I am never hesitant to point out the positive aspects that beer has in our society since it gets so much bad press any more.It seems that no vehicle accident, domestic violence incident or other negative news can be complete without the phrase “alcohol may have been a factor,” or “alcohol has not been ruled out as a contributing cause to…”
I was quite pleasantly surprised that when word got out in January that the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company was brewing Spartan Warrior Imperial Stout as a benefit beer to honor the fallen 4/25 soldiers that didn’t return from
Iraq with their unit and that both Channel 2 News and Channel 11 News were going to cover the event.Brewery owner Gary Klopfer donated the ingredients and the proceeds from the beer to the Spartan Warrior Memorial that’s being dedicated on
Ft.Richardson on Friday, May 16th at .This isn’t Klopfer’s first benefit beer.Shortly after 9/11 Klopfer commissioned the brewing of a beer for the fallen firefighters and the loss of their equipment on that day.I’d tell you to buy
Gary a beer the next time you run into him at the Goose, but he owns a brewery, so I’m sure just shaking his hand and thanking him for his heartwarming gesture would suffice.Klopfer donated $5,000 to the memorial fund.In particular, Channel 2 News ran a lengthy story on the event, part of which featured my own loss of my son in law in January of 2007.The point is that beer can have very positive effects on a community.
Rather than push their own product in celebration of their 13th Anniversary,
Midnight Sun Brewing Company is using the event to directly benefit the Food Bank of Alaska.The Food Bank has a Feeding The Kids In The Summer” program that will work to extend the school food program for needy, hungry children in the summer.Midnight Sun will be donating proceeds from the sales of beer samples on the 30th and 31stto the Food Bank in Support of this program and on May 30th, a silent auction will be held at the brewery with the same goal in mind.The auction will be held from noon to 7 PM on the same day the brewery is releasing their 13th Anniversary Belgian-style Good MoJo Brown all.Bring a canned food item and trade it for a sample at the brewery on the 30th and 31st (max: seven samples).This limit keeps the brewery in good standing with the legal beagles, but nothing’s stopping you from pushing a shopping cart full of goods through the door and donating it anyway.Oh, and good old American $$$ works too.Another way to contribute is to contact the brewery with an auction item.Have you got a killer vintage beer that you don’t have the heart to open yourself and are saving for a more altruistic purpose?Here’s the gig!Call Barb Miller at 230-4161 to donate your item.Donated items don’t have to be fermented, but this isn’t a garage sale either, so use some discretion.Are you a local business and want to assist?How about donating a service or product?Here’s proof once again that beer can help a community.Someone call the news.
One of the neatest things since sliced bread, or should I say fermented beer, is the concept of enjoying a movie with beer.Where was this feature when I was in high school?I can’t point to the source of the idea, and I’m guessing it pre-dates The Bear Tooth Theaterpub’s creation of a venue here in
Alaska to bring this kind of entertainment back to life, but it remains a good one.I’m not a moviegoer by any means, but I guess if I was a fan of the flicks, I know where I’d be watching my favorite movies.Sure, you can buy some overpriced swill during intermissions at events at the Performing Arts Theater, but it’s not the same.Cyrano’s Off-Center Playhouse will be serving up delicious
Midnight Sun Brewing CompanyKodiak Brown, Sockeye Red IPA and Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter through the May 16 – June 8 running of William Saroyan’s Pulitzer Prize winning comedy The Time of Your Life.Now, if we can just get our favorite locally produced craft beers at places like Barnes and Noble,the waiting arena at the Department of Motor Vehicles and other big time sinks, life in
Alaska would be complete.
Duck into Cafe Amsterdam this week and enjoy a number of local, national and international treats on tap.From Alaska, Sleeping Lady Brewing Company’sMaibock, Kassik’s Kenai Brew Stop’s Morning Wood IPA and
Midnight Sun Brewing Company’s Earth are all on tap.Stateside selections include Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s IPA , Deschutes’ Green Lakes Organic and Stone Brewing Company’sImperial Russian Stout. From just below us, Unibrou’s (Canada) Maudite and Ephemere are flowing and from across the pond, enjoyHoegaarden Wit, Magner’s Cider, Chimay, Pilsner Urquell, Franziskaner Weissbier and one of my personal favorites, Ayinger Brau Weisse.Most of these should hold for the week, although the Chimay is moving quick and may not lest, but no worries because coming next week includes a real treat on draft, Biere de Miele.Wittekerke is on deck as well.From
Alaska, Kodiak Island Brewing Company’s Sweet Georgia Brown is in the wings.
