South Bay, Los Angeles County, California

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	Style Series: Cream Ale
	Style Series: IPA
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	Beer Tour Britain
	Report from NHC 1998
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	From Near the Pole
	Blind Beer Tasting

From Near the Pole

By Ron Cooper

In spite of the temptation to waste time looking at glaciers, mountains, rivers, wild life (4 footed) and that sort of thing, I managed to snatch a few minutes to check out the local brew scene as far north as Fairbanks. That's about 65 degrees latitude, sunset had shortened by late July to merely 11:45 PM - not good for the nightlife.

The "big" local brewer, The Alaskan Brewery, located in Juneau, has a state-wide distribution featuring a line of mainstream ales. (Like the Northeast, most of the microbrews in Alaska hew towards the British styles) Alaskan makes the obligatory Golden and Amber ales for the neophyte and probably some others, but I wasn't able to check them all out. The Alaska Amber is better than most of its brethren, with a fair amount of hops and full maltiness - quite pleasant, although probably below the Strand Brewers hop scale

More interesting were the following micros and brewpubs:

ANCHORAGE

The Borealis Brewery is located in an industrial building in a rough and ready area of Anchorage. Their choice of name is interesting. The Japanese believe that children conceived under the Northern Lights are likely to be successful males. As a result many Japanese couples visit Alaska in winter hoping to take advantage! S.J. Klein, "President and Head Squeegee" of the brewery, thought that was a good enough omen and hopes some of the success rubs off . (Perhaps it may lead to a Japanese export market? Ron)

Judging by his beers, he's on the way. They only have a small, 7.5 bbl brewing setup right now, but expect to be adding capacity. This is less a handicap than one might think because S.J. believes in careful conditioning/maturing of his beers and the greater part of his building is given over to storage, including a refrigerated lagering room.

Beers sampled include:

Borealis IPA:	A British-style IPA, but very hoppy - perhaps even up to SBC standards! Appropriately malty. A fine, "Big" ale - one of the best I've tasted in a while.
Extreme Stout:	Like most Alaska stouts, a sweet, oatmeal type. A big beer with strong roasted and malty flavor with enough hops to balance well.
Pilsner:	Right on style (as are most of the brews I found in Alaska). Strong Saaz hop level, the long lagering giving a fine smooth, balanced taste.
Amber:	Not my cup of tea. S.J. aims for a bit more hops than most, but seems to have got it through cutting down on the malt content. I found it rather blah.

If any of you make it to Anchorage go by and visit, S.J. was very accommodating. Their address is 349 E. Ship Creek Avenue, adjacent to the railway station.

The Glacier Brewhouse is a brewpub located right in downtown Anchorage at 5th and H streets. (One of three!) Its spacious, well designed and comfortable. Their equipment is first class, I think 15 bbl capacity. Food is available, although not sampled.

They serve a generously sized sampler of a half dozen beers - enough to really taste the beers. Results as follows:

Golden Ale:	Pretty generic "training' beer to help the transition from the light lagers of the world.
Amber Ale:	Almost the opposite of the Borealis. Quite malty, but decidedly short on hops. What Dr. Volume would say is probably not printable.
Vienna Lager:	Definitely a problem here (might be a bad batch). Papery off taste, otherwise unremarkable.
ESB:	Hopes were high here. Big initial impact - lots of hops, but the initial impact is not supported by enough malt. Flavor fades as it goes down, a rather small beer. I'd rate it as an ordinary bitter, certainly not an ESB. The high hoppiness might be attractive to those who like that sort of thing.
Oatmeal Stout:	My favorite here. Definitely on-style. Good roasted flavor with a good balance of sweetness and hops. Bit reticent however - not as good as Borealis' "Extreme".
Kodiak Nut Brown Ale:	Another inoffensive beer. Reasonably on-style, but rather lower than it should be in hops. A little on the dark side for both color and flavor.

The Railway Breweryis at the northern edge of downtown, in the direction of the Borealis Brewery. Its actually in the railway station. Not nearly as smartly designed as the Glacier, but, for me, the finest brewpub in town. They've been voted the US's best brewpub by "Brewpub?" magazine and have a fine vintage atmosphere and make you very welcome. The bartender strikes you as a brewing enthusiast and we had some great discussion. No formal sampler here, the barkeeper just pulls you a snort to order. They had a very large roster of beers - I only sampled some:

Railway IPA:	Very "big" and malty, although too few hops for some of our members. Quite complex and otherwise well balanced.
Iron Horse Nut Brown:	Rather watery - I'd rate it more of a "mild". Slight off flavor.
Scottish Rail Ale:	A very drinkable beer. Very much on target with great mellow maltiness, real depth and lingering yumminess.
Solstice Gold:	Amazingly, a golden ale with HOPS! Not a great beer by any means, but almost qualifies as a regular bitter.

Other beers I didn't have time for (family commitments):

Whistle Stop Wheat
Steel Ball Chili Ale (Ugh!)
Cannon Ball Double Stout (Dry)
Gandy Dancer Hefe Weizen
Uncle Dick's Lager (Munchen Helles)
Train Stopper Belgian Strong Ale (Seasonal)

Snow Goose: A more "upscale" establishment, not visited. Its also downtown, at 3rd and G. From the outside appearance, more of a restaurant (pricey) than a brewpub.

SKAGWAY

Skagway Brewing Company bills itself as established in 1897. That's a little misleading since the current brewer, Dawn(elle) Smith reestablished the name without any continuity from the old brewery. No matter, its located in the real 19th century Golden North Hotel (1898) and makes a variety of fine beers. (Dawn is a remarkable woman who practically runs the place by herself with occasional help). Another place with substantially sized samplers - six of them and you're doing well. Here's what I tried:

Blue Top Porter:	A good porter, smooth and malty.
Red Star Amber:	Malty, slightly low in hops, like most of these tend to be.
Oosik Stout:	Named for a Walrus bone (the male member!). Another good Oatmeal Stout - must be something you need for the long, long, long winter evenings up there.
Mary's Pale Ale:	Problematical. A British style PA, but too low in hops and with a slightly sour taste. Perhaps a bad batch. (This beer was also very cloudy. Dawn does not filter her beers. In most cases they're acceptably clear, but not in this case).
Chilkoot Trail IPA:	A beer for the Strand Brewers. Good hops, well balanced with the right amount of malt, with fine, complex taste development as it goes down (and afterwards).
Klondike Gold Wheat Ale:	I'm not sure what Dawn's target was for this, but little wheat character appeared. More like a nondescript ale.

Hope that's given you a few pointers. My overall feeling is that the long winter evenings are put to good use up there. (Bars used to be open until 5 AM with 1 hour cleanup time before 6 AM opening! Now they have to close at 3 - hard to take). Overall, considering how early it is in the Alaskan brewing development, the standard of brewing puts S. Calif. to shame and has to be comparable to early days in the Northwest and Northeast.

If you get up that way, look up some of the places and bring back an update report for the Dregs.