‘The Land of the Midnight Sun’ is one of our fair state’s nicknames and is also the inspiration for the name of one of the best breweries anywhere in the world. Right about now the term ‘Midnight Sun’ is extremely apt. Summer solstice marks the longest day of the year and this year we are twice as lucky because we are experiencing some of the nicest weather in recent memory. The days are beautiful and they seemingly never end. Seeing as how our brewery is named after this time of year, it only feels right that we celebrate the season and the sunshine!

First and foremost we have to talk about a few beers that are hitting the taps just in time for Solstice. Where better to start than Solstice Saison a brand new beer dreamed up by our head brewer Jeremiah. Solstice Saison is a pretty straight-forward version of a Saison, which is sometimes described as a Belgian Farmhouse ale. The base of our saison is pilsner malt which is simple, but it really lets the saison yeast shine in the brew. If you are a fan of brett-beers the yeast in Solstice brings a lot of the classic brettanomyces characteristics. At 5.2% alcohol by volume and 36 IBUs, Solstice Saison is dangerously drinkable and has a thirst quenching quality that makes is a perfect beer for a hot summer day.

If you have been by the Loft recently, you may have noticed the lack of hoppy beers. And if you’re a real dick, you may have even left a comment card complaining about our (very brief) IPA-shortage. Well, the diehard hop heads can return to our brewery because we have two great double IPAs hitting the taps very shortly. Rye Not, an imperial version of our popular rye pale ale Rye Out, is our of the tanks and flowing in the Loft. The only way to accurately describe this beer is F-ing delicious. It’s a heavy hitter, as well and clocks in at 8% ABV and is hoppy as hell at 80 IBUs. Rye pale ales and rye IPAs are a fast growing trend for craft breweries, and with good reason. The spiciness of the rye compliments the flavors in big American hop varieties perfectly. Rye Not features Citra and Saaz hops as well as 250 pounds of flaked rye in the 1400 pound grain bill. We have used Citra hops in a few beers in the past and they are tasty and extremely fruity with, as you may guess, a huge citrus flavor. As I mentioned, many breweries are playing around with hoppy rye beers and our Rye Out was undoubtedly one of the finest examples of the style. With Rye Not we have made a bigger, badder version of a great beer and it is awesome.

The second hoppy beer that I alluded to is the return of our summer seasonal double IPA, Hop Dog. We brew this beer every year, but only for three months: July through September. Hop Dog is a double IPA on a wheat base. The wheat makes this beer unique and gives it a flavor that is different from most double IPAs. Hop Dog was originally brewed for the Obliteration series which is a series that allows our brewers to play around with hops and try some things that are out of the ordinary. We liked this particular beer so much that we added it to our rotation of seasonal double IPAs and gave it a new, snazzy name. It has definitely become one of our most popular beers, but again it will only be available for a few short months so stock up on bottles, kegs and growlers starting on July 1st.

We have a lot going on to celebrate Solstice and the fact that we are named Midnight Sun Brewing Company, we kind of have to. You may catch us this solstice weekend pouring beer for the thirsty runners at the Mayor’s Marathon where the first 500 finishers will get a free beer or a soda. Also, if you are a baseball fan and head out the Glacier Pilot’s Midnight Sun game you will be able to get your fill of our beers on the Pilot’s Patio. If you are golfing in the Midnight Sun tournament out in the valley at Settlers Bay you’ll be able to find our beer. And on and on, with all we are doing to celebrate the solstice and summer in general it may be difficult to avoid Midnight Sun Brewing Company. But just in case, you can always just come into the loft and celebrate the Midnight Sun with us.

With the popularity of Craft Beer in the U.S. growing with each and every year, small breweries are seemingly in a state of ever-expansion. Certainly this expansion will mean different things to each brewery and their specific needs. It could mean a new facility (as we at Midnight Sun found out a few short years ago), a bigger brew system, shiny new packaging lines, and on and on. In Midnight Sun Brewing Company’s quest to keep up with our fan’s ever-growing thirst for our delicious beers, our expansion recently took shape in the acquisition of a brand-new fermentation tank.

A new tank may not seem like a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but for us it is a huge step and it could not have arrived at any better time. As I mentioned before many breweries are expanding and tanks, even new ones, are extremely hard to come by. Our shiny new beast arrived late by at least two months. And this isn’t just another tank, this new one named ‘Big Boi’ joins our brewery as our largest tank, by far. The last time we added fermentation tanks we were able to find three matching 50 bbl monsters that have served us very well. ‘Big Boi’ clocks in at a whopping 80 bbls. To put its massiveness in perspective I’ve decided to break down our new tank, by the numbers.

