I wanted to take a moment once more to thank all of our local breweries and brewpubs, along with their distributors, that supported this year’s Great Northern Brewers/Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse Annual Golf Tournament. Breweries and distributors are under endless pressure to give their goods away to support all kinds of causes, and much of this goes unnoticed. GNBC is not in the business of going around with it’s hand out all of the time; it’s a homebrewing club after all. The golf tournament is a little bit different because it’s an event the club supports, but due to arcane and oppressive liquor laws, the club cannot provide its own suds for the event. The objective of the event isn’t to give away free beer, but it’s certainly part of the bait, and the club couldn’t do without the support it gets from the local brewing community. So, on behalf of Great Northern Brewers (and I can say this because I’m a member), thank you once again!
Celestial Meads fans, pay attention. Celestial Meads is moving! Demand for Mike Kiker’s fine fermented honey products has caused the need for more space to produce more of his great stuff. Kiker quickly outgrew his original location off of Arctic Boulevard. This happens to most aspiring upstart brewing (and meading) operations. When the stuff is good, demand goes up and quickly outpaces the facility’s ability to support getting the goods to market.
Celestial Meads’ new location is at 600 W. 58th Ave Suite B, further south off of Arctic. From International Airport Road, travel south on Arctic. Before you get to the railroad tracks at the “S Curve” turn left onto 58th Ave. Warfield Auto Repair is on the corner of 58th and Arctic. About 600 feet down the road, turn right into the parking lot. Until people get used to the new location, a fold-up sign will direct you to Celestial Meads.
In addition to more space for producing mead, Celestial Meads will enjoy a new tasting room that will provide a better environment for sampling great meads produced in the traditional manner with the finest honeys available in all the land. 
A Grand Opening of the new facility will take place on Saturday, August 23rd from Noon to 5 pm. Come by and check out the new digs and sample the wares. Mead samples and snacks are free and if you find something you really like, mead will be available for purchase on site. Check out Celestial Meads’ website at www.celestialmeads.com for a map and more information.
Tap Root Café continues to be south Anchorage’s hot spot for good local beer, local music and good eats. Prominently featured this week include selections from Midnight Sun Brewing Company. Sockeye Red IPA, Ooosik Amber, Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter and Old Whisker’s Hefeweizen. From the Sleeping Lady Brewing Company, enjoy Green Dragon Pale Ale, Braveheart Scottish Ale and the increasingly delicious, reformulated and very hop forward Sleeping Lady IPA. Kassiks’ Kenai Brew Stop’s Beavertail Blonde and Roughneck Stout are there to temp your tastebuds. Ring of Fire Meadery’s Pear Agave Cyser calls from Homer, and the odd beer out (although incredibly noteworthy) ,s Cherish Raspberry Lambic from Brewery Van Steenberge in Belgium.
Some interesting bottled selections are also available. From Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel in Montreal comes the fabulous Rosee d’Hibiscus, a hibiscus flower wheat beer, and Route des ‘epices, a peppercorn rye beer. This little brewery’s beers have gone big and have received recent international acclaim.
If you’re looking for something a bit more continental, Mo’s O’Brady’s across Huffman in the Carr’s “mall” affords casual dining and a great tap line for a quick pint while (hopefully) someone else is doing the grocery shopping.
If you enjoyed the Moose’s Tooth’s 12th Anniversary Saison, you might want to get down to the midtown pizzeria and get some of the special Saison Nite Life that’s currently on tap. When the brewery was producing the Anniversary Saison they used a batch of Spenard 
Nite Life to propagate up the Belgian yeast used in the Saison. I tasted this brew when it was in the conditioning tank, and although all the magic hadn’t happened yet, it sure was good. Oh, and look below to note that the Anniversary Saison is on at Humpy’s this week, at least as long as it lasts.
