As the Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival creeps ever closer, some momentum is being made toward morphing the event itself and periphery events into a more encompassing Alaska Beer Week, or something similarly named. I wrote about this in last week’s Anchorage Press column called My foamy vision. My thoughts are that expanding the fest idea into a whole week would help eliminate some of the conflicts in scheduling that happen every year when local establishments want to capitalize on thirsty revelers that often treat the whole week as a festival anyway. For example, last year, there were four stellar beer events on one night, and even the Good Doc couldn’t make them all. I hate having to pick and choose.
Additionally, I feel that expanding the week out would toss out some bait to folks that might find it inane to fly all the way to Alaska for a two day event that’s almost impossible to get into without reservations, is generally riotous and is heavily populated by the “just 21” crowd that is looking for a cheap buzz. There’s got to be more to beer in Anchorage than that.
I can’t take credit for the effort however, other than to rally behind it and offer support and help where I can. Of course, no one has to officially proclaim that it’s “Beer Week” in Alaska; I don’t envision the mayor making a public unveiling of some proclamation along with a speech (although I’d be jazzed if he did); the thing can just happen by itself and get marketed by soap-boxers like me.
Just the same, thank Barb Miller of Midnight Sun Brewing Company for picking up the ball and running with it by just making it so and creating at least one event under the auspices of a fest week. Someone had to do something and Miller is a “get after it” kind of gal. She’s the La Femme de
So, to help support my and her vision, plan on attending the Thursday, January 14, 2-4 pm Meet and Greet at the Spenard Roadhouse. The objective is to get most of the visiting luminaries to the Roadhouse so interested beer lovers can drop by, have a pint or two and chat with them rather than trying to even find them at the busier two day Beer and Barley Wine Festival. I think it’s a great idea.
Right now the two flagship visitors this year will be
Other beer luminaries are checking in and it’s the hopes of Miller and the Roadhouse to get them to all show up at the same place at the same time so that interested people like me can check them out.
There’s another event happening at the Spenard Roadhouse. For the unaware, Samuel Adams annually brews what is generally recognized as the strongest, non-fortified beer in the world. The incredibly rare, hugely fought after Utopias weighs in at an astounding 27 percent alcohol this year. This is the sixth year for this record-breaking brew. Only 9,000 bottles were made this year which seems plentiful enough, but that’s a scant number when racked up against demand, even the average Alaskan would have problems obtaining a bottle of this stuff.
Knowing this, Beer Goddess Darcy Kniefel of the Roadhouse dug in her heels and obtained a bottle from an undisclosed “outside source.” This stuff is so rare that even though Alaska was allocated bottles, it’s not likely that any will show up for sale. The distributor gets the bottles and hands them out QUITE judiciously, to say the least. Aside from all of that, the best news is that she’s willing to share.
So, if you hurry and RSVP with the Roadhouse for one of 12 tickets, for $35, on Wednesday, December 30th at 8:30 pm, you can share the bottle with Darcy. Your ticket will entitle you to a 2 ounce pour of this crazy elixir.
I’ve only had this beer one other time when I was lucky enough to share a bottle with about the same amount of people in a private setting. I recall more of the complexity than the potency of the beer and went away wishing for more. Can you imagine what a number of years of these bottles would be worth in a vintage collection? I don’t have one for mine and probably never will, but understand there are others in our midst that do!
Look for some new beers at the Roadhouse as well. From out of state, go for a can of Oskar Blues Ten-Fiddy, an over the top imperial stout that weighs in at a hefty 10 percent; perhaps the biggest beer in a can, or at least that I’ve discovered so far. The Roadhouse is also pouring Deschutes’ The Abyss 2009, another big fatty imperial stout that’s been getting a lot of rave reviews. This is a 22 ounce bottle serve and best shared with friends, of course. Another bottle selection is Avery Brewery’s The Reverend, a nice quad, also coming in a 22 ounce bottle.
On tap, Kenai River Brewing Company’s Swiftwater Stout has been swapped out for the brewery’s Breakfast Beer Milk Stout and later this week, look for a fresh dose of Sleeping Lady Brewing Company’s Braveheart Scottish Ale. That’s more than ample reason to get down there and check things out.
Mark
Course #1
Left Hand Sawtooth Ale and Full Sail Session Black Dark Lager paired with roasted cauliflower on a nest of sautéed root vegetables in a saffron cream sauce with raisins and toasted pine nuts
Course #2
Left Hand Warrior IPA and Full Sail Wreck the Halls paired with chicken and chorizo skeweres on a caramelized apple polenta with a shaved fennel salad and cumin aioli.
