Bill Howell's Blog, page 2

Okay, We're Full Up Down Here!

Less than a week to go on dip net season, and I'm confident that I speak for all the inhabitants of the Central Peninsula when I say "Enough already!" For the last couple of weeks, we've been inundated down here with the fisherfolk. Just turning on to the Sterling Highway means taking your life into your hands, the grocery stores are packed, and as for visiting any of the local breweries/brewpubs, good luck! I managed to slip into Kenai River Brewing last Friday to do a book signing, in the hopes of aiding owner Doug Houge in offloading some of the inventory he was so nice to buy from me. Doug told me that for the last week, they'd set a new record for food and beer sales each day. It's great for our businesses down here, but for the rest of us, man, what a hassle!

All the breweries around the state seem to be working at full throttle, trying to keep up with the summer demand. I'm frequently seeing posts about new beers being released, many of which seem to be made with fruit. So if you haven't checked out your local brewery lately, it's probably a good idea to do so and see what they might have on tap that's new.

Speaking of new, Anchorage Brewing Company will be two beers in cans on Friday, 28 July: Crazy Ray's IPA and Lines Double IPA. These will be the first two beers off the brewery's brand-new canning line. Saturday, July 29th will be The Culmination Festival ; if you're planning to attend, you'd better have your tickets already, as it's sold out. Gabe Fletcher has also released some additional details about The Deal with the Devil Day , October 28th. It's been decided that sales of the boxed set will be first-come, first-served, one to a customer, so if you want one, you had better plan on standing in line to get it.

Photo courtesy of Anchorage Brewing

Also this Saturday, the 5th Annual Beer & Bacon Fest will be happening in Anchorage:



At Midnight Sun Brewing, long-time brewer Davy Cacy has left to attend diving school. The brewery farewell party for him on July 17th, at which they tapped his last brew, Walk the Plank West Coast IPA. I'd like to wish Davy the best of luck in all his future endeavors.



Congratulations to Odd Man Rush Brewing in Eagle River for winning the Bear Paw President's Community Service Award from the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce.

Photo courtesy of Odd Man Rush Brewing

Congratulations as well to Bearpaw River Brewing of Wasilla for winning the 2017 Foraker Award for Best Family Owned Business from Alaska Business Monthly Magazine .

Photo courtesy of Bearpaw River Brewing
Girdwood Brewing now has a crowler machine, allowing it to offer its beers to go in freshly-filled 25.4 oz. aluminum cans.

Photo courtesy of Girdwood Brewing 
Seward Brewing Company and Bleeding Heart Brewery have brewed their first collaboration beer: Imperial Chowder Stout. Ingredients included potatoes from Palmer and oysters from Ressurection Bay.  Should be interesting, to say the least...

Photo courtesy of Bleeding Heart BreweryTickets are now on sale for the 6th Annual Capital Brewfest , to be held at the Juneau Arts and Cultural Center on September 23.



Tickets are also on sale for the 7th Annual Kenai Penisula Beer Festival  on Saturday, August 12th, at the Soldotna Sports Center. You can get them online or at one of the local breweries. As you can see from the flyer below, there will be over 20 breweries in attendance.


I'm still doing Drinking on the Last Frontier , my monthly radio show, on KDLL FM 91.9 Kenai-Soldotna. My next show will be broadcast this Saturday, July 29th, at 11 AM. On it, I'll be interviewing Bobby Wilken of HooDoo Brewing Company in Fairbanks and Matt Pyhala, the Festival Coordinator for the Kenai Peninsula Beer Festival . If you miss the show's broadcast, you can find a podcast of it on www.kdll.org.

Eat your heart out, Edward R. Murrow...
That's it for news this time around. I've only got one new beer review this time, though I just pulled a couple of beers out of my cellar. I haven't opened them yet, but I'm sure I will have before my next blog.

Kenai River Brewing's Grapefruit Lil' SIPA: I reviewed the base beer, KRBC's Session IPA or Lil' SIPA, back in my 9/28/2016. I liked it then and I've enjoyed it frequently since then. This version is infused with grapefruit, obviously. It poured a hazy red-gold color with a small white head. The aroma had strong grapefruit notes, almost completely overwhelming the contribution from the Citra hops. The mouthfeel was light and the carbonation was good. On the palate, there's a ton of grapefruit flavor, but it interacts well with the bitterness and citrus notes from the hops. If you really love grapefruit, you'll certainly like this beer. If like me, you're not terribly fond of it, you'll likely find this beer not to your taste. 4.5%, 65 IBUs.



That's it for this blog. As mentioned in this blog and my last one, there are many beer festivals happening in the next few weeks, so it's a good time to be making plans about which ones you'll attend. Maybe I'll see you there!

Until Next Time, Cheers!

It's Dip Net Season on the Kenai

I guess I should start off by apologizing; it's been almost a month since my last blog. Summer is, of course, a super-busy time for all Alaskans, compounded in my case by a visit from my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandkids, but that's really no excuse for letting this blog languish for so long. However, it's currently dip-net season here on the Kenai, which means it a wonderful time NOT to go anywhere or do anything away from home, so this should be a good time to get caught up.

Tickets for the 7th Annual Kenai Peninsula Beer Festival are now on sale. The festival will be on Saturday, August 12th, from 5 to 9 pm, at the Soldotna Sports Center. Tickets are available at Kassik's Brewery, Kenai River Brewing Company, St. Elias Brewing Company, or on-line at http://www.kenaibeerfest.com/. Tickets are $30 General Admission from 6 to 9 pm, or $50 for the VIP/Connoisseur Hour, starting at 5 pm. For entertainment, Meg Linsey from Season 9 of The Voice has been confirmed, along with other live bands. The early session is limited to 200 tickets, so if you are interested, you should get your before they sell out.


Speaking of selling out, if you were planning to attend The Culmination at Anchorage Brewing Company on Saturday, July 29th, I hope you have already purchased your tickets; it's now officially sold out. Anchorage Brewing has also announced that this year's Deal With the Devil Day will be October 28th. Here's what owner Gabe Fletcher had to say about it:

 This year's release will be VERY special... We will be selling a custom wooden box set containing six different barrel variations. All packaged in wax-dipped 375ml bottles. These batches were aged for 16 months. Here are a list of the barrel varieties:
Glenmorangie Scotch WhiskyApple BrandyWoodford Reserve Double OakRumCognacA special double oaked version that spent 1 year in Cognac and then was transferred into freshly emptied Woodford Reserve Double Oak for 4 months to add even more complexity.All but one of these are only single cask agings, meaning there won't be much! We will have around 340 box sets available.

If you'll be in Fairbanks in early August, it looks like there will be a new festival there. Here's the flyer for it:

click to enlarge49th State Brewing Company in Healy will be holding its annual Augtoberfest on 11 & 12 August. I've never been able to attend this festival myself, but by all reports, it's a great time. Here's the flyer for this year's festival.

click to enlarge
It's a bit of old news now, but Baranof Island Brewing Company in Sitka finally opened the taproom in its new location on Saturday, July 1.


As long as I'm covering old news, the new 907 Alehouse & Grill in Anchorage opened its doors on June 21st. I haven't had a chance to visit it myself yet, but it has a lot of beer on tap and the menu looks pretty good.


HooDoo Brewing in Fairbanks has become the first brewery in the Alaska to significantly harness solar power for its operations. Here's their press release:

HooDoo Brewing Company, began the new rooftop solar installation project as soon as snow melted off their brewery this April. The array of 60 solar panels was energized in mid-May, and will produce up to 110 kilowatt hours of electricity per day, or about one-third of HooDoo’s power per year. Additionally, it will reduce the CO2 produced by combustion by roughly 1.5 tons per month during the summer season. 

“We are a community-focused company,” owner and brewer Bobby Wilken said, noting an emphasis on providing a product and service for the people in his hometown while being conscious of the environment. “We look at this solar project as pushing our community forward. We’ll generate a nice chunk of renewable energy that runs our meter backwards and anything extra goes back into the community’s grid.”

