So here I sit at a gas station/market/laundromat(yea,there’s not much here!) sipping a mediocre coffee and a sub par donut and totally happy to have it! I have to be honest in saying that I didn’t think I would like Alaska too much. It seemed that the sacrifice to be in such a remote location was hardly worth it. I guess it’s the New Yorker in me to think in such a way and old habits die hard but man, was I wrong!
The first 24 to 48 hours was a kinda haze. I guess it was a combination jet lag, the anxiety of traveling and the fact the all of Alaska was overcast and rainy. I dove right into my duties as Jay’s brewing assistant and had no idea what to expect. Then something wonderfull
happened…the clouds parted, the skies cleared and there it was… The mountains! Snow covered, tecnocolored and stunning. You have no choice but to be in awe of the scenery,but the thing that got me most was the air! A big draw of it was like smelling an interesting and complex beer… it was like a mixture of pine/spruce and smoke. I was hooked and I got it. I always said that New Englanders have such beautiful summers because they suffer such exteme winter and I believe that to be the case here ten fold.
Everyone I have met here have been gracious and wonderful. Even the most hardened Alaskans,(which you can tell by them being a touch more disheveled and sun beaten than others)after a few cold stares all of a sudden lighten up, smile and ask how you are doing. But because of Denali State Park, most people here are working the tourism trade, or are tourist themselves so it makes for a unique mixture of people from all over the world.
I know you must be saying,what does all this have to do with beer?
I thought when I got here without any distractions, that I would be able to catch up on my reading, blog and relax a bit but that has not been the case! My first hard lesson about brewing on a 5 barrel system in a very busy brew pub is that you spend 10,12 or even 15 hours in the brew house. You have about enough time at the end of the day to eat dinner, drink a few beers and go to bed because you have to wake up and do it all over again in the morning. Am I complaining? Absolutely not! To brew beer every day for a living I would gladly work more!
That said, all I have been able to do is Tweet about a beer i’m drinking or post a few pictures on Facebook of the scenery in between all my duties as assistant brewer. So I will continue to blog when I can get a few minutes to write in the form of the header; “Drinking Beer at the End of the World” and fill you in further on all the details of this wonderful place I am quickly falling in love with…
Cheers for now…
~M
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The Malt Shed 