Another Warm January

It's been another warm couple of weeks here on the Kenai, with above freezing temperatures and rain, rather than the snow we all prefer. Looks like we'll finally be getting some more snow over the next couple of days, though I doubt it will replace all that we've lost.

The 2019 Alaska Beer Week seems to have been a great success, at least from my vantage point down here. Sadly, my responsibilities as both a student and a teacher pretty much precluded me from going up to Anchorage again this year, since classes started that same week.

At this year’s festival, winners were chosen in both the winter warmer and barley wine competitions. In the winter warmer category, Cynosure Brewing took third place with its Noe Belgian-style Strong Dark Ale, Oskar Blues took second with its Ten Fiddy Imperial Stout, and first place went to Maui Brewing’s Night Diver. In the barley wine category, local favorite Kassik’s Brewery of Nikiski did not take gold in the barley wine competition for the fourth year in a row.  Instead, its Buffalo Head Barley Wine took home the second-place trophy. Third place went to Fremont Brewing’s Brew 2000 Barley Wine, while First Place went to Anchorage Brewing’s Double-oaked A Deal with the Devil. This beer from Gabe Fletcher’s brewery had already received much national acclaim, including being named one of the best beers of 2018 by Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine. Congratulations to all the winning breweries.

Photo courtesy of Anchorage Brewing

Skagway Brewing has announced that the grand opening of its new location will take place on February 15th and 16th. As I wrote in my last blog post, the new location on Broadway represents a 200% increase in seating and a 400% increase in brewing capacity. The brewery is also having a special Reservation only Valentines Dinner on February 14th.

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The 2019 Frozen River Fest is less than three weeks away. This year's festival will take place on Saturday, February 16th, from 4 to 8 pm at Soldotna Creek Park. It is hosted by the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce and tickets are $20 for beer drinkers, free for non-drinkers. As always, this is a family-friendly event, with live music and food on sale besides the beers on offer. This year's live music will be by The Mabrey Bros. Band and Conway Seavey. For more details, look for the Festival on Facebook or contact the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce. Tickets can be purchased online here.

Some new statistics have been released on the impact of craft brewing on a state-by-state basis. Alaska ranks 6th in breweries per capita of 21+ adults and we are third in pints produced annually per adult (behind only Vermont and Delaware) at 96. The most recent economic impact of craft brewing in Alaska was $511 per person per year, which is 5th overall among the 50 states. There are currently over 7,000 breweries in the US. Now if we just get the Alaska State Legislature to recognize these statistics and work to help our brewing industry instead of hamstringing it...

On last Friday, Kenai River Brewing released its Spruce Tip Double IPA in packs of four cans. The cans feature two different labels designs and cost $11. Profits go to benefit the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust.

Photo courtesy of Kenai River Brewing

If you missed the live broadcast on Saturday, I'd encourage you to take a listen to the podcast version of my January radio show on KDLL. In it I interviewed Corey Fristoe from Black Spruce Brewing in Fairbanks, James "Dr. Fermento" Roberts, and Don Stead of Homer's Grace Ridge Brewing. You can find the recording of the show at https://www.kdll.org/post/january-2019-big-future-small-breweries#stream/.

Now let's review some beers. I've got four new ones to tell you about this time.

Fremont Brewing's Barrel-aged Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Sout (2017 ): The dark beauty had spent a year in my cellar prior to my opening it. It poured dark with a decent tan head that dissipated to a collar. The nose spoke strongly of its time in bourbon barrels. Carbonation was on the low side but acceptable, and its mouthfeel was very oily and smooth from the use of oats. On the palate, it was rich and think, with plenty of roasted flavors and additional bourbon notes, falling away to a touch of alcohol heat on the finish.14% ABV, 50 IBUs.

New Belgium Brewing's La Folie Sour Brown Ale (2018): This year's version of this classic sour poured a beer, translucent ruby with a nice tan head. The aroma was tart notes and hints of cherries. Carbonation was good, and its mouthfeel was light. The flavor profile began with a pleasant tart attack, then mellowed into smooth fruit notes, followed by a nice finish. A delicious sour. 7% ABV.