The south side’s Tap Root Café continues to offer up a good mix of local and eclectic high end beers.This week (as of Wednesday, May 14, 2008) offerings included the choco-licious
Midnight Sun Brewing Company’s Earth (a Belgian-style chocolate milk stout) and what’s remaining of Meltdown Double IPA.From the Sleeping Lady Brewing Company (Goose) comes Phi, a Belgian dubbel ale.Kassik’s Kenai Brew Stop’s Beavertail Blonde and the hugely interesting Imperial Spice Honey Wheat are on tap.From
Seattle hails Elysian Brewing Company’s Avatar Jasmine IPA.A one-off specialty, Mata Hari from Brewster’s Brewing Company is only here now and was only brewed once, so this is indeed one to chase.
My son Scott, an emergent craft and import beer drinker, was up this week at the tail end of my daughter’s wedding.At least once during every trip up here, he insists on visiting my
alma matter, Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse in midtown.Beer variety reigns supreme at Humpy’s and it’s the only place he can get his beloved Blackened Halibut Salad.During the visit, I opted to start light and re-visited Great Divide’s Samurai Ale.This beer jumps in and out of my Desert Island Six Pack (DISP), competing for a slot with Full Sail Brewing Company’s Session Lager.Samurai currently holds the spot.I’d had many, many six packs of Samurai, but this was my first draught sample.Just like in the bottle, and perhaps a little more so, the nose is sweetly floral and almost rose like on top of a creamy, almost tapioca pudding base.This is one beer that I could just sit and take nose hits from until the beer evaporated (this might help pass the time on a desert island, I suppose). Rice is a prominent feature in this beer and I appreciate what Great Divide’s done with the beer. Rather than shamefully hide the adjunct, Great Divide features it.The beer is golden in color and not quite bright in the glass under a thin, white wispy cloud on top.The beer is silky smooth across the lips and somewhat lager-ish for an ale.I got what I thought were lager yeast and light sulfur notes, but it could have been the glass.This beer isn’t afraid to run around in its rice undies.Just more than balancing bitterness props up the light malt and rice base.The swallow is sensual and smooth.Samurai is a keeper for sure, but oddly, I found myself liking the bottled version a little bit more than the draught example.The bottled version seems to have more carbonation which adds an additional snap to the beer.This is not to say that the draught version is lifeless; I just like the additional crispness from the bottle.
A substantial portion of the Humpy’s pub-grub menu features spicy dishes.I usually opt for something more benign and I, too, am a great lover of the Blackened Halibut Salad which has it’s own set of spicy teeth.During my visit, however, the company was great and the mood was fitting, so I got daring and ordered the Halibut Burrito.I was warned that it had a little kick to it.In anticipation, I figured something hugely cutting was in order, so I paired the dish with Rodenbach Classic Red a Flanders red ale from
Belgium.This is one of the more intense beers in the world and it worked great with the napalm-bomb the burrito turned out to be.Don’t misconstrue my comment as degrading to the dish; it was good, but my aged tummy struggled a little bit with the heat.The Rodenbach made a great fire extinguisher and the combination was enjoyable overall.Any of the more aggressive IPA’s that Humpy’s always features would also pair nicely with the spicy fare that’s easily found on Humpy’s diverse menu.I had to apply some “
Dad Tax” and grab a bite of my son’s Halibut Salad just to relish in the experience.
I work for Hope Mining Company on the weekends and although our operations are in the
ResurrectionValley just outside of Hope, we hold frequent meetings here in
Anchorage.The nice thing about the meetings is that the participants often gather at a local venue here in
Anchorage and enjoy a couple of pitchers of beer as we scheme and dream.We frequently end up at Casa Grande on
Northern Lights Blvd.
, not because it’s the best Mexican joint in town, but because it’s proximal to where we both work and they’re generous with the chips and salsa to soak up the beer.The Hope Mining Company Claim Owner and President, Al Johnson is fond of Dos Equis, an amber lager from south of the border.I find the beer to be okay, but a bit on the insipid side.Negra Modello is the one respectable brand south of the border, actually emulating the
Vienna lager style.It may seem odd to find a European amber lager that’s been holding it’s own for almost a century and a half in a land where piss light beer seems to be the norm.German immigration in the mid 1850’s provides the answer.Those immigrants brought a few brewers along with them and there’s nothing like beer from home, so the style flourished.The fact that it stuck around is what’s surprising.But, I digress.
I don’t find too many Mexican restaurants or bars with decent tap lines, but surprisingly, Deschutes products have been on the line since I started going there a couple of years ago, and a recent tasty addition has been Glacier Brewhouse’sHefeweizen and Amber beers.I walked in the other night and discovered this and proclaimed: “There IS a god!”
