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These could very well be the last two contraband Alaskan Ambers to have been sipped within the slowly loosening beer-authority grip that is the great state of Texas. The word on the street is that the Alaskan Brewing Company will be making headway onto local shelves within the next 30 days. This is the part of this paragraph that you should be getting chills. Alaskan in Texas, chief.
My folks kindly brought a rather generous portion back from Seattle for me during their summer trip last year, and for that, I thank them. Though this 12-pack was carefully rationed to worthy guests on certain nights, it wasn't until I heard about the imminent supply that Melissa and I decided to celebrate by popping the last two forgotten soldiers.
Alaskan Amber was a beer that we both enjoyed for a number of years in Arizona -- and as I've mentioned before, Arizona is a strange anomaly for "importing" great, non-regional, small-brew beers from around the states. Personally, Alaskan Amber reminds me vividly of the Phoenix Texas Exes Thursday Thursday events in which a tables-full of Longhorns and friends alike would take over a random Valley bar, starting out with semi-respectable conversations amongst the group, but eventually devolving into sexual innuendos and shouting down unaffiliated patrons there to have an after-work pint by the time the appetizers arrived. I remember that my first two pints were always Alaskan Amber (where available), before switching over to the requisite Shiner Bock, because belted insults directed at everyone in general goes best with a raunchy beer. This must be why the Spoetzl market in the Phoenix metro really burgeoned.
Lest I digress into further stories of shenanigans with the Texas gang, I'll explain why Alaskan Amber is so great, despite being a pretty common beer style. First, and lets be honest, foremost, it is made by little magical Inuits who ride-share to work on sleds pulled by baby seals. Therefore, drinking this beer anywhere above 40° would just be an insult to the eskimo culture. This is something that I've obliged them during my entire Alaskan Amber beer-drinking run -- up to, and including, last night.
Alaskan Amber basically has all the characteristic richness of a finely-tuned amber, with that excellent, thickly-sweet caramel finish. I fucking love caramel. Ask anyone. I think this is why I have an absurd kind-of love for most ambers -- but I think the Alaskan Brewing Co. does it the best of any brewer in the country. Welcome to Texas, guys, I drink your milkshake.
ABV: 5.3%
Acquired: Probably a Safeway in Seattle
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
1 comment:
It's a fine beer indeed.
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