It was announced recently that in the state of Washington, a pilot program has been approved that will allow beer and wine tastings to be held in 30 grocery stores as part of a pilot project that’s aimed and promoting local products. The measure passed the senate 29-17 and is headed to the governor. With the governor’s nod, the select grocers will be able to provide shoppers with up to four-ounce samples. “Supporters say it allows small wineries or breweries with no marketing budget to get their products out to the public,” according to an AP news feed.
What does this tell you about the culture in Washington vs. here in Alaska where grocers can’t even SELL beer or wine in the store? Don’t get me started. Too late, I’m started. What it tells me is that either Washington’s government is a little more grown up than ours or there less easily swayed by the neoprohibitionists who consider alcohol in any quantity evil. Oh, sure, in fairness, there was some resistance. Naturally, opponents tried to block the bill because they claim it would expose children to alcohol consumption. Maybe we should leave that decision up to the parents that haul their kids into the grocery store. These are the same anti-fat and anti-sugar mommies and daddies that drag their kids through Costco and don’t have any problem with the food samples there. No one should take issue with in-store beer or wine samples. If you don’t care for it, push your cart on around it and don’t look back.
It also tells me that Washington’s legislature understands what it takes to be a small, struggling brewery or winery amidst a land of giants with all of the marketing bucks they can spend. Can you imagine the impact that allowing Midnight Sun, Glacier Brewhouse, The Moose’s Tooth, Silver Gulch, Kassiks’ or any of the others to set up a small booth at one of the more frequented Carr’s stores in their area during tourist season and offering a small sample of their beer to locals and tourists alike? I think the effect would be immediate and profound, even though these same samplers couldn’t go look for the product in the store. Most of the larger stores have adjacent or attached liquor stores anyway, which makes the no-booze-sales-in-the-store stupider yet and drives up costs at the same time.
Personally, I applaud this move and wish we could see similar initiatives up here.
The 2nd Annual Goblets of Gold Mead Competition sponsored by The Ring of Fire Meadery in Homer continues to take shape. This American Homebrewers Association sanctioned event takes place in homer, but interested zymurgists can enter their mead in Anchorage. The judging takes place on May 10th at the Ring of Fire Meadery, but entries can be dropped off at Arctic Brewing Supply in Anchorage between April 28th and May 3rd during normal store hours (call 907-561-5771 for hours) and at The Homebrew Shop in Homer (3939 Lake Street: 907-235-1470) during their normal store hours as well between May 1-9.
Entry parameters are slightly different than homebrewers might be used to. Yes, BJCP style guidelines apply, but to enter, you’ll need to provide a minimum of two .750 ml bottles of mead or three 12 ounce bottles. The fee is $5.00 per entry. 
One thing to consider when pondering whether or not to enter the event is that perhaps more so than anywhere else on earth, you can be guaranteed that your mead will be professionally evaluated by a trained panel of mostly certified judges. Alaska boasts more Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judges than any other state in the nation, and Alaska is probably more serious about mead than anywhere else in the world. If you want to see how your mead stacks up, this is the event.
Prizes will be awarded for winners within each of the mead styles and for a Best of Show entrant. Perhaps even more valuable is the chance for the winner to make the winning mead commercially at the Ring of Fire Meadery sometime in the future. The award ceremony will follow the judging and will take place at 6:00 pm also at Ring of Fire Meadery.
If you need more detailed information, contact Laurence Livingston at Ring of Fire at (907) 235-2656 or email him at ringoffiremeadery@alaska.net.
If you’re making beer, the next homebrew competition in Anchorage is the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company Breakup Homebrew Competition on March 22nd. Entries can be dropped off at the brewery on March 19th after 12:00 pm. There is no entry fee for this competition, but the styles are limited to English ales, American ales and hybrid styles as defined by the American Homebrewer’s Association Beer Judge Certification Style Guidelines. One of the objectives of this competition is to 
discern three beers (one within each of these styles) to be brewed commercially at the Sleeping Lady Brewing Company throughout the summer. The beers that will be brewed are summer-oriented, so keep the original gravity at or below 1.060. Judging will take place on Saturday, March 22nd starting at 10:30 am at the restaurant. Contact Ira Edwards at (907) 440-9112 for more specific information or email him at ira_j_e@hotmail.com. This is a great opportunity not only to enter your beers but participate in the judging as well.
