Well, I’ve got one for you. Wrap your senses around a Southern Tier Brewing Company Crème Brulee Imperial Milk Stout, which is available widely around town at your favorite grog shops and at some of the beer serving venues that look for the better stuff. I discovered mine at Mo’s O’Brady’s in the Carr’s Huffman Mall on the south side of town.

Buy one of these, or order it up at your favorite watering hole, if they have it, it you can’t get it within an arm’s reach of your face before your schnauz is slapped with what you might expect of a beer with crème brulee in its name. Note that I didn’t mention stout. Yeah, this one’s stout, but not like your paradigm-driven mind might lead you to think. Your nose is going to tell you sweet, vanilla, buttery, full custard crème, and lots of it. Remember that last time you were out at perhaps Glacier Brewhouse, Sullivan’s or another fine dining establishment and you rounded out you evening with a crème brulee? This beer will take you right back there in a hurry.

So, what I’m saying is that this is not the beer you want to slaughter back after shoveling snow for 45 minutes on a cold afternoon. Finish that task, build a warming fire, grab a couple of goblets, toss your feet up on the coffee table and share this brew with the person who appreciates your hard work the most.

This one pours black. Hold it up to the fire in the background and you won’t see through it. The head is tan and holds throughout the sample, leaving interesting, conversational lacing down the sides of the glass as you relish is delicious sip after sip. And, sip you must. The intensity in aroma and flavor is almost overwhelming. Put the spoon down. At 9.6 percent alcohol, that’s easily buried in the flavor, you might have to spoon yourself to bed after drinking a 22 ounce bomber of this alluring stuff.

The flavor follows the nose entirely. Expect rich vanilla, almost oak-like notes, along with sweet, buttery essence, plenty of custard and just enough hop bitterness to keep the beer from being entirely cloying. It is cloying, but it’s balanced. Expect as well, some of that forgotten dark stout character including a compendium of dark malt essences, some rich roastiness that compliments the fire, and hopefully your mood in the background, a sweet, chocolaty center and just a hint of the big booze that might make you sleepy before you finish your pour. Feeling a little stout? Get warm with your honey after splitting a bottle of this and you might re-define stoutness.

Intensity can be good or bad in a beer, but if you look for intensity in flavor and richness, this beer truly delivers.

Get creative. Back up before the aperitif. This beer would pair lovely with a complementing, rich dessert. Did someone say crème brulee? Give it a shot. Maybe some nice seasonal chocolates that are showing up around town as we bust into the holiday season? As the label proclaims, think “black and white.”

Back up even more. Try this beer with soft cheeses. Wander into Fromagio’s Artisan Cheese at 1120 O’Malley Center Drive, Suite C, and ask one of the true professionals there what might pair up nicely with this rich, dark sweetish brew. Shhhh….don’t tell anyone, but I love the contrast between Crème Brulee and a hunk of pepperoni or wine salami right off the nub. Introduce a lamb or stew meal with this stuff. It’ll overpower lighter fare and even spicy salads, so find your match elsewhere in the kitchen. Warm up the palate before the gastrointestinal ride of making the food blend with the brew.

Southern Tier’s Crème Brulee Imperial Milk Stout is not your everyday, workhorse brew. It’s refined, distinguished and fine, but very in-your-face. It’s an oddity, but a very good one and should be on hand for whatever occasion you find fit.

Southern Tier makes a basket of different beers, not all of which we get up here in Alaska, but the brand is worthy of seeking out. Aside from this one, reach for their porter, pale, imperial IPA (if you want intensity in hops) imperial red ale (if malt forwardness is your forte) and for sure right now Pumpking (yes, I spelled that right) if you want a pumpkin-pie-in-your-face intensity that matches right up with Crème Brulee if bigness is your penchant. Okay, just find anything Southern Tier, and you can’t go wrong.

Gold Rush Liquors, Brown Jug Warehouse, La Bodega and Gold Rush Liquors (in Ester, just before Fairbanks) are best bets, although other liquor stores that pack big flavor will likely carry these brews as well.

When it comes to intensity, remember, it’s how YOU define it, not someone else, but if you like the big side, you’ll do well to monitor beers in this line.

He came up with a brilliant solution and made history in the process. “I’ll just install another 30 taps upstairs,” he said to me during a visit shortly after the establishment opened. “Oh, and those upstairs beers will all be local,” he beamed. Simultaneously he became the caretaker of the state’s most extensive tap line (pushing Humpy’s out of it’s forever position in first place) and bumping Firetap Southside out of being able to claim the most local beers in tap, if even by a few.

If all of that and the excellent food hasn’t baited you out there yet, here’s your opportunity to really relish in the experience.

I got an email the other day that was pretty plain and simple but caused me to dash out to get tickets to an upcoming event at the Alehouse. Tomter decided to get a little boastful about his trappings in Eagle River. The date for a tasting has been set for Thanksgiving eve, or November 23rd, at 8 pm. Tickets are $35 per person and there are only 90 available. But here’s what got my attention. The email simply read “Each participant gets a 5 oz. glass. We start filling pitchers. We start from light and work our way to stout! It may take a while cuz we have 30 draft craft beers to taste.”

