If you stay three nights in Fairbanks, Alaska, you have an 80 percent chance of seeing the Northern Lights. Also known as Aurora Borealis (Aurora is the Roman goddess of dawn; Borea is the Greek name for the north wind), the ribbons of green and red light that twirl across the sky seem otherworldly, but really, it’s just science: Particles from the magnetosphere and solar wind collide with photons in the earth’s upper atmosphere, and result in streams of colored light. And because Fairbanks sits within the Auroral Oval—an arctic zone that’s so chilly, the skies are almost always clear—the city’s a particularly stellar spot to take in the show.
The best time to view the Aurora falls smack-dab in the middle of Alaska’s notorious winters, when the skies are good and dark. If your human instinct to stay warm outweighs your desire to see the lights, you’re in luck: Most Fairbanks hotels offer Aurora Borealis wake-up calls. For the heartier set, Sirius Sled Dogs leads a nighttime mush, followed by a gathering in the outfitter’s private cabin for a fireside dinner and light viewing while the pups howl. Or hit the wilderness on a one-, three- or six-hour snowmobile tour beneath the night sky. Perhaps the most luxurious way to view the lights is from Chena Hot Springs Resort’s natural rock lake, where the steamy, mineral-rich water and the green rivers in the sky remind you just how awesome Mother Nature really is.
BREWERY STOP: Just outside Fairbanks in Fox, Alaska, lies Silver Gulch Brewing & Bottling, the country’s northernmost beer maker. At the brewery, grab a growler of specialties like Hardpack (an oatmeal-wheat stout tweaked with coriander, orange peel and Belgian yeast and spiked with local espresso), or pick up a sixer of the easy-drinking, Vienna-style Fairbanks Lager.
§ September 28th, 2011§ Filed under News§ Tagged TravelComments Off
Move over, Intercourse, Pa., and make room for tiny Fucking, Austria. Located a stone’s throw from Maria Von Trapp’s yodeling grounds, Fucking is a farming village of about 100 residents. American soldiers first stumbled upon it in World War II, and the curious have been Fucking-bound ever since; locals have had a heck of a time keeping their road signs rooted, but in 2005, all four were firmly cemented. The dinky Alpine hamlet may unwittingly go global when Fucking Hell beer hits shelves in Europe, Asia and Australia this year. Marketing executives at Germany’s Privatbrauerei Waldhaus gained European Union approval last year to market the 4.9%-ABV pilsner based on the town’s name (the “hell” comes from helles, the German word for “light”), although there is no brewery in Fucking, and no one there is involved. An earlier bid was denied, but the brewery sued the EU patenting agency on the grounds that the beer will be named for an actual place, and won. –Patti McCracken
§ September 1st, 2011§ Filed under News§ Tagged beer, TravelComments Off
Beertown? Try ever-expanding beer metropolis. All summer long, the map lit up with new breweries like the following—just in time to greet the hordes descending on Denver for the Great American Beer Festival.
In honor of the superb local noodle house run by his parents—which doubles as CAUTION’s off-site tap room—brewer Danny Wang and his partner Bettina Fey make their flagship Lao Wang Lager with a secret blend of Asian spices that complements the city’s best xiao long bao and potstickers. (Luck willing, their distinctive yet equally food-friendly wild rice ale should debut soon.)
“No one’s happy to see you when they’ve just wrecked their car,” explains Branden Miller of his and brother Chad’s decision to get out of the family collision repair business and into brewing with Chad’s wife, Carissa Miller. Black Shirt makes red ale and red ale only, using six different malts and four hop varieties for “a vibrant beer that really expresses Colorado terroir.”
Denver Beer’s Charlie Berger and Patrick Crawford are devoting every ounce of their brewing energies to envelope-pushing small batches: “If we have a hot month and want to make three or four pilsners and pale ales, so be it,” says Berger. Housed in a former auto body shop complete with floor jacks that hold up the bar (flanked by a German-style biergarten), Denver Beer offers brews containing everything from rose petals to bee pollen, plus seasonal favorites like pumpkin ale and maple nut brown.
