I think I found my next career. I want to be a brewer. I recently met with Kevin Burton, the head brewer at Glacier BrewHouse. He may have the coolest job in town. Burton, a former lawyer, became a brewer several years ago.
“I’m finally getting my soul back,” Burton joked.
Burton gave me a tour of the basement at BrewHouse where they keep the kegs and also gave me a rundown on how to make pumpkin beer.
“It’s pumpkin pie in a glass,” Burton said.
Burton uses 180 lbs. of pureed pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander and honey to make the seasonal beer, which is 10.3% alcohol.
It’s $6.50 for a 13 oz. snifter.
It’s being sold now, and is available until supplies run out, which is usually around Thanksgiving.
Also, keep an eye out for a limited salmon berry beer at Glacier BrewHouse. Burton told me he recently bought berries from Shishmaref, those will be used in a new beer.
Midnight Sun Brewing Co. has two types of pumpkin beers.
One is called T.R.E.A.T., it’s an imperial chocolate pumpkin porter. The other beer is Trickster, which is a Belgian-style pumpkin ale.
Beer ambassador Darcy Kniefel at Midnight Sun says T.R.E.A.T is sweet porter that uses 50 lbs. of pumpkin and some coco.
Trickster, Kniefel says, is a bit lighter but still has a sweet flavor with pumpkin pie spices that hit you at the end of your sip.
All of them taste like fall to me.
I can’t wait to see what Burton and Kniefel’s plans are for the Christmas beers.
Not a Boooo-ring Beer.
Lovely and Local
Have you been to Turkey Red, 550 South Alaska St., in Palmer? A-Ma-Zing. I drove to Palmer this week to meet Alex Papasavas, the owner, and to learn how she’s made such a successful restaurant.
Papasavas said she makes everything from scratch and she buys as much from local growers as she can. In the winter that dwindles down to carrots, potatoes and other root vegetables. But in the summer there is fresh lettuce, brussels sprouts, basil, arugula. The list is endless.
Papasavas says the bakers come in at night to make the freshly baked bread in the stone hearth oven. I bought a loaf of sour dough, ($6). It had a crusty, dark exterior, but was soft and airy on the inside. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I ate half the loaf myself.
Chef Tim Tanner says the beef steak salad, ($12) is one of the most popular lunches. Picture roasted red peppers, mushrooms and parmesan cheese on lettuce with a house made balsamic vinaigrette. I meant to try just a little bite on the drive back into Anchorage, but, again, I ate the entire thing in the car.
I’d do it again. Palmer you’re lucky to have such a great, local, place.
A Taste of Alaska
My first bite was salty, crunchy. I could hear the dried black seaweed crackle like cellophane in my mouth.
“My father lived to 100, almost 101, and he ate this almost everyday,” Raleigh Morrison from Hydaburg told me.
Morrison says you can use the seaweed peppered in fish stew or to punctuate salmon eggs.
“Or you can eat it just the way it is, like popcorn.” Morrison said.
Morrison and a handful of other vendors are selling traditional Native comfort foods outside the Dena’ina Center during the Elder’s and Youth Conference and the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention this week in Anchorage.
Find Jenny Sam and Laura Stephanoff if you’re looking for smoked salmon strips. An elder, Lena Repin, from Southeast bought king salmon from both women.
How did it taste, I asked.
“Oh fabulous,” Repin said. “Mmm, going to heaven.”
Sam said she’s sold smoked salmon at AFN every year since she was in high school. One of her two coolers was already empty by the time I stopped by, just before lunch.
I could hear people around me talking about a woman who sells akutaq, Eskimo ice cream. They expect she’ll be here later in the week.
Let’s hope she saves some for me.
Wheel Good Food Drives Into Town
Have you seen the bright yellow food truck, Wheel Good Food, yet? It’s amazing. Almost everything is handmade, even the bread they use for sliders. Where you can find the truck always changes. Once I found it on the Delaney Park Strip, another time it was at Cuddy Family Park in midtown. I stopped by this week and owner Kathy Robinson made reindeer sliders and bombalina. I’ve also tasted their polenta fries, (amazing!!!). On the truck is a thousand pound smoker, (not kidding, it about smoked us out when they opened the doors), where they smoke brisket, chicken and tofu. You can find out where the truck will be parked by following it on Facebook or Twitter. Kathy says she can also send out a weekly email. I’m working on the tv story now, it will run Wednesday morning, and then on the News Hour. I can’t wait! Let me know if you’ve tired Wheel Good Food.
Apples Season
This past weekend I took the girls apple picking at a friends home. We have a huge haul, and I can’t wait to put something together. But, to be honest, I don’t have an incredibly exciting recipe. What are your suggestions? I’d like to feature some readers/viewers in an upcoming Alaska Bites story. Anyone out there willing to share some family recipes, apple butter, apple pie, apple turnovers?
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