The Beers of Alaska

It's been a while since my last post. All, well, zero, of my readers have surely been wondering what I've been up to, and why I haven't been blogging what I was drinking. For your information, nonexistent nosy person, I was in Alaska. We flew to Anchorage, spent 2 days there, then took a cruise down to Vancouver. We had stops at Icy Strait Point (near the village of Hoonah), Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan.  And I had a lot to drink.

In Anchorage, we went to the Midnight Sun Brewing Company. I had a Sockeye Red IPA and a Joan of Arctic. The Sockeye is a malty IPA with a nice balance which I enjoyed. Joan of Arctic is a rhubarb pale ale. It was fruity and floral but had no particular rhubarb character, with a slightly more bitter finish than I enjoy. They had a ton of beers on tap, easily 12+, and the food was good too. The next day, we headed by Humpy's, but it was crowded so we went to the pizza place next door which is apparently under the same management, Flattop Pizza. They had a bunch of beers on tap too, and there I had a Dolly Varden Nut Brown from Kassik's Brewery, and an Alaskan Brewing Co. Summer Ale. The Nut Brown was ok, a little boring tasting to me with not enough nut character. I like nut brown ales with a lot of nut (like Rogue Hazelnut Nectar). The Alaskan Summer ale was really nice. It's a kolsch and that's one that I usually enjoy, especially on a warm sunny day. It was Alaska, so it wasn't particularly warm or sunny, but I liked the beer all the same.

In Skagway, after our excursion up to the Yukon Territory (which was amazing and you should do if you ever get the chance), we went by the Skagway Brewing Company for lunch. The fries were among the best I've ever had. We liked them so much we ordered another basket of them after we finished our sandwiches. The beer was pretty good too. The pint in the picture is what my husband ordered, Spruce Tip Blonde. Spruce tips are a local thing (literally picked off spruce trees), and add a sweet sort of evergreen flavor to the beer. It was very pleasant. I had the sampler, which included Alaskan Summer Ale again (they were out of their pale ale which usually goes here), Chilkoot Trail IPA, Boom Town Brown, and Blue Top Porter. The IPA was really good. It tasted like a double IPA, very assertive yet balanced. I had a pint after I finished the sampler. The brown was disappointing. It was syrupy and thin. Unfortunately I didn't take any notes about the porter, but I don't remember anything about it in particular. 

Between a bar in Ketchikan and the bars on the ship, I think I had almost every beer that Alaskan Brewing Co makes. White ales are not, in general, my favorite style, but I tried it in Ketchikan because I hadn't had it yet. It was fine, a little orangey and easy to drink. The IPA is good, nothing special but there's nothing wrong with it either. I had it several times on the ship. The Alaskan amber is a good example of the style. Again, it's not my favorite, but I thought it was fine. The oatmeal stout was pretty good. It was creamy and not too dry. And then there was the Summer Ale, the kolsch, which I already mentioned that I definitely enjoyed. I don't think the ship ever had it, otherwise that's probably all I would have had.

Overall, Alaska has a lot of breweries and makes some very nice beers. I guess they don't have much else to do up there during the long winter. The scenery is gorgeous, and I'm very glad I went and got to enjoy many things that the 49th state has to offer.

Knee Deep Simtra

IPAs are trendy. I get it. Breweries are doing what they can to make bigger and hoppier beers. It must be paying off because so many of them have the "standard" IPA, the double IPA, and maybe even the triple IPA.  Pliny the Younger, from Russian River, is a triple IPA and is, according to many, the world's best beer. I've never tried it. As long as trying it means waiting in line for many hours at one of the very few bars that gets a keg of it, I'm not sure I ever will. Fortunately, there are others that you can get a little easier, like this one from Knee Deep. I bought it at the local beer store for $10.99, but I've seen it at the grocery store too for about the same price.

It has a big thick beautiful head. The nose is full of pine and grapefruit notes, which I expected, but it's also a little sweet. The taste is liquid hops. A tiny bit of sweetness at the end, but mostly just hops. This is what they mean by triple IPA, I guess. At 131 IBU, what else can you expect? I'm glad the hops are simcoe and citra, since those are ones I generally like. After you get on an IPA kick, you start being able to tell. Amarillo, for instance, is one I'm not crazy about.

After an hour, I left a note for myself: "Fucking strong." I drank 22 oz. of 11% beer by myself in that time, and while it's hoppy as hell, it also goes down pretty easily. Be careful out there.

I like a lot of IPAs, and some double IPAs. This triple business might be taking things a little too far, speaking just for myself. As far as I can remember, this is the first one I've tried, so I'll find another one for comparisons, but I like a beer to have at least some balance.

Hallcrest Mr. and Mrs. Smith Pinot Noir 2009

I've mentioned Hallcrest before. About a month ago I was in the neighborhood with a colleague and I suggested we go by for a tasting. We were fortunate to get to try a few wines I hadn't had before. One was a merlot that I didn't care for, but this pinot noir didn't disappoint at all. It was a little on the high side for me (about $45 before the wine club discount) but worth it.

So the other night my husband suggested opening a bottle of wine, and I wanted to get something that was new to him. He blind tasted it and guessed it was a syrah. It is a little darker than pinot noirs tend to be. It is also fuller bodied. It is not a delicate flower of a wine.

On the nose it is smoky, with blackberry and plum. it has a big fruit-forward taste, that lingers on the palate, especially in the back of the tongue. This is a good wine for someone who likes Rhone varietals like syrah and grenache but isn't always wowed by pinots. It went very well with roasted chicken.

Hallcrest has a variety of pinots to choose from, and they are always pouring at least one. One of their wine club choices is to only receive bottles of pinot noir. They do it right.