Cohoho Imperial IPA

The weather outside is frightful!  Up here in Alaska, our winter started off with a bang; we got almost 40 inches of snow in November.  It was a fun and wintery Thanksgiving, then the rain started.  During the weeks before Christmas, we were listening to Christmas music trying to imagine a white Christmas while everything around us was drippy and cold. I can't remember how many times I heard complaining about the rain and wishing for it to get just a little colder...

Then it started to snow.

Starting on Christmas, we woke up to more and more snow.  Every morning Jonah shoveled at least 4 inches off our car.  Wonderful!  A white Christmas! 

Then the snow didn't stop.

By the end of the week, we had a record making 82 inches of snow accumulation and it didn't stop as we started 2012.  Nearing the end of the first week of January, Cordova has not only declared one, but two snow days.  I have to say I found a great way to celebrate and/or recover from the frightful weather, opening the bottle of Cohoho Imperial IPA by Midnight Sun Brewing that my coworker Kate gifted to me for Christmas.  This beer takes Sockeye Red IPA and amps it up full of holiday spirit, or maybe just more maltiness and hops.  Cohoho is packed full of flavors, rounded out to make a snowy day a little more cheery, or maybe that's the higher alcohol content.  Anywho, extend the holiday season by grabbing one of these if there's any left!

Check out our little town covered in snow.  Amazing enough, the sun also made it over the mountains before it started to set again.  We haven't seen that happen in some weeks.

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

Midnight Sun Brewing Company Part 2

8111 Dimond Hook Drive
Anchorage, AK 99507

(907) 344-1179

http://www.midnightsunbrewing.com/

This is my second trip to the Loft at Midnight Sun Brewing Company.  How was it different this second time around?  Well, they have a great new addition: a canning system!  Such an exciting addition to any Alaskan brewing company.  I ran into head brewer Ben Johnson when trying to peak behind the scenes.  Ben informed me that not only have they recently branched out their distributing (they can now be found in Washington, Oregon, AND California), they're expanding throughout Anchorage.  Midnight Sun still uses their space in Midtown, brew and can in the space underneath the Loft, plus occupy a warehouse within a stone's throw of the Loft.  Expansion seems to be the name of the game for Midnight Sun, Ben also informed me now that they have mastered canning the Sockeye Red IPA, the brewery is looking to start canning another one of Midnight's creations.  The beers in question?  Kodiak Brown Ale or the Arctic Rhino Porter.  Which would you like to see in a can first?

Midnight Sun Canning System

All of the beers on tap.

Mary and Jessyka

Midnight Sun Brewing Company

8111 Dimond Hook Drive
Anchorage, AK 99507

(907) 344-1179

http://www.midnightsunbrewing.com/

Hello excellent Alaskan beers!  It has been sad that since I've moved up to Alaska that I've certainly taken a hit with the amount of breweries I can explore.  But my few trips to Anchorage have absolutely quenched my thrist.  The company is not-so-bad either, Mary & Weston always show us a good beer time and this time added DeAnna to the review. 
Midnight Sun Brewing Co. ranges from beers you want to drink sessionly to beers that knock your socks off after one.  Their warehouse-like restaurant/ brewery is filled with 22 oz bottles, funky t-shirts, good food, and of course, fantastic beer!  Hope for a sunny day and head out to the porch.