You’ll notice some subtle, but nifty changes at Café Amsterdam. Some new and fascinating beers have been added to the bottle line up. Enjoy a bottle of Burnem Double, Brugse Zot, Leute Bok, Dieu du Ciel Rose Hibiscus, Ridgeway IPA and Ivanhoe Pale, or Kataja Olut at the quit, conveniently located midtown brown café. Also, if you peruse the menu Café’s stated to sell select 750 ml. bottles of beer by the glass, appropriately priced and appropriately paired with special food and appetizers. This comprises a sort of every day beer dinner of sorts. I can’t imagine that the tap line would ever bore you, but at least for now, we can’t get EVERY fabulous import or craft beer on tap up here, so sometimes something special in a bottle is very nice.
If you’re a homebrewer, be sure and check out the calendar below for important dates for entering beer for the upcoming Alaska State Fair Homebrew Competition and the Anchortown Invitational Homebrew Competition. Note that judges and stewards are needed for both of these events. Note as well that both events require judges on the same day (August 18th). I’m not going to tell you where to invest your liver, but I’d really like to see the Anchortown event get a good kick off this year, and that’s where I’ll be judging.
In last week’s blog I again praised breweries that selflessly donate their beer to support noteworthy causes. A loyal blog reader responded back and pointed me to Abita Brewing Company to take a look at what this New Orleans brewery was doing to help restore the town in 
the aftermath of the Katrina hurricane that devastated the area. Amazingly, when the hurricane blew through, it spared Abita and they were able to continue to produce beer. Abita has produced Fleur-de-lis Restoration Ale to directly support restoration efforts. $1 of every six pack of this hoppy golden ale will be given to the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation for use in restoration efforts. Way to go, guys! So, if your travels bring you that way, or somewhere within Abita’s distribution chain, this is a beer to buy.
A new beer is lurking from The Deschutes Brewery. The Dissident is what the brewery is touting as its wildest beer ever. It’s a bit of the departure for the brewery as well. This Belgian-style sour brown ale is brewed with cherries from Central Washington. The extended 18 month fermentation time on wild Belgian yeast ensures a full and wicked fermentation. The beer’s not slated for release until August 18th, and I’m still trying to determine if they love us enough down there to send some north. Keep your mug to the wall and I’ll keep you posted.
If you happen to be in Bend, Oregon any time soon, duck into the Bend pub (Deschutes) and get some beers we don’t get up here. How about a German Weiss, a traditional German wheat ale, Spelt Bier, a lighter session-style ale brewed with the ancient spelt grain and fermented with German ale yeast, the brewery’s Mexican Amber Lager, a true Vienna-style that’s been dosed with Agave nectar, or Quadzilla, a knee-knockin’ 10 percent alcohol Belgian quad. I wish Deschutes would get serious and install one of their neat little pubs up here!
Here’s the Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse list for this week as of Wednesday, August 06, 2008. There are a couple of things to note on the below menu. how Beer Manager Christoff has artfully placed Kassik’s Kenai Brew Stop ESB next to Elysian Brewing Company’s ESB for a side by side comparison. Note also that some of the last remaining Grotten Brown is on tap. This keg comes from the last delivery Alaska received of this outstanding beer. Rumor has it that Christoff has stashed a keg or two in Billy O’s top secret beer stash location for later release. I like a guy who can think ahead! Note as well that Christmas in July at Humpy’s has now turned into Christmas in August. Get this stuff while it lasts. One more highlight: Full Sail Prodigal Sun I.P.A. (Cask Conditioned). This beer’s as fleeting as the sun’s been up here this year, get it while it’s still around. Finally, I must commend Humpy’s again for two things: first putting on so many of our local beers. In the below list of 51 beers, 24 of them are local selections. That’s 47 percent. Kudos, Humpy’s!