Midnight Sun Brewing's Last Run Porter: This limited-release beer poured dark with a nice tan head. The nose had light and pleasant roasted notes. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was light. On the palate, there nice roasted notes continued very clean tasting, before falling away to a nice finish. While not overly complex, I thought it was a very well executed beer, stylistically more of a brown porter than a robust one. 5.5% ABV, 20 IBUs.

Black Raven Brewing's Grandfather Raven Russian Imperial Stout: Another impressive brew from the award-winning Washington brewery. It poured opaque with a nice mocha-colored head. The aroma was full of coffee notes with hints of chocolate as well. Carbonation was excellent and the mouthfeel was medium plus. The initial flavor profile was smooth roasted flavors, very rich and complex, then more hints of chocolate sweetness followed by a long, lingering finish. A superb Russian Imperial Stout. 9.5% ABV, 70 IBUs.

That's about it for this post. I hope to see you all at the Frozen River Fest in a couple of weeks. I'll be recording some live interviews for my radio show there, so if you'd like to be on the radio, come on up and say hello.

Until next time, Cheers!

New Year's Resolution: 2019

So it's a new year and my resolution is to make blog posts here more often than every six months, which has been my rate for the last year or so. I could give you readers a litany of excuses, but what's the point? Let's just move on and talk about craft beer.

If you're one of the folks out there who reads my Alaska column in the Northwest Brewing News, then I've got some bad news for you. My column (along with the one for British Columbia) has been permanently cut from that publication. The past few months have been very rough for print publications about beer: Celebrator has ceased print publication, All About Beer has folded, and even Beer Advocate has gone from a monthly to a quarterly format. In the case of Northwest Brewing News, ad revenues are down and pages had to be cut. Apparently, Alaska and B.C. don't produce much ad revenue in the best of times (which these certainly aren't), so ours were the necks to feel the axe. On the plus side, if no one is willing to pay me to write, I guess that means I'll have more time to do it for free in this blog...

The last issue you'll find my Alaska column in...

It's a shame that the readers outside Alaska won't be getting news from up here anymore, given how active our craft beer scene has been lately. In the last few months, Cooper Landing Brewing has broken ground on a new brewery, with an eye toward being open in the spring of 2020. Skagway Brewing is in the midst of a massive and long-overdue relocation/expansion, which will give them a 200% increase in seating and a 400% increase in brewing capacity. A new brewery, Black Spruce Brewing Company, opened last month in Fairbanks. Barnaby Brewing in Juneau should be back open almost any day now in its new location. Baleen Brewing and Bawden Street Brewing opened this summer in Ketchikan. Midnight Sun is now operating Williwaw in downtown Anchorage. King Street Brewing moved into its new home and Turnagain Brewing opened in its old one. Many other breweries have added tankage and expanded production capacity. Craft beer in Alaska just continues to grow and improve.

Photo courtesy of Black Spruce Brewing Co.

While 2018 was certainly a positive year for craft beer in Alaska, it certainly wasn't all smooth sailing. In fact, it often seemed that craft breweries were successful in spite of all the roadblocks that the state and federal governments saw fit to build in their path. On the state level, the antics by the Alcohol Beverage Control Board and its "no fun at breweries" policy created lots of angst and uncertainty, none of which was relieved by the fiasco with SB 76 in the state legislature. On the national level, Trump's aluminum tariffs have helped drive up the cost of aluminum cans, and the current partial government shutdown includes the TTB, which means no breweries anywhere can get the labels approved for any new beer! Still, our local craft brewers soldier on, trying to produce good craft beer for us to drink, no matter how much stupidity flows out of Juneau and D.C.

Alaska Beer Week starts this Friday, January 11th, and runs through Sunday, January 20th. There are going to be a ton of events, so the best places to find out about them are the AK Beer Week Facebook page and the AK Beer Week webpage's Event Calendar.

I've got a few reviews to post as well. These are by no means all of the beers I've had recently, but these are a few from the last six months or so that I particularly enjoyed.

Midnight Sun Brewing's 23 American Barley Wine: Brewed to celebrate the brewery's 23 anniversary and released in cans, this beer poured a deep honey color with a nice cream-colored head. Hop notes were fairly prevalent in the nose, as you'd expect from an American barley wine. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was medium. There was plenty of upfront bitterness, which lingered on through the rich malt notes that followed, all the way to a nice finish. An excellent example of this style. 10% ABV, 100 IBUs.