• 100- US barrels (bbls). Total capacity of our new tank. Allowing 20% of the volume for head space, we get a working volume of 80 bbls.
• 31.5- Gallons of fluid in a US bbl. This gives our new tank a working volume of 2,520 gallons.
• 322,560- Working capacity of our new tank, in ounces.
• 160- Maximum number of 1/2 bbl kegs that our new tank may yield.
• 5,040- Growler fills ‘Big Boi’ could yield.
• 26,880- Yield of our new tank in 12 ounce cans. Or 4,480 6-packs of cans.
• 5000- Approximate amount of grain in pounds that is need to brew the beer to fill ‘Big Boi’
• 8960- Number of people who would need to drink their 36 ounce limit of beer in The Loft to empty our new tank.
• 1542- Distance, in miles, ‘Big Boi’ traveled to get to our brewery. The tank was manufactured by Metal Craft in Portland, Oregon.
• 90%- Percentage of the time that this tank will likely be filled with Sockeye.
• 3000- Weight, in pounds, of ‘Big Boi.’
• 4,3,2,1- Number of people, forklifts, pick-up trucks, and a pulley (respectively) that were required to move our new tank into its place in the brewery.
• Bitch, A- Description of the difficulty of moving the tank into place.

Brewery expansions can take on many different forms, and they depend solely on the needs of the brewery that is doing the expanding. At Midnight Sun Brewing Company, our most pressing bottleneck of production is the lack of fermenter space. We have taken a huge step in providing some relief with the addition of our 80 bbl ‘Big Boi.’ Hopefully breaking down the tank by the numbers offered some perspective into the scope of the size of our new tank, and our excitement.

For all of Anchorage’s charms as an All-American city, we do not have a major professional sports team of our own to cheer on. High level hockey is available to sate your thirst for competition in the Winter months, but what to do in the Summer? Luckily Anchorage is home to two teams (only one worth cheering for, but we’ll get to that) in the Alaska Baseball League. The ABL is a Summer league mostly for collegiate players to hone their skills after their respective school’s seasons are over. This league calls hundreds of current and former Major League players alumni. It is considered one of the most prestigious amateur baseball leagues in the good ol’ US of A. What I’m trying to say is that the level of baseball is really, really exceptional.

So now that you are sold on the ABL and spending your beautiful Anchorage evenings taking in a ball game you may be asking: which team do I go see? That’s a pretty easy one to answer: the team that is sponsored by Midnight Sun Brewing Company. We’re talking about the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. Remember earlier when we established how well baseball and beer compliment on another? Good, the Anchorage Glacier Pilots are the only ABL team that has the Pilot’s Patio in operation at their games. The Pilot’s Patio is vital to your baseball experience because that is where you are able to buy all three of MSBC’s canned beers. While your watching the game you can enjoy an ice-cold can of Sockeye Red IPA, Kodiak Brown Ale, or Snowshoe White witbier. If for some reason that’s not enough to get you out to the yard, they also have Oosik Amber Ale fresh on draught.

Tickets to ABL games are very affordably priced, but if you are looking to score some freebies stop by The Loft on Friday, June 8th from 5 to 8 p.m. On this evening Midnight Sun will be hosting a meet and greet with some key Glacier Pilot’s personel. While we would love to have the players over to our place, sometimes they have very few on the team that are of legal drinking age. But you will get the chance to meet some of the coaches and the General Manager of the Pilots will be on hand as well to talk about their upcoming season and maybe even hand out some tickets and schwag. Now that you are primed and ready for a Summer full of beer and baseball, be sure to catch the Pilot’s opening day double-header on Sunday June 10th. The games start at 2 p.m. at Mulcahy Stadium and the Pilot’s season kicks off with the hated crosstown rivals, The Bucs. Make sure to grab plenty of your favorite MSBC cans or Oosik Amber on draft to maximize your entertainment.