Wheats / Fruits
(Local) Alaskan Raspberry Wheat
(Local) Moose’s Tooth Wild Country Raspberry Wheat
Pyramid Apricot
Pyramid Hefeweisen
Lindemans Framboise ####
Spire Mt. Apple Cider #
Wittekerke Rose ##
(Local) Celestial Meadery Southern Heat
$13.50 for an 8 oz Glass
Golden Ales / Pilseners / California Common
(Local) Alaskan Summer Kolsch
(Local) Midnight Sun Goldstrike Kolsch
Rogue Kells Irish Ale
(Local) Silver Gulch Coldfoot Pilsner
Stella Artois **
Pale Ales / E.S.B.’s (medium hop bitterness)
(Local) Alaskan Pale Ale
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Kenai River XPA
(Local) Moose Polar Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
(Local) Kassik’s Brew Stop E.S.B.
Elysian “The Wise” E.S.B.
India Pale Ales (med - high hop bitterness)
(Local) Alaska Icy Bay I.P.A.
Dog Fish Head 90 Minute I.P.A. #
Full Sail Prodigal Sun I.P.A. * (Cask Conditioned)
(Local) Humpy’s Sockeye Red I.P.A by Midnight Sun
(Local) Moose’s Tooth Fairweather I.P.A.
Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale
Stone Ruination I.P.A.
Belgian Ales
Blue Moon Belgian White Wheat Ale
Deschutes 20th Anniversary Wit Ale
(Local) Moose’s Tooth Anniversary Saison Ale
St. Bernard Grotten Belgian Brown Ale ###
Unibroue Blance De Chambly #
Strong Belgian Ales (Alcohol by Volume over 7.5%)
Avery Collaboration not Litigation Ale ## (8.72%)
Chimay Cing Cents Triple ##### (8%)
Delirium Tremens #### (8.5%)
(Local) Midnight Sun Mars Belgian
Imperial Red I.P.A. ## (8.7%)
Unibroue Maudite ## (8%)
Barley Wine
(Local) Alaskan Barley Wine # (10.4%)
Brown Ales
(Local) Midnight Sun Kodiak Brown Ale
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar Ale *
Amber Ales / Bocks / Dopplebocks / Scottish
(Local) Alaskan Amber Ale
(Local) Midnight Sun Oosik Amber
(Local) Kenai River Skilak Scottish
Mac Tarnahan’s Scottish Ale
Porters / Stouts
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
(Local) Midnight Sun Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter
(Local) Silver Gulch Pick Axe Porter
Guinness Stout *** (on Nitro)
(Local) Kassik’s Brew Stop Oatmeal Stout (7.2%)
Young’s Chocolate Stout ** (on Nitro)
Christmas In August
Deschutes Jubel Ale
(Local) Midnight Sun Cohoho Imperial I.P.A. # (8%)
Sierra Celebration
The views expressed on the Dr. Fermento blog site are not necessarily those of the drunks he associates with, but rather the exclusive byproduct of his self-inflicted liver degradation and delusional inebriate lifestyle
Dr Fermento Beer Calendar
08/11/08 Mt. View Boys and Girls Club Entries Accepted for AK Sate Fair Homebrew Comp Noon – 8 pm ??
08/12/08 Mt. View Boys and Girls Club Entries Accepted for AK Sate Fair Homebrew Comp Noon – 8 pm ??
08/15/08 Alaska State Fair Grounds Entries Accepted for AK Sate Fair Homebrew Comp Noon – 8 pm ??
08/16/08 Alaska State Fair Grounds Entries Accepted for AK Sate Fair Homebrew Comp 10 – 6 ??
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
08/17/08 Alaska State Fair Grounds Judging for Alaska State Fair Homebrew Competition 11 am – 6 pm Free
09/20/08 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest Chena Pump Campground (Fairbanks) Noon - ?? BYO/Potluck
08/20/08 Bernie’s Bungalow Lounge Sake Tasting in the top secret upstairs room! 5-8 pm $20
09/06/08 Widmer Brewing (Portland) Fourth Annual Widmer Octoberfest 3 – 11:30 pm
09/26/08 Carlson Center (Fairbanks) 1st Annual Farthest North Import and Craft Beer Fest TBA $25.00
11/09/08 Café Amsterdam BJCP Program Begins Noon – 3 pm TBD
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