The project is the product of a partnership with local solar company, Renewable Energy Systems of Alaska. The company spent most of the winter building out supports, reinforcing the trusses and roof of HooDoo’s 1970’s Alaska Pipeline-era building to support the weight and mechanics of the new solar project.

“They’re 100-percent committed to doing it right,” Wilken said of RES. “They’re great local business people, and they’re doing it right for the right reasons.”

Energy generation will fluctuate seasonally, due to HooDoo’s subarctic location, but will feed into the community grid year-round. Over 3,000 kilowatts have been generated from the project so far, harnessing Fairbanks’ 20+ hours of daily sunlight in June and July. Data is gauged by a real-time, cloud-based monitoring system.

“The people of Fairbanks make our product sustainable and viable, but anything else we can do to push the boundaries is absolutely fantastic,” Wilken continues. “The brewing process is water and energy intensive. The quality of our beer is our first priority, but we’re always looking for ways to make our process more reliable, more efficient and it doesn’t hurt to make our environmental footprint a little smaller.”

Cooper Landing Brewing Company made a post on July 4 stating that they hoped to have the licensing process completed and to be selling beer soon. I'll let you know when I hear more.


Midnight Sun Brewing Company will be holding several events in both Anchorage & Fairbanks this week:

Anchorage events Fairbanks eventsCongratulations are in order for both Barnaby Brewing and Alaskan Brewing Company. The former took a Gold Medal in the 2017 US Open Beer Championships with its McSteamy California Common, while the latter took a Silver Medal with its Raspberry Wheat.


Finally, I'm still doing my monthly radio show, Drinking on the Last Frontier , on KDLL 91.9 FM in Kenai. It's broadcast on the last Saturday of each month at 11 am, and then the recorded shows are available on the KDLL website. If you haven't checked it out yet, I'd really appreciate you giving it a listen and then giving me some feedback on it. There will also be a fundraiser for KDLL this Saturday, July 15th: the 5th Annual BBQ, Burgers and Blues at the Vagabond Inn from 4 to 9 pm. Kenai River Brewing donates the beer.


It's been almost a month, but I've only had four new beers in that time to review.

Boulevard Brewing's Changeling Dark Sour Ale: It poured a semi-translucent ruby color with a small, cream-colored head that dissipated to a collar. The aroma was mostly tart cherries, but there was a hint of brett funkiness. The carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was medium. On the palate, there was a nice balance of the tart cherry notes and the brett elements. Bottom line: a workman-like but not an exceptional sour. 7.3% ABV, 20 IBUs.


New Belgium Brewing's Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA: New Belgium's effort to re-imagine one of its classic flagship beers. It poured a deep, slightly red, gold color; very clear. Nice white head. The nose was primarily citrus and piney American hop notes. Good carbonation, light mouthfeel. The initial bitter attack was moderate, followed by lots of American hop flavor and aroma, before falling away to a nice finish. 9% ABV


Unibroue's Tout Le Monde Saison: Since I'm not into heavy metal, the Megadeath imagery on the label doesn't mean anything to me, but I'm always interested in trying a new saison.This one poured a clear gold with a nice white head. The aroma had the classic peppery, earthy Belgian yeast notes. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was light. On the palate, the classic saison flavors were very nice, but the dry hops claimed on the label were nowhere noticeable. The finish on the beer was also a bit thin. Not a bad beer, but nothing that any of the better saisons out there (Dupont, Tank 7, Hennepin) have anything to worry about. 4.5% ABV, 22 IBUs.


Founders Brewing's Porter: I found this at Country Liquors in Kenai when I stopped in to pick up some Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale from the same brewery. It poured opaque with a big tan head. The nose had lots of delicious roasty notes. Carbonation was good, and the mouthfeel was medium. The flavor profile was as advertised on the label: rich, dark, and sexy! I'm always a fan of a good, robust porter, and this one certainly qualifies. 6.5% ABV, 45 IBUs.


That's it for this time around. I'll do my best not to make you wait another month for the next one. In the meantime, get out and enjoy the summer sun, attend some beer festivals, and have a good time. After all, it won't be very long before fall is upon us again.

Until Next Time, Cheers!

King Street Breaks Ground

It's summer at last here on the Kenai Peninsula. The weather is sunny, the reds are running, and the tourists are in town spending money. It's a great time to be in Alaska!

There's big news from the big town. King Street Brewing in Anchorage has just broken ground on a new brewery. Opened in September of 2011, the brewery is currently in a rented location at 7924 King Street, and its rapid growth in the last few years has it straining at the seams, so a new building was the next logical step.

The new building will be located 9050 King Street, with the entrance off of 91st Avenue, a stone’s throw from Anchorage Brewing Company. The brewing area in the new facility will comprise about 10,000 square feet of the 18,000 square foot building. The new brewery will be three stories tall.  The brewery side will essentially be a single story. There will be a catwalk for customers to come through and overlook the brewing operations. The tap room will be on the east side. The second level will be unoccupied for a while and plans on that space will evolve after the brewery opens. The third floor will be an event room and some offices. The brewery current 10-barrel brewhouse will also be replaced with a new and bigger system from Specific Mechanical. Plans are always subject to change, but the target date for opening the new facility is March 1, 2018. So hearty congratulations to Shane, Dana, and the rest of the King Street team.



King Street is also holding a Father's Day Event this weekend. Here's what they had to say about it:

You repeatedly asked.  We polled anyway.  You responded with incredible force.  We finally got it.  We've brewed it!  The beer known as King Street Breakfast Hef/OJ Hef/Hop 'O The Morning/and probably a few names we don't even know about is about to be back!

We'll be tapping this wonderful beer in our tap room this Saturday afternoon.  And, we've also been planning a special treat for Dad in celebration of Father's Day!  On Sunday, we will be serving up pancakes, bacon and eggs, a perfect pairing with the Breakfast Hefe.  This breakfast buffet ($9 for adults $5 for children) will run from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM and will include fixings such as mixed berries, whip cream, and a Belgian Beer infused maple syrup reduction.  Berry smoothies and other beery =) combinations will also be available for purchase.

...because we all know that Dad would really appreciate a good meal and great beer on his day. :)

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

Resolution Brewing Company will also be having a Father's Day Beer & Brunch Event .



Arkose Brewery taps a new beer today, Green Chair Kolsch.


Midnight Sun Brewing Company has received label approval for its new Wolf Pack Pilsner. Here's the label:


It should be released in 12 oz. cans in October. Also on tap at MSBC is this year's I'll Have Another brew.



As mentioned in my last blog, tickets are now on sale for The Culmination Festival taking place on Saturday, July 29th. There are only 300 total, and at last report over 200 had already sold, so if you are planning to attend, you'd better hurry up and buy one. I've got mine...


James Roberts, who has been writing a weekly beer column in The Anchorage Press under the pen name Dr. Fermento for twenty years, has begun writing a new column entitled “Beer Frontiers” for the online magazine Crude . You can find his new stuff at www.crudemag.com.

The man, the legend...Beer drinkers in Iowa will soon be able to get their hands on an award-winning beer from the Last Frontier, as Alaskan Brewing will be on tap and on the shelves there this summer. Alaskan is partnering with Johnson Brothers Distributing to bring a variety of brews made from the glacier-fed waters of Juneau to the heartland. In a surprising way, this reestablishes a 30-year link that the founders of Alaskan Brewing have with Iowa.

Co-Founder Geoff Larson was mentored by the staff at Millstream, a craft brewery in Amana, where he worked as a short-term visiting brewing apprentice in 1985. “Iowa was where I brewed at a commercial level for the first time. Those were exciting days early in my brewing career, learning from excellent craftsmen and getting to know and appreciate the hard-work ethic of the people of Iowa. Their passion for their community and their work has left a lasting impression on me.” said Larson.

Iowa marks the 19th state of distribution for Alaskan.




Through its so-called “global disruptive growth group” ZX Ventures, Anheuser-Busch InBev has acquired a minority stake in RateBeer, one of the most popular and reputable beer ratings and resource websites in the world.

But the deal isn’t exactly new. In fact, it closed this past October following eight months of talks. It went unannounced, however—to both the public and RateBeer stakeholders—because the two sides wanted to get “points on the board” to prove the value of the partnership without the “disruption” of making it public. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.



