Alaskan Smoked Porter

Alaskan Smoked Porter is rounding out a gilded year by taking top honors in the Smoked Beer category at Europe’s largest beer competition, the European Beer Star Awards. Alaskan Smoked Porter won gold in the smoked beer categories at 2010 World Beer Cup in April and the 2010 Great American Beer Festival in September.
 
“Winning gold in a German beer competition for the rauchbier category, is really an honor,” said Alaskan Brewing co-Founder Geoff Larson. “The rauchbier style is a legacy of German brewing tradition. The smoked beers I tasted there first showed me that we are able to portray a sense of place through the beer we brew. Alaskan Smoked Porter expresses attributes of our region with malt smoked over alder, the hardwood indigenous to Alaska. This parallels the century-old tradition expressed through beechwood in Bamburg.”
 
It its seventh year, the European Beer Star’s panel of 88 tasters sampled 955 beers from 34 countries to award gold, silver and bronze in 44 beer-style categories. This was a record number of entries for the competition, and a nearly 20% increase in entries from outside of Germany.
 
"This shows how prestigious the award has become worldwide," says Dr. Werner Gloßner, Managing Director of the Association Private Brauereien Bayern. "There have never been so many participating breweries and so many breweries that made it into the winner lists."
 
The panelists judged the beer in early October, and the winning beers were announced at the Brau Beviale on November 11 in Nuremburg.
 
This European Beer Star medal is for the 2009 vintage of Alaskan Smoked Porter. The smoked malt in Alaskan Smoked Porter, combined with the yeast left in the bottle allows it to be vintage-aged, with the beer’s flavor and aroma evolving over time. As it ages, the smoke becomes softer and blends with the other complex elements of the beer. The new 2010 Alaskan Smoked Porter releases this month throughout the western states.
  

Alaskan Brewing Company.
Alaskan Brewing Co. has been making award-winning beer in Juneau, Alaska, since 1986. The Alaskan Brew Crew bottles the unique character of the Last Frontier with historic recipes, local ingredients and glacier-fed water. Alaskan Brewing handcrafts Amber, Pale, White, IPA, Stout, Smoked Porter, Winter Ale, Summer Ale and a variety of limited edition beers in the Alaskan Pilot Series. Visit www.alaskanbeer.com.