A good friend has retired from his job and is celebrating by spending the summer in Alaska, mostly fishing. After he told me about the trip, to celebrate, I invited him over to drink my bottle of Arctic Devil. He agreed to find and ship back various beer for me. He just e-mailed that I'm getting Berserker, which was at the top of my list. I told him that he should feel free to freelance with interesting the stouts, scotch ales, quads and barleywines. I gave him the BA top list as of late May with "wants" marked. My question is are there any new releases , one time offerings or the like from established breweries or any beers from newer breweries that may have just started bottling I should ask him to seek? I understand that he will mostly be around Anchorage, but will visit Kodiak and travel inland at times. Any suggestions will be welcomed.
Depending on how long he's there, it could be a big list. The obvious answers are to check the Midnight Sun Loft for new bottles, Anchorage Brewing may or may not have bottles at the brewery that aren't available elsewhere. If he ventures north, occasional bottled offerings from 49th State in Healy, I seem to recall Denali may be doing a limited bottling of something. short answer: it just depends on what you're looking for, and when he's going to be around.
In my experience, Midnight Sun and Anchorage brewing do not make bad beers. Arctic Devil barleywine is fantastic, and a helluva deal at $14 for a 22oz. Anchorage Mosaic saison, Love buzz, White out, Galaxy, A Deal with the Devil, etc. etc. are all world class. Mosaic Saison and White out are especially nice during the hot summer months.
I am probably going in August as well... @blackcloud do you mind sharing additional thoughts about visiting the area? I am thinking more about on site consumption and places to visit for good food/beer
Midnight Sun Loft - good food, the biggest selection of MS beers you'll see Anchorage Brewing - they recently opened their own brewery/taproom. definitely a must-hit. There will likely be beers here that you won't find anywhere else, both on tap and in bottles. plus, it's an amazingly beautiful space. Glacier Brewhouse - on the chi-chi side, but some of their beers are outstanding. Their flagship IPA is quite good, be sure to look at the seasonals and special releases at the bottom of the beer list. Humpy's - Best beer bar in the city, stuff you likely won't find other places. SubZero and Flattop Pizza are all run by the same folks, and the other two may have beers on that Humpy's doesn't. Taproot - Decent bar, live music, usually good tap list, nice whiskey selection. King Street - If you made it out to Midnight Sun or Anchorage, you might as well hit King Street, because it's in the neighborhood. Mooses Tooth/Beartooth- Old guard, decent pizza, solid beers. Mooses Tooth is usually packed, Beartooth has different food and usually easier to get into. They've been doing some more interesting stuff and bottling it lately. Resolution Brewing is the new kid on the block, small but friendly taproom with a rotating selection of their beers. Everything I had on my last visit was good, and while it's out of the way, definitely worth a stop. If you're looking for bottles: La Bodega - great bottleshop, awesome staff, and go next door to Cafe Amsterdam and have a pint. Brown Jug Warehouse - probably the best bottle selection in town. Might as well swing by Moose's Tooth if you go here. Other food places that I frequent when I go to ANC: Snow City Cafe - best breakfast spot in town, in my opinion Spenard Roadhouse - great dinner spot from the same owners Fat Ptarmagin - great wood-fired pizza place downtown Mexico in Alaska - good mexican joint on the south side. There are some ANC locals that come in here from time to time, I'm sure they can chime in on way more than me.
Midnight Sun is re-releasing Sloth soon, don't know if it will be the equal of the first batch, but Midnight Sun does stouts well, regardless. Anchorage Brewing has fantastic draft only stuff. Their Triple IPA is great, right up their with Notorious, which I had for the first time last month. They also still have bottles of 2013 ADWTD and Time Waits for No One available for on-site consumption.
Thank you . I passed on some of these dining suggestions to my friend, asked him to look for Sloth and reminded him that I'm now out of Arctic Devil. He's enjoying several days of fishing on Kodiak , drinking mostly Liquid Sunshine. I was very happy to learn that I'm getting a bottle of Event Horizon and a t-shirt. It does not sound like he's going inland, just back to the Anchorage area.
Seems like everyone is doing Anchorage in August. If anyone is looking for MN brews I may be able to help out. I'll be in anchorage mid-august
What weekend in August is everyone going to be there? Me: Aug 14-16. If other BAs are in town we should all get together for a beer at one of the breweries at some point.
If any of you guys are going to be in ANC on Aug 22nd, Gabe Fletcher (Anchorage Brewing) is having the Culmination again. Tickets go on sale today. Should be a good time. I'd be there, but I'll be heading back up from my PDX/SEA trip then (poor planning on my part...)
I'll be there that weekend and will be checking out the brewery out at some point, but unfortunately missed out on the tickets. Sounds like a pretty awesome event.
