Matt Morgan is blinded by Midnight Sun Brewing in Alaska.
"Beers of the world, unite!"
Midnight Sun Brewing: an
Alaskan encounter
Submitted
by Matt
Morgan
In
my last installment, a review of Kassik's Kenai Brew
Stop, I said how Janelle and I were persuaded by the
brewmaster to
visit the
Amsterdam Café
on our way to catch the flight home. We
didn't need too much arm-twisting and were happy we made the
detour.
Café Amsterdam had an incredible beer menu, including many Belgian and German imports. They also carried many local craft beers, including Kassik's Gold Nugget Hefe.
As Janelle and I chipped away at the rock-solid beer menu, I saw a guy sit down next to me and order a beer from Midnight Sun. The bartender made a flippant remark about the guy ordering his own beer.
Somewhat confused, I turned to the other patron and asked if he was a brewmaster and sure enough he was. Gabe Fletcher, brewmaster for Midnight Sun Brewing Company was a great sport as we exchanged fanatical statements about our favorite subject.
Midnight Sun Brewing
He was clearly the superior beersman and he watched me scribble notes on my napkin to keep up with his outpouring of knowledge.
I thought it was cool that he ordered his own beer when he's out at a bar (quality control) and he ordered one for me.
I was already working on a beer from the Netherlands; Ij Natte (pronounced "e nottay") whose brewer is supposed to be somewhat of a feisty recluse.
Ij Natte was dark and complex, slightly bitter with a yeasty sweet malt flavor, its overall taste most comparable to fig.
I was now ready to enjoy the Midnight Sun Hefe sitting before me, courtesy of the brewmaster. As I drank and studied the flavors, Gabe walked me through the brew philosophy at Midnight Sun Brewing.
We started talking about Duvel and he mentioned the strong Belgian influence in all of his brews. They have a brew similar to Duvel called Fallen Angel which then led to Midnight Sun Brewing's Seven Deadly Sins specialty brews.
Seeing how
enthralled I was by all of this and my peasant
notebook filling up, Gabe invited Janelle and I to the brewery for a
tour.
We had two hours to check in for our flight and
we get an
impromptu brewery tour. Cruel fate, but of course we took him up on the
offer. It
wasn't far from Café Amsterdam or the airport, so we were in
good shape.
We sampled just about everything under the Midnight Sun. I keep looking at the pictures and near the end there are EIGHT different 22oz bottles open and I know we had a few more from the keg room and also Midnight Sun's Obliteration straight from the tank.
WOW! Talk about hop forward, Obliteration is a hops-tsunami; medium-dark with a toasty almost sweet barely wine flavor. The aroma was the freshest hop smell I've ever inhaled and the hop flavor was more refreshing than bitter.
I absolutely recommend ANY of the beers brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company.
They actually have a brew called Panty Peeler, apparently due to its seductive flavor and high alcohol content, but the label is in French, so it sounds sophisticated.
Here’s a list of what we sampled:
12
Year Witbier If you like Hoegaarden, you'll like this
beer more.
Berserker Imperial Stout A nod to the movie Clerks, this beer brings the banana ester (isoamyl acetate) in high definition with a tongue twisting banana peel finish.
Fallen Angel Compares favorably to Duvel.
Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter Oak aged, it would stop Ichabod Crane in his tracks.
Arctic Devil Barley Wine Very tenacious flavors, sweet but not cloying.
Old Hoppy Whiskers Hefeweizen You can't go wrong here.
Obliteration Superlative expression of aromatic hops.
Conspiracy Delicious Belgian dark, this beer is a collaborative effort with Pelican Pub & Brewery of Pacific City, Oregon. Conspiracy is opaque in color with roasted malt sweetness, very deep and complex; worth much more than these few lines.
Envy A strong crisp pilsner, slightly bitter (ha-ha). Envy also happens to be the first official lager of Midnight Sun Brewing Company.
Gluttony 10.5% abv, this beer kicked my ass and kept part of my tongue and the irony... well... a small taste of Gluttony would be an oxymoron, wouldn't it?
Due to our Gluttony, we subsequently missed our plane by five minutes. Despite the agonizing minutia of getting on another flight, it was worth it. Our tour of Midnight Sun Brewing was the epitome of that kid-in-a-candy-store feeling.
Thanks again to Frank and Deb at Kassik's Kenai Brew Stop and also thanks to Gabe Fletcher at Midnight Sun Brewing Company for his unparalleled generosity. Man, I love Alaska.
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