From horchata rice beer and wild mushroom cinnamon rolls to tug of war battles and bingo games, this weekend’s 23rd Annual Great Alaska Craft Beer and Home Brew Festival will have plenty of treats and activities for out-of-towners and locals alike.
In addition to the festival’s slew of events – the Gourmet Brewers’ Dinner, the main tasting event, the Slammin’ Salmon run – the Chamber of Commerce is launching its first Brewfest Open Air Market to entertain visitors and promote Haines businesses.
Fair director Jessica Edwards said directors in years past have tried to work with local groups to organize a supplemental event to the festival, but nothing ever materialized. The fair has also received inquiries over the years from nonfood vendors who wanted to be a part of the festival, but the nonprofit’s board has been adamant about keeping the focus on beer.
“The board has been very determined to keep this a food and beverage festival, like a foodie festival. It’s not about shopping; it’s about learning about the beers and experiencing this food and beverage event,” Edwards said.
The chamber’s market fills that gap and represents an organized way for businesses to take advantage of the influx of visitors to Haines, she said.
The market, which runs from 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Haines High School track, will include vendors, food and games. Music by the Swinging Lowboys runs from 4 to 6 p.m. Tug of war games start at 6 p.m., and music resumes after that until the market closes down at 8 p.m.
The chamber also received permission from the Department of Revenue to move its gaming permit to the school track and have a bingo tent, chamber executive director Debra Schnabel said.
The festival kicks off Friday night with the Gourmet Brewers’ Dinner, prepared by Travis Kukull, chef and co-owner of Gastropod and Epic Ales in Seattle. Kukull’s planned dishes include a shrimp mousse profiterole, pan-seared scallops with an oxtail ragu, and pea soup with lamb bacon.
The menu also includes an avant-garde dish Kukull recently debuted at his Seattle restaurant: a wild mushroom cinnamon roll, which will be served right before the main course “to soak up all the beer,” Kukull said.
The dish is prepared by making a puree of sautéed mushrooms and cream cheese that is layered in homemade brioche with cinnamon. A soy sauce caramel acts as the “icing.” It is served with nettle pesto and sautéed fiddlehead ferns.
“I did it for two weeks in Seattle at my restaurant just to practice with it,” Kukull said. “People loved it.”
Kukull’s brewery Epic Ales, which he co-owns with Cody Morris, will also have a tent at Saturday’s tasting event for the first time. Epic Ales specializes in “bizarre” beers, Kukull said.
“Generally, we make Belgian farmhouse ales, but we also do bizarre styles that kind of went out of fashion a hundred years ago,” he said.
Epic Ales will be pouring a horchata rice beer with cinnamon and a session cream ale at the tasting, but will break out its flagship beer “Partytime!!!” at the dinner on Friday. “Partytime!!!” is a sour Berliner Weiss.
In addition to Epic Ales, the festival is welcoming four new breweries to Saturday’s tasting event this year: 49th State Brewing Company of Healy, Arkose Brewery of Palmer, King Street Brewing Company of Anchorage and Winterlong Brewing Company of Whitehorse, Y.T.
Other than the new brewers, the tasting event will look pretty much the same this year, said fair executive director Edwards. Nineteen breweries, including distributors, will set up in Dalton City and along the community garden fence. Eight food vendors – including raw oysters from the Wayfarer Oyster Bar – will sate the hungry beer drinkers, and three bands (Skagway’s Hillbilly Jean, the Pimentos featuring Colette Costa, and the God Particles) will keep festival-goers grooving until 5 p.m. when they are unleashed on the town.
The Haines Borough has been doing its part to prepare for the festival as well. Edwards, tourism director Leslie Ross, police chief Bill Musser and other stakeholders have been meeting regularly to ensure things go smoothly, from keeping the bathrooms clean to emptying the trash cans regularly and preventing overflow.
Manager David Sosa said though the police department is understaffed, it won’t be bringing in additional officers from the Hoonah Police Department, as it did last year.
“They are, just like everyone else, really strapped for their ability to travel, so that is not going to happen,” Sosa said.
Musser, who recently resigned his position, will stay on the job through the festival. Interim chief Robert Griffiths is also expected to arrive in time to work the festival, Sosa said.
“With the officers we have and the staff that we have, the situation will be well in hand. They know how to engage with the people who are here,” he added. “It’s not Beerpocalypse. It’s Beerfest.”
Musser did not respond to calls and emails for comment.
Beer drinkers and abstainers alike are invited to participate in the Slammin’ Salmon 5K walk/run or 10K run at 9 a.m. Saturday. The event ballooned to nearly 200 participants last year, so runners should show up early if they want to get their t-shirts. Runners can preregister online or sign up the day of the race at 8:15 a.m.