Alaska report

Alaskan wildlife in its pristine, majestic state

Back in Tokyo from our Alaska trip, and what a trip it was. Atsuko and I  had salmon straight out of the sea (which we then barbecued under the midnight sun), went hiking, camping, canoeing, took a glacier cruise, played with the nieces and the dogs, and chilled on the back deck at my parents.

Pretty much the best way to live

We packed a lot in. We even managed to run down a few locally made craft brews.

This way to the hops!

Beer in my hometown area consists of three small breweries. Kassik's Kenai Brewstop is located way out in the woods in my old 'hood, in Nikiski Alaska--about 20 miles north of Kenai. It's a 7.5 bbl system with a little standing bar and tasting area in the front. They do a great local biz selling their beer to go in growlers and party pigs, and they recently got a small bottling line. They've been going since 2006.

The owner, Frank Kassik says he got a homebrew kit for Christmas one year, did a couple of batches, thought about building a big system, then got laid off his job and just decided 'Screw it, let's do it!' and never looked back. Five years and a bunch of awards later (including a World Beer Cup bronze), he and his wife and son are brewing away, with distribution all over the state and hoping to expand to the Pacific Northwest soon.


I had a chance to hang out with him and shoot the shit while drinking various brews. I brought a bottle of 'Brownsmoke' along and got some very helpful remarks on it. I tried to get him to tell me how he went from putzing around with homebrew kits to making really world-class craft beer on a commercial scale, but he just brushed it off and said he was just lucky. Modest guy. His brews are really really good. We tried a black IPA that had just the right balance of hops and roasty flavors, a smoked barleywine that was extremely smooth and well integrated, and several other great styles. All in all it was a fine time, and I can't wait to get back up there and hang out with the Kassik's. They are mighty fine people.

Keepin' it real with Frank

We also visited Kenai River Brewing. It is located in a neighboring town, Soldotna. Kenai River is another brewhouse-in-back/ bar-and-beer-to-go-in-front kind of establishment.

Beards are optional, but highly recommended

Both times I was there the brewery was dark, and the front part was slammed with rough looking customers and only one person on the register, so I had no chance to talk about their operation with anyone. Admittedly, I was there more to try the beer anyway. Their Skilak Scottish ale is their flagship brew, but I was none too impressed with it. Noticeable DMS or some such funkiness coming through, which I'm pretty much sure isn't to style.

Yes, we can

They had a pretty good pale, and a nice flowery IPA. The real winner was this hoppy wheat beer they were selling though, which was rather like a cloudy, full-bodied and very aromatic pale ale. Yummy indeed. They are proud of the fact that they sell a lot of their beer in cans, touting the usual advantages of freshness (though for the Scottish I thought, why bother), plus the added advantage that it's easily transportable in to and out of the Alaskan bush. Funny. Overall decent beer, nothing amazing though, and not quite as good as Kassik's.

St. Elias, home of awesome pizza

St. Elias brewing is also in Soldotna. This is a pizza pub style place. Really nice, and one of the few places that we visited that wasn't overly decked out with Alaskana stuff. In fact there was none. Instead they were doing an American heartland kind of theme. Out of place, but a welcome change. The food was really good, and reasonably priced, and the beers we tried were as well. I had a nice clean Cali Common there called 'Farmer's Friend' and a tasty West-Coast style IPA called Williwaw. (That's a kind of wind that occasionally blows down off a glacier that wreaks havoc on everything in its path.) This is a family style operation, and there's like 20 of them it seems like. (Mormons maybe?) But they're doing a great job making good beer, good food, and a nice atmosphere, and we had a fine time hanging out there. They win the 'best website' award too. Checkitout!



None of these three breweries is striving to push the envelope stylistically, or get that big. Kassik told me he has no business plan, and loves it when people from Portland come in and 'suggest' ways he could improve. I kind of like that. They're just in it to make quality beer on their own terms, and above all to enjoy it. They really seem to be enriching the community as well.


So that's pretty much it from Alaska, beer wise. It was a really super trip, and getting on that plane back to muggy old Tokyo was really a drag.

 

Pulled BBQ pork and cole slaw w/ 'Morning Wood' IPA (top) and an Alaskan Blond Ale aboard the glacier cruise