I twisted El Presidente’s arm and foisted a pitcher of Glacier’s hefe on him.A broad smile eclipsed his pudgy mug and he proclaimed: “This is Good!”Now, all is fair in the land of our little Mexican meeting kingdom at Case Grande and the meetings are increasingly endurable.
One of my worst traits is forgetting who befriends me with beer.People associate me with the new and interesting, and it’s not uncommon for someone to travel somewhere and bring me back a beer that they found interesting or particularly noteworthy.Because I can’t drink it on the spot and provide instantaneous feedback, it typically gets set in my garage refrigerator for later evaluation.That easily translates into forgetting who gave it to me to later provide the feedback to and again thank for the gift.So, I apologize profusely and continuously if you’ve given me a beer, found my thoughts on it in the blog, but without credit to you, my dear friend!
Such is the case with a beer called Wild Blue Blueberry Lager from Blue Dawg Brewing of
Baldwinsville, New York.This little unit sat alluringly in my refrigerator for a number of weeks before it got its turn across my palate.The label proclaims that the beer is a “premium lagerwith natural flavors and color from fruit juice.”This was plainly evident from the moment I pulled the cap off the beer.A sweetish, tart-edged blueberry aroma easily wafts off the top and intensifies with the pour into a glass.A frothy, purple head instantly forms up and held throughout the sample.The beer pours red/purple in the glass and slightly hazy.I also detect a slight metallic twinge in the nose.
The flavor is quite sweet with a tart edge, just like the nose indicates.Decent blueberry essence is prominent as is the 8.0 percent alcohol in the brew.If you travel and locate some of this stuff, don’t mistake the dry edginess in the beer as astringency; it’s the blueberry’s natural tartness pushing through.All of this rests on top of what is as best I can tell, a very clean lager.The mouthfeel starts out medium, but thins appreciably in the finish.The berry essence lingers long into the finish and beyond.The problem is that the combination of effects lends an overall artificial flavor akin to some weird kind of children’s medicine.Research indicates that although the beer seems to come from a small craft brewery, it’s actually an Anheuser Busch product.Overall, I’d say “no thanks” to the beer.
After this disappointing sample, I reached for something much more dependable.Selections from the Mikkeller Brewery of
Grimstad, Norway keep rolling in.This amazing brewery strives to emulate American brewing trends, especially in bigger, bolder West Coast styles.One that I’d been waiting for finally came in.Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Breakfast is now available (but you don’t necessarily have to drink it with your corn flakes.Beer Geek Breakfast is a 7.5 percent oatmeal stout with coffee.A sidebar on the label explains that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and to beer geeks like Mikkeller, a hearty, complex stout is the tastiest way to begin the day.This unique mix of an oat and coffee stout creates an intense, full-bodied beer which is surprisingly balanced and full of new tastes adventures with every sip.”I didn’t even need that much convincing to greedily pry the cap off this beer and dig in.
I was rewarded with a thick, creamy black beer with ample carbonation and a full, even brown head.The nose offers an astounding mix of roast barley, chocolate, nuttiness and yes, coffee.Even the coffee essence in the nose is complex hinting of a high-quality European brand of beans.A delicate fruitiness surrounds all of this and just a hint of alcohol rounds out the nose.Hops are there too, but not prominently.
The sip yields robust coffee notes at first which are easily swallowed by a firm hop bitterness and stout/coffee acridity.This is definitely not a beer for the weak of palate or those that fear the dark side.The fruitiness finds its way out as well and the alcohol is warming in this bodacious, complex, thick beer.Hints of dairy cream swirl throughout.The texture is thick and almost cloying making for a slow sipper in more ways than one.My palate said that the beer took some adjusting to, but it’s like that first cup of coffee in the morning; sometimes the heat and bitterness is a bit intense at first, but after a few swallows, more is easily in order.
Ms. Fermento is originally from
Denver, Colorado.She monitors the news from there via the internet.She sent me a link to a story about a tractor trailer that overturned on one of the busy freeway on-ramps in the city, spilling a huge load of Keystone Light all over the road.The accident also put the tractor (the truck pulling the trailer) on it’s side as well causing the fuel tank to rupture.The result was a slurry of diesel and beer.My only comment about the whole thing is that the diesel probably would be an improvement to Keystone’s flavor.