While the association with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots is undoubtedly Midnight Sun Brewing Company’s premier sponsorship when it comes to baseball teams, there is one other local ballclub that enjoys the fruits of a partnership with Anchorage’s best brewery. The Fairview Pirates of the Anchorage Adult Baseball League (AABL not to be confused with the aforementioned ABL) are the officially unofficially sponsored by MSBC. The AABL is what local baseball is all about. The league consists of ten teams which are themselves made up of players of all skill levels. The beer and baseball connection is perhaps most prevalent in the AABL, as sometimes the play on the field can drive one to drink. However AABL games are always free for the fans and fun for everyone. The most time honored tradition of the AABL is the postgame celebration in the parking lot after the nights games where after a great win or a soul crushing loss beer is often consumed and always consumed responsibly. If you find that the Glacier Pilots and the action of the ABL is just not enough baseball for your summer, by all means come on out to the Kosinski Complex on any Tuesday or Thursday night or Sunday afternoon and check out the local game in all its glory with the AABL. And stay after the game and crack a cold Sockeye with the Pirates.

If you have made it this far and are still not convinced in the magical connection between baseball and beer, then I must conclude that you just don’t like baseball. Not to worry, though, as there are other athletic endeavours that will feature beer in the celebration. On June 23rd is Alaska’s biggest Marathon and half-marathon. So if you aren’t into real sports and just want to be the best at exercising, the Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage may be just the thing for you. Midnight Sun Brewing Company will be pitching in and supplying beer for the Midnight Sun Beer Garden hosted by Arctic Valley. If you are racing and are one of the first 500 finishers you’ll get a soda or beer on us. If you are just watching the race be sure to grab a beer in the beer garden and enjoy the exciting end of the race, or just drink until your friends or family straggle into the finishing area.

Baseball and beer are what America is all about. Celebrate this summer with plenty of both!

Head Brewer Jeremiah sprays beer everywhere as he taps a Firkin. And he’s a Firkin pro.

The longest running tradition of Midnight Sun’s Loft are First Firkin Fridays. The “First Friday” of each month is celebrated all over Anchorage with the presentation of artwork at various places in town. While ‘First Friday’ is mostly confined to downtown we have brought the party to the southside and we join in the First Friday celebration and feature new artwork from an artist or artists each and every month and then we add beer. Every month we naturally condition a different beer in a special keg called a Firkin (we actually usually use the smaller size cask called a ‘pin’ but Firkin is much more fun to say and lends itself to puns far more easily). This month our First Firkin Friday falls on Friday, June 1st and the featured artists are Marieke Heatwole and Jody and Bayley Barton (father and daughter) and all three artists are incredible sculptors.

A Firkin is the most common container for cask ale. Cask Ale is carbonated in the keg by adding a small amount of yeast and unfermented sugar into the cask where it undergoes a secondary fermentation. This process usually takes a couple of weeks and the beer is served without any added nitrogen or carbon dioxide gas. This feature of the Firkin, that it is poured by internal pressure and gravity alone, necessitates one of the most exciting aspects of FFF: the tapping. In order to dispense beer (warning: graphic language ahead) a Firkin must have a tap penetrated into its bung hole. This requires a mallet and a great deal of force to drive the tap into the one-time use bung. We like to offer the featured artist the chance to tap the Firkin, as their hard work is the focus of the celebration. More often than not, the artist is a rookie tapper and hilarious results ensue. The tap, due to the pressure inside of the Firkin, is sometimes forced back out of the cask and ejected feet from the keg as beer sprays everywhere. Even when the tapping procedure is not this dramatic there is almost always some beer that gushes indiscriminately from the Firkin. The keg is always tapped at 5 p.m. on the First Friday of the month and another feature of a Firkin is that its entirety must be consumed within a day or so of when it is tapped. Each Firkin is truly a unique beer. Often it is dry-hopped in the cask, other times spices, chocolate, or even vanilla beans are added to the beer in the Firkin. Since it is such a relatively small amount of beer, our brewers are able to let their imagination’s run wild and try things that are truly unique, fun, and delicious. For this FFF on June 1st we will be tapping a Firkin of Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter with a vanilla bean added during its conditioning. Expect this beer to be smoother than the standard version of our delicious Coffee Porter and the vanilla bean will add a noticeable vanilla flavor that will compliment the porter and coffee flavors perfectly. Since the beer must be consumed in one day, the only chance one has to try the FFF beer is on that night between 5 and 8 p.m.

Beer is what sets our First Friday celebration apart, but what makes each FFF special is the artwork. Since we change the artwork every month in the Loft, there is always something fresh to look at and some new pieces to check out. Very often the artist will present their work for sale, so you even have a chance to bring a piece home with you if you can’t live without one.

The artists we have lined up for our June FFF are all sculptors. Markieke Heatwole, of Marieke’s Metal, will be presenting her show called “Fins and Feathers.” To the Left is a piece called “Horace.” Marieke uses found items and scrap materials to sculpt her amazing pieces. I can’t wait to see how fantastic her pieces look up in The Loft and the best part is that you will have the entire month of June to enjoy them as you grab a beer and a bite to eat.