Expounding on their slogan, “Offensively Delicious,” Brian and Khara O’Connell compare Renegade’s beers to Richard Pryor’s comedy: “They’re exciting; they’re strong; whatever style they are, we push them to the higher end—5.5% [ABV] is the lowest we’re gonna go.” The flagship, Brian laughs, will be “whatever sells”—but Ryeteous, a rye IPA with 100-plus IBUs, is the one “I just keep coming back to.”
“I feel like one of those little dogs that faces down a German shepherd because he doesn’t really know how small he is,” jokes nanobrewer Scott Witsoe, who nonetheless has big plans for his one-barrel system. Since he favors beers that pair well with food (like his rye porter), he hopes to collaborate with local chefs: “I don’t care much for style guidelines, but I love getting inspiration from dishes.”
Dedicating one of eight taps to the winner of their biannual homebrew competition (congrats to inaugural champ Saison Savoureux), Carolina transplants Jeremy Gobien and Kristen Kozik aim to foster a sense of community above all. Catch them pouring sessionable staples like Bavarian Helles and Copper Mezzina Ale to a fledgling crowd of regulars who live near the couch-lined tasting room.
Love is as fickle as wild yeast and can be as fleeting as the head on an English brown. Yet at their North Fork Brewery in northern Washington state, Sandy and Vicki Savage have found ways to make love last. First, they’ve preserved more than 90 years of bottles in a beer shrine that rivals most, boasting a rare set of pre-Prohibition bottles with their labels intact and a set of Rosie the Riveter beer ads drawn by legendary pin-up artist Alberto Vargas. They also do weddings: Vicki, an ordained minister, coordinates small weddings using local vendors and weds beer-loving couples against the stained-glass window in the brewery restaurant, or outside in the garden. What type of person gets married at a brewery? “They’re definitely more relaxed than the typical Bridezilla,” says Vicki. “Anyone getting married in a beer shrine doesn’t have a lot of hang-ups about the color of their flowers.” The beer, though, isn’t meant to endure; Sandy’s portfolio of open-fermented British-style beers—starring a mild English IPA and a smooth, nitro-poured ESB—changes seasonally.
PLUS: North Fork installed 40 solar panels in December—nearly one for every seat in its restaurant, and the largest solar operation in Whatcom County—that the Savages hope will soon offset 100 percent of the brewery’s electricity.
§ July 18th, 2011§ Filed under News§ Tagged TravelComments Off
Looking to take home some drinkable San Diego souvenirs? Best Damn Beer Shop (Downtown, bestdamnbeershop.com), wedged inside a no-frills mini-mart, sells an array of local and harder-to-find craft bottles that really is damn good. Olive Tree Marketplace (Ocean Beach, olivetreemarket.com) is friendly spot for great deli sandwiches such as the Picasso—marinated chicken, pesto and melted Provolone tucked into a warm pita—and bottles from local breweries you can sample in the small tasting room. Most of San Diego’s breweries are represented on the shelves at North County’s Holiday Wine Cellar (Escondido, holidaywinecellar.com), a one-stop shop for craft beer, wine and spirits, while newcomer Bottlecraft (Little Italy, bottlecraftbeer.com) sticks to craft beer with an array of bottles, a few taps and beer-related classes. –Candice Woo
§ March 30th, 2011§ Filed under News§ Tagged TravelComments Off
At the entrance to eccentric, self-made billionaire David Walsh’s subterranean Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), just opened in Hobart, Tasmania, in January, you’ll find a bar. “I like the idea of people having a couple of beers and looking at art—then having more and changing their opinions,” he says. With a goal to “shock, offend, challenge and entertain,” the new museum houses Walsh’s eclectic personal collection, valued at $100 million and ranging from Roman coins to mummies to pieces by Damien Hirst; there’s even an entire room filled with Wim Delvoye’s “Cloaca,” an installation that simulates the human digestive system. Unconventional, immense and labyrinthine, the museum is merely the most recent addition to Walsh’s 8-acre tract along the Derwent River. It joins a complex of übermodern hotel pavilions, a winery, a gourmet restaurant and Moo Brew, a microbrewery. Boasting taps and bottles throughout Australia, Moo Brew crafts five styles, among them an American pale ale and a barrel-aged imperial stout. Eerie labels by Australian sculptor-painter John Kelly bring the art full circle. moorilla.com.au -Becca Hensley
