I try to keep my blog on the lighter side because there should be great pleasure associated with good beer. I’ve always maintained in my writing objective that spreading a bunch of negative crap around and talking a lot of politics doesn’t make people particularly thirsty. But news is news and sometimes we have to take the bad with the good.
It’s with an incredibly heavy heart that I must announce the passing of long time Great Northern Brewers (GNBC)homebrew club member Dave Yanoshek. If you haven’t heard, on Saturday, June 28th, Dave was enjoying an outing on the Kenai River with two of his boys. The drift boat they were in hit a submerged rock and Dave was thrown from the boat into the icy, glacial waters. He remains missing and is presumed drowned. Make no mistake that Dave was fastidious about wearing a personal flotation device (PFD), but just prior to the mishap, Dave noted that one of the kids was missing his PFD after a stop ashore for lunch. Dave took his off and insisted that the boy wear it.
It’s tough to research, but I believe Dave was one of, if not the longest standing GNBC member. The jovial, portly man was tough to miss at a gathering. If you didn’t see him with his friendly beard and smile, you’d damned sure hear his laugh from across the room. Just his laugh put a smile on my face. Throughout the 15 plus years I’ve known Dave, he’s been the gentle giant in the club. I remember during my tenure as club president for two years when Dave served on the board of directors that I would get flustered over issues. It was always Dave’s calming, reassuring voice that brought me back around with his balanced perspective.
There will be a memorial for Dave at the Central Lutheran Church (1420 Cordova) on Tuesday, July 8th from 4-6 pm followed directly afterwards by a celebration of life at the Kincaid Chalet from 6-10 pm. A bit further down the road, a second celebration of life will be held at Café Amsterdam on July 20th. More details on this event will follow when plans are firmed up.
Peace be with you, my beer loving friend!
In the land of big beer mergers and in the shadow of In-Bev’s move to gobble up Anheuser Busch, Redhook (an Anheuser Busch family company, at least from a distributorship standpoint) incorporated with Widmer Brothers Brewing Company rather quietly on July 01. Widmer was the 11th largest brewery in the United States until that time. What does it all mean for the consumer? It remains to be seen. Perhaps merger-based efficiencies and economies of scale may result in cost savings, but when is the last time you saw that passed on to the consumer? I’m not optimistic, and I don’t think passing savings on to the consumer was the primary objective of the combination of the two companies. According to Kurt Widmer in a press release, “…Together we’re in a much better position to compete on a national basis in the increasingly popular and fast-growing craft beer industry.” Personally, I thought they were doing just fine. I really don’t have anything against Redhook, but I hope the positive influence of Widmer takes hold, if you can read between the lines.
Beer dinners are scant in the summer because our local establishments are busy catering to the lucrative tourist trade, and time has shown that this subset of customers has little interest in beer and food events. Visitors would rather duck in, surf the menu, find something unique and come up with their own pairings. Visitors find the increased investment of time at one venue inappropriate for their itinerary which usually includes packing in as much as possible in a limited time. There’s nothing wrong with that. This means that us locals don’t get the enjoyment of summer tastings either and generally that’s okay as well because as the tourists are packing our favorite watering holes, we’re busy avoiding them out of town somewhere else.
Café Amsterdam has come up with a unique, quiet summer tasting slated for Sunday, July 13th at 6:00 pm. Rather than gorge participants with a huge meal and heavy-hitting beers, the café is featuring The Lighter Side of Belgium and pairing the lightest of Belgian ales with lighter fare in a ploughman’s platter arrangement. The concept originated in Germany when field workers toiled the long days away and scarcely had time to stop and eat and were working far enough away from a prepared food source that dashing off for a meal was counterproductive and unfeasible. Because the workers were absent from the hearth for extended periods in the busy growing season, a void was left in the family structure. A practice emerged where family members would gather, prepare light fare, picnic style, and bring it to the workers in the field. Meats, cheeses, breads, pickled items and of course beer were the mainstays on the menus.
Café Amsterdam has recreated the tradition with a four course offering that represents what the typical ploughman might be gifted with. 
The welcome beer is indeed special. Brasserie Dupont’s Avril Bier de Table is brand new to Alaska and isn’t even available for distribution yet. Specialty Imports’ Rob Weller specially ordered enough of this coveted brew ahead of time to ensure it became a delightful addition to the tasting. Saison in style, the 3.5 percent beer is indeed light. Did you get the alcohol content? When I was going to school a beer of this low potency was damned near considered “near beer.” But there’s a reason. In Belgium, a table beer is designed to be shared by the entire family (yup, kids included, but leave them at home for this tasting because it’s against the law here) along with meals. And those “meals” might even be breakfast were beer is sometimes served. Remember, in Belgium, beer is not the forbidden fruit that it is here. Children are introduced to beer early in life so they appreciate it and treat it as a staple, not a toy. But I digress. Back to Avril.
