Weekend Brews - Week 40 - Cold Alaskan Nights

In honor of possibly the worst VP candidate in my lifetime (Dan Quayle is in a tight race for that title), I'd like to tell of a fantastic beer from the 49th state. Ladies and gents it's time to crack open the Winter seasonal from the Alaskan Brewing Company. It's the Alaskan Winter Ale!

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll see any snow in the Bay Area, but fortunately just a few hours away are mountains soon to be filled with the glorious white powder of the west. I can't wait to rent a cabin and do some snowboarding in a few months. Woo Hoo!

The Alaskan Winter Ale is brewed in the style of an old English ale with plenty of malt, and without "over-the-top" hop bitterness. Brewed with fresh water from Alaska ... in fact here's a quote from the brewery's website, "Our water originates in the 1,500-square-mile Juneau Ice Field and from the more than 90 inches of rainfall we receive each year."

Now that sounds like a brewery that's interested in making fresh beer.

Not only is this beer brewed with water from an "ice field," it's brewed with the tips of spruce trees! Seriously!

The beer is a solid copper color and has plenty of malt coming through in the aroma. There's also some overtones of an upstate New York pine forest in the dead of winter, and it actually smells a bit like cotton candy! Weird.

The flavor is lighter than expected, and has hints of some sort of breakfast bread ... that sort of sweet and flavorful bread you might find at a decent hotel continental breakfast. There's even a hint of fruit in there.

The Alaskan Brewing Company has its ups and downs with their offerings as far as I'm concerned, but this beer is pretty good. It's far from the best seasonal I've had, but a decent choice if you're looking for a good beer to enjoy in the colder climates.

Check it out in your area if you can, and let me know what you think. Lucy and I await your comments ... okay, well maybe not Lucy.



Cheers!

Overall Score of the Alaskan Winter Ale: 3.25 out 5.0