Joining the ‘Fins and Feathers’ show in The Loft for the month of June will be the artwork of Jody and Bayley Barton of BAFCO (Big Ass Fish Company). This father and daughter team create handmade sculptures that can be extremely prodigious in size. If you have ever noticed the huge Orb that serves as a chandelier as you walk up the indoor staircase to The Loft then you have seen Jody’s work. He was one of the very first FFF artists in the early days of The Loft.  Jody’s exhibit featured some huge pieces whose heft required substantial effort to even get into The Loft. Above is a wall piece by Jody’s daughter, Bayley, that is sculted from steel and is representative of what the pair will be bringing this time around. While some of their smaller pieces will be on display during June in The Loft, there is a rumor of a massive fire pit that will be on display, as well.

First Firkin Friday is a chance for everyone at Midnight Sun to celebrate a new month and fresh artwork displayed in our Loft. You are welcomed to come by and try a one-of-a kind beer (Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter aged on a vanilla bean- YUM!) and check out some awesome sculptors from a trio of local artists. We don’t think that there is a better way to celebrate the first full month of Summer.

The answer is all of the canned beers from your favorite local brewery: Midnight Sun Brewing Company. Coming very soon (and already available in the Loft) are two new beers in twelve ounce cans. We began canning our best-selling beer, Sockeye Red IPA, in the middle of last Summer. Sockeye flew off of the shelves in its new package and it was literally the freshest beer in town all last Summer as our distributor would pick it up from the brewery and deliver it directly to retailers to fill the empty shelves. Our goal all along was to offer more beers in this new package, but Sockeye proved so popular that we had to put any and all other canned beers on hold while we cranked out our IPA. With the addition of a new fermenter (our biggest yet, a 90 bbl monster) we now have the ability to produce new beers in cans and keep the Sockeye drinkers from rioting.

To complement Sockeye Red we will now be canning two other beers: Kodiak Brown Ale and Snowshoe White, a Belgian-style Witbier. We have been brewing Kodiak Brown Ale almost since day one. It was the second beer that was brewed by Midnight Sun way back in 1995. It is a beer that makes perfect sense in our new package. It is smooth and easy to drink (uh-oh we’re about to get sued by Bud and Miller Lite with this kind of language). Chocolate malts lend a caramel sweetness to the brown ale and the right amount of hops makes it perfectly balanced (we’re back in safe territory). For our third canned beer we decided to bring back a blast from the past, Snowshoe White. This is a wit bier that we brewed and bottled for a time quite a few years ago. Snowshoe White also lends itself to the can perfectly. This beer gets its character from a Belgian yeast strain which adds flavor on top of a very light wheat base. It is rounded out by spices including coriander, cumin, and orange peel. Both Kodiak Brown Ale and Snowshoe White taste great right out of the can, but of course we recommend decanting the beers into appropriate glassware for the best experience.

Beginning Thursday, May 24th you will be able to buy our two new canned beers along with Sockeye Red IPA at your favorite Brown Jug store. You will be able to buy all three flavors of MSBC canned beer for $8.99/ six-pack. That’s an even better deal than up in the loft (unless you buy an entire case and get a 15% discount). Look for the cans to hit other retailers next week and if you do not see them in your favorite store, ask whoever is in charge to carry them.

To promote our new cans and raise awareness about the awesome package in general we have several fun events in the works with your favorite bars/ restaurants. Taproot will feature Snowshoe White as its Can of the Month for all of June. That means you can drink a delicious Belgian-style Wit while you dance the night away for only $3 a can. We will be celebrating the kick-off of the Can of the Month on Friday, June 1st over at Taproot. Directly after First Firkin Friday up in the Loft we’ll be heading over to Taproot to watch Lee Koch from 9 to 11 and Tumbledown House from 11 til closing time. We have also solved the age-old problem of spilling your drink on yourself while getting a lap dance at the Great Alaskan Bush Company. Just order one of our canned beers to sip on and you will reduce spillage by over 90%. At the Spenard Roadhouse look for all three of our cans on sale and later in the month they will feature special TV Dinners on Sunday nights to pair specifically with our canned beers.

