What does it take for the average beer-lovin’ guy to get in and grab a beer somewhere during the holidays? I hate having to compete with holiday shoppers, not that I have anything against them. They deserve the beer as much or more than I do because they’re the ones battling the crowds in the malls and stores around town. I just want a beer. The problem is that I have to compete with them for parking spots and tabletops in my favorite watering hole. Oh, I shouldn’t complain, I suppose; complaining is very un-holiday-like. But, I’m sort of an un-holiday kind of guy and anything that gets between me and my favorite local suds is an irritant, so holiday shoppers fall into that category. ‘Nuff said, go have a beer.
Maybe this is my excuse for not making even a single day of the 2009 Glacier Brewhouse 12 Days of Barleywine Celebration. I could come up with excuses other than the inconvenience including being oppressively busy, working from 6:30 am – 5 pm every day during my company’s busiest time of the year, then having the writing gigs, then not even living in this town on the weekends, but I’d just sound like another excuse-maker trying to get out of some inexcusable behavior, and I’ve already made my point, so I’ll change the subject. Today’s the day; I’m headed to Glacier to do a little remedial liver damage. I’ll follow that with a visit to Humpy’s to see if I can’t further wreck myself. Take a gander at the Humpy’s beer menu below and you’ll see why I’m anxious to get there.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we have local Alaska breweries outside of our metropolitan confines when we don’t get their beer here and those breweries remain focused on serving their respective local communities. Remember, there’s more to beer than Alaskan Brewing Company, Glacier Brewhouse, The Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company, The Moose’s Tooth, and Midnight Sun Brewing Company to name a few that distribute here and remain in our sights more or less by default. We take it for granted that the others remain viable and robust, although primarily unseen. Even as a reasonably “in touch” writer of all things fermented within our borders, it’s tough for me to keep up. So, it’s great when one of the other breweries reaches out with an update.
Such is the case with Kodiak Island Brewing Company. Recently, I got a warming email from Kodiak’s owner/brewer Ben Millstien that caught me up on the happenings at this little island alcove and I thought I would share it with you.
According to Ben, the brewery suffered a setback in October when the boiler, a core piece of equipment in any brewery, sprung a leak. A boiler is typically a big thing and provides the heat necessary to produce the suds. It’s not like a brewery keeps a spare around, and in a small community like Kodiak, finding parts and qualified repair capability is more daunting than in a big metropolis like Anchorage.
As a result, the brewery was forced to stop production until the brewery could be repaired or replaced. According to Ben, “I finally found, through the help of concerned customers, a very small woman who was also an experienced welder. She could reach where no man who tried to help us could.” This nimble beer goddess was able to temporarily repair three holes on the fire tubes in the boiler which enabled the brewery to quickly make beer again and avoid running dry. Meanwhile, the brewery ordered a new, compatible boiler that’s started the slow freight trek across the country from the East Coast.
Still, these setbacks are expensive, and worse than that, a local paper article led many to believe that the brewery had gone out of business. Kodiak Island was quick to dispel that rumor with new batches of fresh suds.
Other than that, Kodiak Island Brewing Company continues to offer locals their mainstream beers including North Pacific Ale, a Scottish style ale, Liquid Sunshine, a flagship beer, their “coastal lager” that’s along the lines of a California common (steam beer) style and the recently re-named Wing Nut Brown Ale, formerly Sweet Georgia Brown. According to Ben, a “…brewery in Atlanta that uses that name…and ‘Wing Nut’ fit us better anyway.” He alludes to the origin of the name. “A couple here in Kodiak whore are both small plane pilots and had twins who grew up fling. After going away to college, the mom ran across some pictures of her twins and another local kid taking turns riding out n the floats and hanging on the wing struts…It’s always nice to find names with double means (or more), and any phrase with ‘nut’ makes a good fit for a brown ale of course, not to mention Kodiak..” Ben’s considering labels that feature the theme.
In addition to the mainstream, Kodiak Island is featuring Beyond the Pale IPA, Bearing Sea Scotch, Island Fog Barley Wine ( a Fermento Favorite) and Shelikof Stout, an Imperial stout with formidable character. Earlier this year, Kodiak Island featured Baranof Russian Imperial Stout and used proceeds to benefit the restoration of a local historic church. The brewery reserved a keg and aged it on bourbon soaked oak chips. This beer’s probably long gone, only served locally and with a great following. The brewery’s working on a seasonal wit to be released soon and is looking forward to the production of a wild fermented blackcurrant beer that’s going to be called Flood Stage.