I’m in. And, this isn’t my first blush with Tomter’s antics when it comes to beer tastings. Last spring, I got baited to Nome for the First Annual Bering Sea Beer Festival that took place in conjunction with the end of the Iditarod and was held out on the sea ice west of Nome where the teams make the turn off the ice and on to Front Street. Two breweries participated at the inaugural event: Alaskan Brewing Company and Glacier Brewhouse. The real fun was trying to consume the beer before it froze to the glasses. It was great fun, and so totally embodied the spirit of Nome and the end of the Iditarod.

It was Tomter that ferried the goods out on the sea ice in a sled behind his powerful snowmobile. He also loaned the tables and glassware for the event. And all of this was despite the fact that he was holding his own beer tasting that very evening at Airport Pizza, the most modern, beautifully appointed establishment that he then owned in Nome. Tomter’s 18 tap lines gleam in the light and his food there is legendary. He brought some of the menu items with him to Eagle River for his alehouse. And at 10 pm, the melee began. Twenty-five beers came at the attendees in the packed house in rapid fire succession. I consider myself a seasoned imbiber, but quickly found that, although I could basically keep up, I was out-beered again and again during the evening of high volume fun.

I don’t know what to expect at the November 23rd gig at the Eagle River Alehouse, but somehow I think I’m in for more of the same. If you’re at all interested, based on the Tomter’s reputation and the already huge reputation of his establishment 13 miles north of Anchorage, you’d better get your tickets quick. Oh, and if I haven’t mentioned it, a designated driver is certainly in order. I’ll see you there.

King Street Brewery

Wasn’t it just a week or so ago that I announced the opening of another brewery here in the state?  That’s right, Arkose Brewery in Palmer finally got to pouring beer back on Tuesday, October 11^th.  It was a quiet affair, but I made it out there and the beer was good.  The announcement came late and I had just enough time to jump in the Fermentomobile and rip out there to see what this new place was all about.  I wasn’t able to announce it ahead of time, or I’m sure some of you would have been out there with me.

Well, here’s your chance to participate in the opening of yet another brewery in Alaska, only this time, if you live in Anchorage, you won’t have to drive so far.  King Street Brewing Company is finally ready to showcase their beer, and if you can make it down to Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse on Tuesday, October 25, you can be one of the very first to check out the first release of a beer that’s been a long time in coming.

It was just over a year ago that I interviewed Shane Kingry and Dana Walukiewicz about them starting to put together the brewery on the south side of town in the King Street Industrial area, coincidentally, not far from where Anchorage’s first post-prohibition microbrewery opened.  I had to pause and reflect on this a bit.  Bird Creek Brewery helped pave the way for other inspiring brewers to see that craft beer does have a place here in Alaska.  That was fully 20 years ago, and the brewery’s long gone, having shut down in 1998.

I should know this because in another capacity I’m the President of the Brewer’s Guild of Alaska, but to my best estimation,King Street makes for 22 licensed brewing operations in Alaska, not all of which are currently operating.  More are in the works with HooDoo Brewing expecting to open in 2012.  I’m proud to say I’ve seen 29 breweries in operation here in Alaska, but dismayed that, because of the huge geographical dispersion of great suds across the vast state of Alaska, I’ve yet to visit them all.

Back to King Street.  Like just about every other upstart brewer, both Kingry and Walukiewicz got their start in homebrewing. Kingry estimates he’s been making beer for 10-15 years and Walukiewicz for at least 15.  Both share a huge passion for the great beer here in Alaska and wanted to step beyond homebrewing and contribute to great suds in our state.

Their ambition grew, but the brewery was a long time in coming.  Setback after setback kept them from their goal of opening in January or February of this year.  The myriad of licensing and inspection requirements that come from agencies that don’t coordinate very well with each other to help brewing upstarts along caused the delays, but the duo learned to take it in stride, consulting with other brewers around the state on how to get around some of the obstacles.

The team originally thought a 3.5 barrel brewhouse made sense, but looking around at the explosive beer market here in the state, they knew they’d quickly outgrow a small system  and opted for a 10 barrel system with 20 barrel fermenters and conditioning tanks to produce primarily Euro-style beers from the small location on King Street.

I love walking into a shiny new brewery and looking at all the gleam that comes before the steam and the smells of cooking beer.  My initial visit revealed a beautiful brewhouse with everything set up and pretty much ready to go.  Kingry proudly showed me around and his pride is easily reflected in the attention to detail and craftsmanship it took to get the place together and ready to brew beer.  At the time, the brewers were waiting for some last minute licensing hiccoughs and the arrival of brewing ingredients and the equipment manufacturer who was headed north to assist in making the brewery fully operational.

About a month ago, I got a text message from Kingry on my cell phone announcing that the brewery was moving into producing non-production test batches of beer.  Most breweries do this and make a number of batches of beer to tweak recipes and to ensure that the first brew out of the pipe is exactly what they want it to be, that they can produce it consistently as demand will call for it, and to guarantee that the beer meets the incredibly high expectations of you discerning Alaska beer lovers out there.

So, if you want to be a part of history in the making, show up at Humpy’s at 5:30 on Tuesday, October 25^th for your shot of some King Street glory.

