21 11 2008

Vote with your liver: Go Local!

Posted by: drfermento in Beer News

As next week’s Anchorage Press will reveal, although times are tough, beer lovers are tougher. The downturn in the economy has a lot of folks re-arranging their disposable income and using it only where necessary. But, as some industry pundits have said, booze is always a hot commodity in times of good or bad. There’s some truth to that, I suppose, but what really matters is that if you do plan on spending less on your libations, sacrifice the schwag and sacrifice even the out of state and imported beers and support your local breweries. They do their best to support you in times of good and bad and things tighten up, our local breweries are going to need all the support we can drink. Wait, I think I got that backwards; maybe we should drink all we can support. Either way, do the right thing and spend your money where it counts.

The Celestial Meads Open House is slated for Saturday November 22^nd from noon until 5 pm. This is a great opportunity to sample the goods that will be useful for your own consumption throughout the holidays or as high-end gifts for Christmas. If you plan on attending holiday functions this year, why show up with that same old tall boy Corsendonk or Chimay bottle (or that brown bag Old English 800, if that’s your style)? Mead makes an impressive statement at any dining room table. It’s refined, sophisticated and alluring in the glass. It’s especially entertaining when the people you are treating with it don’t know what it is and you get the honor of explaining mead’s robust and exciting history.

Hit the open house to sample 14 or more meads including selections from the Special Reserve Line, Raizin d’ Etre and Trebuchet, all recent releases. Also featured will be Miel Noir and Razzery Cyser, recently returning to the line up.

If you need more information, email Meadmaster Mike at mkiker@gci.net or call him at (907) 250-8362.

It’s a lot easier to get into Glacier Brewhouse these days now that the tourists have long since dried up and the colder weather is keeping the sissies from plying the streets in search of good beer. Parking is almost a breeze. The standard line of up beers is forever available, so you can always find your favorite, but there are a few surprises in the mix. Here’s what’s on as of Wednesday, November 19^th:

Blonde

Amber

IPA

Stout

Hefeweizen

Glacier Red

Imperial Blonde

Black Rye Bock

Oak Aged Double IPA

Beam Aged Raspberry Lambic

Glacier Pumpkin Ale

Cask Double IPA

Black Rye Bock remains one of my perennial favorites. This beer artfully combines a schwarzbier, a rye beer and a bock. The combination produces a substantially dark and hearty lager that finishes clean and somewhat dry. Expect a bitter chocolate palate and a reasonable degree of rye-borne spiciness combined with other dark, swirling malts that add up to a great taste sensation and make the beer easily paired with any of Glacier’s more robust dishes. German pilsner and rye malts make up the beer’s foundation and imported German hops add balance and zip. The beer’s inherent sweetness is balanced even-keel with the 6.82 percent alcohol contribution.

Glacier’s Oak Aged Double IPA features over twice the amount of hops in the “standard” house IPA and the intensity is easily evidenced in the citrus and floral hop elements. Centennial, Simcoe and Cascade hops make up the spice bill in this brew. Yes, the beer’s bitter by design, but balanced nicely with ample malt underpinnings and a 7.76 percent alcohol punch. The beer was aged for over a year in American oak wine barrels that add the toasty and vanilla contingents you’ll get throughout the sip. Dry hopping with additional fresh hops defines the lively nose. One thing that I’ve always maintained is that Glacier knows how to dry hop a beer and you’ll agree the minute you pull a pint toward your nose.

The Raspberry Lambic is truly a unique character. This rare beer stands on its own as a classic fruit lambic that’s been aged four years in retired Jim Beam barrels. Once in the barrel, the beer was inoculated with two different strains of yeast and two doses of different bacteria that added the funk to the junk and provides the intense, in-your-face Belgian character that we’ve all grown to love. The raspberry additions amounted to two pounds per barrel in this 6 percent alcohol beer. The mixture of American and German hops serve only to balance the beer and are purposely held back to allow the tart, fruity raspberry essence to spring forth.

A sampler provided a review after the Thursday, November 20 release at the Brewhouse. This taster found the drink quite acetic with fleeting tastes of wood and lambic-borne sourness. The taster found the raspberry essence in the nose and flavor very fleeting at best and was hoping for more of this overall presence in the beer. It sounds like if you’re into very intense beers, this would be a good one to sample.

Glacier’s 12 days of Barleywine Celebration runs between December 10 and December 21 this year. One beer that should be featured is the Glacier Big Woody Barelywine that was honored at this year’s West Coast Barrel Aged Beer Competetion. I’m quite sure it’ll be featured and find its way to a tap. Here’s the line up for this year’s event (robbed shamelessly from Kevin Burton at Glacier):

THE TWELVE DAYS OF BARLEYWINE

December 10, 2008 through December 21, 2008

It is the season of giving, and the BrewHouse brewers give to you a phenomenal collection of their most prized possessions – TWENTY-FIVE vintage barleywines and other high gravity bombs straight from the brewery vault.

THE 1^ST DAY OF BARLEYWINE – DEC. 10, 2008

1. 2004 Big Woody Barleywine aged in steel. (10.75% abv)

2. 2004 Big Woody Barleywine aged 1.5 years in Jim Beam barrels. (10.75% alcohol by volume)