This is all just teaser news here in Anchorage where we can’t enjoy Kodiak Island Brewing Company’s great beers, but look forward to seeing Ben and the gang at this year’s Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival in January. Thanks for the update, Ben!
With that in mind, it’s not too early to start thinking about the January 16th and 17th Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival. More than ever, aside from the great event that you can attend and thoroughly enjoy, the gig needs your help. Bar none, this is the biggest beer undertaking the state ever sees every year and it only comes to fruition with the help of many beer-loving volunteers. This year, in particular, the event will be somewhat under-horsepowered because without the organizational prowess of Annie Chavez, it’s hard to tell what’s going to come off. Expect the same great show, but with many more challenges. Annie’s always been the glue in this organization because she struck a key balance between the objectives of the event organizer Aurora Productions and the beer muscle behind the scenes that includes Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse and The Great Northern Brewers homebrew club. Everyone’s still on board, but your volunteering skills are what will help bring this world-class event off as the showpiece of Alaska beer.
Right now, I’m not sure of any formal call for volunteers, but rest assured, you don’t have to wait. Get with me or get with the Great Northern Brewers to assist in this world class event. In order to serve beer, you’ll have to have a current TAM or TIPS card, and generally, if you volunteer to serve for a specified amount of time on one of the two event nights, that will earn you entry into the festival. In coming blogs, I’ll be sure and provide significant, additional detail.
Mark your calendars for the December 20th Celestial Meads tasting where you can get some quality time with Meadmaster Mike and sample the latest from his alluring vats. Kiker announces:
“Celestial Meads is having an Open House to celebrate the Winter Solstice on Saturday, December 20th from Noon-5:00p. As usual, there is no charge for this event and there will be at least a dozen meads to sample along with quality cheeses, crackers, fruit and smoked salmon. As per the US Naval Observatory, the Winter Solstice occurs in Alaska at 3:04A Sunday, December 21st, so we’re a few hours early, but don’t let that stop you. This will be your last opportunity to purchase mead at the meadery before Christmas, and it will be the last meadery opening until January 10th 2009. Don’t forget your growlers for Sparkling Razzery Cyser. Come help us celebrate the return of the light, a very important event in the Far North!”
I have to agree that a bottle of Celestial Meads is a dignified, classy gift that makes a great substitute for that standard bottle of vino you hand out every year. Get to the tasting, sample the wares and do some Christmas shopping at the same time.
Celestial Meads will be hosting another mead dinner at the SubZero Microlounge on Wednesday, January 28th at 6 pm. This is perhaps the first post-barleywine festival event of the year and will be a nice departure from the oceans of beer you’ll undoubtedly consume two weeks before. Call Humpy’s for reservations at (907) 276-BEER. Watch future blogs for more detail on the cost, menu and mead pairings.
Midnight Sun Brewing Company is another great place to shop for Christmas gifts with their awesome selection of bottled beers, MSBC paraphernalia including hoodies, T’s and other apparel and glassware including pints, stems and mugs. If you’re lame and can’t put two and two together on your own (or just don’t have the time), why not get a gift pack? December’s gift packs include a MSBC logo point glass a 22 ounce beer and a MSBC logo T-shirt, all for $20. There are four other gift packs at varying prices to meet your shopping needs. Where else can you shop and sample at the same time? Special holiday hours this year are on December 24th, noon to 6 pm and on December 31, noon to 6 pm.
The brewery’s also announced their 2009 Crew Brew Series of Beer that will introduce nine beers brewed by nine different brewery employees. The first beer has already been brewed and will released in January. Stay tuned for deeeeetails.
It might be too late, but the other day I was over at Café Amsterdam where I savored my pick for this year’s finest Christmas Ale, the Gouden Carolus Christmas Ale. This beer is nothing short of incredible and we’re truly lucky to have this on tap. A sweet-spicy nose wafts off the top of a delicious, swirling malt center. The very delicate noble hop aroma doesn’t interfere with the hints of sugary candy 
underneath. Hold this beauty up to the light and get lost in the rubies and garnets that twinkle in the light, crystal clear chestnut brew. In the sip, note the obvious, but not obtrusive alcohol contribution (and feel it in the swallow), then relish in the Christmas-spicy sweetness of the brew and all of the swirling flavors. Think of that multi-colored ribbon candy that your mom used to set out in small dishes when company was around for the holidays, and you’ll get the idea. I had intended to get in there and sample around, but drank this beer again and again, all night long. I questioned the beer’s name because I’m more familiar with Gouden Carolus Noel, but I was assured that the keg ring certainly said “Christmas Ale.” A second keg (there is hope that there is some left, and I verified that at lest as of 9:31 am on Saturday, December 20, 2008, indeed some was left). This is one you do NOT want to miss this year. This second keg is the 2006 version and I’m anxious to see what the additional kiss of age has done to the brew. Other selections include:
Delirium Tremens
Unibroue Maudite
Grotten Brown
Alaskan Smoked Porter (2006 2007. and 2008)
Chimay Cinq Cents
North Coast Pranqster
Pike’s Tandem XX Double Ale
Rogue 20th Anniversary Ale
Rogue’s Yellow Snow
My brother, who doesn’t drink at all, pointed out to me a program coming up on the Discovery Channel within the How Stuff Works series simply called “Beer”. The header reads: “We talk to the experts, brew masters and connoisseurs about how they’re innovating new ways to make beer.” Could be interesting. Details are scant, but this program airs on January 02 at 6:00. Well, that’s great, but in what time zone? Check your local listings around that time if you want to see the show. Actually, poking around on the Discovery Channel website and using “Beer” in their search engine yields some pretty interesting results. Check it out at http://dsc.discovery.com
On tap at The Tap Root Cafe this week:
Midnight Sun Brewing Co.