Alaska’s newest brewery was officially opened in Palmer on October 11th. Welcome Arkose Brewing Company to Alaska’s ever-growing line up of stellar breweries that continue to put our state on the foamy map.

Owners Steven and June Gerteisen worked hard to get the beer flowing. A myriad of licensing, equipment and logistical hurdles delayed what they optimistically thought would be a mid summer opening until just recently. But, open they did, and even though they only featured one beer for the quiet affair, I was on hand to sample it and can testify that it’s worthy indeed.

I’m still doing the research, but this little brewery tucked into an industrial area behind the Alaska State Fairgrounds (650 E. Steel Loop: 907-746-BEER) may well be Palmer’s first brewery ever. It’s long overdue and adds yet another brewery within the long corridor between Anchorage and Fairbanks. If you’re worried about competition, forget about it: there’s plenty of room for another brewery and more fresh, local beer just about anywhere in Alaska, and especially in the Matanuska Valley where Last Frontier Brewing Company is the only other brewery servicing the large, geographically dispersed area.

Arkose was at least three years in the making, but it seemed a lot longer for the couple that was inspired by the mountain range and mountain that the brewery faces and is named after. Rather than look at the setbacks as daunting, Steven and June relished in the challenge of putting it all together. “It’s not about solving a problem,” mused Steven, “it’s about getting to the next one”. The couple actually learned to derive satisfaction out of finding and fixing problems and moving on to many more.

The seven barrel brewery consists of relatively standard, but brand new equipment including a hot liquor tank, mash tun, brewkettle and fermenters and conditioning tanks. What makes the system somewhat unique is the Gerteisen’s commitment to buying all US manufactured equipment despite the temptation of cheaper foreign alternatives. They even went as far as ensuring that their logo T-shirts are made in the US and of organic cotton.

No, the brewery’s not claiming to be organic although Blue Skies Golden Ale, the first of many to come, was made with organic 2-row barley, organic flaked barley and organic Fuggles hops. This one pours tall, clear and golden in the glass under an even white head and wafts off mostly light grain and malt aromas with a little bit of hop essence to spice things up.

I appreciate the fact that this hugely drinkable beer isn’t a hop bomb in aroma, flavor and bitterness, although a good bitterness snap greets the palate first, followed by a somewhat malt-forward center and just enough hop flavor to keep the beer very interesting. The light, crisp and very delicious beer weighs in at 5.7 percent alcohol by volume and features a lighter sixteen international bittering units (IBUs). The finish is squeaky clean and begs the drinker to sample again.

Blue Skies is named after June’s early morning singing habit, and her bursting out in song one day as the brewery was nearing completion and a crisp, clear fall day greeted the brewery. Think of Ella Fitzgerald’s or Willie Nelson’s rendition of the famous song and it will pop into your head and probably stay there for a while, especially if you think of it while enjoying a sample or growler of the beer.

The brewery is off to a modest start and right now the beer is only available at the brewery itself. An investment in kegs will follow shortly, enabling Arkose to get it’s beer on tap handles first in the Valley, and then hopefully here in Anchorage. A yet to be named pale ale and an IPA are snoozing in the conditioning tanks, so things are ramping up quickly at this new brewery.

So, if you want a sample, you’ll have to make the trek out to Palmer and to the brewery itself. The winter hours at Arkose are between 2 pm and 7 pm, Tuesday through Saturday. The brewery’s closed on holidays as well. If you want a peek at the brewery, tours are conducted every Tuesday night at 6 pm. Take E. Inner Springer Loop to S. Eklutna, to E. Steel Loop and look for the pretty blue building facing the northeast.

It’s worth the effort to get out there for a visit and a sample, and if you’re a big beer lover like me, consider it your responsibility to stop by and congratulate the couple and thank them for expanding Alaska’s always beautiful and always expanding beer tapestry.

Anchorage Brewing Co. Love Buzz Saison

Want to catch a buzz?  When it comes to good beer, it’s easy.  And, when it comes to Anchorage Brewing Company, there’s been quite a buzz about the beers coming out of this one-of-a-kind brewery housed in the subterranean, cavernous underbelly of the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Complex on 3^rd Ave in downtown Anchorage.

Most people don’t even know the brewery exists, and those around the world that enjoy the three beers that have come from this brewery so far often wonder where the brewery is.  There’s no sign outside or even inside proclaiming the small, but globally successful brewery under the floor of the Sleeping Lady Brewery right above it.  In fact, few people know there are a couple of entire floors below the ground floor of the complex.

Brewer Gabe Fletcher knew very well what was below the brewery and knew with a little bit of negotiating, he could put it to good use while realizing a life long dream of opening a brewery that makes all oak-aged, Brettanomyces infused high end specialty beers.  He struck a deal with the owners and set up shop down below.  And oddly, Fletcher doesn’t own a mash tun, brew kettle or other equipment to actually brew the beer.  He uses the brewery upstairs and gravity feeds the beer to the oak casks in his brewery down below.

There, each beer gets fermented and aged in oak, then bottled on his state of the art machine that cranks out the beautiful 750ml cork and bail finished bottles.  More amazing yet, all of the beer Fletcher produces is sold before it’s even finished.

