Conquering the Cold, Dark Winter - Alaskan Style!
Alaska is famous for wonderful barleywine events. The barleywine season begins in mid-December with the “12 Days of Barleywine” at the Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage. For the 12 days leading up to the Winter Solstice, over 30 different barleywines are offered from The Brewhouse, cellar aged in a large variety of barrels from many vintages -- all made with Country Malt Group malt! Guests are given a punch card, and if all 12 days are punched, you get a wonderful commemorative shirt. I have been lucky enough to sample many great barleywines over the years, and as such I have quite a collection of shirts.
The next (and largest event of the year in the area) is the Great Alaska Beer and Barleywine Festival -- or GABBF for short -- which also serves as the final event of Alaska Beer Week. The event is also held in Alaska’s largest city (Anchorage) but events are held all over the state for AK Beer Week (which has been stretched to 10 days instead of just 7). GABBF is like a mini GABF, except the only categories judged are Winter brew and Barleywine. This year was a history maker for the 26-year-old event. For the first time ever, we had a Three-Peat Winner: Kassik’s Buffalo Head Barleywine! Buffalo Head Barleywine, like all Kassik’s wonderful beers, are made lovingly with Country Malt Group malt. Congratulations to Frank and Debara!
After the Barleywine Festival we have 2 more major Beer Festivals within the next four weeks. The next event is in Alaska's largest interior city, Fairbanks, where it was negative 29 degrees when I arrived. The Beer Festival in Fairbanks is held in the Carlson Center, the city’s largest arena. Only celebrating its second year anniversary, this event was even bigger and better than last year with 58 Breweries and 165 different beers from most of Alaska’s greatest breweries. The event uniquely incorporates the idea of “Toys, Toys, Toys”. Between all the beer stations you can checkout cars, from a Hellcat Challenger to the biggest and greatest pickup trucks, snow mobiles, 4-wheelers, all-terrain vehicles and ski boats.
The next event is just one week after the Fairbanks Beer Festival. The Frozen River Fest is in Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula, and this area is well known as a fisherman’s paradise. The kicker for this event is that fact it is held ON the famous Kenai River, which is quite frozen at this time of year. This event is a favorite of our Alaskan breweries, as it celebrates everything about local Alaska; beer, food, crafts, music and people!
Alaskans like to say, “No such thing as Bad Weather, only Bad Clothing!” We don’t let things like cold, dark, or snow keep us from having a beer with good friends.