Reaction within the craft beer community was swift and negative, with several craft breweries, most notably Dogfish Head Brewing, with CEO and founder Sam Calagione posting the following on the brewery’s website:

 We were troubled by the announcement last week that ZX Ventures, which is fully owned by the global conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev, has purchased a portion of RateBeer. We believe this is a direct violation of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics and a blatant conflict of interest. The SPJ’s Code of Ethics includes a section called “Act Independently” and includes the following guidelines:
- Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
- Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and avoid political and other outside activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality, or may damage credibility.
- Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; do not pay for access to news. Identify content provided by outside sources, whether paid or not.
- Deny favored treatment to advertisers, donors or any other special interests, and resist internal and external pressure to influence coverage.
- Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two. Prominently label sponsored content.
It is our strong opinion that ABI’s ownership of RateBeer, and other properties positioned to cover the craft brewing community like October and thebeernecessities.com is in direct conflict with multiple guidelines listed above.
To that end, we have respectfully asked Anheuser-Busch InBev and RateBeer to remove all Dogfish Head beer reviews and mentions on the RateBeer website immediately. It just doesn’t seem right for a brewer of any kind to be in a position to potentially manipulate what consumers are hearing and saying about beers, how they are rated and which ones are receiving extra publicity on what might appear to be a legitimate, 100 percent user-generated platform. It is our opinion that this initiative and others are ethically dubious and that the lack of transparency is troubling.
To our fellow independently-owned brewers, we encourage you to join us in this effort to ensure consumers continue to get the best and most accurate information about their beers. For everyone else, we encourage you to shift the sharing of your beer opinions and reviews to another platform that remains loyal to the principles of journalistic integrity. America’s Independence Day is just around the corner. Support the indie craft brewing movement!

As of now, RateBeer has not removed Dogfish Head nor any of the other craft breweries requesting removal from its website.

Personally, I've never really used RateBeer much, being more partial to Beer Advocate, but if you do use it, you might want to rethink doing so.

Lupulin powder experimentation continues. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, this hop powder is produced from whole leaf hops using a cryogenic separation process that preserves all components of each fraction. The purified lupulin powder contains most of the resin compounds and aromatic oils derived directly from whole hop flowers. It is ideal for use in the whirlpool or fermenter for imparting intense hop flavor and aroma with minimal vegetal flavor and improved yield. Anchorage Brewing held a second release of its Lines DIPA on June 9, while Girdwood Brewing is using Mosiac and Citra hop powder in its Fairy Dust Session IPA, to be released in conjunction with this year’s Girdwood Forest Fair. The beer will be on tap at the Fair’s beer garden July 7th thru the 9th.

Kenai River Brewing Company has new summer hours. Both tap room and kitchen are now open from noon to 8 PM, seven days a week.


49th State Brewing Company in Healy will be holding another Euphoria Festival next weekend. Here's the flyer:
Click to enlargeThat's about it for news this time, so let's move on to beer reviews. I've got two reviews for you this time.
Ommegang Brewing's Game of Thrones' Bend the Knee Ale: I believe this is the first one of these GOT series brews that I've tasted. It poured a slightly cloudy gold with a big and pillowy white head. The aroma had the earthy, spicy Belgian yeast notes you expect in the style. Carbonation was great, and the mouthfeel was light. The flavor profile was classic Belgian Strong Golden Ale, very similar to Duvel, with plenty of earthy yeast notes and a nice hoppiness. A delicious beer. 9% ABV.


Deschutes Brewing's American Wheat: Full disclosure, I received this beer in the mail as a free sample from the brewery. It's a new release, and apparently the first time Deschutes has brewed and bottled this particular style. It poured a slightly cloudy gold with a small but fairly persistent white head. The nose had light citrus notes. The carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was light. On the palate, the beer had light and spritzy wheat notes. Bottom line, it's a refreshing summer beer, quite light overall. 5% ABV, 25 IBUs.

That's about it for this time around. Remember to listen to my radio show, Drinking on the Last Frontier , next Saturday, June 24th, at 11 AM on KDLL FM 91.9 Kenai. If you miss it, all my shows are available via podcast at www.kdll.org. If you got any suggestions for topics you'd like me to tackle on the show, feel free to give me a shout.
Until Next Time, Cheers!

Hainesfest at 25

Last weekend I was in Haines for the 25th Annual Great Alaska Craft Beer and Homebrew Festival , aka Hainesfest. This was my third time at the festival and my first visit since 2014. As the oldest and in many ways the best beer festival in Alaska, the Hainesfest is always a great time. However, I was amazed at how much the festival has grown in just the three years since I was last there. Here's a list of the breweries that were in attendance this year:


Haines Brewing CompanyAlaskan Brewing CompanyMidnight Sun Brewing CompanyDenali Brewing CompanyDouble Shovel Cider CompanyBaranof Island Brewing CompanyHooDoo Brewing CompanyK&L DistributorsSpecialty ImportsYukon Brewing CompanyOdom DistributorsKing Street Brewing CompanySkagway Brewing CompanyBroken Tooth Brewing CompanyKodiak Island Brewing CompanyArkose Brewing CompanyKenai River Brewing CompanyWinterlong Brewing CompanyBarnaby Brewing CompanySilver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Company49th State Brewing CompanyAnchorage Brewing CompanyHomer Brewing CompanyCynosure Brewing Company
I was particularly excited to see Winterlong Brewing and Yukon Brewing in attendance. This festival is pretty much the only time you'll see beers from these two Whitehorse-based breweries on offer in Alaska. Plus brand-new Barnaby Brewing came up from Juneau, giving me a chance to meet its owner, Matt Barnaby, face-to-face for the first time, as well as a chance to sample his wares. Here are some photos I took at the fest just after it opened (before the crowds had a chance to pour in):


Now here's the fest about an hour later:



As you can see, the sell-out crowd of 1700 people pretty much fills the space. There were two music stages and a half-dozen food vendors as well. I particularly enjoyed the freshly-shucked oysters on the half-shell. Last but hardly least, I also saw this at Hainesfest:
Just two guys named Lee...
Before the festival itself on Saturday, the annual Brewers Dinner was held on Friday night. This event is limited to 300 by the size of the hall in which it is held and typically sells out within 48 hours of the tickets going on-sale in February. This year's dinner was exceptional as always. Here's what was on the menu:


Finally, you can't go to Haines and not visit Haines Brewing Company . It's one of the best breweries in the state that few people can drink since its beers seldom make it farther from Haines than Juneau or Skagway. After many long years in a tiny brewery on the fairgrounds, Paul Wheeler and Jeanne Kitayama were finally able to build a new brewery in downtown Haines in 2015. This was my first visit to their new facility and I was certainly impressed:


The brewery at 4th & Main in downtown Haines
Serving bar in the tap room
Another angle of the tap room
The brewhouse
Fenced beer garden behind the breweryWith its new location, bigger brewhouse, and greatly expanded tap room, Haines Brewing has become a real hub of its namesake community. Plus its beers are fantastic (see my reviews below). I only wish I didn't have to drive 900+ miles and cross an international border twice to be able to drink it...



Speaking of all that driving, on the way to Haines I made a quick pitstop in Palmer to fuel up my car and my stomach. I decided to grab a quick lunch at the Palmer City Alehouse  since I had not yet visited the place. When I walked in at 11 AM, I pretty much had the place to myself, so I snapped a few pictures.










The beer selection was pretty good, with lots of local options. I ended up going with a Frontiersman IPA from Bearpaw River Brewing. The menu looked pretty good as well; the prime rib dip I chose was delicious and came with copious French fries. The staff told me that it is also a pretty hopping place in the evenings, especially when there is live music. So if you're looking for a decent meal and a good beer selection in Palmer, I give the Palmer City Alehouse two thumbs up.

As long as we're talking festivals, I want to remind everyone that the tickets for The Culmination Festival (July 29th at Anchorage Brewing Company) will go on sale at 9 AM tomorrow, Sunday, June 4. You can order on the festival's website via the link above.

