This seems to be the time of the year for breweries to expand their tankage in preparation for the coming summer crunch. Both Denali Brewing Company and 49th State Brewing - Anchorage have posted pictures of new tanks going in.
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| Photo courtesy of Denali Brewing Company |
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| Photo courtesy of 49th State Brewing Company |
Speaking of Denali Brewing, award-winning Celestial Meads will close its Anchorage location on March 25th, and all production will be moved to Denali’s Talkeetna location. Michael R.Kiker, who started Celestial in his garage, will be working with Denali to continue producing the numerous popular mead varieties that he has made in the past. With its acquisition of Celestial, Denali Brewing Company becomes the only business entity in Alaska to hold licenses to produce beer, distilled spirits, and wine (mead).
And while we're on the subject of expansions, Gabe Fletcher of Anchorage Brewing Company has announced plans for the construction of an additional building, connected to his current 7,800 square-foot brewery, which opened in March of 2015. The new structure will provide an additional 3,800 square feet for the production of the brewery’s non-brettanomyces beers, as well as space for a canning line for those beers. Fletcher plans to release primarily IPAs in 4-packs of 16-oz. cans, with all sales taking place at the brewery or in select local stores to ensure freshness. The new structure will be joined to the current brewery via a corridor large enough to allow forklift access between them. Hard piping will be installed to connect the current brew kettle to the stainless steel fermenters in the new addition, which will also house the barrels used to age some of Anchorage Brewing’s non-brettanomyces brews, like A Deal with the Devil and The Darkest Hour. The new building will have a rooftop beer garden, accessed via an external stairway. The current small beer garden will be expanded behind the existing brewery to include fire pits and heated walkways and will provide the public access to the stairway to the rooftop. This new beer garden will be planted with about 100 apple and cherry trees, and in their midst will be a small wooden building with louvers to house the brewery’s coolship. Finally, the brewery’s parking lot will be expanded as well. Fletcher hopes to have these new additions completed by this August. Anchorage Brewing has also released its 2017 Rondy Brew (reviewed below), a beer produced each year to celebrate the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, which has been held annually since 1932. The brewery also released limited editions of its The Darkest Hour Imperial Stout, aged in Spanish Brandy and bourbon barrels, as well as its first off-site bottle release of its Time Waits For No One Imperial Stout, aged in port barrels from Portugal.
Looking ahead, Anchorage Brewing will be releasing a limited number of cans of Lines, a 100% Lupulin Powder Double IPA that was brewed in collaboration with Monkish Brewing in Los Angeles. It will also be releasing a saison hopped with Nelson Sauvin hops. The brewery will be hosting another Orval Day on Saturday, March 25th, just as it did last year. Finally, Gabe has announced the date for this year's The Culmination Festival: Saturday, July 29th. Tickets this year will be $100 and will go on sale in May.
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| Photo courtesy of Anchorage Brewing |
Last year Resolution Brewing announced that it was looking to sell the brewery as a turn-key operation. Not the name or recipes, mind, but just the physical brewery. When I talked to owner Brandon Hall about it, he told me he was looking to raise capital to move to a different location which would allow him to expand production. Since then, it appears the brewery has moved in a different direction, with two new partners, Grant Yutrzenka and Morgan Vail, buying into the business. I spoke to Mr. Yutrzenka via phone a couple of weeks ago, and he told me that currently, there are no plans to relocate. Instead, Resolution will be working to maximize output in the current location in Mountain View. He said that for the future, the brewery plans to keep 8 to 10 beers on offer at all times, including its very popular The Neighborhood IPA, brewed with Mosaic hops. So if you haven't been into Resolution Brewing lately, it's probably worth stopping in again to check things out.
Baranof Island Brewing in Sitka is expanding in another way. It is currently selling shares to the public to finance further expansion; the goal is to raise $1 million by selling 10,000 shares at $100 each. Here's its notice:
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| Click to enlarge |
Haines Brewing Company is also trying to expand, only it wants to do so via a FedEx grant. In order for them to be in the running, they need votes for the public. You can vote for them via this website, and you can actually vote every 24 hours if you're so inclined. It only takes a moment of your time and it for a great cause!
