section set aside for our local beers. This is truly the hallmark of the event. There is never any time at any other venue that virtually all of Alaska’s licensed breweries and brewpubs are represented all at once. People know this and take advantage of it. It’s the most crowded part of the floor, all the time. That makes me proud. I must pause and digress. When Michael Jackson passed away last fall, Café Amsterdam hosted a toast to the beer giant and the tapline at Café was adorned with all local beers. This was one of the most noteworthy assemblages of local beer I’d ever encountered, so kudos are due.
Rule #5: Be Polite. Consider for a moment that you’re surrounded by about 3,000 of your closest drinking buddies. The only problem is that everyone attends the festival for different reasons, and those reasons may not be congruent with your own. The event is not agenda driven, so don’t treat it that way. Sure, in an ideal world, everyone would politely stand in line, wait patiently for their sample, and engage in beer-worldly conversation while they did so. As you got your sample, they’d graciously step aside as you excitedly went after your next foamy target. It don’t work that way.
The one thing that impressed the recently departed Michael Jackson the most when he attended an early festival was that is was a real festival, not a drinking event. In other words, he was enamored to the obvious observation that everyone seemed to know everyone else and the conversations weren’t cloistered but more geocentric and encompassing. That’s a big compliment. Live the dream. Respect your beer drinking neighbors even if they haul their garbage to a different curb.
Paramount in this is that you must respect your server. Your must understand that above all else, those that are pouring your beers are volunteers, not conscripts (at least this year) and are doing so because they want to add to the beer community. Each comes with a varying understanding of the beverage at hand, so grow a little tolerance if you ask a question and they don’t regurgitate the exact facts you are after. It’s toilsome, tiresome work and you’re bound to encounter varying degrees of tolerance. The “staff” at this year’s event is an all volunteer force, and each person standing in front of you handing you a beer is a TAM/TIP certified server and probably spent good money and an investment of time to attend a course certifying them as legally able to serve an alcoholic beverage. Don’t turn the server off with a flippant attitude or a “stump the dummy” approach to exercising your beer drinking prowess. It’s simply inappropriate. Be Curious and kindly ask them what they know about the beer and use simple queries like “What do you think of this beer,” and “Thanks for volunteering.” Conversations strike up for any variety of reasons and you’re bound to be enriched by the experience if you step aside from your own paradigms about what you might think you already know.
If you happen to chance across a distributor-type, or someone that works in the industry that brings us this great beer, thank them for making the whole scene take place.
Rule #6: Warm Up – Stretch Your Liver Before the Fest. Festival Week starts before the actual January 18/19 festival. On Wednesday, January 16th, there are no less than four pre-tests that vie for your attention. Check out the calendar at the end of my rant for specifics, but on Wednesday, January16th, judiciously choose between a Belgian Beer tasting at Sacks Café, a North Coast Brewing Company tasting at Suite 100, a Chimay and Schneider tasting at The Whale’s Tail, and the annual grip and grin pre-fest dinner and beer tasting at SubZero. This Friday (January 11th) there’s another opportunity. The Bridge Restaurant is featuring Alaskan Brewing 
Company beers in a 6:30 pm, $35.00 per person “Bridging the Flavors of Alaska” beer dinner. The five course meal pairs Alaskan IPA with an Asian pear and walnut salad with gorgonzola cheese and dressed with an Alaskan IPA orange ginger vinaigrette for starters. The second course uses Alaskan Amber to pair with beer battered shrimp (the batter made with Amber) and a sweet chili dipping sauce. The third course combines Alaskan Smoked Porter with a serving of grilled Alaskan salmon with Alaskan Smoked Porter lentils and a cirrus aioli. The fourth course uses Alaskan Pale Ale in conjunction with five spice rubbed pork tenderloin and Alaskan Pale Ale potato croquets drizzled with a pomegranate reduction. Dessert consists of Alaskan Stout paired with apples and oats stout crisps. That’s a hell of a spread for the bucks, and I know from experience that the food at the Bridge is superb.