Avril is incredibly complex for its low potency. You’ll experience this in the amazing aroma and a mirror-like flavor in a light, easy drinking hay-colored beer with a paper white topper and rocky head.
The first course of the tasting is comprised of Bruschetta with olive spread and parmesan cheese and Potato Skins stuffed with broccoli and cheddar cheese. Assorted pickles and cheeses round out the platter. Two beers will be served with the platter: Chouffe Golden and Bavik Pilsner.
The second course provides a cucumber salad along with Hummus with feta cheese, olives, tomatoes, pickled onions and marinated mushrooms. The beer pairings include a personal favorite of mine, Hoewgaarden Wit (the original white ale) along with the wit from Wittekerke.
The third course features assorted sliced meats including salami, corned beef, black forest ham and smoked turkey, along with baked salmon, potato pancakes, mango chutney, imported cheeses, pickled red cabbage mix, sweet pickles and assorted breads. Wow! This platter is being paired with Brasserie De Silenrieux’s Joseph Spelt Ale and another very special brew, the only local one on the menu, Moose’s Tooth’s Anniversary Saison. The brew is special for two reasons. First, the brewery was gracious enough to selflessly provide this light, delicate beer to the tasting BEFORE releasing it at their own anniversary party later this month. Is the Moose’s Tooth great, or WHAT? Second, and not that it really matters or means anything, but I helped Moose’s Tooth brewer Tyler Jones brew the beer a couple of weeks back. So, if you find any fault in it, blame me, not the Tooth.
The fourth and final course is a mixture of seasonal fruits including honeydew, cantaloupe, plums, pineapple and fresh berries. This will be paired with La Choulette Blonde from Hordain, France and the incredibly delicate Brasserie Dupont Foret, a 7.5 percent farmhouse ale.
There are a couple of heavy hitters in terms of potency in the mix (Chouffe, the La Choulette and the Dupont Foret), but the average alcohol content across the tasting is 5.1 percent. That keeps things mostly light and refreshing. I’ve been to some Belgian dinners where the average alcohol content exceeded 10 percent. Still, with nine beers, exercise some caution and a designated driver or cab might not be a bad idea.
If you’re still on the fence about attending this tasting, jump over to the attend side. This local little gem is worthy of your palate and it’s great to support the effort to keep us all in the mix.
Tap Root Café continues to get the award for the biggest proportion of local beer on tap. That’s right; this week, (and last week took and the week before that) Tap Root’s 14 tower draught system boasts 12 locally produced beers from three different breweries. And don’t think for a minute that the remaining two are schwag. Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Ale and Pilsner Urquell make up the remaining two.
Someone might argue two invalid points. First, fourteen taps are easier to fill with local beer than double, triple or even more taps that some of our bigger establishments boast. But, of those bigger draft line ups, almost invariably, there’s some crap on tap as well as the smattering or even respectable showing of local beer. The second invalid point is that perhaps Tap Root just doesn’t go through the beer that fast. So what? I like the attitude that you either get local beer or you can go drink somewhere else. Certainly, Tap Root’s not lacking for business.
Deschutes Brewing Company is celebrating 20 years of great Pacific Northwest beer this year with the release of a couple of special beers. The first is aptly named the 20th Anniversary Wit. Although it’s an anniversary beer, it’s part of Deschutes Bond Street Series of beers that are brewed in limited batches at the brewery’s original Bond Street location. The brewery’s long since outgrown those digs and the production brewery has moved a couple of blocks away.
The style shouldn’t need any introduction, any serious beer drinker knows what a wit is, but Belgian ales are somewhat of a departure for the 
brewery, so the beer is indeed special. In the bottle it sits pale yellow and unusually clear for a normally cloudy style of beer. Yeast sediment rests on the bottom, but if you’re adverse to such a thing, decant slowly and you can avoid it. A nice, white head forms on top, but it’s not as rocky as I’d expect, but that’s certainly no defect.
The aroma is spot on for the style. The beer’s wheat foundation is easy to discern. The yeast’s influence makes up the rest of the sniff with tart, citric, fruity and estery notes. The citrus notes come from additions of natural Curacao orange peel. A dry, peppery essence hints at grains of paradise. Coriander is a subtle, but defining addition.
The beer is decidedly tart and dry across the palate with even-keel bitterness, followed by the Curacao’s influence, the wheat essence and some clean, light grain notes. The mouthfeel is smooth and gentle and the beer wisps away in the end with a dry, clean finish with just a slight lingering bitterness. The moderate 5.5 percent alcohol is not detectable, making the beer easier yet to drink. I give the beer high marks for “cleanliness.” The 20th Anniversary Wit is an easy, quenching drinker.
If you’re a collector, this isn’t a beer to lay down. My guess is a limited shelf life due to the beers fragile delicacy makes this a beer you want to enjoy in quantity and now.