Course #3
Left Hand St Vrain Tripel and Full Sail Wassail paried with mussels in a creamy tomato spinach broth with garlic crostini
Course #4
Left Hand Widdershins Barleywine-Style Ale and Full Sail Imperial Porter paired with slow-roasted apricot glazed pork with grilled asparagus on a sage, bacon white bean and mushroom ragout.
Course #5
Left Hand Fade to Black Foreign Stout and Full Sail Old Boardhead Barleywine Ale paired with cinnamon and ginger scented chocolate tarta with candied orange peel and gran torres sauce.
It goes without saying that this will be a killer event and seats will go quickly, so if you’re interested, I’d call Kinley’s at (907) 644-8953 for reservations.
Look for good beer on tap at the Southside Tap Root Café:
Midnight Sun Brewing CompanySockeye Red IPA
Oosik Amber
Son of a Berzerker 12.7%
TREAT (Pumpkin, Cocoa Nibs, Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg) ON DECK
Hefeweizen
Sleeping Lady Brewing Company
Bride of Hop Bomb
Porter
Braggot
Denali Brewing Company
Mother Ale
Single Engine Red
Kassik’s Kenai Brew Stop
Blonde
Imperial Wheat (ON DECK)
Stout
Moose’s Tooth Brewing
Raspberry Wheat (ON DECK)
Duchesse Du Bourgogne
Alaskan Brewing Company has announced the release of this year’s 2009 Barley Wine. This is only the third year we’ve been lucky enough to get the beer in bottles (along with draught service at select locations), so vintage collectors are rejoicing at this opportunity to relish in a big beer that’s designed to be consumed both immediately and laid down in vintage collections.
The brewery’s calling the beer the “gentle giant,” although this is not the official name of the beer. Yup, it’s just Barley Wine. Still, that doesn’t detract from an enhanced hop profile this year that’s primarily influenced by copious additions of Cascade hops fresh from the Pacific Northwest. The beer was bottled in mid-December and we should be seeing it here pretty quick, probably in early January.
Don’t forget that Alaskan’s new cookbook is available online in the brewery’s Gear Store section. Looking for a last minute gift idea? Order the 110 page cookbook replete with locally inspired beer and food recipes, all coming from the Alaskan Brew Crew, their families and friends to make this a unique Alaskan gift.
Alaskan’s Winter Ale is out in full force, and you’ll enjoy a rich malt body with delicate hop spicing that alludes to something more that seems to come out of every pint or bottle. I find this one of the easier drinking winter warmers in the broad selection to choose from out there. I especially like it that I can get it at Costco by the case at a good price, making an almost workhorse beer at this time of year when the colder days and nights beg for something a little more substantial.
The long anticipated Jupiter, the final remaining beer from Midnight Sun Brewing Company’s Planet Series of Beers has been released. And, because I can’t even begin to paraphrase what the brewery so artfully said about the beer, I’m simply going to quote it:
“On December01, we released a very special beer: Jupiter “Champagne Style Tripel.” This beer is now a year and a half old. Really. And Jupiter is our first (and maybe only) beer to undergo a traditional champagne process, or methode champenoise. The rap sheet goes something like this: brewed as a Belgian tripel ale; fermented with Belgian and champagne yeasts in stainless tank; aged in stainless tank; filtered; added calc’d amount of Belgian and champagne yeasts and sugar to create secondary fermentation in bottles; packaged into 750 ml and 1.5 liter bottles and capped with usual metal beer crowns; turned upside down to let lees 
(yeast sediment) settle into necks of bottles; turned or shaken-or my fave-vibrated as needed to force lees into neck (this process is called riddling); completed the riddle-ignore-repeat process for well over a year; froze yeast plug in neck of bottle; popped crown off bottle; warmed up neck so that plug disgorged; dosed with similar “clear beer” (OB6, specifically), if needed (this is called dosage); corked and wire caged.”
Well, that’s certainly a mouthful, and so is the beer, although I haven’t tried mine yet. I’m saving it for either Christmas or New Year’s Eve since it’s so incredibly special. If you want to get one of the coveted bottles, move quick; this stuff is going to haul ass out the brewery door as fast as the rest of the year is.
Incidentally, I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done at Midnight Sun Brewing Company. The inventory of great, wildly-logo-ed materials is ample and of course fermented treats abound. This is one place where shopping with a beer in hand is made simple.
Outside Beers
One of my favorite down south breweries, the Oskar Blues Brewing Company out of Lyons, Colorado is coming out with a new style of canned beer and we’ll be some happy recipients up here. The newest addition to Oskar Blues “mean line up of genre-bending beers will be …an Imperial IPA,” according to a recent press release. According to Distributor Odom’s John Burkett, this will show up in April (seems like a long way off, doesn’t it?).
