Winter Marches On

We're still slogging on through another winter here on the Kenai, though with the growing hours of daylight, I think we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The winter weather was very accommodating for this year's Frozen River Fest on Saturday, February 16th. We had temperatures in the twenties and a nice ongoing snowfall during the festival itself. That may not sound appealing, but compared to the first festival in 2015 (single digits and about 25 knots of wind blowing!) it was fantastic! Here's a nice slideshow of the festival.

The producer turnout was excellent, with 18 different breweries, wineries, & cideries on hand and pouring samples. This festival has become very popular among brewers, thanks I think to both its uniqueness and its laid back atmosphere. While I was there, I did interviews for my monthly radio show with most of the brewer attendees, which you can listen to by clicking here. As good as this year's Frozen River Festival was, I'm sure next year's will be even better.

On the same day as the Frozen River Fest in Soldotna, the Fur Rondy Festival was held up in Anchorage. I really wish we could deconflict these two events, as it makes it hard on the brewers to try to be two places at once. Be that as it may, 49th State Brewing Anchorage took home the Best in Show crown (literally) from that event for its The Intrepid Imperial Stout. This particular version was brewed with Sitka spruce tips, birch syrup, & cocoa nibs before being aged in whiskey barrels. I had a sample of this brew at Frozen River Fest and found it to be excellent, so I'm not surprised it took home this award. Well done to Devin and the rest of the team at 49th State!

Photo courtesy of David Short

Some of you may know that I used to write the Alaska column for Northwest Brewing News until the first of the year when my column and the one for British Columbia were axed to reduce the page count. Times are pretty tough for print beer publications: R.I.P. Draft Magazine, The Celebrator, All About Beer. Even Beer Advocate has shifted from monthly to quarterly. Well, as of a few days ago, Northwest Brewing News has halted publication while it tries to find a new owner/publisher. Bill Metzger, who published all the "Brewing News" papers around the country stepped into controversy with an article he wrote for The Great Lakes Brewing News. If your curious, you can start with this story of Forbes.com, and find lots more info on the internet. In response, on February 19th, NWBN released the following:

"Nearly 20 years ago, Northwest Brewing News, part of Brewing News Publications, began providing the PNW beer community with a news source "of record." Over the years, the paper has covered numerous topics of interest to craft beer drinkers and brewers, profiled brewers and breweries, and reported beer-related news from Alaska to the Bay Area - something no other publication in the region has done.

The Great Lakes Brewing News, another paper under the Brewing News Publications umbrella, recently published an article written by the publisher, Bill Metzger. The article contained unnecessary, offensive misogynist language, and had very little to do with beer. Northwest Brewing News had no knowledge of or involvement in the printing of this article; otherwise, it would never have gotten past the editor's inbox.

People within the beer industry took an immediate, vocal stand against the article and Brewing News Publications on social media. Breweries that advertised in the papers pulled their ads. One of our NW Brewing News writers publicly quit. As in many similar cases recently, the public outcry sparked a reaction in which, rightly, Mr. Metzger resigned from all Brewing News operations.

Northwest Brewing News has operated mostly independently of Metzger since its founding; as publisher, he facilitated printing, shipping, and the annual writers meetings. The editor and writers determine the written content of the paper. The staff includes women as an integral part of the editorial process, and we do our best at balanced coverage of women in the industry. The article in question misrepresents the values and goals of this paper, and other Brewing News papers as well.

Northwest Brewing News is faced with a transition of ownership; that has not yet been determined. It is our hope to continue to provide thorough and informative coverage of our brewing community, and to be conscious of the diverse culture that craft beer has become. We can always be better!

Thank you to our Northwest readers and breweries who have supported us over the years. We will be in touch about changes moving forward."

To date, the Northwest Brewing News has not found a buyer, and I gather it will not be published again until it does. Despite my column getting the ax, this saddens me, as I have always thought that NWBN did a pretty good job of covering the beer scene in its area of responsibility. Let's face it: no other magazine is doing very much to cover our beer scene up here!

My last cover story at NWBN...

On Saturday, March 9th, the Brewers Guild of Alaska will be holding a Rare Beer Festival at Williwaw in downtown Anchorage. Here's a poster for it:

Click to enlarge

Moving on to reviews, I only have one new beer to write about this time, but I have something else to review: the uKeg from Growlerwerks. I resisted buying one of these for quite some time, but finally decided to give it a try. I got the plainest, cheapest version out there, a 64 oz. plain stainless one. There are also 128 oz models, and both the half and full gallon sizes come in a variety of (more expensive) finishes. The other challenge is obtaining food-grade CO2 cartridges; forget buying them online, since they cannot be shipped to Alaska. They are available at Arctic Brewing Supply in Anchorage and at other places, I'm sure. After playing with it for a couple of months, on the plus side, I'd say that when it works properly, it lives up to its hype. It keeps beer fresh and properly carbonated more or less indefinitely, or at least longer than I can let a half gallon of beer sit around without drinking it. On the downside, there is a definite learning curve associated with filling it properly, operating the pressurization system, and keeping it working right. You have to be scrupulous in following the cleaning instructions and be prepared to disassemble the cap to clean the internals on a regular basis. However, if you're willing to do that, the uKeg makes an excellent addition to your beer tools. Also, if you're a member of the American Homebrewers Association, Growlerwerks offers a pretty sweet discount.