Of course, there are other warm up options. You could set on the couch at home and brown-bag some high-grav 40 ouncers, then get hungry and drive to Taco Bell. But that’s practicing for a DUI, and we want to avoid that, so skip that notion.
Rule # 7: Have Fun. Don’t lose sight of the fact that as serious as beer appreciation and evaluation is, you’re at a social event, and sometimes you have to step aside from pure evaluation and get into the groove. Everyone else has that same objective in mind, at least in the primordial sense, so don’t fight your instincts. Kick back, enjoy the scene, the brewers, their love for their art and each other and your power as one of their well-respected consumers. If you have problems with the crowd, try to seethe with it and understand that everyone attends this capstone event for at least one of the reasons you do.
Rule #8: Re-read Rule #1. Your behavior at this festival and what you do after it ends (10:00 pm is early for seasoned drinkers and likely you’ll post-fest elsewhere downtown) directly reflects on the community impression of beer, festivals and the whole booze scene. It seems worn out, but Be Responsible.
The Brown Jug Warehouse is also extending a warm fest attitude by extending special pricing for many of the beers that are featured at the GABBF. The Brown Jug empire is pivotal in beer availability in the state and the reason we enjoy so much diversity in our far-flung, beer loving community is directly attributable to this large entity’s power to bring in enough volume of undeniably risky beers and spread them 
across the state so that everyone gets a shot of the best of the best. I’ve long heralded La Bodega for highgrading only the best, but I have to recognize Brown Jug for shouldering a lot of the risk. Brown Jug is a strong supporter of the festival, if even in the background. Great deals on festival-featured beer is their vote of confidence. According to Brown Jug beer guru Bob Klein, GABBF is “…no better way to involve the public in the wonders of craft beer. Introduce the novice and reward the initiated. GABBF has done more to raise the awareness of the public than anything else in the industry or its supporters have come up with…” Thanks, Bob, you ROCK!
The Brown Jug chain’s special pricing will also be notably featured at the 88th and Old Seward Store. In addition to festival specials, just in is Lagunitas’ Lumpy Gravy and Chicory Stout. Dogfish Head’s Fort and Midas Touch are also in and astoundingly, the store’s manager, Ed Cowger has been sitting on the only remaining bottles of Nogne-0 Dark Horizon. If you missed this benchmark, incredible beer, if you hit that store and suck up extensively, Cowger may release part of his booty. As of Wednesday (01/09), Alaskan Brewing 
Company’s 2007 Barleywine in 22 ounce bottles can be found there. Cowger is a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, but has a long history in procuring and featuring the best of the best in good beer, so the store is worthy of repeated visits. Every time I go there, I discover something I just can’t live without. Alaskan Brewing Company’s long awaited Alaskan Barleywine 2007 just arrived as well. Looking ahead, Cowger’s got Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine, Gonzo Imperial Porter and Double Dog Pale Ale showing up in limited quantities, and the world class Deschutes Brewing Company Abyss. Abyss is one of my all time favorite, big, fatty, bodacious knee knockers. According to the distributor, more Flying Dog is on the way including Snake Dog IPA, In Heat Wheat, Old Scratch Amber and others as the brewery releases them.
For the mead lovers in town, Celestial Meads is now open to the public each Friday from 5:15 pm until 8:00 pm. This affords the mead lover the opportunity to quietly sample the many fine locally produced high-end meads right at the tit. Celestial Meads products are available locally in Anchorage and at select locations in Fairbanks and on the Peninsula, but you might have to search them out. That’s not because they’re not noteworthy, but because mead remains an obscurity in America and you have to know what 
you’re looking for. If you’re a long time fan or just curious about the allure and deep, mystical history of fermented honey, go visit Mike Kiker at the meadery for an in-depth exploration of the beverage. As obscure as the beverage is the upstart location off Arctic Blvd. at 700 W. 41st Ave, Unit H. The meadery is located between 36th Ave and Arctic Blvd. in the quiet industrial setting that’s a left hand turn on 41st Ave as you’re heading south from 36th. Your best bet is to call Mike Kiker at (907) 252-8362, or email him at meads@gci.net for a personal appointment. Mike will make sure you understand what you’re sampling and what it means in our culture. Heads up: Celestial Meads will be closed throughout the January 16 – 19 GABBF Events. Stay tuned for an announcement concerning the tentative release of new batches of Clarity and Marriage meads at Café Amsterdam on January 26th. Celestial Meads products are always available at Café Amsterdam, so if you can’t’ make it in for this event, drop in anyway and ask for a bottle of one of many of the meadery’s fine products that are proudly featured there.
