Beer & Barley Wine fest brings out the good, gonzo in locals
Published: January 25, 2007
Last Modified: March 9, 2007 at 12:38 AM
Glossy eyes, questionable come-ons and inappropriate dance moves stole the show at last weekend's Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival, but the preponderance of good beer made even a rendition of Nazareth's "Love Hurts" tolerable, if not vaguely retro to the mostly gonzo crowd.
Really, who else bumps and grinds to "Hotel California" except the incurably, impossibly, impatiently gonzo? Besides, by the end of the night, folks didn't report to the dance floor as much as stumble onto it.
But enough about the entertainment. Let's look at the beer. I gleefully managed to get through my dirty dozen of "don't miss" beers and live to yell about it. My big find this year was the Pelican Pub & Brewery of Oregon (www. pelicanbrewery.com). No, you can't buy this beer anywhere, but if you head down to the beaches of Pacific City, don't pass this place up. Both the India pale ale and Stormwatcher's Winterfest barley wine taste far better than most of the better known versions of these styles.
Which brings me to the barley wine competition, that dense and cryptic structure that binds the festival together. Without it, no one except the most jaded and unconscionable could justify such brazen beer lust.
This year a whopping 29 entries kept the judging panel busy late into the evening, but our own Midnight Sun Brewing Co. stood the test of time. Yes, the Arctic Devil Barley Wine won yet another gold medal -- its third in seven years -- and proved once and for all that a funky little brewery located next to a taxidermist in an Arctic Boulevard mini-mall can beat its more urbane and well-equipped competitors.
Barb Miller and Mark Staples looked a little shellshocked after the win -- not because they doubt their brewers or recipes, but because they feel stunned and redeemed each time their brewery's barley wine lands in the Great Alaska festival's winner's bracket (which has been six times in the past seven years: three times on top, once in second and twice in third place).
If you still haven't tried Midnight Sun's beers, you need to stop messing around with lame imitations. The brewery clearly proves its mettle at the kettle year after year whether making its big, bad barley wines and Belgian ales or summer quenchers and oak-aged ambers, porters and stouts. Thank head brewer Gabe Fletcher for the love and the brew crew for making sure there's plenty to go around.
• Lucky you, there's a beer festival of a different sort this weekend at the La Bodega liquor store in Suite 2 of the University Mall (3801 Old Seward Hwy). This small specialty store carries wine, spirits and a remarkable selection of beer (up to 600 varieties), including virtually everything bottled by Midnight Sun.
In fact, the newest owner, Pamela Hatzis, intends to carry every Alaskan-made beer she can get her hands on, along with national and international selections, with the idea of giving customers plenty to choose from when mixing and matching six-packs.
Hatzis took over about four months ago and will celebrate the change of hands (and her first business endeavor) with a grand opening today, beginning with a big sale from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. followed immediately by a party at The Winter Thyme Cafe (930 W. Fifth Ave.).
Tickets for the dinner party sold out quickly, but Hatzis said folks without tickets can show up and enter the party as people leave. Discs will spin, food will sizzle, giveaways will fly and a computer will be set up to let folks check out La Bodega's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/147992768). For information, call 569-3800 or e-mail labodegastore@gmail.com.
I can't be sure, but I'm pretty confident that "Love Hurts" won't make the play list, though beer certainly will.
• Daily News reporter Dawnell Smith can be reached at dsmith@adn.com.
Winner's circle
Top three finishers in the barley wine competition of the 2007 Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival:
First: Arctic Devil Barley Wine, Midnight Sun Brewing Co. (Alaska)
Second: Stormwatcher's Winterfest 2005, Pelican Pub & Brewery (Oregon)
Third: Cyclops Barley Wine, Elysian Brewing Co. (Washington)