Here's my only new beer review:

Midnight Sun Brewing's Dark Night Winter Warmer: Another in MSBC's series of limited edition canned releases, this beer was aged in port wine barrels. It poured a very dark ruby color with a small, tan head. The port barrel aging was definitely noticeable in the aroma, along with malt notes and hints of spices. The mouthfeel was light, and the carbonation was good. On the tongue, the flavors were smooth and malty, with sweet elements from the raisins and brown sugar used, plus a touch of pepper from the rye. There were distinct notes of port and oakiness, before falling away to a long finish highlighted by the light use of cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange zest. An excellent choice of style to apply this particular barrel aging regime to, and the end product is a complex but quite delicious beer. 8.7% ABV, 30 IBUs.

Well, that's about it for this time around. Talk to you again in another week or two.

Until Next Time, Cheers!

It's February...Must be Time for a Beer Fest!

It's the middle of winter here on the Kenai, with a foot of snow on the ground and temperatures in the teens. That means it's time for Alaska's only outdoor winter beer festival, the Frozen River Fest. The first FRF took place in 2015, meaning that this year's fest will be the 5th iteration. As someone who was part of the group of people who first dreamed up this crazy idea and made it happen the first couple of years, it's very gratifying to see what the Frozen River Fest has become. These days the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce runs the event (so send any compliments or complaints to them), but I still love attending each winter.

The original logo from 2015

If you're going to be in Soldotna this Saturday, the fest will run from 4 to 8 pm. Admission for non-drinkers is free, persons under 21 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, and admission for beer drinkers is $20. Breweries, wineries, & cidermakers from as far away as Fairbanks will be in attendance. Buy your tickets in advance online via this link or at the gate.

Click to enlarge

As part of gearing up for the fest, local establishments have held beer dinners in the past. This year, Kenai River Brewing Company decided to hold a beer dinner on Saturday, February 2th. Despite choosing not to advertise the event or publish the menu in advance, the 70 seats available still sold out rapidly, which is a testament to the quality of the food and beer regularly on offer at KRBC. Here's a copy of the menu:

click to enlarge

As someone who attended, I can attest to the excellence of all the courses (especially the roasted garlic soup!) and the wonderful way each of the beer choices paired with them. I sincerely hope that Kenai River Brewing can see it way to eventually offering beer dinners like this one once a month over the course of the winter season.

As I mentioned in my last blog, this is the week Skagway Brewing moves to its new location. The brewery has been posting lots of great photos of the new location on its Facebook page; they are well worth checking out. To whet your appetite, here's one of them. Note the new brewhouse visible through the windows in the background.

Photo courtesy of Skagway Brewing

Alaskan Brewing has just released its Spruce IPA again as the spring beer for this year's seasonal rotating releases. This is the second year that Spruce IPA has filled that slot. The beer won regional and international recognition, leading with a World Beer Cup gold medal in its first year as a seasonal product, and another gold in the Pacific Northwest’s Best of Craft Beer Awards. It will be available through April.

Alaskan Brewing also has a new beer in its Rough Draft series on limited release around the state:

Click to enlarge

Bearpaw River Brewing has announced that it will be releasing another batch of the iconic Valley Trash Imperial Blonde on March 16th. The brewery first reproduced this famous creation of the defunct Great Bear Brewing Company of Wasilla last August.

That's it for the latest beer news. Let's do some beer reviews.

I've been laying fairly low since my last blog post, so I've only tried three new beers.

Rogue Brewing's 2018 Old Crustacean Barley Wine: I picked this one up at the Costco in Anchorage. It poured a translucent honey color with a nice, cream-colored head. The aroma had a good amount of hop notes. Mouthfeel was medium with great carbonation. On the palate there was decent bitterness up front, followed by the strong malt notes you expect from a big burly barley wine. In keeping with the American barley wine style, the overall hop flavors were excellent. A nice example of an American barley wine, though I still can't help feeling the ceramic bottle with its swing top closure is a bit over the top. 10.75% ABV.

Bearpaw River Brewing Company's Smoked Scottish Ale with Lapsang Souchong Tea: As its name implies, there's an awful lot going on in this beer. I'm not much of a tea drinker, but I love both smoke and Scottish ales, so I decided to give it a go. It poured a clear ruby color in the glass with a small cream-colored head that dissipated to a collar. The smoke was definitely evident in the nose. Mouthfeel was light and the carbonation level was okay. The flavor profile had the clean malt elements that you expect from a colder fermenting Scottish ale, plus a strong overlay of the smoky notes. I had a hard time picking up the tea (though perhaps that's because my palate is a bit "tea ignorant"), but I finally thought I picked up some tannic dryness that could well have been the tea's contribution to the overall flavor picture. A very unusual beer, but one I found I liked, a bit to my surprise. 5% ABV.

Sierra Nevada's 2018 Bigfoot Barley Wine: Like most craft beer drinkers my age, this beer and I go way back. I've been drinking Bigfoot for over 30 years. I can remember haunting the one liquor store in Honolulu in the early 90s with a decent beer selection, waiting for the Bigfoot to appear following its annual March release. Over the course of those three-plus decades, I decided that I like it best after it's been cellared for a year. So I'm only now opening the bottles I purchased last year. This batch poured a slightly cloudy honey color with a small but peristent cream-colored head. The nose was chock full of American hops and sweet malt notes. Mouthfeel was medium and the carbonation was excellent. On the tongue it was smooth, with both hop bitterness and hop flavor, attached to the strong malt backbone. The first of the American-style barley wines and still, in many ways, the best. An American classic that is simply not to be missed! 9.6% ABV, 90 IBUs.

Well, that's it for this post. I'll be doing some interviews for my radio show at the start of the Frozen River Fest on Saturday, so if you see me there and would like to be on the radio, don't be shy. Just step up and say hello and you can tell my listeners what you think.

Until Next Time, Cheers!