Alaskan Brewing’s Smoked Porter Picks Up Medal Ahead of 2019 Release
Alaska Brewing Co.’s Smoked Porter was inspired “by the wood-fired smokers used to smoke salmon in Southeast Alaska,” according to brewery co-founder Marcy Lawson.
Alaska Brewing
JUNEAU—Every year since its debut in the fall of 1988, Alaskan Brewing Co. has released the latest vintage of their award-winning Smoked Porter. The brew has become the most award-winning beer in the history of the Great American Beer Festival, as well as one of the most coveted beers of its style. Most recently, Alaskan Smoked Porter added another medal to its long list of awards, taking silver at the European Beer Star Awards.
“The fact that our Smoked Porter continues to be internationally recognized is a testament to our amazing crew who produce a consistently high-quality beer that has stood the test of time,” said Alaskan Brewing Co. co-founder Marcy Larson. “Unlike most brews, Alaskan Smoked Porter ages well over time, much like wine,” explained Larson. “Aging Smoked Porter develops in flavor and complexity and can mellow out the smokiness. No one vintage ages in the same way and it’s exciting to taste the different, nuanced flavors that start to come out each year.”
Alaskan Smoked Porter is dark and robust with a complex smoky flavor that comes from five different types of malt, with selected malts smoked over alder wood, a tree native to Alaska. “Our brewers were inspired by the wood-fired smokers used to smoke salmon in Southeast Alaska and came up with the idea to smoke malt over alder wood,” explained Larson. “The alder wood gives the beer a uniquely Alaskan quality that other smoked beers don’t possess—it’s mellow and slightly sweet compared to traditional rauchbiers.”
The brewery keeps a library of every vintage of Alaskan Smoked Porter going back to the early 90s. “Many members of our crew and our biggest fans have their own Smoked Porter collections—it’s amazing to witness the following that Smoked Porter has developed over the years,” said Larson. “We love that so many beer aficionados are as passionate about Smoked Porter as we are.”
Alaskan Smoked Porter will be available beginning in November in the twenty-five states where Alaskan beer is distributed.
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The Marx Bros. Café
January 2020
Jack Amon and Richard “Van” Hale opened the doors of the Marx Bros. Café on October 18, 1979; however, the two had already been partners in cuisine for some time, having created the Wednesday Night Gourmet Wine Tasting Society and Volleyball Team Which Now Meets on Sunday, a weekly evening of food and wine. It was actually the end of the weekly event that spurred the name of the restaurant: hours after its final service, Amon and Hale were hauling equipment and furnishings out of their old location and to their now-iconic building on Third Street, all while managing arguments about equipment ownership, a visit from the police, and quite a bit of wine. “If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘A Night at the Opera” starring the Marx Brothers, that’s what it was like,” Hale explains.