Sockeye Red IPA
Oosik Amber
Kodiak Brown
Panty Peeler
Sleeping Lady Brewing
Scottish
Pale
Imperial Sparten Stout
Imperial wheat wine
Kassiks Brew Stop
Beavertail Blonde
Roughneck Stout
Dupont Saison Ale
Gulden Draak
Scaldis Noel 12.5%
Avery: Old Jubilation Ale
If you’re reading this blog in Fairbanks, or are headed up that way and need a place to find the best of the best in fermented goods, get to Gold Hill Liquors in Ester, just south of Fairbanks. Owner/proprietor Susan Osborne is bringing in the goods for the holidays. She just scored her allotment of the formidable Nogne-0 Dark Horizon in Norway. This 17.5 percent tippler is sure to warm your Fairbanksian bones, by the fire or not. This is incredibly rare stuff. This truly international beer features a compendium of ingredients from all over the world, but we can take credit here in the United States for the beer’s inspiration. The label on the first bottle proclaimed:
This is ale; it is also a wine, and a coffee drink. We’ve been playful and brewed a hybrid. Do yourself and your friends a favour and share this bottle with those you deem worthy. Dark Horizon is indeed a global brew. Inspiration from the US Midwest, malt from England, bottles from Germany, name from Japan, sugars from Mauritius, hops from the Pacific rim, Yeast from Canada, coffee from Colombia, brewed in Grimstad, Norway.”
There’s no denying that this is an incredible brew and actually perhaps even a collector’s item. This is a fabulous candidate for a vintage collection, so if you’re Christmas shopping, this would be a good pick for the discerning beer lover in your midst.
Osborne’s also brought in Lagunitas’ Maximus IPA, Snowbound and Warrior IPA from the Left Hand Brewing Company, Immortal IPA and Perseus Porter from Elysian and two different gift packs from Unibroue that contain a light set and a dark set of beers. Other Belgian ale gift packs are in stock as well, so this is a great place for the last minute gift or for something to bring to the holiday party you’re fixing to attend.
From the Pacific Northwest, Baron Brewing Company has released new labeling for their Rauchbier and their Uber-weisse beers. The jury’s out as to whether or not we’ll get any of this coveted brew up here in Alaska, but we can hope. I hope they send some more of their Pilsner along as well because it was just awarded the Northwest Brewing News Reader’s Choice Award for Best Pilsner in the Northwest and the brewery’s Liberty Dopplebock was awarded the distinction of the Best Bock in the Northwest. These are some choice suds! 
Those that are scoring along at home and wondering about the release of the next Baron beer in the Brothers Grimm Series, the third beer, a dopplebock called Bremen Town Musicians is going to be released this spring. Apparently, the brewery didn’t want to release this beer in conjunction with the Liberator Dopplebock.
Here are the Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse beers for the week. Note in particular the Midnight Sun Brewing Company Obliteration Vertical; Ommegang Grand Cru Flemish Sour Red Ale, Anchor Brewing Company’s Our Special Ale (2001 Edition) and the 2006 and 2008 pairings of Deschutes Brewing Company’s The Abyss.
And, according to Beer Manager Christoff, “on the first night of Barley Wine at the Glacier Brewhouse, Billy O was sitting at the bar talking to brewer Kevin Burton and I mentiond that we had a 2002 corney keg of his barley wine in the secret stash. Well, with the quaffing of that night’s version, Kevin mentioned he wanted is corney keg back. Billy mentioned that he did not even know it was in the stash and that we could have a 13th night of barley wine at Humpy’s. It was confirmed ;ast night. I pulled the keg out today, on Monday the 22nd of December, the 13th Day of Barley Wine will be at Humpy’s with Glacier Brewhouse’s 2002 Big Woody Barley Wine. I will be tapping the keg at 4:30 pm to give the working stiffs a chance to wet their palate, for the keg is only five gallons in size.” I’ll bet I beat you to the bar!