The brewery was a long time in coming.  Although he wanted to be producing beers by February of this year, having started the brewery in August of last year, it was June of this year before the first beer, Whiteout Wit rolled out to market.  This was followed by Bitter Monk, a huge hop-bomb of a brew and most recently Love Buzz, the object of just about everyone’s affection.

How does this feel for Fletcher, now that he’s about six months in to actually churning out beer?  “Oh man,” he says.  “I don’t feel like I’m quite caught up, but it definitely feels good to get product out there after working toward this point for so many months.”  Not quite on schedule is okay because the beer knows when it’s ready, not some arbitrary schedule.

In between, Fletcher’s been busy expanding the brewery by adding more tanks.  He started out with a collection of about 150 massive oak casks and he now has over 200.  He’s expanding his art by adding capacity to brew a special line of sour beers that are definitely an acquired taste, but a favorite style of most seasoned beer aficionados. The most recent development is turning his brewery into an “all wood” brewery, meaning that even the fermentation and conditioning, and not just the final aging takes place in oak.  It’s possible that Fletcher’s is the only brewery of its kind in the world.

“I’m getting great reviews all over the United States for all three beers,” says Fletcher.  His product is distributed internationally by Shelton Brothers Importers and locally by our own Specialty Imports.  Based on his reputation alone, Fletcher was picked up by Shelton Brothers before he even had a brewery, and they place his beer all over the globe.

Fans are now eagerly awaiting the release of Fletcher’s fourth beer called The Tide and  its Takers, a Belgian-style tripel brewed of course with Brettanomyces and aged in French oak chardonnay barrels.  This one will feature the aromatic Sorachi Ace hops with origins in Japan and noble Styrian Goldings hops that might be a bit more familiar to some.  The last time I poked around, no one seemed to have any Whiteout Wit left, but I fondly remember the light, delicate brew spiced with lemon peel, coriander, and black peppercorn to give it an interest-sustaining slightly spicy edge and a finish that made it hard for me to put the glass down.  If you hurry, Bitter Monk is still around, and if you like hops, the beer packs 100 IBUs of them so pucker up.  Love Buzz Saison is widely available and you shouldn’t miss this one.  Amarillo and Simcoe hops give this one a nifty lemon-lime twist, and the Alaskan rose hips orange peel and black peppercorns keep it plenty interesting.

With Anchorage Brewing Company, the releases may require some patience, but there’s always more to come with Fletcher’s ambition to release six beers a year.  “I don’t think I’ll get it all up by the end of the year,” he says, “but it’s all in the pipeline.  I’m not going to rush them,” he explains of his work in which brewing is an art and brettanomyces is king.

Beer festivals in Alaska are an odd thing. In America’s lower 48 states, summer is full throttle beer festival time, and close to 500 of them are hosted around the states in the months of June, July, August and September. If you haven’t noticed, big beer events aren’t so robust up here in the summer.

The primary patrons of a beer festival in Alaska are our local residents that are looking for something fun to do. But our local residents generally have plenty to do in the summer because the fish, the fun and getting away from the norm are our favorite pastimes. Who wants to stick around town and drink beer when increasingly, we can take our favorite beer with us, or find something local and good on the way to our favorite or new destinations around the state?

And, if you’ve been out on the roads in the summer, you’ll notice that you’re sharing them with tourists that are also eager to go find a chunk of wilderness, a salmon to catch and an eyeful of our natural splendor up here. They’re not much interested in hanging around drinking beer either.

I found myself stuck in town on a summer day a number of years ago and decided to attend a beer festival that was taking place on the Park Strip between 9th and 10th streets near downtown Anchorage. It was a bright, sunny summer afternoon. Kites were flying and the mood was festive. The event was held in a cordoned off area. Live music the heads of passersby turn. The intermingling smell of food from a variety of vendors was alluring. Our local breweries supported the event and were in full attendance and our local distributors added to the mix with packaged beer from the lower 48 states and from around the world. The place was empty. I walked around the spacious event wondering where everyone was.

This is changing as the craft beer revolution and the thirst for less, but better beer continues to bait palates away from the bland, mass produced insipid lagers that frequent so many ice chests and back yard parties. I’m as apt now to show up at someone’s back yard barbeque with a six pack of something decent to find I’ve been bested by someone with as big a penchant for good beer as me but either a bigger wallet or greater generosity. People are beginning to chase and study beer like those that chase and study wine. Slowly, beer’s becoming less of a blue collar drink and more of something to be appreciated and showcased.

I was a bit apprehensive when plans were announced for the First Annual Kenai River Beer Festival in Soldotna. Soldotna’s in the heart of Alaska’s playground and people that are down there are generally there to fish in the summer, not piss away valuable time at a beer festival that showcased mostly local, but commonly available beer. It was held on August 13th at the former Glacier Pontiac dealership and lot on the Kenai Spur Highway. I chased beer down elsewhere first and showed up about 30 minutes after the festival had started at 5 pm. The place was packed and I had to park in the “south 40,” in the soft sand well away from the festival.