On my way back from Haines, I managed to visit Gakona Brewing, easily the most isolated of the breweries in Alaska that are on the road system. It's about a mile from Gakona Junction, where the Tok Cutoff intersects the Richardson Highway. For those of you who haven't been there, it's not quite the end of the world, but you have a good view of it from there. In this fortress of solitude, Ed Miner operates Gakona Brewing Company. He currently uses a 3-bbl brewing system, which is a significant improvement over the Sabco Homebrew system he started with. Not to mention Ed doesn't have a well, so he has to haul in all his brewing water! Here are some photos:

The sign for the brewery

Ed Miner in front of hi 3-bbl brewhouse
Fermenters

The original SABCO system
If you're wondering why anyone would want to have a brewery in Gakona with all the hardships that entails, here's the answer. Standing a short distance behind the brewery, I snapped these photos, looking from left to right.



That's the Copper River, by the way. For a view like that, I guess it's worth hauling your brewing water! If you're looking to sample beers from Gakona Brewing, you can find them at Humpy's in Anchorage, the Princess Lodge in Copper Center, the Trapper's Den in Gakona, and select Hacienda Mexican Restaurants .


If you missed my most recent radio show (the broadcast was Saturday, May 29th), you can listen to a recorded version of it at http://kdll.org/programs/drinking-last-frontier. My next show will be broadcast three weeks from today on June 24th at 11 AM. If you've got any suggestions for topics you'd like to see covered, just drop me a line and let me know.


Alaskan Brewing has announced a new beer for its rotating Alaskan Sampler Pack: Alaskan Cream Ale, which is following the Spruce Tip IPA and Gold Creek Ale. Alaskan is inviting people to give feedback on its website about all these beers.



That about it for news this time. I hope to have more local beer news in my next blog, as I won't be on the road for a large part of it! Here are my beer reviews:

Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen's Oude Geuze: I purchased this beer a couple of years ago as a leftover from The Culmination Beer Festival and have had it in my cellar ever since. When I opened it a couple of weeks ago, it poured a clear red-gold in color, but with very little in the way of head, and what there was dissipated rapidly to a collar. This was very unusual, as the style normally has tons of carbonation. The mouthfeel was light. The flavor profile was that of a classic geuze, tart but refreshing, yet missing the crucial element of effervescence due to the lack of carbonation. Perhaps I got a bad bottle, but it was still disappointing after cellaring it for so long. 6% ABV.




Haines Brewing's Ryepinsky Porter: I sampled this at the brewery. It poured black with a small, cream-colored head that dissipated to a collar. The nose had hints of peppery rye, along with the traditional roasted malts of a porter. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was light. On the palate, it was smooth, with lots of chocolate and roasted coffee notes, as well as a bit of pepper from the rye. Unusually, there was a slightly sweet note to the finish. Overall, a delicious porter made even more interesting by the twist of adding rye. 5.4% ABV, 25 IBUs.


Haines Brewing's Motueka New Zeland IPA: According to Paul Wheeler, he discovered this hop while visiting breweries in New Zealand and decided it would make a good IPA. I sampled this one at the brewery as well. It poured a cloudy gold with a nice cream-colored head. The nose had some very nice lemon-lime notes from the Motueka hops. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was light. Stylistically, it was closer to a more understated English-style IPA than an in-your-face American IPA. The Motueka hops give it a nice fruit-like flavor without the overwhelming citrus notes you get from some American varieties. Delicious and highly drinkable. 5.7% ABV, 55 IBUs.



Founders Brewing's PC Pils: As I mentioned in my 4/28/2017 blog, Founders Brewing is now distributing in Alaska. On my way home from Haines I stopped at La Bodega and picked up some Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale (reviewed on 6/1/2011) and All Day Session IPA (reviewed on 8/1/2014). In addition, they had a beer I had not yet tried, PC Pils, so I grabbed a six-pack of that as well. It poured a clear gold color with a small white head. The aroma had lots of American hop notes. The mouthfeel was light, and the carbonation was good. The flavor profile was clean and fresh, but the American hops were considerably more assertive in their bitterness than the European noble hops traditionally used in the style.  Not a bad beer, but for my tastes, it was really more of an India Pale Lager than a pilsner. 5.5% ABV, 45 IBUs.


That's it for this blog. Get out and enjoy the wonderful summer weather we are having here in Alaska, and be sure to drink lots of good craft beer while you're at it. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with more local beer news and reviews.

Until Next Time, Cheers!

Happy Birthday, Kenai River Brewing Company

Yesterday was the 11th Anniversary of Kenai River Brewing first opening for business, and the 1 year anniversary of the opening of its new brewery. To celebrate, Kenai River brought in the band Denali Cooks and invited everyone in Soldotna to stop by from 5 to 8 PM. I was there for the first hour or so and snapped a few pictures.

It was a great celebration, well attended by the local residents. Since moving into its new home, Kenai River Brewing has become an even more integral part of the community than it was before, plus its kitchen is serving some fantastic food. My only regret is that as tourist season ramps up, it's likely to be impossible to get in the door! So congratulations to Doug Hogue and the rest of the team; I'm looking forward to the next eleven years!

May 6th was National Homebrew Day . Here's a video I came across that celebrates the international side of homebrewing. It's worth a look:



On a less pleasant note, Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer has proposed tripling the excise tax on craft beer. Here's what Ryan Makinster, the executive Director of the Brewers Guild of Alaska had to say about it:

"In a memo dated March 6, 2017, Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, asked the House Labor & Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Sam Kito, D-Juneau, to consider legislation to repeal or amend the small craft brewer exemption. The exemption pertains the first 60,000 barrels of beer sold in state by a brewery that meets the federal definition of a small brewery.

If this suggestion is adopted, the excise for small craft breweries will leap from $.35 a gallon to $1.07 a gallon, effectively tripling the tax Alaska craft breweries pay. In his memo, Paul Seaton states that that this change will equate to $2.6 million in tax revenue to the state. What isn’t mentioned is that $2.6 million will do nothing to address the state’s fiscal gap of over $2.5 billion dollars. In addition, he fails to mention that it has the ability to stifle expansion in a growing value-added manufacturing industry, something the Alaska desperately needs as it tries to diversify its economy.

What is also overlooked is the economic benefit this industry plays in Alaska and the much greater positive effect a vibrant craft brewing industry has on the state’s overall economy. In 2015, the year of the most recent economic impact study, the industry was responsible for approximately 1,400 direct and 2,300 combined direct and induced jobs. In the same year the industry generated $340 million in direct income as well as a combined income of $492 million. This economic engine was responsible for $47 million going into the pockets of Alaskans who work in the industry while contributing $33 million to Alaskans who support the brewing industry and $16 million to Alaskans through induced spending.

In addition to the substantial economic impact these businesses play in the Alaska economy, these small businesses are an important part of Alaska communities. Alaska craft brewers are good community members who donate cash, beer, and merchandise to local and statewide causes and organizations. Many breweries in Alaska have and continue to win national and international awards, bringing acclaim to Alaska and its brewing industry. In addition, the brewers advertising and distributing outside the state, showcase Alaska and its residents to the nation and the world.

“Amending and updating this statute would create a level playing field for the alcohol industry,” Seaton said in his memo to the committee. What this proposal actually does is give large out of state brewers a leg up when competing with small Alaska businesses. Besides not having the economy of scale large outside breweries have, the cost to produce beer in Alaska is substantially higher. Out of state breweries ship the finished product for distribution in state, effectively paying for shipping of the final product once. Alaska breweries on the other hand must ship in their main ingredients like hops, barley and malt as well as their bottles and cans; a much larger amount of shipping by weight than the finished product. In addition, almost all of their heavy industrial equipment is shipped from out of state suppliers. For anyone that has ever paid for shipping from the lower 48, you know how expensive it can be. Imagine how expensive it is for the tons of ingredients and equipment required for a brewery to operate in Alaska. Due to this fact, Alaska breweries operate on a smaller margin than outside breweries and if the excise tax is tripled, the price of Alaska craft beer will have to rise to accommodate the new taxes. As with all products, there is a pain point for consumers and eventually they will choose a lower priced product rather than indulge in the higher price craft products, although they would prefer to support local.