Get out this Summer and support local baseball by watching a Glacier Pilots Game. We have made the ball park experience much more fun by keeping the Pilots stocked with all three of our canned beers this Summer along with Oosik Amber Ale on draft. Our beers will be featured on the Pilot’s Deck. The first game is Sunday, June 10th and we will be hosting a meet and greet up in the Loft with the Pilots on the Friday before (June 8th). Our cans will also be available at Crush downtown. You can try them with some food in the Bistro downstairs and then go up to the Cellar to grab some to bring home with you. And speaking of downtown, you’ll also be able to grab a cold MSBC can at Darwin’s Theory.

Enjoy this Summer in Alaska and don’t forget to bring along some canned beer from Midnight Sun wherever your travels may take you. Red, Brown, or White it’s up to you.

Beer weeks have been gaining in popularity and number over the last few years. Tastings, beer dinners, tap-takeovers, pub crawls and almost any other event that involves beer in any fashion make up these beer weeks. Normally confined to City or State-wide celebrations for the love of craft beer (don’t forget about Alaska’s own beer week, and join us next January), since 2006 the Brewer’s Association has organized a nation-wide beer week. This year American Craft Beer Week will be celebrated from May 14th to May 20th. You can check out all of the happenings that comprise ACBW around the U.S. here: http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/news-and-events/american-craft-beer-week, and below we have highlighted the events that Midnight Sun Brewing Company has in store for this special week.

The start of American Craft Beer Week coincides with the release of Midnight Sun Brewing Company’s second beer offered in a 12 ounce can. Joining our best selling beer, Sockeye Red IPA, Kodiak Brown Ale is now also available in six-pack cans. To celebrate ACBW and introduce Kodiak in its new package, we are offering Sockeye and Kodiak cans in the Loft for $2 each. They normally run $4 for the 12 oz. can. This special price is available through Sunday May 20, the end of American Craft Beer Week.

Beer and Bites

Tuesday, May 15th will be the first in a series of events we are calling, Beer and Bites. This will be a quick and fun take on a traditional beer dinner. It will consist of five beers paired with five different small appetizers that can be eaten in one or two bites. We have set aside some great beers for the event and Chef Scott will dream up great food to pair with the beers perfectly. For $25 you will get food plus six-ounce pours of: Cohoho, Warrior, The New Black, Because, and Moscow. We are holding this event downstairs in our To-Go Bar so there is no doubt that it will be “standing room only.”

Firkin Tapping

We will be tapping a special firkin for American Craft Beer Week on Wednesday, May 16th. The five gallon pin will be holding naturally conditioned Meltdown double IPA, that has been dry-hopped with Galena hops right in the keg. With any luck the beer will come gushing from the pin when it is tapped at 5 p.m. on the dot. You will be able to get this delicious double IPA in six or twelve ounce pours, all you have to do is “drink your firkin beer.”

Brewery Tour

Every Thursday evening at 6pm we open our brew house to the public for a very fun and informative tour. Normally during the tour there is an opportunity to try one or more beers straight from the tanks. This gives the tour goers an idea of what the beer tastes like during various stages of fermentation. For ACBW we will attempt to enhance the tour experience by offering a special tour paddle which consists of four sample beers. While everyone who takes the tour will get to try beer directly our of our fermentation tanks, we suggest that you spend $6 on the paddle and make sure that you “get tanked on the tour.”

Bike to Work Day/ Brewin’ for Bears

Friday May 18th is Bike to Work day which is put on every year in Anchorage, Alaska by the Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage. Midnight Sun Brewing Company is a great supporter of the event. During the day we will be manning a refreshment stand at Tudor and C street where we will give the first 200 bike commuters a refreshing Lemon Fizz soda. Then after the work day is through and the commute is over, the MSBC Loft will host the official Bike to Work after party. And don’t worry about having to park your bike, we will have trained and experience bicycle valets to park your bike for you and retrieve it after you’ve had a few beers in the loft.

Also on Friday May 18th the Alaska Zoo is hosting the event, Brewin’ for Bears. This is a benefit for the Midnight Sun (no relation) chapter of the American Zookeepers Association for bear education and conservation efforts. For $35 in advance or $40 at the door you can sample great local beers and wander around the zoo, while drinking. This is a perfect event for ACBW and an awesome fund raiser for the Zoo. It’s all about the bears, and the beers, but mostly the bears and beers.

American Craft Beer Week was founded by the Brewer’s Association as a way to raise awareness of the fantastic craft beers that are produced all over the country. Events all over the country will be occurring simultaneously and the main thing that they will all share is people enjoying great, local craft beers. We hope to see you at one or all of MSBC’s events as we celebrate ACBW.