It was a sell-out event and the same local crowd I doubted would show up filled the place. The atmosphere was cheery and certainly not as uproarious as it is at Anchorage’s biggest festival, the Great Alaska Beer and Barly Wine Festival held here every January. In Soldotna, I felt like I was as much at a Saturday Market as I was a beer festival. Food vendors surrounded the area, and although I’m sort of a fest-food-aversive guy, I relished on more than one locally produced braut, hot dog and polish from the vendors.

The event sold out. It was well organized and well executed. When it was over, the police department actually called the event organizer and congratulated him for a zero DUI gig. Everyone I talked to said they were headed to what promises to be an even bigger, better event next year. So there is now hope for that quintessential summer beer festival in Alaska.

Here’s your chance to attend a late summer event closer to home. On Saturday, September 10th, plan on attending Bodega-Fest from 2-8 pm at Kincaid Park outside under a huge tent where upwards of 1,000 people can gather to sample local, national and international high end beers, a lot of which the La Bodega Liquor Store, the organizer of this Bodega Fest, sells the most of.

“I’m happy with the beer selection; it’s nothing but the best,” says La Bodega owner and event organizer Pamela Hatzis. “It’s all high end stuff. There are four different bands and an emcee between the bands,” she says.

If you’re bringing your sweetie along in tow and she or he is grumbling about not being a beer person, there are three tables specifically devoted to cider. “Ciders never really get featured at beer events and I wanted to showcase them a little bit, along with the mead,” says Hatzis. Celestial Meads will be at the fest as well, so that’s a treat, and Bear Creek Winery of Homer will also be serving. There’s a little something for everyone. Live music and food will be on board as well.

Tickets cost $25 and will score you a commemorative sampling glass, 12 tasting tickets, or 15 if you buy online, which I suggest you do to be sure it’s not sold out when you arrive. Additional tickets are $1 apiece, and being a huge fan of La Bodega, I know I’ll be buying more. Get your tickets on the La Bodega website at www.labodegastore.com.

If nothing else, get out there and show your support for good beer. We vote with our dollars and we vote with our palates when it comes to good beer in Alaska so show up, raise your glass and toast the continuing maturity of the good beer revolution here in our great state.

I chase beer all over town and all over Alaska and when something new pops up, I try to be one of the first to pay a visit and see what it’s all about. There’s great excitement in new restaurants and bars here because we have finite space to put them and simply because it gives us somewhere else to go in our vast, but still limited confines.

Beer’s broadly dispersed around Anchorage, but for whatever reason, at least up until now, all the movers and shakers in the craft beer scene have remained detached and disinterested in the northeast side of town. Maybe it’s the perceived demographics and the sense that the more affluent and more serious craft beer lovers live elsewhere. Nothing could be farther than the truth, but it seemed like good craft beer couldn’t get any closer.

A regional east side landmark was O’Brady’s Burgers and Brew. Owner and long time beer lover Maurice Macdonald proudly poured the best of the best from his discriminating tap line in the darkish, quiet bar attached to the more expansive restaurant in the retail area on Tudor, just west of Patterson Road. And, since this place was literally within crawling distance of my house, it often served as my last call destination on my way home after enjoying good beer elsewhere. The food was good, the atmosphere was friendly and I knew people from the neighborhood that hung out there. And, I can attest with some scientific accuracy that you could get the best Guinness Stout in all of Anchorage in this little venue. And, when Macdonald threw a party, it was a no miss event.

O’Brady’s moved in 2006 after the building lease expired and it wasn’t renewed because ownership had other ideas for the space and didn’t want a venue that served booze on the lot anyway. Macdonald is a survivor and picked up his trappings and staff and now has the same venue inside the Carr’s complex in the Huffman area of south Anchorage. I’m glad to see this because I love O’Brady’s, and many of the loyal customers continue to make the longer trek to the new location out of love and dedication to something that was truly iconic and special. But the whole thing also saddens me because it’s another instance of the slow demise of friendly neighborhood bars with deep roots of old stock customers in deference to flashy, vibrant new mall-like venues that seem to target a different market. Gone for good was a favorite neighborhood bar.

Still, I can find some cause for celebration in the fact that good beer has finally found its way into the northeast sector of town. t was really just a matter of time before the insanely popular Firetap Alhouse in South Anchorage (10950 O’Malley Center Drive) grew a clone. There are a couple of smaller venues dotting Muldoon road that have a couple of taps, but the east side of Anchorage was really lacking in a solid draught beer venue until a second Firetap Alehouse popped up in the new Takhitnu Commons Shopping Center to the west of the Glenn Highway off of Muldoon Road. The official opening was September 1st.

Patrons of the soutside Firetap will notice distinct similarities at the new venue, but it’s not an exact replica. The same signature roundish brick oven remains the centerpiece, but the kitchen’s bigger in the Takhitnu location and includes fryers and the ability to provide and expanded menu. The place is appointed differently and the feel is a bit different. Eighteen high-def flat screen TVs adorn the walls making weekend sports a feature. In fact, the place will open at 7:30 on the weekends allowing sports fans to come in, settle down, get some breakfast and get their game faces on.

Beer is a central feature at the venue, just as it is at the O’Malley location. Where Firetap O’Malley has half a dozen more, the Takhitnu location will have 30 draught beers, much of which will be local. To make up for the difference, general manager Gary McCutcheon is ramped up on the bottle and can selections at the bar and is particularly interested in riding the current canned craft beer craze by obtaining certainly everything that’s local and just about anything else he can get his hands on.