Finally, as has been pointed out by many members of the industry including brewers, wholesalers, retailers and customers, the excise tax paid is not a 1-to-1 correlation to the final price of the product. Although the tax, in the proposed case of an additional $.71, is assessed on the product, the wholesalers will adjust their markup based on a percentage of the total cost to them including the tax, not just add $.71 to their cost. Repeat this again at the retailer level and the increase to the consumer will be substantially higher than the proposed $.71.

The craft brewing industry is one of the only growing value-added manufacturing industries in the state of Alaska. To risk harming this successful and vibrant industry for little financial gain to the state which will not make a dent on Alaska’s fiscal crisis is not only short-sighted, but misplaced."

As a representative of the BGA, Ryan has to be fairly diplomatic toward Representative Seaton; as just a private citizen of Alaska, I don't. For example, I can say that anyone who says he seeks to "level the playing field" between Ab-InBev and Homer Brewing Company, or between Coors and Grace Ridge Brewing Company, is either a fool or a liar. I realize that money is tight in Juneau and Seaton never met a tax he didn't like, but the state of Alaska already collects over $40 million a year in alcohol taxes. Trying to squeeze another $2.6 million out of the citizens of Alaska who want to support a local industry by drinking local craft beers hardly seems proper, especially if the stated goal is to make things "level" for large Outside corporations. Personally, I'm fortunate enough not to be represented by Paul Seaton, but if you happen to live in his district, you might want to keep this crap in mind when the next election rolls around...

The man who wants to tax your beer even more than it already is.
In happier news, there's been an announcement about the 7th Annual Kenai Peninsula Beer Festival . The festival is put on each year by the Soldotna Rotary Club, with all proceeds going to support local charity projects. This year's festival will take place on Saturday, August 12th, and will again be held at the Soldotna Sports Center. There will be a change in the event's hours this year, with the general admission session running from 6 to 9 PM. There will be a VIP Session (limited to 200 tickets) from 5 to 6 PM, with breweries being asked to bring a special beer that will only be offered during this session. As always, there will also be live music, food vendors, and People's Choice Awards for the Best Beer and Best Brewery. So mark your calendars and make your plans to attend what's sure to be another great festival!



I'm still on the radio. My Drinking on the Last Frontier radio program on KDLL FM 91.9 FM is broadcast the last Saturday of every month at 11 AM. If you missed last month's show, you can listen to a podcast of it on KDLL's website or just follow this link. The next broadcast will be Saturday, May 27th.

Midnight Sun Brewing has released the commercial version of last year's Big Fish Homebrew Contest Winner , Blackhawk Bock. Here's the information on it:


Midnight Sun Brewing also celebrated its 22nd Anniversary earlier this month, so congratulations to them for that.

St. Elias Brewing has a couple of new brews on tap. Here's its most current tap list:


Finally, I've seen several breweries across the state make posts indicating that they are looking to hire additional staff, either permanently or for the summer. If you're in the market for a new job, you might want to check with your local craft brewery to see if they are hiring.

That's it for news, let's do some beer reviews. Once again, I've got two reviews this time round.

Denali Brewing's Big Dipa Double IPA: This is the latest seasonal release from this Talkeetna-based brewery. It poured a dark honey color with a big, cream-colored head. The nos was loaded with the aroma of citrusy American hops. Carbonation was excellent and the mouthfeel was fairly light. The bitterness of its initial attack is strong, but not nearly as strong as you'd expect from a beer with 100 IBUs, making it much more drinkable than your typical palate-wrecking hop-bomb. The intial bitterness is followed by plenty of hop flavor and aroma. Overall, I thought it was an outstanding brew and very tasty. Plus, I love the label design! ABV 8.6%.



Trinity Brewing's Koelorado Golden Sour Ale: I've had this beer in my stash since last fall when it was gifted to me by the man, the legend James "Dr. Fermento" Roberts. Trinity Brewing is located in Denver and we don't get its beer here in Alaska, but the good doctor hand imported this one for me. Knowing it was a sour beer, I decided to let it cellar for a bit, assuming the wild/sour flavors would intensify, and finally opened it a few days ago. It poured a cloudy gold with a small white head that dissipated rapidly. The nose had all the sour notes you'd expect in a wild ale. Carbonation was low (in spite of the wax seal on the crown cap), and the mouthfeel was light. On the palate, there was plenty of tart and sour notes, but they seemed to drop off a bit abruptly, without a true finish. Not a bad beer, but certainly not as complex and interesting as many other sours out there. 5% ABV.



Well, that's it for this blog. Next weekend I'll be in Haines for the 25th Annual Great Alaska Craft Beer and Home Brew Festival , the oldest beer festival in Alaska. I believe it's all sold out, but if you've already made plans to attend, be sure to say hello if you see me. I'm always interested in hearing from anybody out there who actually reads this stuff I write. For my next blog, I should have lots of pictures and information about the festival.

Until Next Time, Cheers!

The End of April

The month of April is almost finished and spring has definitely come to the Kenai Peninsula. Most of the snow has gone and plants are beginning to awaken from their long winter sleep. Breweries across the state are doing the same, with the seasonal ones opening their doors again, while the others begin ramping up production in order to be ready to slake the thirsts of the hordes of tourist who will soon be descending upon us.  It's a busy time.
I'll be on the radio again tomorrow, Saturday, April 29th, at 11 AM. My new radio program, Drinking on the Last Frontier , will be on KDLL 91.9 FM Kenai. If you miss it live, a recording of the broadcast will be posted on the station's website in a few days. I'll be on the air the last Saturday of every month, at 11 AM. I'm always interested in feedback and suggestions, so give it a listen and tell me what you think.
Photo courtesy of Elaine Howell

As I mentioned in my last blog, 49th State Brewing's Healy brewpub is opening its doors today, while Seward Brewing Company will open for business next Thursday, May 4th. The third seasonal brewery in Alaska, Gold Rush Brewing located just outside Skagway, seems to be undergoing a bit of a metamorphosis. I haven't been able to get anyone there to respond to my queries, but based on the brewery's website, it appears that it has changed its name to Klondike Brewing Company and moved into downtown Skagway. Rumor has it that it's under new ownership. I'll keep trying to get more information and let you know if I do.


Earlier this week, I received the following press release from Arkose Brewery in Palmer:

Arkose Brewery’s logo and label designs recently won Gold in the 2017 Hermes Creative Awards competition in the packaging category. “We wanted to put the emphasis on the brewery name and to create a classic yet modern and minimalist design that is eye-catching and easy to read” says Co-founder & Creative Director June Gerteisen who is responsible for the design.

The driving force behind the design was the launch of two new beers to their lineup of 22oz bottles. Mandarina Moose Grapefruit IPA and Ovis Belgian-Style Golden Strong will join No 5 Boxcar Porter, High Ridge Double Red, and Steed Rye IPA on store shelves this summer. To support the impact of the new look & feel, all five bottled brands were redesigned.

 June explains “We wanted to increase brand recognition of the brewery itself, increase sales in Alaska and elsewhere, address the trend that consumers are loyal to categories of beer, and implement a modern minimalist design to make it easier to find our products when scanning shelves.” She describes the Bauhaus principles of style and design are what inspired the design of the logo. Those principles include a minimalist approach which features clean lines with bold, simple coloration. The new Arkose logo combines a modern font with a cursive font along with a stylized icon representing ingredients used in brewing.

 As for the bottle label imagery, the handcrafted nature of brewing was the inspiration for the labels which were hand-drawn then screen printed directly onto the bottles. “I hand drew the imagery to support the whole idea of just how hands-on our craft is and that brewing truly is a work of passion and an art form both inside and out” says June.

Mandarina Moose Grapefruit IPA features Mandarina Bavaria hops which lends fruity and citrus tones, plus grapefruit adds just the right amount of fierce brightness. It is deep copper in color with an ABV of 6.2% and an IBU of 72.