Last week, the brewery celebrated with their 7th Cannaversary Party. Note that Oskar Blues is one of the pioneering craft beer canning operations in the United States and did a lot to change the paradigm that only cheap beer comes in cans. Right now we’re getting some diverse selections up here including Dales Pale Ale, Old Chum Scottish Style Ale, Gordong Strong Ale, and Mama’s Little Yella Pils. These are all excellent beers in my educated opinion and deliver a degree of freshness and stability I find very enticing.
Although we won’t be getting any of these specialty selections that were very painstakingly hand-canning of such fermented creatures as Toked (Smoked) Porter, Deviant IPA, One-Nut Brown and Velvet Elvis Stout. With names like that, the beers are bound to be interesting and I’m jealous that we can’t have some.
Either way, I’m guessing the yet unnamed imperial IPA will be a good one. The beer is constructed with three malts and one hop. It weighs in at 9.5 percent and 100 IBU’s. Watch for it, and you can bet I’ll be pre-announcing it. You can keep up yourself by checking out the brewery’s new website at www.oskarblues.com.
In my continued effort to whittle away at beers in my formidable stash that are approaching or past their prime, I pulled out a Hatichino Nest 2004 Celebration Ale. I figured the 9 percent beer would hold up well, but alcohol alone doesn’t make a vintage beer. I popped the top on the bottle, but set it down for two reasons. First, it was too cold coming straight out of my outside reefer. Second, I needed to change a light bulb in the garage door opener, of all things. Now, this is a task I would normally do WITH a beer, but I wanted to run this one through its paces so I set it on the drainboard.
There are zero complications in changing a garage door opener light bulb and I was back in a jiffy, but apparently gone long enough that the beer had over-foamed the bottle by some. This is never a good sign, but aromatically, the beer seemed okay. I didn’t detect any off notes in this orange/amber winter warmer that’s amply spiced with coriander, orange peel, nutmeg and vanilla beans. All were detectable in the nose along with plenty of caramel sweetness and underlying medium malts. I especially enjoyed the contribution that the vanilla imparted to the beer with soft custard notes.
I wasn’t expecting the very high carbonation in the beer at the first sip. It wasn’t unpleasant, just unexpected. Beyond that, I found the beer to be flavorful, but quite strong; strong to the point that it was distracting. The same spices rang through easily enough in good balance, along with the malt and sweetness, all of which was accompanied with good supporting hop bitterness and a long, somewhat dry finish. I think something may be going on in the beer as hinted by the advanced, perhaps infection-borne high carbonation, but it was certainly absent in the flavor. Here’s another beer I have no tasting notes on from a fresh sample, so I don’t know how it would compare. Still, I think this one had passed its prime.
Even after Christmas, new holiday ales continue to roll in to Alaska. One from Batemans in the United Kingdom caught my eye, in part because of the label and in part because of the reputation of the brewery. Bateman’s Rosey Nosey sports a Santa with a glowing nose on the label. I’m not sure exactly what’s implied. Since his exposed forehead isn’t as red as his cheeks and nose, I can only assume the rosiness is beer induced and I rather like the concept.
The other thing that caught my eye on the label is that this is the first beer I’ve experience that proudly proclaims a good pairing with turkey. Yes, it actually says “Compliments any turkey!” on the label. So, might I suggest this with your New Year’s meal?
At the pour I was richly rewarded with a fresh, full on, sweet malt flavor balanced with the perfect hop accompaniment. I’d expect this in a winter warmer. The Maris Otter pale and crystal malts are delightfully obvious in the aroma along with some nuttiness, hints of the mild 5 percent booze and plenty of resident fruitiness. All of this comes from under a very thin white head and within a beautifully crystal clear perfect amber brew. The flavor follows through almost perfectly with the addition of some caramel and additional vinous fruit notes. The beer is balanced way to the sweet side, which is not a defect in combination with ample supporting malt bitterness and the other supporting characters in the round up. A light bitterness extends into the finish of this mild, but character-ful beer. Overall, I was impressed with the freshness of the beer. I hope additional samples are just as good because I now know what will accompany the bird on January 1.
Dr. Fermento Beer Calendar
January, 2010
01/09/10 – 01/17/10Alaska Beer Week
01/14/10Spenard RoadhouseMeet and Greet the GABBF Luminaries2-4 pm: Pay As You Go
01/14/10Kinley’s Restaurant and BarLeft Hand and Full Sail Brewing Dinner6 pm: $65 pp
01/15/10Great Alaska Beer and Barley WineFestival4-10 pm: $30 pp
01/16/10Great Alaska Beer and Barley WineFestival2-4 pm: $40 pp
4-10 pm: $30 pp
01/19/10
Millennium Hotel
Alaskan Smoked Porter Linear Tasting
Time/Cost TBD
01/25/09
Firetap Alehouse
Midnight Sun Beer Dinner
6 pm: $50 pp
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
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