Bearpaw River Brewing's The Great Bear's Valley Trash Imperial Blonde Ale: The Wade brothers at Bearpaw River went to a great deal of trouble to recreate this iconic Wasilla brew, evn trucking in city water to ensure that this replica beer would be as close to the original as possible. Have never tasted the original, I can't speak to how close they came. It poured a deep clear gold color with a decent off-white head. The aroma was of clean, crisp malt. Mouthfeel was light to medium and carbonation was good. The beer had plenty of malt backbone, okay hop balance, and a touch of alcohol heat on the finish. Overall, I would call it a workman-like blonde ale, but nothing to write home about. Of course, I'm not feeling any nostalgia when I taste it. 10% ABV

Broken Tooth Brewing's Hopbility English IPA: As a lover of good English beer, it almost a certainty that if you put English or Scottish in your beer's name, I will at least try it. Of course, having lived in Britain for three years, I have pretty high standards when it comes to "British" beers, so that might be a double-edged sword. This beer poured a hazy honey color with a nice white head. The nose had the floral hop notes that I always associate with real British ale. Carbonation was good, the mouthfeel was light, and the beer left superb lacing on the side of my glass. On the palate, there was nice but balanced bitterness and more floral hop notes. It certainly displayed the "moreish" quality that British brewers strive for. An excellent brew, and one of the best efforts in this style that I've had on this side of the Atlantic! 7.3% ABV, 65 IBUs.

Anchorage Brewing's Time Waits for No One (Batch #3) Imperial Stout: Gabe Fletcher certainly knows how to brew big, burly beers, and this one was no exception. It poured thick and dark, with little to no head. The nose was rich in malt and bourbon aromas. Its mouthfeel was thick and viscous, like used motor oil, with low to no carbonation. On the palate, it was thick, rich, and oily, with a flavor profile full or sweet and roasted malt, plus chocolate notes. The finish was long and smooth, with no alcohol heat at all, despite the 15% ABV. A truly superb barrel-aged imperial stout marred only by the very high price. I can't say that it's not worth it, but I also can't say that it was a beer I could afford to drink more than once or twice.

St. Elias Brewing's Whipsaw Imperial IPA: This beer is a bit of a throwback; given the current fascination with hop varieties that produce tropical fruit flavors, to find a brew that harkens unashamedly back to the piney Pac Northwest hops is quite a pleasant surprise. It poured a deep copper color with a nice cream-colored head. The aroma is loaded with those resiny, piney PNW hops. Carbonation is good, and the mouthfeel is light. There a nice bitter attack, followed by clean hop flavors, before falling away to a nice finish. Surprisingly drinkable for a 7.8% ABV, 100 IBU beer.

St. Elias Brewing's H & H Oak-aged Pale Ale: Full disclosure: I helped design and brew this beer, so you have to take my review with a grain of salt. This beer was our attempt to recreate an extinct style of beer from Britain, known as a stock pale ale or a "yard" ale. These were strong pale ales that were aged in oak barrels for over a year; they were nicknamed yard ales because they would sit in the brewery's yard and experience the change of seasons. Obviously, doing this in Alaska was a non-starter. however, we did brew the beer in September of 2017, then rack it into oak barrels in January 2018. At that time we dosed it with Brettanomyces claussenii at 200,000 cells per ml and let it rest until mid-December. The final result is quite dry still retains some hop bitterness; it also displays oak notes and plenty of brett funk. It's more than a little reminiscent of a bottle of Orval that's been aged for 12 to 18 months, at least to my palate. All-in-all, it was a fairly unique experiment and one that we're proud of but unlikely to repeat anytime soon. So if you'd like to taste it for yourself, you'd better head into St. Elias Brewing before it's gone.

Well, I think I'll wrap this post up now. However, in closing, I'd like to remind you that I am still doing my monthly radio show about beer on KDLL 91.9 FM. It's broadcast the fourth Saturday of each month and is available via podcast at https://www.kdll.org/programs/drinking-last-frontier.
During the December show, I interviewed Barb Miller of Midnight Sun about the upcoming AK Beer Week and Mike Healy, owner of Skagway Brewing about his relocation and expansion. You can listen to that show here.

Until next time, Cheers!