Ovis Belgian-Style Golden Strong features characteristic floral spiciness from Belgian yeast with the addition of Perle and Hallertau hops with a highly attenuated dry finish. Sparkling gold in color with an ABV of 9% and an IBU of 35.

Congratulations to Arkose Brewery on earning this award. I'll be looking to score bottles of these two new beers to sample and review.

The new award-winning logo of Arkose Brewery
Founders Brewing Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan has announced that it will begin distributing its beers in Alaska through Odom Corporation , making Alaska the 46th state to receive its beers. This is welcome news, as Founders produces some world-class beers, such as Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale (reviewed in my 6/1/2011 blog) and All Day IPA Session Ale (reviewed in my 8/1/2014 blog). Now that we'll be able to find them locally, I'll no longer have to beg my friends to mule them back up here for me to try! According to the press release, the beers will go on sale on Monday, May 8th. It also claimed that launch events will be taking place all that week and referenced the brewery's website for details. Unfortunately, when you go to it, the website has no mention of any events in Alaska. Will there be any? Your guess is as good as mine...


Back on Thursday, April 20th, La Bodega celebrated the 5th Anniversary of it's move from University Center to its current location in the Metro Mall. Hard to believe it's been five years already. Congratulations to Pamela and the rest of the team there and keep up the great work that has made you far and away the best beer store in Alaska!


I mentioned in my last blog the charity event A Cellar Tasting for Roxy that will be taking place tomorrow, Saturday, April 29th, starting at 2 PM at Anchorage Brewing Company. Owner Gabe Fletcher will be emptying out his personal beer cellar, as well as offering beers sent to him by breweries all around the country. All proceeds will be going to support the cancer treatments of his friend Roxy Wills. Instead of giving you all the details, I'd rather point you toward the excellent article from Jim Roberts in this week's  Anchorage Press;  you can read it here. Admission is $100 and there will be food and live music as well as amazing beers on offer. You can purchase your tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2921447 This event will be like a mini- Culmination , Fletcher's annual five-star beer festival, so if you can be in Anchorage tomorrow, get your ticket now. Remember, every penny is going to support a good cause.

Photo courtesy of James RobertsOn Friday, May 12th, 49th State Brewing in Anchorage will be conducting a bit of an experiment. At 4:30 PM, the brewery will tap two cask-conditioned firkins of its Solstice IPA. One has been dry-hopped with the new Cryo-Hops from Hopunion (I wrote a bit about this new product back on 3/11/2017). There other is dry-hopped with Alaskan spruce-tips. Stop in and taste the two beers side-by-side, then tell 49th State what you think.



Congratulations to Baranof Island Brewing Company. It's Medvejie Stout took Best Dark Ale and  Best in Show at the Leavenworth Ale-Fest in Washington state last weekend.

Photo courtesy of Baranof Island BrewingIt looks like Anchorage will be getting another alehouse soon. It appears that the owners of the Eagle River Alehouse and Palmer City Alehouse  will be opening the Anchorage Alehouse in the location formerly occupied by the Crossbar .


Photos courtesy of Palmer City AlehouseHere on the Peninsula, Kenai River Brewing's kitchen is now open seven days a week. The brewery also has two new brews on tap: Resurrection Summer Ale and an Oak-aged Russian Imperial Stout.

Photo courtesy of Kenai River Brewing.
St. Elias Brewing has announced that it will soon have its popular Fair Trade Coffee Porter back on tap.

Photo courtesy of St. Elias Brewing
That wraps the news, so let's do some beer reviews. I've only got two for this blog, both big barrel-aged imperial stouts.

Deschutes Brewing's The Abyss Aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels (2015): This beer came with a Best After Date of 12/18/2016. It poured opaque with a nice tan head. The aroma had elements of molasses, licorice, and whiskey. The carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was medium to heavy. On the palate, it was smooth and slightly boozy, with the molasses and licorice appearing again to contribute to its deep and complex flavor profile. There was a touch of alcohol warmth on the finish from the 13.2% ABV. As I've come to expect from The Abyss, this is a top-flight Russian Imperial Stout. The rye whiskey aging seems to work pretty well with the underlying beer.


Anchorage Brewing Company's The Darkest Hour (Batch #3 Whiskey Barrel Aged): The beer was brewed in December of 2016 and spent a year in the barrels, I believe. It poured opaque with a nice brown head. The nose was of chocolate, sweet malt, and whiskey. The carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was medium to heavy. The beer also had a rich and complex flavor profile, with elements of chocolate and roasted coffee. The whiskey elements were very well-integrated (even better than those in The Abyss); this can often be a flaw, IMHO, when the whiskey seems to just be overlaid on top of the beer. However, in this case, it was deeply intertwined with the other flavor elements. An outstanding beer. 13% ABV, 40 IBUs.



That's it for this blog. Please try to catch my radio show tomorrow, and I'll be back in another week or two with more beer news and reviews.

Until Next Time, Cheers!

The Tax Man Cometh...

We're well into Break Up here on the Kenai Peninsula and it's April 15th, traditional tax day, though our overlords have generously decreed that the peasants may delay submitting their tributes until April 18th this year. Speaking of overlords, it appears that the Alaska Legislature will be too busy squabbling over the budget to take any action on SB 76 for the second year in a row. For those of you who don't remember, SB 76 is the complete re-write of Alaska's liquor laws, the first one in over 30 years. It has the potential to be either a very good thing or a very bad thing, depending on what actually gets passed. That's true of most laws, I guess, but especially true in this case, as small changes can have huge impacts on the ability of new breweries to open. If you're interested in reading the bill (fair warning: it's a long slog), you can find the current text here. If it looks like anything's likely to happen on it, I'll let you know.

On a more upbeat note, SAK Town Liquors held its Grand Opening yesterday. The liquor store is located on the Seward Highway, just across from the Pit Bar. It's been closed since last summer, but new owner Jared Wallace has the doors open and is enthusiastic about bringing in lots of good stuff. I stopped by about 1 PM yesterday to see how things were going and sign up for the prize raffle. Here are some photos I snapped:

Exterior of Sak Town
Not a huge interior...
But it does have a 14-tap growler bar! And plenty of good craft beer!So let's wish Jared every success, and make a point of stopping in whenever you're heading into or out of Seward.

There's a new nanobrewery opening next weekend in Juneau. Barnaby Brewing will be opening for business on Friday, April 21, though for the first two days you will need to get a ticket in order to get in the door. This is due to the small size of the tasting room (only 250 square feet), so the owner, Matt Barnaby, wants to limit it to 16 folks per hour during the initial crush after opening. After 3 PM on Sunday, April 23, it's officially open to the public, no ticket required. If you want to visit on Friday, Saturday, or earlier on Sunday, call 419-0916 to reserve a spot. The brewery is located at 206-1 N. Franklin Street in downtown Juneau.

I talked with Matt a few days ago by phone. He told me that he's brewing on a 1-bbl, all-electric system from Spike Brewing; it's a Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash System (HERMS), which is very practical for him, given the small size of his brewery (only 800 square feet). He's using 1-bbl Speidel fermenters, then on to a 1-bbl brite tank for carbonation, and finally into half-barrel kegs for dispensing. Given the small size of his system, he has no plans to distribute any of his beer off-site. He will be offering four standard beers, ten rotating seasonals and five imperial brews that will also rotate. You can check out some of the beers that he intends to offer on the brewery's website. According to Matt, his brewing philosophy is to produce mostly typical American ales, but to also mix in some of the less orthodox ones, like steam beers, cream ales, and American lagers. This brewery represents the first time we've had another brewery in Juneau besides Alaskan Brewing since the Dillo Brewery, located in the Armadillo Tex-Mex Restaurant operated for a brief period in the late 1990s. If you can't make it to Juneau to sample Matt's beers, he told me that Barnaby Brewing will be pouring at the Haines Beer Fest on Memorial Day Weekend.


While we're on the subject of new breweries, Alex MacGillivray has applied for a state license to open Baleen Brewing in Ketchikan. I know that Alex has been working toward this goal for years, so it's great to see him getting close to the finish line. The brewery will be located on Mizzen Lane, off North Point Higgins Road. The press article I read seemed to indicate that there would be no objections to the license being issued, so hopefully, Alex can get things up and running soon.