§ February 23rd, 2011§ Filed under News§ Tagged TravelComments Off
Like the rest of Buena Vista, Colo., Eddyline Restaurant & Brewery largely owes its existence to the world-class whitewater of the Arkansas River, which tumbles within earshot of the brewery and attracts thousands of thrillseekers. This laid-back brewpub reflects the town’s Rocky Mountain river culture: A dangling raft presides over the airy dining room, the beer sampler is served on a locally crafted paddle, and even its name is derived from a river feature. Founded in 2009 by outdoor junkies Mic and Molley Heynekamp, the taps at Eddyline are dedicated to Mic’s creations, like the nutty, vaguely sweet Kickin’ Back Amber; the crisp, grapefruit-filled Midland Trail Pale Ale; and the impenetrably dark, coffee-noted Pine Creek Porter. The menu sources backyard ingredients, like grass-fed beef raised nine miles away. 926 S. Main St., eddylinebrewery.com -Sarah L. Stewart
A very quick update this afternoon from the Craft Brewers Conference in what is currently the Rainy City, Chicago. We’ve got FACTS, here. And to spare you from epic ramblings on loosely connected subjects, we’ve got QUOTES. Damn fine quotes. Let’s get with the facts!
Did you know?
* This year up to 3,400 people are in attendance at the CBC. Where are you? On a side note I wouldn’t mind being the BA rep who carries the moneybags out of the Sheraton when this thing’s over. You’d never hear from me again.
* More than 27 countries are representing the world craft scene this year. There’s a rumor going around that a model U.N. session might ensue at the Publican tonight.
* According to the science of stats, 1,552 breweries produced beer at some point during 2009. Thanks to these breweries, roughly 100,000 people can avoid the unemployment line.
* Top Selling Styles!
1. Seasonals (vague, I know)
2. Pale Ales
3. Ambers
4. IPAs
5. Amber lagers
* 86-percent of regional craft brewers increased sales in 2009…and the numbers keep growing. Overall total craft beer revenue looks something like this. 2007: $5.9 billion. 2008: $6.2 billion. 2009: $6.9 billion. I’ll go out on a limb here and say 2010 might just break $7 billion.
Those were some fine stats. But what about quotes?
A few awards were doled out to a number of notable craft brewing figures this morning, and here’s what they had to say.
F.X. Matt Award (for defending and promoting craft beer): Brooklyn Brewery founder Steve Hindy.
“Disunity [between breweries and wholesalers] in the beer industry is bad for beer.” Hindy spoke toward uniting the two fronts in order to create a formidable presence on Capitol Hill. This during the rising push to promote H.R. 4278, essentially an excise tax reduction bill meant to “level the playing field” between craft brewers and the macros. Lesson: Unleveled playing fields are not good.
Brewers Recognition Award:Bell’s founder Larry Bell
“One of the reasons I got into brewing is because I didn’t want to go to jail — they don’t like you selling homebrew out of the basement.”
The Russell Schehrer Award (for innovation in craft beer): Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman
“When I started brewing 30 years ago, American beer was really considered a laughing stock by serious brewers around the world. Now, collectively, because of what we’ve all done, the world looks to America for leadership.”
There you have it. Facts & Quotes. Stay tuned for more today, tomorrow and Saturday from the CBC. There’s also some magic happening here.
The first real day of the Craft Brewers Conference is about to get underway, which means it’s time to put on our professional faces and head over to the “Practical Lautering for Maximization of Quality” seminar at this ungodly hour in the morning. [Crickets]
For now, a few images from last night’s reception at Chicago’s Field Museum. But first, look at THIS GUY.
This righteous guy was clearing security at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. I don’t know where he was going, but if it didn’t involve beer delivery this guy’s a poser.
It didn’t matter where you walked, his eyes followed you.
After a few hours, the animals revolted.
So yeah, much beer was consumed inside the Field Museum and I hope the visiting school children wandering the halls today know what went down. Stay tuned for more today from the CBC. Or see what I’m seeing here.