The beer selection at Takhitnu will also be a bit more international with a nod toward the more global palates soldiers and airmen at the nearby bases. The bottom line is that there will be no lack of good beer at Takhitnu, regardless of the source.

I’ll miss my neighborhood bar, but the Firetap can pinch hit and more than satisfy my craving for nearby local, national and international beers. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and see what it’s all about.

One of the best aspects of being a beer lover in Alaska is that you’re not alone.  And, this has significance beyond the enjoyment of the camaraderie of beer drinking peers.  Alaska has a hugely sophisticated palate when it comes to beer.  A region’s relative palate maturity shapes the amount of risk beer purveyors (wholesalers, distributors, retailers and publicans) are willing to accept when they bring new fermented goods into the state.  Revel in the fact that we enjoy a rather steady stream of new beer in our liquor stores and on tap and in the bottle in our favorite watering holes.

In fact, we get so much new stuff that it’s even tough for an aspiring beer writer like me to keep up with it.  I depend heavily on those purveyors themselves to alert me when new stuff comes in, and generally, I don’t get names of a single beer or two, I get extensive lists.  And, because I have to budget my liver as well, it forces me to be selective.  I don’t consider this a bad thing because a constant flow of new beer and having to be judicious keeps things exciting.

Our local brewers contribute to the mix too.  Although most breweries have their standard flagship beers that they produce on a year-round basis, all breweries are addicted to the alchemy associated with making something new, and this usually means something bigger, bolder or more bizarre.  This creates additional excitement for the consumer, but it takes keeping one’s finger on the pulse of what’s fermenting around town.

And, I’ve been accused of focusing too much on what’s on draft rather than considering the wonderful bottled selections out there, so here’s a couple of picks you might want to chase down.

Check out Midnight Sun Brewing Company’s Koyoto Rice Beer.  I don’t think Alaska’s ever seen anything quite like this.  I certainly haven’t.  This one is made using “right at about 30 percent rice, rice hulls, and the rice is sushi grade rice cooked right at the brewery and tossed into the mash,” says Jeremiah Boone, one of the brewers at Midnight Sun.  There’s also sushi grade seaweed in the beer, all on top of a premium American lager based recipe.  The hops are purposely throttled back in this one and perhaps the most interesting feature is that the beer was fermented using sake yeast, rather than brewer’s yeast.

“It’s crisp and clean. It does have some fruity esters and a very background saltiness,” says Boone.  I wondered what the sake yeast’s contribution to the beer would be.  “You definitely get some different characteristics out of the yeast,” he says.  Technically I’m cheating on this one, because like many other fine beers at Midnight Sun, it’s already available on draft at the brewery, and the bottles are following as soon as they can make it to the shelves of your favorite grog shop.

Anchorage Brewing Company’s Bitter Monk is a strong local bottled entrant.  This hugely anticipated second release from this formidable brewery just hit the shelves yesterday (8/25).  I got my sample as part of the La Bodega Liquor Store’s Beer of the Month Club, which is an excellent way to get what’s new when it’s hot off the bottling line.

This Belgian-style double IPA pours hazy orange and initially frothy in the glass under a white topper.  If you like hops, you’ll like this one.  Plenty of Apollo, Simcoe and Citra hops were tossed in the brewkettle during the beer’s manufacture.  From there, it ran downstairs into one of brewer Gabe Fletcher’s over 150 oak barrels.  This one found its way into French chardonnay wood where it was inoculated with that mysterious, lively, hungry Brettanomyces bug that adds additional nifty funk to the sweet, citrusy hop aroma that comes off the top at first sniff.  Dig around aromatically and you’ll easily find that signature horse-blanket effect common to Brett-infused beers and a trademark at Anchorage Brewing Company.

Bitter Monk, as the name might imply does pack some substantial hop bitterness, but this is amply balanced with big, bold hop flavor, the foundation malts underneath it, the Brett character and plenty of evidence of the 9 percent alcohol by volume.  Again, this one should come with a warning on the label: “For hopheads only”.  Give it a whirl and be sure to grab one for you cellar collection.

Deschutes Brewery’s The Stoic is a huge Belgian-style quadruple that weighs in at a knee-knocking 11 percent alcohol by volume.  The nose lets you know right up front what you’re in for and includes plenty of rich, sweetish malt, light tropical fruit notes, some dark fruit notes, molasses, and some Belgian-like funk that defines most beers of this class.  Malt, sweetness and more Belgian-esque elements follow in the rich flavor that adequately masks the rather sneaky alcohol effect that’s felt more in the swallow’s heat that any taste sensation.  The finish is almost vanilla like, and smooth, again, aside from the alcohol’s warming contribution.  It might be a bit short of a quadruple’s flavor punch, but it’s worthy of your palate.

Anchor Brewing Company Brekles Brown is an American brown ale with a moderate 6 percent alcohol punch.  This beer is the predecessor beer to Anchor Brewing Company and comes from brewer Gottlieb Breckle who immigrated from Germany and bought an old beer-and-billiards saloon in San Francisco called the Golden Street Brewery.  Through many iterations, 25 years later, this became the world renown Anchor Brewing Company we’re all so familiar with today and is generally credited with the birth, or I should say, the salvation of craft brewing in the United States.