In two weeks, Anchorage Brewing Company will be hosting a major charity beer event. Gabe Fletcher will be opening up his personal beer cellar, as well as bringing in other rare brews. The event is called A Cellar Tasting for Roxy . Here's what Gabe had to say about it:

This is a fund raiser to help our friend Roxy Wills with the costly out of state cancer treatment she will need. There will be food provided by 49th State Brewing Company, live music by Brandon Cockburn and the Brett quartet and many hard to find beers to taste. 100% of all money will be donated to the Wills Family.

Ther's a huge list of rare beers on offer (see Anchorage Brewing's Facebook page for the list) and your money could not be going to a worthier cause. The event runs from 2 to 6 pm on Saturday, April 29th and is limited to 200 attendees. Tickets are $100, and you can purchase them by clicking here. If you'll be in Anchorage that weekend, I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.





Glacier BrewHouse will be holding a beer dinner on Wednesday, April 26th. Here's the poster for it:

Click to enlarge
Alaskan Brewing has announced that Big Mountain Pale Ale will be joining its year-round beer lineup. Big Mountain was originally released as part of the Boundary Range Sampler Pack, and is brewed using the popular Simcoe and Mosaic hop varieties. Alaskan has replaced Big Mountain in the Boundary Range pack with a new beer, Ridge Hop IPA. This beer is brewed using a single hop variety: Azacca hops from Australia. These hops give it notes of citrus, pine, and grass. Ridge Hop IPA will only be available in the sampler pack.

Photo courtesy of Alaskan Brewing Company
A website called The Daily Meal is asking people to vote for the best craft brewery in America, so why not go and vote for your favorite local brewery? Click here to vote.

Bleeding Heart Brewery in Palmer is celebrating its 1st Anniversary today from noon to 8 pm. Congratulations to them on reaching this important milestone!




Denali Brewing Company has released a new brew is canned six packs: Big DIPA, a double IPA weighing in at 8.6% ABV and 100 IBUs!


Here on the Peninsula, St. Elias Brewing Company has its very popular Green Giant Double IPA back on tap. The brewery is also sporting a new tap list display:


Finally, though some folks seem to have thought it was an April Fools prank, I really am doing a monthly radio show about beer on KDLL FM 91.9 Kenai. The show is broadcast the last Saturday of each month, from 11 am to noon. Eventually, the shows will also be available online as a podcast, but for now, you'll need to listen to it live, either over the airwaves or via an app like Tune-In. The next one will be in two weeks, on Saturday, April 29th. Please tune in and tell me what you thing; any and all feedback is welcome.

That about covers the news, so let's do some reviews. I have three for you this time:

Deschutes Brewing's Mirror Mirror Barly Wine (2014): Another beauty from my beer cellar, this classic English-style barley wine poured a deep, slightly cloudy honey color with a good, cream-colored head. The aroma was primarily of malt notes, but there were still a few hints of hops. The mouthfeel with thick and coating and the carbonation was good. The flavor profile was rich, deep, and complex, with layerings of malty goodness, barely kept in balance by hop bitterness. Quite delicious, and an outstanding example of a straight ahead English-style barley wine. 11.2% ABV.


Lagunitas Brewing's Davey Murray's Best Scotch Ale: As anyone who has read this blog for a while knows, I'm very partial to Scotch ales. It's definitely one of my favorite beer styles, going all the way back to when I first started drinking craft beers thirty years ago. So when I saw this new and limited release from Lagunitas at La Bodega , I had to try it. It poured a clear, dark ruby color with a nice, off-white head. However, when I nosed it, I immediately realized that this was not a traditional Scotch ale, as I could pick up quite a lot of hops in the aroma. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was light to medium. The flavor profile was primarily hops and some smoke notes; the traditional malt-forward wee heavy flavor profile was nowhere to be seen. If you are a hophead who doesn't like the traditional malty wee heavy, you might enjoy this beer, but as someone who loves a good Scotch ale, this "re-imagining" of the style was not to my taste. 9.5% ABV.


St. Feuillien Brewing's Saison: A saison in a can? Why not? The unfiltered beer poured a slightly cloudy gold with a nice white head, though not as big as some saison heads. The aroma had the spicy, peppery notes I always associate with a Belgian yeast strain. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was light. The flavor profile had all the classic saison elements: earthy, spicy, and on the dry side. Overall, a very nice brew and wonderful to have available the options of cans available. 6.5% ABV.


That's it for this time. Enjoy the wonderful sunshine we've been having lately and keep drinking good craft beers.

Until Next Time, Cheers!

"It's the Latest Thing From Q-Branch. It's Called Radio."

Thanks for the hint, Mr. Bond. Yes, I've decided to take Drinking on the Last Frontier into a new bleeding edge field of communications: National Public Radio. On the last Saturday of each month, I'll be broadcasting from 11 am to noon on KDLL FM 91.9 Kenai. The show is called -- wait  for it -- "Drinking on the Last Frontier." Pretty cunning, huh? The first installment went out over the airwaves last Saturday, March 25th, and the next one will go out on Saturday, April 29th. We're still working out the technical details, but soon the shows will also be available via podcast; I'll let you know when they are up on the web.

On the national craft beer scene, the Brewers Association has published its annual statistics on the growth of craft beer as of the end of 2016. Here's the infographic with the numbers:



As you can see, the overall growth rate has slowed, mainly because acquisitions have caused several successful breweries to lose their "craft" designation. It also looks like the BA's stated goal of "20 in 20", i.e. that craft beer have 20% market share by 2020 ain't happening. Still, the numbers keep growing steadily, so that a good thing.

In more local news, as mentioned in my last blog, Anchorage Brewing has released a limited amount of Lines DIPA, a canned beer brewed in collaboration with Monkish Brewing of L.A. and using 100% lupulin powder. The release took place yesterday, but there are still some cans left for sale at the brewery today.

Photo courtesy of Anchorage Brewing Company
Gabe Fletcher has also announced that he has ordered a canning line from Codi Manufacturing, out of Golden, Colorado. The 5-head counter-pressure system should be able to handle 120 cans per minute. Gabe hopes to have it in operation by the end of May, producing 16 oz. can 4-packs of various IPAs for sale at the brewery and select local stores.

Photo courtesy of Codi Manufacturing
Just today, Anchorage Brewing also psoted the labels of two soon to be released beers:



Midnight Sun Brewing Company has announced that it is going to be adding a pilsner to its line-up of flagship brews. The brewery staff has been taste-testing various recipes. They have narrowed it down to two possibilities, which were both offered to the public a week ago, so stop by the brewery, give them both a try, and let the folks at Midnight Sun know which one you want to have on tap year-round. I'm not sure when the final decision will be made.

Photo courtesy of Midnight Sun Brewing
Photo courtesy of Midnight Sun
Midnight Sun has also announced that it will be releasing three of its canned beers in 12 packs soon.

Photo courtesy of Midnight Sun
At recently opened Girdwood Brewing, they have announced new operating hours:2 pm to 8 pm on Friday, and noon to 8 pm on Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday thru Thursday.


Seward Brewing Company has announced that it will be opening for the 2017 season on Thursday, May 4th.


Also in Seward, Kassik's Brewery will be holding a Meet The Brewers dinner tonight at The Cookery.

Click to enlarge

At noon on Friday, April 14th, Sak Town Liquor in Seward will celebrate its Grand Opening under new management. As part of the celebration, it will also be holding a free raffle for a 3-liter bottle of Stone Brewing's Double Bastard Ale. One ticket per customer and you must be 21+. There will also be free hot dogs for the first 50 people. The store will have a growler bar and a nice selection of local craft brews, so stop by and check it out if you can.

Click to enlarge
Come by and win me at Sake Town Liquors!Cooper Landing Brewing Company announced on Thursday that it had received its federal brewery license; now comes the bigger hurdle of satisfying the state of Alaska.