La Bodega Liquor Store in the University Mall is soliciting help with a recycling effort. I’m not sure what it involves, but if you have a truck and one day a week, there’s beer for trade. Interested? email labodegastore@gmail.com to express your interest. Alaskan Brewing Company’s 2007 Barley Wine is available there this week, along with Flying Dog, Deschutes Brewing Company’s Abyss and the fine line of Green Lakes organic beers. Lagunitas Lumpy Gravy just showed up as well.
It feels strange thinking beyond GABBF, but beer doesn’t end there. Midnight Sun Brewing Company is thinking ahead. After the hugely successful Seven Deadly Sins Series of incredible beers, Midnight Sun is moving to a more planetary approach with it’s projected 2008 Planet Beer Series. Each of the beers within this series will be fermented with a Belgian ale yeast. Expect bottle and keg conditioned products. Here’s the planetary alignment:
Mercury: A Belgian-style small beer
Venus: A Belgian-style barley wine with dark fruit, aged in French Cabernet Sauvignon wine barrels
Earth: A Belgian-style chocolate milk stout
Mars: A Belgian-style imperial red ale
Saturn: A Belgian-style harvest ale
Uranus: A Belgian-style 100% brettanomyces fermented beer
Neptune: A Belgian-style sour dark strong ale aged in American whiskey barrels
Jupiter: A Belgian-style tripel - brewed like champagne (riddling)
Pluto: A Belgian-style golden strong ale aged in French Chardonnay barrels
Details and a brewing and release schedule are forthcoming.
Don’t be surprised if I skip a week after this blog entry. With the Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival looming ahead and an extended recovery effort, I’ll provide and extended recap when it’s all said and done. Not to rob a phrase from an unknown source that’s not my own (it’s one of my favorites): “Think Globally, but Drink Locally.”
BNC Fermento
Dr Fermento Beer Calendar
01/11/07 The Bridge Restaurant “Bridging The Flavors of Alaska” Alaskan Dinner 6:30 PM $35.00/Person
01/16/07 SubZero Microlounge MSBC Seven Deadly Sins Beer Dinner 6:00 PM ??
01/16/07 The Whale’s Tail (Captain Cook) Chimay and Schneider Beer Tasting 6:00 PM $55.00
01/16/07 Sack’s Café Belgian Beer Tasting 5:30 PM $$$??
01/16/07 Suite 100 North Coast Brewing Beer Dinner 6:00 PM $65.00
01/18/08 Café Amsterdam All seven MSBC 7DS beers on tap 4:00 PM Pay As You Go
01/18/08 Eagan Convention Center Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival 5:00 PM $30.00
01/19/08 Eagan Convention Cener GABBF Connoisseur’s Session 2:00 PM $40.00
01/18/07 Midnight Sun Brewing Company 7DS Envy on tap for grolwer service 10:00 AM Pay As You Go
01/19/08 Eagan convention Center Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival 5:00 PM $30.00
01/25/07 Midnight Sun Brewing Company Fallen Angel Golden Strong Ale available 10:00 AM Varies by size
02/01/07 McGinley’s Pub First Taste Event 5 – 8 PM $7.00
02/05/07 Kinley’s Restaurant and Bar MSBC Seven Deadly Sins Dinner 6:00 pm $70.00
02/08/08 Snow Goose Restaurant Fur Rondy Homebrew Comp. Entries Accptd 11:00 AM $$ Per Entry
02/09/08 Snow Goose Restaurant Fur Rondy Homebrew Competition Judging 10:00 AM Free
02/16/07 Tap Root Café Ring of Fire Meadery Special Release 8:00 PM Pay As You Go/Cover TBD)
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