Wheats / Fruits
(Local) Moose’s Tooth Wild Country Raspberry Wheat
Pyramid Apricot
Pyramid Hefeweizen
Lindemans Framboise ###
Golden Ales / Pilseners / California Common
Kona Longboard Lager
(Local) Midnight Sun Gold Strike Kolsch
(Local) Silver Gulch Fairbanks Lager
Spaten Pilsner Lager **
Pale Ales / E.S.B.’s (medium hop bitterness)
(Local) Alaskan Pale Ale
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale * (Cask Condtioned)
Left Hand Jackman’s American Pale Ale
(Local) Moose’s Tooth Polar Pale Ale
(Local) Alaskan E.S.B.
India Pale Ales (med - high hop bitterness)
Elysian ‘The Immortal’ I.P.A. (42 IBU)
(Local) Humpy’s Sockeye Red by Midnight Sun (70 IBU)
(Local) Midnight Sun Cohoho Imperial IPA # (8%) (85 IBU)
(Local) Moose’s Tooth Fairweather I.P.A. (64 IBU)
Stone’s Arrogant Bastard Ale (IBU Unlisted)
Midnight Sun Obliteration Vertical
(Local) Midnight Sun Obliteration III # (7.6%) (87 IBU)
(Local) Midnight Sun Obliteration IV # (8.7%) (100 IBU)
Belgian Ales
(Local) Alaskan Witbier White Wheat Ale
Blue Moon Belgian White Wheat Ale
Ommegang Grand Cru Flemish Sour Red Ale ###
St. Bernardus Grotton Brown ###
Stella Artois **
Strong Belgian Ales (Alcohol by Volume over 7.5%)
Chimay Cing Cents Triple ##### (8%)
(Local) Midnight Sun Saturn Belgian Fresh Hop IPA # (8%)
Pater Lieven Triple ### (8%) 2002 ed
Unibroue Maudite ## (8%)
Val-Dieu Triple ### (9%) 2004 ed
Seasonal
(Local) Alaskan Winter Ale
Anchor Steam Our Special 2001 ed
Avery Old Jubilation Ale # (8%)
Delirium Noel #### (10%)
Redhook Winterhook
Widmer Brrr
Amber Ales / Bocks / Dopplebocks / Scottish
(Local) Alaskan Amber Ale
(Local) Midnight Sun Oosik Amber
(Local) Kenai Skilak Scottish
Mac Tarnahan’s Scottish Ale by Portland Brewing
(Local) Sleeping Lady Espresso Bock
Brown Ales
(Local) Kenai River Naptown Nut Brown Ale
(Local) Midnight Sun Kodiak Brown Ale
Porters / Stouts
(Local) 2008 Alaskan Smoked Porter
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
(Local) Silver Gulch Pick Axe Porter
(Local) Alaskan Oatmeal Stout
Deschutes Abyss Imperial Stout # (11%) 2006 ed
Deschutes Abyss Imperial Stout # (11%) 2008 ed
Guinness Stout *** (on Nitro)
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout ** (on Nitro)
Barley Wines
(Local) Moose’s Tooth Darth Delirium ## (9.4%) 2009 ed
Harvest Ales
Ayinger Oktiberfest #
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
12/20/08 Celestial Meads Solstice Open House at the Meadery Noon – 5 pm Free
01/28/09 SubZero Microlounge Celestial Meads Dinner (Asian/Indian Fusion Cuisine) TBD TBD
01/16/09 Eagan Center 2009 Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival 3 pm $30
01/17/09 Eagan Center 2009 GABBF Connoisseur’s Session TBD TBD
01/17/09 Eagan Center 2009 Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival 5 pm $30
02/06/09 Snow Goose Basement Entries Accepted for 2009 Rondy HB Competition 11 am $2 per entry
02/07/09 Snow Goose Basement 2009 Rondy Homebrew Competition Judging 10 am Free
02/22/09 Café Amsterdam BJCP Exam 10 am TBD
Entries (RSS)
May 1st, 2009 at 2:31 am
how to brew…
Last night was a blast! Lots of people came out, but not too many musicians, so we all had a chance to jam a little more than usual. The vibe was mellow, but upbeat. Several music groups had a drummer and bass player, which added energy to the live exp…