Anchor bremaster Mark Carpenter recreated the recipe in part and used Anchor’s extensive library of all-malt brown ales to flesh out this noteworthy beer.  Expect a crystal clear, copper brown ale with garnet highlights  with a bold Citra hop aroma and firm malt substructure to define the nose.   Look for a malty onset  in the taste with notes of caramel and light fruit.  The Citra hops are forward in the beer, almost to the point of being distracting, but it all works out overall.  The malt underpinnings are evident and slightly bittersweet.  The finish is dry and almost zingy and refreshing.

These are but a small fraction of the noteworthy bottled beers available from here and afar.  Start making a list of the beers you discover, taking notes on the various appearances, aromas, flavors and textures.  It’s a big beer world out there, and we’re getting a lot of it right here at home.

A couple of new venues put some new color on the Southcentral Alaska beer map. Beer lovers and epicureans alike will be delighted with the announcement of the opening of a Firetap Alehouse in the Tikahtnu Commons Shopping Center in Anchorage’s east side where Muldoon peters out to the west before running into the Elmendorf AFB gate.

Welcome 30 more tasty taps to the draught offerings in Anchorage. Principal Jack Lewis and General Manager Gary McCutcheon insist the place is all about beer and I believe it. In addition to a good mix of local, national and international brands look for a healthy bottle selection and what McCutcheon hopes to be the biggest canned beer assemblage in the state. “One of the things I’m hearing a lot about is this canned beer thing. We’re very interested in that type of a program,” he says

The place is slated to open on September 1st at 4 pm. If it looks at lot like the Southside Firetap location, that’s not by accident, but you will notice differences, especially in the menu. Where the Southside Firetap relies exclusively on the signature, centerpiece brick oven with a rotating interior, the Tikahtnu location will add fryers in a larger kitchen to expand especially the appetizer menu in more of a sports bar setting. Expect the same great service, but a different beer menu that’s six handles shy of the 36 tap arrangement on the south side.

More or less half of the tap line is devoted to our beloved local selections and the rest is a mix of mostly Pacific Northwest offerings, a smattering of international selections with a nod to our well-traveled military folks on the bases nearby and a couple of crap taps for the BudMilloors diehards that will undoubtedly patronize the place.

The establishment will be airing professional sports with zeal on the weekends as the place will be open for breakfast at 7:30 am on Saturdays and Sundays. No, you can’t have a beer that early, but hang out and watch the game and slurp that first pint at 10:00 when it’s legal to have it. A “build your own bloody Mary bar” and a “build your own omelet bar” will add some fun to the mix on the weekends. Eighteen large high-def flat screens will make watching the game easy, and overflow will find it’s way into a meeting area that seats 50 comfortably with four of its own 64-inch screens.

I’m guessing the place is going to be popular, but there’s no shortage of parking in the Commons and with all of the shopping, there are plenty of diversions for the non-beer lovers in your group while you enjoy a pint or two of something tasty. Check it out.

The Eagle River Alehouse in Eagle River fills a dry gap along the corridor from Anchorage the beery destinations to the north from Anchorage. It quietly opened on August 8th and has been literally packed ever since.

If the name Matt Tromter rings a bell or if you’ve heard of Airport Pizza in Nome, you’re on the right track to getting a feel for what the new establishment is all about. Tromter built what has to be the most modern, upscale building in the weather beaten city of Nome and the food there is undeniably the best in the region. And it doesn’t suck that with 18 taps of local and craft beer brands, it’s the choice watering hole for anyone that loves high-end beer.

With a recent move to Eagle River, Tromter immediately felt the beer-emptiness in the area, although there are some local watering holes that have some good handles pouring good beer. Tropter didn’t want to just offer it, he wanted to feature it and that’s exactly what he did by installing 30 taps and over 50 bottled selections. If you surf either the draft or bottle menu, you’ll get a sense that this guy’s into IPA’s. “I have more IPAs in here than anyone else in the state does,” says Trompter of his six draught IPA selection and 19 bottled choices. You can’t argue with that.

When I drove to Eagle River to see what all the hype was about, after waiting 30 minutes for a table and ordering the best burrito I’ve ever had in the state, Trompter spotted me and sat down to chat. “You know,” he said. “I got to thinking. It’s not going to be very convenient to have my wait staff to ferry trays of full beer glasses upstairs.” He was referring to the soon to be opened second floor that adds another badly needed 30 tables to the establishment. There’s no dumbwaiter or elevator for facilitate service either, and I could see his point. “So rather than fight it, I just figured I’d go ahead and add another 30 taps up there,” he said.

This is news of beery significance. Trompter’s 60 taps will comprise the biggest tap line in the state for one, and I was doubly excited to hear that all of the upstairs choices would be local Alaska beers. Even though the Alehouse is about 13 miles from where I live, can you guess where you might find my jalopy certain nights of the week?

If you decide to visit, plan on a wait for seating as the place remains immensely popular in its infancy, and I don’ see that changing due to the feel of the place, the great service, excellent food and of course a dazzling selection of good beer.