I've heard that starting in May, Kenai River Brewing plans to have its tasting room kitchen open seven days a week for the busy summer season. Currently, the kitchen is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Kenai River is also offering its excellent Oak-Aged Russian Imperial Stout on nitro at the brewery. It's definitely worth your time to stop in for a glass.



At St. Elias Brewing, the extremely popular Green Giant Double IPA should be back on tap sometime this week.

Current tap list at St. Elias Brewing.Moving on from news to reviews, this time around I have four big beers to talk about.

Denali Brewing's Hibernale (2016 Sour Barrel): This beer poured a clear, dark honey color with a nice, cream-colored head. The aroma was plumy, with plenty of Belgian-yeast notes. The carbonation was good, and the mouthfeel was light. On the palate, there were some tart notes, plus the classic dark fruit notes of a Belgian quad. A sour Belgian quad -- a very unusual but excellent combination. 9.3% ABV, 20 IBUs.



Alaskan Brewing's 25th Anniversary Perseverance Ale (2011): I was reorganizing my beer cellar and came across this five-year-old gem. I originally reviewed it back on 9/7/2011 and again on 10/2/2014. This will be my last entry, as this was my final bottle. Looking back at my prior reviews, I thought the beer was a little too sweet at the start but had come into a nice balance at the three-year point. So what's it like after 5.5 years? It poured opaque, and still had enough carbonation to form a nice tan head (I hadn't waxed the top, but probably should have). The nose was more subdued than at 3 years, but still had hints of sweetness and smoke. Carbonation was acceptable and the mouthfeel had lightened a bit, thanks to the beer drying out. The flavor profile was smooth and well-integrated, much drier and less sweet, but still fairly smoky. I think I could detect the beginnings of oxidation so this beer may be about as good as it's going to get. If you still have any in your cellar, I'd suggest careful monitoring on a 6-month basis at this point. Still delicious now, so don't let it go to waste. I'm looking forward to seeing how the 30th Anniversary version of this beer develops in the cellar. 9% ABV, 50 IBUs.



Anchorage Brewing's Time Waits for No One Imperial Stout (Batch #2, Portuguese port barrel aged). I tasted Batch#1 of this beer (aged in Laphroig Scotch Whisky barrel) at the second Culmination Festival and was absolutely blown away by it. (See my review on 5/30/2014.) This batch poured opaque with a small, brown head that dissipated to a collar. You could tell as the beer poured just how thick it was, like 40 weight oil! The nose was heavy with deep, rich malt notes. The mouthfeel was super thick and viscous; carbonation was okay. The flavor profile was that of a Russian Imperial Stout turned up to 11: heavy malt flavors and colossal roasty notes, plus some notes of sweetness from the port barrels. Given how partial I am to Scotch whisky, I must admit that I preferred Batch #1; however, Batch #2 is some super stuff as well. And you can take it home to drink or cellar, which you couldn't do with Batch #1. My advice is to share the bottle with a friend or two, as this is a big league beer! 14: ABV, 60 IBUs.


Anchorage Brewing Company's The Darkest Hour Russian Imperial Stout (Batch #2, Aged in Spanish Brandy Barrel): Another recent release, this beer poured opaque with a nice brown head. The nose was rich with notes of both malt and roasted coffee, plus hints of alcohol. Carbonation was good and the mouthfeel was thick and chewy. Again, we're talking huge RIS flavor profile here, with a tremendous amount of sweet and roasted malt elements, yet somehow they balance each other nicely. The brandy notes from the barrel come in on the finish and add a further intriguing element. Another kick-ass stout from Gabe Fletcher. 13% ABV.


Well, that's it for this blog. Looks like we might finally be starting Break-Up, so perhaps when next we meet spring will actually have come to here in The North Country. But for now, keep your snow tires on and keep drinking good craft beer.

Until Next Time, Cheers!

Girdwood Brewing Is Open!

It's been years in the making, but Girdwood Brewing is finally open to the public. The new brewery at 2700 Alyeska Highway opened its doors at 4 PM on Thursday. I'm not sure what it's final operating hours will be but it's open noon to 8 PM thru this Sunday if you want to stop by and check things out. I drove up yesterday to see it for myself.



The brewery is in a great location, right off the main road, with a nice view of the ski slopes from the parking lot. The tap room is beautiful, with lovely timber-framing and a gorgeous bar top made from a huge piece of Costa Rican hardwood. It's decorated with plenty of skis and skiing stuff. Here are some photos my wife Elaine took which should give you a feel for the place. Click on each to enlarge.

Brewery exterior Brewery tap room The brewhouse

Brite tank and three conical fermenters

When I was there, owners Brett & Rory Marenco and Josh Hegna were behind the counter, so I talked to them for a few minutes. They plan to take things slow at first, getting the feel for their production process and tap room demand. Eventually, they'll likely begin to self-distribute to local bars and restaurants, but they want to be careful not to get ahead of themselves. As Rory told me, "We want to make sure we can meet tap room demand before we start branching out. The worst thing would be to go into an outlet, and then have to pull back because we couldn't meet demand." Currently, Girdwood has three 20-bbl conical fermenters and one 20-bbl brite tank, but the brewery was built and plumbed to make adding up to three more fermenters a relatively easy affair; bravo to them for thinking ahead. But for now, if you want to taste Girdwood's beers, you're going to have to make the trek to the brewery.

And what about those beers? There are currently three on tap (along with Zip Kombucha), and I sampled each yesterday. While I never do a formal review based only on a sample, here are my "first impressions" of each of the three beers on offer.

L to R: AK-IPA, Down the Chute Kolsch, & Hippy Speedball Coffee Stout
Down the Chute Kolsch: An easy-drinking, clean tasting beer, with mild hoppiness. Nothing here that should scare away the Bud drinker, so this is the perfect beer for someone who's unfamiliar with craft beers. 5.3% ABV, 16 IBUs.

AK-IPA: This unfiltered IPA is cloudy in the glass, with plenty of hop aroma in the nose. While it may resemble some of the newest IPAs made with Mosiac and other hip new hop varieties, AK-IPA doesn't have the tropical fruit notes that come from those hops. Instead, it's brewed with Amarillo and other more familiar American hops, giving it a bright citrus aroma and flavor, along with its bracing bitterness. 6.4% ABV, 78 IBUs.

Hippy Speedball Coffee Stout: Black as midnight with a nice mocha-colored head, this beer lives up to its name with plenty of roasted flavors, both from the grain and the cold-steeped coffee. If you like coffee stouts (and I do), this beer is an excellent example of the style. 6.7% ABV, 24 IBUs.

So in conclusion, congratulations to Girdwood Brewing on opening its doors. I'm sure it will do a fantastic amount of business, especially when the tourists return with the warmer weather. Near as I can tell, this brings the brewery count in Alaska to 32, pushing us even higher in the breweries per capita rankings.

Before I wrap up this blog, I want to make sure everyone is aware of the upcoming Talkeetna Beer Trippin' Event . This event is organized each year by the Great Northern Brewers , Anchorage's homebrew club. This year it takes place from 3/31 to 4/2. Here's the schedule of events:

Click to enlarge
Click to enlargeHere's the menu for the Korean-themed beer dinner that will be held on Friday at the Denali Brewpub :

Click to enlargeThe Talkeetna Beer Trippin' is always a great event, so I strongly recommend attending, if you can.

That's it for this blog. I hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day and did not drink any green beer. Green beer is a crime against nature, and any brewer who dyes his or her beer green should be beaten silly with a giant shamrock...

Until Next Time, Cheers!

Dreaming of Spring

It's almost the Ides of March here on the Peninsula, and everyone is dreaming of spring. For the first time in a few years, we've had a "real" winter, with consistently cold temperatures and lots of snow, which was great. However, I think now we're all more than ready for the temperatures to start climbing and the snow to start melting away. At least I know I am.



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.

Photo courtesy of Denali Brewing Company Photo courtesy of 49th State Brewing CompanyDenali Brewing added two 120-barrel conical fermenters, while 49th State - Anchorage added a new 20-barrel tank. 49th State Brewing - Denali has also announced that it will open for business on Friday, April 28th, 2017.



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.

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:

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!



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.

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

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!