Before I shamelessly steal any more valuable beer event information from his site, be sure and visit Scott Stihler’s awesome Alaska Beer EventsSite (website) at http://mosquitobytes.com/Den/Beer/Events/Events.html. Scott does an incredible job of chronicling upcoming events throughout the year all across the state. The site is thorough and very detailed. For example, check it out to see his expanded coverage on the Goose homebrew competition mentioned above. When I write my weekly blog, I consistently consult his website because he seems to garner the best information before anyone else. Thanks Scott.
I talked to Drew at the Glacier Brewhouse to see what was new. Brewer Kevin Burton was up in Nome participating in the Iditarod in some capacity. It sounded like Drew was behaving himself in Burton’s absence. Left unattended, I’d probably just get a straw and pull up a chair, if you know what I mean. Right now, the brewery is moving a lot of Beam Stout in growlers. I asked if there had been any resolution on the establishments two most plaguing problems (in Fermento’s opinion) which are parking and fermenter space. They’re already gearing 
up for those swooning summer months where they can barely keep up and I have to park in Wasilla to get close to the brewery with the downtown construction and traffic issues. Drew did mention that the brewery got a forklift. Exciting stuff.
Last week I highlighted the release of the coveted Samichlaus in .750 ml boxed cases. At the time, it wasn’t known where the goods might show up for sale, but as of today, that includes the Brown Jug store on 88th and Old Seward, The Brown Jug Warehouse, La Bodega, Gold Rush Liquors, Gold Hill Liquors in Ester, and the Brown Jug store in Wasilla. If you’re a collector, these are definitely collector pieces so shop quickly.
For the Southsiders, this week at the Tap Root Café, expect to find North Coast Brewing Company’s Pranqster Belgian-style Ale; Midnight Sun Brewing Company’s Epluche Culotte Belgian-Style Ale, Sockeye Red, Kodiak Nut Brown, and Oosik Amber; Kassik’s Kenai Brew Stop’s Roughneck Stout and Beavertail Blonde and the Sleeping Lady Brewing Company’s Frozen Kriek Chocolate Wheat. Ring of Fire Meadery’s Pear Cyser is on tap from Homer, and from across the pond, look for Liefman’s Framboizenbier. Once the North Coast Pranqster blows, Brother Thelonious is waiting to step up to the tap line.
I was hankering for a pizza so I jetted into the midtown Moose’s Tooth Pub &Pizzeria for a pie the other night and to sample this month’s First Tap Selection. RG Gunslinger is an American amber by style. I was rewarded with a fruity nose and the evidence of ample malts. My sample was served very cold which may have been responsible for only a low perception of some lightly perfume-y hops in the background. The hops definitely show up in the flavor with initial but quickly passing bitterness, the crystal and other medium malts used in the beer’s production and even the evidence of the beer’s 5.6 percent alcohol by volume. The bitterness fades, but then returns to linger into the beer’s somewhat dry finish. I loved the carbonation on the beer; it added a nice zing and helped balance the beer’s somewhat sweet character. If there’s any defect it’s a feint hit of diacetyl in the background of the taste.
Although there were 15 mainstream Tooth beers on line, I opted for the standout, the Williwaw Winter. I’ve always liked this beer. I hate to make comparisons, but it’s similar to Alaskan’s Winter Ale in many respects, so if you’re familiar with that beer, you know what I’m talking about. Of course, there’s no spruce in the Williwaw, but it’s a little fuller across the palate, but very evenly balanced, richly malty and complex and a joy to drink.
Had I more time, I would have delved into the Barley Wine ’07 and the Darth Delirium ’08, but after salad and a huge pie, it wasn’t my liver telling me to get out of there, it was my gut. Other tap selections include Klondike Golden, Spenard Night Life, Northern Lights Amber, Polar Pale Ale, Raspberry Wheat, Hard Apple Ale, Moose’s Tooth Hefeweizen, Pipeline Stout, Prince William’s Porter, Midtown Brown, Fairweather IPA, Moonflower ESB and Bear Tooth Ale. There’s no lack of good stuff to chug down with the good food over there, and I was overdue for a visit.
