{"id":3934,"date":"2012-05-09T07:24:06","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T19:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=3934"},"modified":"2012-05-09T18:16:52","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T06:16:52","slug":"alaskan-winter-ale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/05\/09\/alaskan-winter-ale\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaskan Winter Ale"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alaskan<\/a>
Alaskan 'Winter Ale'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The best-laid plans and all that, right? Four different U.S. imports arrived in the keg fridge at work in the early stages of last winter, and all four<\/em>\u00a0had glorious great big ostentatious American-style tap handles. I quickly hatched a plan (not just within the bounds of my own head; I told the right people and made the relevant notes) to put them all side-by-side on the 4th of July. It just seemed to make sense. But these things had a way of undoing themselves and I’d show up to work in the days preceding the Americans’ collective birthday and find that one or other had been cracked, with or without its marvellous handle, and placed in some random corner of the taps. Sigh.<\/p>\n

But. But<\/em>\u00a0— it turns out that if<\/em> the proverbial man with the best-laid plan (and possibly the mice) is extraordinarily stubborn, faced with a quiet weekend night shift, and entirely<\/em>\u00a0comfortable with spending a few hours in the keg chiller, shuffling hefty things into organised piles in a zero-degrees-Celsius environment — the Zen Art Of Kegtris1<\/sup> — then<\/em>\u00a0you might just witness a resurrection of that plan. And, as you can see from the handles arrayed behind my glass, that’s exactly what happened. It was, in its own way, beautiful. If I do say so.<\/p>\n

\"July<\/a>
The Four of July<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reshuffle was a Saturday night, and I was (uncharacteristically) also working the Sunday — which is when I had this, as a little reward for getting everything done and ready for “tomorrow”, the 4th. I’ve entirely forgotten which lovely friend of mine I happened to bump into before work who shouted it for me as I mooched around before my shift — I’d turned up early, even further<\/em>\u00a0out of character and probably due to the disorientation of the schedule change.<\/p>\n

It made for a great start to my workday, not least because 6.5% ABV in a light and sweet and gorgeously perfumed little ale helps to put a bit of a shine on your face, if you skipped breakfast. Comparisons to local-oddity ‘Captain Cooker’ from the Mussel Inn are meant as sincere and complimentary. They’re both charmingly peculiar, enjoyably different<\/em>, and really interestingly tasty.\u00a0And seriously, the tap handle is a fucking great big snow-covered tree. With a weirdly adorable eagle on the top<\/em>. I still can’t believe the Powers That Be were content to leave that sitting in a dark cupboard, but I’m glad I overruled them.<\/p>\n

Original Diary entry:<\/strong>\u00a0Alaskan Winter Ale 3\/7\/11 From the four, all properly in place at last. Much paler than we expected, light amber. Smells like Christmass + shortbread, candy sweetness. Made with spruce, which help justify the already-awesome tap handle. Has that Captain Cookery sweet perfume. 6.5%-ish. Lovely start to a Sunday at work.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Alaskan<\/a>
Alaskan Winter Ale's tap-handle eagle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Alaskan<\/a>
Alaskan Winter Ale's tap handle base<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Diary<\/a>
Diary II entry #120, Alaskan Winter Ale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

1:<\/strong> Which really does seem to be a ‘me’ word — a fact that makes me deliriously proud. I do hope it catches on. If it does, I’m totally adding “neologist” to my CV.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best-laid plans and all that, right? Four different U.S. imports arrived in the keg fridge at work in the early stages of last winter, and all four\u00a0had glorious great big ostentatious American-style tap handles. I quickly hatched a plan (not just within the bounds of my own head; I told the right people and … Continue reading Alaskan Winter Ale<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[27,6,20,44],"class_list":["post-3934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","tag-ale","tag-pages","tag-united-states","tag-2011-07"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":235,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2005\/05\/08\/st-peters-winter-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":0},"title":"St Peter’s ‘Winter Ale’","author":"Phil","date":"May 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: St Peter's Winter Ale. 500ml, $5, 6.5%, 8\/5\/05. First off: most gorgeous bottle ever. Green oval, pure vintage. Looks like good medicine and smells a bit the same. Dark as dark, with a few brownish bubbles. Tastes mad. A little scary, even. Fruitcake flavours all over the place, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"St Peter's 'Winter Ale'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1027-St-Peters-Winter-Ale-276x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1864,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/02\/28\/moa-%e2%80%98five-hop-winter-ale%e2%80%99\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":1},"title":"Moa \u2018Five Hop Winter Ale\u2019","author":"Phil","date":"February 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've railed about it before, but Moa's appalling brandwank annoys me sufficiently that it still buzzes in my brain as I enjoy something like this, one of their actually-rather-lovely offerings. Praise first, praise first; stifle the rant for a moment. \u20185 Hop\u2019 is a delicious E.S.B., richly flavoured and deftly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Moa '5 Hop'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moa-5-Hop-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":239,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2005\/08\/12\/badger-original-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":2},"title":"Badger ‘Original Ale’","author":"Phil","date":"August 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Badger Original Ale. 500ml, $5, 4.6%, 12\/8\/05. Watching pirate West Wing. I really need to visit these boys. This is great stuff, too. It's just a big, solid ale. Afterthoughts, October 2010: The relative terseness of this note seems to suggest I was suffering from a sort of (enjoyable)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Badger 'Original Ale'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1028-Badger-Original-Ale-300x110.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":152,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2004\/11\/06\/goose-island-honkers-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":3},"title":"Goose Island \u2018Honker\u2019s Ale\u2019","author":"Phil","date":"November 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Goose Island Honker's Ale. $?, 12oz, @home, Nov 6. More West Wing, so a Chicago ale with burgers. Darkish, but hints of orange again. Bubbles not so enduring, no haze. Lighter taste + smell, still flat, muted ale-ish. More an afternoon beer. Perfectly respectable + tasty. Great everyday stuff;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Goose Island 'Honker's Ale'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1016-Goose-Island-Honkers-1-300x138.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":266,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2006\/05\/14\/youngs-special-london-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":4},"title":"Young’s ‘Special London Ale’","author":"Phil","date":"May 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Young's Special London Ale. 500ml, $5, 6.4%, 14\/5\/06. Bottle conditioned, and it shows; gorgeous bubbles. Dark amber color, big round taste, malty + with hops for, well, England. All-around wonderfully beery. Brilliant, but definately not for everyone. Afterthoughts, October 2010: Everybody ready? We're about to fall off another cliff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young's Special London Ale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1034-Youngs-Special-London-Ale-300x207.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":223,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2005\/04\/16\/belhaven-scottish-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":5},"title":"Belhaven ‘Scottish Ale’","author":"Phil","date":"April 16, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"A.K.A. Belhaven 'Export', A.K.A. Belhaven 80 Shilling (when it's in casks). And, on the same day as the Diary gets its first English beer, it also gets this, its first Scot. Verbatim: Bellhaven Scottish Ale. 330ml, $5, 3.9%, 16\/4\/05. Ooh. 1719 est'd. Darker amber. Very full taste. Nutty, in fact.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Belhaven 'Scottish Ale'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1024-Belhaven-Scottish-Ale-300x139.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3934"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3955,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3934\/revisions\/3955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}