I’m not a big cider fan because as far as I’m concerned, it’s not beer.Still, the Beer Judge Certification Program Style Guidelines include cider as a category, and there are a lot of ciders on the market.There are people that absolutely rave about hard cider (cider with alcohol as a natural byproduct of fermentation) and they remain an active contingent of the Great Northern Brewers Homebrew Club in
Anchorage, so I’m exposed to the beverage.In particular, the local expert on locally manufactured cider is Ira Edwards who harvests locally grown apples, owns a cider press and makes gallon after gallon of the stuff.Commercial products abound with varying degrees of quality, but I don’t hear too much about them.Recently, J.K. Scrumpy’s Orchard Gate Gold Organic Hard Cider showed up in town and has captured the attention of some of the more discerning imbibers.Where other ciders are typically produced by harvesting the fruit from one location and fermenting it at another, Scrumpy’s is a USDA certified all organic cider that’s “grown, crushed, feremented and bottled at Almar Orchards in
Flushing, Michigan. The “Orchard Gate” reference links the owner Jim Koan’s childhood memory of celebrating with a glass of cider at the farm’s gate after each harvest.“Scrumpy” is an English style of farmhouse cider and although J.K. Scrumpy’s is not an English style cider, the name just seemed to fit.
I had to remind myself to make no mistake that I was not drinking a beer when I poured this light golden elixir into a tall glass.Ample carbonation rushed forth as if to create a frothy head, but although bubbles raced to the top, no head formed.There’s no mistaking the aroma: fresh, ripe, very sweet apples define the bouquet on this beverage, along with a very slight edge tartness.I could almost sense bees buzzing around apple blossoms deep in the orchard.The tartness hinted at an almost over-ripeness, but that’s just my own paradigm that comes from my own childhood in
California and being around apple orchards on extremely hot days.
The flavor is initially very sweet and very apple like, followed by a hint of the product’s 5.5 percent alcohol.I didn’t know what else to look for considering that only two ingredients are used in the cider:pressed organic apple juice and yeast.Being organic, absent are the sulfites or preservatives common in ciders of a lesser press.Without carbonation, the cider seemed fuller on the palate than I’m used to, but not uncomfortably so.I’m guessing that ice cold, or even over ice, This would be better yet.A 22 ounce bottle is easy enough to drink over time, but sharing colder seems more appropriate. This would be a great cider to serve with some more robust cheeses.I’d be interested to see what others have to say about it.
The weather should be decent this weekend, so make good use of the time and do it outside.Go get a growler of something local and share it with friends over a bar-b-que or somewhere where you can really appreciate all of
Alaska’s fleeting summer grandeur. Summer’s short, so make the most of it, especially when the sun is shining.
BNC (Beers N’ Cheers)!
Fermz
Dr Fermento Beer Calendar
05/16/08
Midnight Sun Brewing CompanyBag Bad Imperial Stouts Night (Berserker & Sloth)6:00 pm Free
05/16-17/08Andrew Mellon Auditorium (D.C.)Savor Craft Food and Beer EventSessions$85.00
05/23/08
Sun Brewing CompanyOld Whisker’s Wheat Release at the BreweryFree
05/23/08S.E. Alaska State Fairgrounds (Haines) Great
Alaska Craftebeer and Homebrew Festival Judging10:00 amFree
05/23/08
Sun Brewing CompanyOld Whisker’s Wheat official release at the breweryFree
I am never hesitant to point out the positive aspects that beer has in our society since it gets so much bad press any more. It seems that no vehicle accident, domestic violence incident or other negative news can be complete without the phrase “alcohol may have been a factor,” or “alcohol has not been ruled out as a contributing cause to…” 
all on tap. Stateside selections include Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s IPA , Deschutes’ Green Lakes Organic and Stone Brewing Company’s Imperial Russian Stout. From just below us, Unibrou’s (Canada) Maudite and Ephemere are flowing and from across the pond, enjoy Hoegaarden Wit, Magner’s Cider, Chimay, Pilsner Urquell, Franziskaner Weissbier and one of my personal favorites, Ayinger Brau Weisse. Most of these should hold for the week, although the Chimay is moving quick and may not lest, but no worries because coming next week includes a real treat on draft, Biere de Miele. Wittekerke is on deck as well. From
with natural flavors and color from fruit juice.” This was plainly evident from the moment I pulled the cap off the beer. A sweetish, tart-edged blueberry aroma easily wafts off the top and intensifies with the pour into a glass. A frothy, purple head instantly forms up and held throughout the sample. The beer pours red/purple in the glass and slightly hazy. I also detect a slight metallic twinge in the nose.
beans. A delicate fruitiness surrounds all of this and just a hint of alcohol rounds out the nose. Hops are there too, but not prominently. 
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