Schwabenhof Beer

Historically, a Rathskeller is a German name for a bar, pub or drinking establishment located in a basement, or below the street level.  My first exposure to such a thing was back in the mid 1980’s in Los Angeles where I was visiting a good friend and he took me to a now forgotten place situated below street level in a busy downtown area.  Plainly appointed, only picnic tables adorned the concrete floor, and mostly bare walls and a lone upright piano stood in the corner where a featured, notable speed beer drinker entertained the crowd with both engaging tunes and an occasional speed drinking demonstration or in response to a challenger who thought he or she could do better.  Oh, and they only served plastic pitchers of cheap domestic draft beer.  That was the only beer on the menu.  People rolled with abandon, and it was all part of the mood.  I had a blast.

I don’t know of any rathskellers in Alaska, but I know of a place that reminds me of one, only it’s about as opposite as it comes when I examine the classical definition of a subterranean, rowdy, mood-oriented place.  My exposure to this particular venue came years ago as a writer for my weekly column in the Anchorage Press and I’d discovered Schwabenhof, a little German-like place perched atop a hill at mile 7.5 on the Palmer/Wasilla highway.  Back then, the food writer for the Press and I went on a double date with our spouses and decided to check this place out.

We drove from Anchorage in the spring when Ma Nature throws some interesting tricks at travelers including very icy roads and hard approaches to places in peculiar settings.  The gravel road from the highway up to the pub was iced over and even in four wheel drive, it took two (then) strong males to get out and help push the rig to coach it up the hill to the small, inviting, octagonal enclave that overlooks a great cross-section of the Matanuska Valley.  Huffing, puffing, and thirsty, we all made it to the top, scrambled out, found the entrance, and stomped our boots going into the warm, evenly lit, inviting atmosphere replete with sounds of German music, the smell of German food and peals of laughter from happy revelers from around what looked like a chapter out of Goldilocks. with oversized tables and chairs fashioned from local birch and recovered wood from the then recent Miller’s Reach fire.

We were instantly delighted.  An ancient woman with a cigarette dangling from her lips was walking around belting out German beer drinking tunes on an ancient accordion and every so often the bartender would wail out at full volume, encouraging the rowdy and willing clientele to join in.  This is where I learned the famous Ein Prosit der Gemuetlichkeit song.  The old lady would start pumping the accordion and the original owner, Bill Weith, would put down his bar towel, hoist his mug, lean backwards and start bellowing out the words.  It was impossible not to join in.

Fast forward a decade and not much has changed.  The current owner, Tom Robertson, bought the place because he loved it and wanted to preserve it.  “The original owner had a dream of owning a Bavarian style bar and German restaurant,” he says.  “He ran it for over a decade, then decided to step away from it.”  Robertson wasn’t really in the market for a bar when Schwabenhof became available.  “I wasn’t out looking to buy a bar. I live right around the corner.  I felt comfortable here; it wasn’t really a rowdy place and I liked the atmosphere and the people.  The owner was needing to sell.  Someone needed to buy this place and I thought I could make it successful and I wanted to see this place stay,” he says.

The other undeniable feature of Schwabenhof is the beer.  Even a decade ago, I was notably impressed with the draft lineup that today still features primarily classic Euro imports including such delights as Spaten Lager and Oktoberfest, Warsteiner Pils, Bass Ale, Hoegaarden Wit, Bitburger Pils and one of my all time favorites, Franziskaner Hefe, to name a few of the selections from the 21 taps.  Local offerings also color the line up.  As importantly, there’s no crap on tap from the mass-produced domestic light, rice and ice genre that seems to obscure the better offerings at other establishments.  Even without 100 percent verification, I’m fairly certain that Schwabenhof boasts the biggest tap line in the valley.

There is limited food availability at Schwabenhof due to current kitchen limitations, but Robertson’s working on that.  “It never became a full-fledged restaurant,” he says.  “We’re looking at increasing the menu, making the bread fresh and evaluate what we can really do with the kitchen we have.  We now have some limited German meals and cold German picnics.”  I appreciate the venue’s use of Mt. McKinley meats from Fairbanks and their featuring of a bratwurst that’s over a foot long.

A large outside deck that faces the north and east affords a great 180 degree view of a good section of the valley.  “We have a big barbeque out there and anyone can bring their own stuff up and throw it on the grill,” says Robertson.  This is a nice touch that was carried over from previous management.

Things are obviously hopping during the annual Oktoberfest season.  Where most venues will celebrate this global beer event once a year, Schwabenhof does it in style.  “We have seasonal beers for Oktoberfest,” says Robertson.  The O’fest is obviously a big event here.  We celebrate it for five weeks.”  The Alaska Blaskapelle Band is a standard event as are other German-oriented bands during this time.  And, music is always a feature at Schwabenhof.  Expect music at least four nights a week including live music on Friday and Saturday nights and an open mic jam session on Sunday evenings.  Schwabenhof is open daily at noon and during the week stays open at least until midnight and sometimes longer depending on the crowd.  The bar is open until at least 2 am on the weekends and often longer.

Schwabenhof is a nifty, cozy little venue that holds a lot of charm, and a draft lineup that will be bringing me back for a long time to come.