HEAD Brewer Jeremiah Boone

Welcome to Better Know a Brewer, where we meet the human element that is the creative force behind all of your favorite Midnight Sun beers. Today we meet the fearless leader of the crew, Head Brewer Jeremiah Boone.

Name: Jeremiah G.(don’t ask) Boone

Nickname: Jables

Title: Head Brewer

First Year at MSBC: 2008

Tattoos: Multiple, all animals

Education: BS Environmental Science with a concentration in theoretical modeling

Beers Created: Brewtality, Second Chance Porter, Rye Out, Czech Yourself Pilsner, et al.

Bio:

Jeremiah Boone was born in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia which is just about as far away from Alaska as you can get. His stepfather was a Roadie who imparted upon young Jables a deep and diverse love of music. Jeremiah came to Alaska to attend APU with the dream of working for Fish and Game.

Jeremiah fell in love with Craft beer and eschewed his career in Environmental Sciences. Jeremiah began working at Midnight Sun Brewing Company as a part time retail employee and began working in the brewery by washing kegs.

A brewing Wunderkind, Jeremiah was named Head Brewer within four years of starting at MSBC. The first beer that Jeremiah fully created on his own was called Brewtality and was part of Midnight Sun’s 2009 ‘Crew Brew’ series. As both evidence and proof that any beer that he touches turns to gold, Brewtality is the number one ranked Schwarzbier on Ratebeer.com. In the world. The beer was such a hit for Midnight Sun that the company has since rebrewed Brewtality twice and is bringing the beer back in semi-permanent status as part of the ‘Alaska’s Most Wanted’ series. When Jeremiah Boone wakes up he puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else. It’s just that once he has his (short) pants on, he makes #1 in the world beers. Recently Jeremiah has been awarded a brewing scholorship by the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation. This is a tremendous honor and is a testament to Jeremiah’s hard work and skill in his chosen profession.

Six Questions with Jeremiah:

1.) What is your favorite beer that you did not brew? “Consecration by Russian River Brewing Company.

2.) What is your favorite swear word? “Usually the F-bomb, I can’t say it because my kiddo is right here.”

3.)Why did you become a brewer? “It’s what I like to do- work hard and drink hard.”

4.) If you were an animal, which animal would you be? “Platypus, because, why not?”

5.) If you could live the life of any musician, who would it be? “Prince, obviously.”

6.) Are you a hipster? “No, I have a full-time job.”

And now you better know, Jeremiah Boone.

Midnight Sun Brewing Company officially began operation on May 5th, 1995. And it was sometime during these intervening seventeen years that we earned the right to celebrate our anniversary a week early and this year that is exactly what we’re going to do. So on April 28 come to the brewery to help us celebrate this anniversary. There are many festivities planned throughout the day to spread the love and celebration.

The first beer ever produced at Midnight Sun was Wolf Spirit Sparkling Ale. MSBC President, Mark Staples, used Cooper’s Sparkling Ale as the inspiration for this beer. In recent years MSBC has re-brewed many of the early beers including: Mammoth Extra Stout (now available year-round), Full Curl (appeared as a draft-only option briefly), and Snowshoe Witbier (coming this Summer in cans). Wolf Spirit, however, has not been revisited since its initial retirement. Until now, that is. As part of our 17th anniversary celebration Wolf Spirit has been resurrected and will hit the taps at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. Special beers on tap will also include: Bangalore (Curried IPA), Kyoto (An ale fermented with Sake yeast), Auckland (witbier with Kiwi), Machu Picchu (Imperial Brown Ale with espresso, maize, and chocolate), and Anchorage (Ice Bock) all from the 2011 World Tour Series. There is also a rumor circulating that a keg of 2011 Arctic Devil Barleywine will be tapped around 2 p.m. And if that’s not enough beer for you (how can that not be enough beer?) there will be a special firkin tapped by Head Brewer Jeremiah Boone at 5 o’clock on the dot.

Rounding out the anniversary festivities will be two special brewery tours. Our G.M., Gary Busse, will take all comers through our brewery and our brewing process, free of charge. The tours will begin promptly at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. so make sure to have a full beer and a clear mind if you wish to see behind the curtain  ”where the magic happens.” And don’t think that the K-crew in the loft is not part of the party. A special Cilantro and Serrano Brew Dawg will be grilled and then finished boiled in beer for anyone who arrives with an appetite. Oh and if you buy a brew dog and a 12 ounce glass of Wolf Spirit, we’ll give you a pint glass, just because!

While turning seventeen may not be a big deal in the real world, your local brewery having its 17th anniversary on Saturday, April 28th is gonna be HUGE!