Bearpaw River Brewing has begun bottling and distributing its Frontiersman IPA and Mat Maid Milk Stout in 22 oz. bottles. Starting on Monday, Specialty Imports should be stocking them on store shelves from Fairbanks to Kenai, so keep an eye out for them. The labels are designed by Jamie Wade, the wife of brewer Jake Wade.
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| Photo courtesy of Bearpaw River Brewing. |
At Girdwood Brewing Company, they are carbonating the first three beers in its lineup - IP-AK (the house IPA), Down the Chute (an easy-drinking Kölsch), and Hippy Speedball (a coffee stout)- and putting the finishing touches on the tasting room. I expect we'll see a soft opening within the week.
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| Kegs of Down the Chute Kolsch. Photo courtesy of Girdwood Brewing. |
I've seen some of the numbers for last month's Frozen River Fest. As a volunteer and an attendee, I can tell you that both the festival itself and the two beer dinners preceding it were great successes. Both the dinner at Kenai River Brewing on Thursday and the dinner at The Falts Bistro on Friday were sellouts. The food was fantastic and the company superb. The Frozen River Fest itself had over 1400 attendees (up from 1050 last year), 800 of whom paid $15 to drink beer (650 last year), plus $3000 in additional beer token sales. This was the first year that the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce took over the running of the festival, and it did a super job. Here are a couple of photos that I snapped early on, before things really filled up:
This festival keeps getting bigger and better every year, so mark your calendars for February 17, 2018!
Winterlong Brewing in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, has just released a new beer: Divine Intervention. It's a Belgian-style tripel aged in whiskey barrels from the Port Chilkoot Distillery in Haines. The brewery describes it as "a miraculously smooth, complex golden ale. The overall sweetness of this beer is complimented by prominent notes of oak and whiskey." 11.5% ABV
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| Photo courtesy of Winterlong Brewing |
Well, that covers the news, more or less, so let's do some reviews.
Baranof Island Brewing's 2016 Barley Wine: This beer poured a deep ruby color, with a small but persistent cream-colored head. The aroma was primarily malty notes, as you'd expect from an English-style barley wine. The carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was medium. On the palate, there were lots of malt notes, tasty and smooth, mixed with some oak and bourbon from the barrel aging. The beer finished well, with a slight alcohol warmth. 11.5% ABV, 60 IBUs. A very tasty barley wine.
St. Elias Brewing's Heller Bock: You can't get much more traditionally spring than a bock, and Zach Henry's latest offering is an excellent example of the style. It poured a deep, clear gold with an off-white head that dissipated to a collar. The nose was loaded with clean, malty notes. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was between light and medium. The flavor profile is what you'd expect from a bock: good, clean maltiness providing a deep, rich flavor, with only a touch of bitterness for balance. An excellent choice for a long-anticipated spring.
Kassik's Brewery's Smoked Porter: I picked up a bottle of this at the brewery; first time I'd seen it for sale anywhere. It poured opaque with a nice mocha-colored head.The aroma was noticeably smoky and roasty, a good sign. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was light. On the palate, there were good smoke flavors, but I thought the rest of the beer came across as a bit thin, allowing the smoke to dominate rather than compliment. Not a bad beer, but slightly out of balance for my particular taste; your experience may be otherwise. 6.6.% ABV.
Anchorage Brewing's 2017 Rondy Brew: After a couple of years of saisons, this time around Gabe Fletcher has brewed a New England-style IPA, using Nelson Sauvin hops. The beer poured cloudy gold with a nice white head that left good lacing on my glass. The nose was full of tropical fruit notes from the hops. Carbonation was excellent and the mouthfeel was light. The flavor profile was packed with juicy hop flavors, without a lot of bitterness. I believe I read that Gabe used only late addition hops to make this beer, which explains the excellent hop flavor with reasonable hop bitterness. An excellent example of this very popular style of IPA. 6% ABV.
That's about it for this blog. Keep you finger crossed that spring comes soon, but stay warm in the meantime and keep drinking good, local craft beers.
Until Next Time, Cheers!
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