Deschutes second 20th Anniversary beer is Black Butte XX, is a “porter brewed with chocolate beans and coffee aged with 20% aged in bourbon barrels.” This is a huge tribute not only to the success of the brewery, but the internationally acclaimed Black Butte Porter, one of the finest American porters ever brewed.
If you’re a Black Butte fan, this versions pours inkier than the flagship porter with a darker, more robust and standing head. It’s a “tad” bigger at 11 percent alcohol. The “imperailization” of this brew comes from not only bigger, more robust ingredients, but the booze as well.
Big, bourbon-esque and coffee elements, along with requisite chocolate and dark malt aromas waft forth as the head settles back. The beer’s still huge in fruit essence, but Mr. Alcohol also comes forth in the nose. The flavor is robust with bourbon coming forth first, followed by distinct alcohol notes, the dark malts and a resounding, lasting bitterness that fades quickly in the end for a dry finish. In contrast to the Wit, Black Butte XX is definitely a beer for your vintage collection. I sense the beer is huge enough to last for years, so get a number of them.
Congratulations to Deschutes Brewing Company, one of the defining American breweries that through consistency and experimentation, will continue to shape our palates in years to come.
If you’re a fan of authentically-reproduced German-style beers, Alaska continues to receive products from the Baron Brewing Company of Seattle. Baron’s Pilsner and Bock have been up here for a while and have been around in bottles and on tap. There were some preliminary issues with the bottle stock, but that’s been resolved. A new beer is fixing to be released, a rauch-dopplebock called Rumplestiltskin. I’m unsure if we’re going to be getting our coveted allotment of the beer, but look for it around town if it shows up. I’ll keep you in the loop. 
On July 7th, the long awaited products from Lost Abbey/Port Brewing will arrive in Anchorage. The Lost Abbey/Port operation is one of the most noteworthy breweries on the west coast and we’re indeed lucky to get some of their product up here. Belgian-inspired ales define the Lost Abbey line. The brewery hawks its products with the unique target market “for sinners and saints alike.” Devotion Ale, is a 6.2 percent Belgian-style pale ale is a very light, sweetly hopped summer sipper with a little more punch and plenty of character. Red Barn Ale is a beautifully crisp, fruity and delightful saison/farmhouse ale that’s a bit bigger yet at 6.7 percent alcohol, but still plenty drinkable. The brewers at the Lost Abbey have definitely thrown a lot of devotion into hand-crafting these ales and with limited distribution, you’d better grab some quick.
On the Port Brewing side of the equation, arriving at the same time, are Wipeout IPA and Hop 15 Double IPA. The alcohol is definitely notched up in these two hoppy, flavorful beers. Wipeout is 7.0 perct and Hop 15 weighs in at 9.7 percent. Be careful with these citizens; they could get you in trouble.
According to a recent AP wire story, a 74 year old female senior citizen in Norwalk, California was hankering for a sixer of Bud and took the shortest path to get it. That path, however, wasn’t the one of least resistance. She drove her ’88 Caddy through the front window of Joe’s Food Mart. Unfazed, she gingerly stepped out of the ride, strolled over to the reach in and hauled her goods to the counter. The gal running the joint just called the cops and the almost-octogenarian was hauled off to a hospital for an examination. Surprise, surprise, she was driving under the influence. If we could just get them to serve beer at the bingo parlors this wouldn’t have happened.
Dr Fermento Beer Calendar
07/08/08 Central Lutheran Church Memorial Service for Dave Yanoshek 4:00 pm
07/08/08 Kincaid Park Chalet Celebration of Life for Dave Yanoshek 6:00 pm
07/11/08 Midnight Sun Brewing Company Panty Peeler Re-Release at the Brewery 5:00 pm Free
07/12/08 Silver Gulch Brewing Company E.T. Barnette Homebrew Judging 10:00 am Free
07/13/08 Café Amsterdam The Lighter Side of Belgium Picnic Style Tasting 6:00 pm TBD
07/19/08 Silver Gulch Brewing Company 2008 Golden Days Beer Fest 3:00 pm $20.00
07/25/08 Midnight Sun Brewing Company Fairview Pirates Booty Beer (American Steam Lager) Rel 5:00 pm Free
07/26/08 GNBC/Humpy’s Golf Tournament Moose Run Golf Course 7:00 am $350/Team
08/01/08 Riverboat Discovery II (Fairbanks) Chena River Brews Cruise 6:30 pm $50.00 (online)
08/02/08 Ketchikan (420 Spruce Mill Way) 13th Annual Summer Beer Festival 6:30-8:30 pm $20.00
08/15/08 Arctic Brewing Supply Entries Accepted for Anchortown Invitational (below) 11:00 am $3.00/Entry
08/17/08 Café Amsterdam Anchortown Invitational Homebrew Competition Judging 10:00 am Free
09/20/08 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest Chena Pump Campground (Fairbanks) Noon - ?? BYO/Potluck
09/26/08 Carlson Center (Fairbanks) 1st Annual Farthest North Import and Craft Beer Fest TBA $25.00
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