Quick reminder: If you happen to be in Seattle this weekend, don’t forget the 6th Annual Hard Liver Barleywine Fest at the Brouwer’s Café starting at 11:00 am. Visit hardliver.com for details, directions and the like.
If you’re here in town this weekend, plan on attending the Café Amsterdam/Midnight Sun Brewing Company Firkin Saturday where 
Obliteration III will be released starting at 6:00 PM on Saturday, March 15. Café’s Ken Pajak will be whippin’ up some of his famous Irish Stew for the gig so come with an appetite as well. I’ll be out of town in Hope so someone get my share for me.
I ran across something interesting at the Fred Meyer liquor store on the corner of Debarr and Muldoon the other day. It was a six pack of IPA from the Fiddler’s Green Brewing Company of Utica, New York. I thought “What the hell?” How did this slip under the radar? It turns out that Fiddler’s Green is actually brewed by Matt Brewing Company of Utica. Yeah, I know. So what. What’s the beer like, right?
I’m not enthralled. I think it’s a reasonable stab at an American IPA, but I’m guessing those easterners haven’t figured out what a big ‘ol IPA really is. I’m being unfair, of course, and broadly generalizing, but the Fiddler’s Green IPA has too much of some stuff and not enough of others.
The aroma is nice. A citric/floral fresh hop aroma dances over the top of the glass with the pour followed by some caramel-accented malt underneath. Hints of alcohol roam around in the background along with some sweet notes. All is good so far in a beer that pours hazy golden 
orange under an initially dense white head that runs off quickly to a thin topper that sticks around.
In the sip, hop bitterness hits first, then drops back to reveal an unassuming, rather boring malt underpinning. The hops swing back around and resonate deep into the overall sweet beer’s dry finish. What’s missing is any complexity in the beer, especially in the hop flavor department. Additionally, the beer runs out thin across the palate to an almost watery finish. It’s the bitterness alone that defines this beer as an IPA. The hop profile is somewhat dusty and leafy rather than characterful. It’s not a bad beer, but it’s definitely not a worthy $8.39 six pack either. There are just too many other more interesting IPA’s on the market.
Dr Fermento Beer Calendar
03/15/08 Café Amsterdam Firkin Saturday: MSBC Obliteration II with Irish Stew 6:00 PM Pay As You Go
03/15/08 Brouwers Café (Seattle) 6th Annual Hard Liver Barleywine Festival 11 AM - ?? Pay As You Go
03/18/08 Mykel’s Restaurant (Soldotna) Kassik’s Kenai Brew Stop Server Training 3:00 PM Free
03/19/08 Snow Goose Restaurant Entries for 2008 Breakup Homebrew Competition Accepted Noon $$ Per Entry
03/22/08 Snow Goose Restaurant Breakup Homebrew Competition Judging 10:30 AM Free
03/22/08 Café Amsterdam Mead-A-Mania: Celestial Meads Tasting 6:00 PM Pay As You Go
03/24/08 Humpy’s Bigfish Awards Ceremony 7:00 PM Pay As You Go
03/28/08 Midnight Sun Brewing Company Planet Beer Mars Belgian Imperial Red IPA Release 6:00 PM Free
04/01/08 Maple Leaf Adventures Tall Sails and Ales Brew Cruise Launches (04/01 – 04/08) $2,250 Per Person
04/05/08 Café Amsterdam Ring of Fire Meadery Tasting 6:00 PM Pay As You Go
04/12/08 Snow Goose Restaurant National Homebrew Competition Judging 10:00 Free
04/13/08 Snow Goose Restaurant National Homebrew Competition Judging 10:00 Free
04/18/08 Princess Hotel: Fairbanks Ring of Fire Mead Dinner 6:00 PM TBD
05/01-04/08 Arctic Brewing Supply Goblets of Gold Mead Competition Entries Accepted 10:00 AM Free
05/03/08 Chena Pump Campground (Fbx) Zymurgist Borealis Nat. Homebrew Day/Big Beer Celeb. Noon Free
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