Midnight Sun Brewing Company - Kodiak Nut Brown Ale

Kodiak Brown Ale combines a distinctive roast malt character with the sweetness of pale and caramel malts. It pours a moderately deep brown color and presents an attractive head that beckons you to quaff with its roasty tan color. Mingled with the malts, look for aromas of fruit with notes of grape and subtle over-tones of apple, but no hops at all on the nose. In addition to the roasted malt character which is clearly evident, look for more subtle notes of caramel and minor hints of earthiness that pique through the swallow. The texture of this ale is smooth and you can expect a nice complexity in the finish—note how it starts off bitter with mild bite due to the Perle and Willamette hops, then gives way to a flourish of slightly caramel-like sweetness. Well balanced indeed. This one will go well with nutty stuffings, cashew chicken, almond-topped crisp salads, cheesy salads, apple pie, pork with brown sauce or beef vegetable soup.

The Midnight Sun Brewing Company, based in Anchorage, Alaska, is comprised of a small yet energetic group of craft beer enthusiasts who are devoutly dedicated to producing traditional ales and lagers. “Do The Wild Thing” is a message that appears on every bottle of beer they produce. Again folks, minds out of the gutter please, this is nothing more than an innocent reference to their use of the picturesque Alaskan wilderness and incredible indigenous wildlife as inspiration for their beer titles and bottle label graphics. Local graphic artist Dan Miller creates these exceptional beer labels, conveying the spirit of the wildlife chosen to represent each beer. Though as his fellow locals have been known to claim, this source of inspiration has also made it’s way beyond the label and into the beers themselves, as many consider the brewing company’s libations to be all at once rugged and untamed, yet simultaneously regal and majestic. To showcase the diversity of this brewery from the Great Land, we’ve included two beers from their catalogue that are at opposite ends of the beer brewers’ spectrum. The first, a smooth and malty Nut Brown Ale, nicely represents the traditional English Brown Ale style. It’s named after the large brown bear species of the southern coast of Alaska and adjacent islands, in particular, Kodiak Island. In contrast to their brown ale, Humpy’s Sockeye Red IPA is nearly lacking in malt flavor entirely since the predominant flavor is contributed by an almost obscene amount of hops—we’re talking over 70 Initial Bittering Units (IBU’s), which is a level not normally seen even in strong IPA’s (levels this high are typically reserved for imperial stouts)! Alaska: a land known for the harshest weather conditions in the country, but also home to some of the most beautifully spectacular landscapes and majestic wildlife in the world. But certainly not the first place one thinks of when considering Microbrewing hot spots. The artic temperatures keep many people largely restricted to their homes for months on end, leaving them to engage in primarily indoor activities, especially during those cold wintry nights. And what’s a great indoor activity during those frigid and frosty nighttime hours? Get your minds out of the gutter people! We are…of course talking about craft brewing some high quality beer! Sure, it may seem a bit unconventional upon first thought that our coldest, most northern, practically Siberian territory is also a producer of marvelous microbrews, but then again, consider the following facts: 1) plenty of time inside translates to abundant opportunity for crafting the perfect beer 2) plenty of time inside translates to abundant opportunity for drinking the perfect beer 3) ample natural light (as much as 22 hours perday during the summer) means there’s a ton of extra time available for points 1 and 2 above 4) more time available for point 1 above means there’s bound to be more of point 2 going on 5) with so much of point 2 going on, there’s going to have to be a lot of point 1 happening to keep the whole thing going, thus reinforcing both points 1 and 2 6) you get the point… For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (907) 344-1179