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American Craft Beer was recently invited up to Alaska for an “in-depth” tour of their fast-growing craft beer and distilling scene. We met with a lot of great brewers (and distillers) while up there, and spent hours drinking together, learning more about this amazing place. And often times our conversations would touch on bear sightings…a subject you really can’t avoid when you live in ‘The Last Frontier.”
Beers can come BIG up in Alaska and so do this vast region’s bears. So we asked some of our new industry friends to give us a big beer that they’ve brewed in the past and to throw in a bear story if they had one. And not surprisingly, because they’re Alaskans, almost everyone had both, and we’ll be sharing them with you from time to time
Sassan Mossanen
One of our favorite stops while up in Alaska was Denali Brewing, an amazing operation near Denali National Park and Preserve, home to the highest mountain in North America. Denali Brewing was founded by Sassan Mossanen an engaging and adventurous guy who also happens to love brewing BIG beers – and has seen his fair share of bears.
First to Sassan’s Big Beer Pick…
Sassan’s favorite big beer was part of the brewery’s Flag Sop Series – named after a legendary train service that transports residents and their supplies to remote cabins and provides access to the region’s distant waterways. All of Denali’s Flag Stop releases are huge and Mile Post 4 is no different. Bourbon barrel-aged, then blended and bottle-conditioned, Flag Stop Mile 4 Imperial Red Ale is an adventure in itself and pairs even better with Sassan’s beer sighting…
And now Sassan’s Big Bear Story…
“Prior to my life as beer dork I used to guide mountaineering trips for one of the larger experiential educations schools and we were on a 28 day mountaineering course in the Prince Williams Sound area. We had just spent 10 days on the Snow River Glacier navigating our way to the head of the glacier in a total white out.
Our unsuccessful goal was to climb one of the many majestic peaks that rimmed the Glacier.
After waiting for days for the elusive clear weather day, which never came, we decided to head back to dry ground. Our route wound us back down glacier to an area called Fairy Land. As we started to crest the ridge which dropped us into Fairy Land we stopped for a quick lunch break.
As Mother Nature would have it, the 10 days of snow and rain that we had been receiving broke long enough for us to get a spectacular view of the Snow River glacier and a huge brown bear that was crossing the toe of the glacier.
The snow river is one of the lager glaciers in the area. The toe of the glacier must have been 5 miles across and the brown bear was crossing it with amazing expertise and speed. Amazingly, the bear was able to cross a distance in less than an hour, that would have taken our team most of the day!
We wrapped up lunch, the clouds and rain descended again. The only problem was the bear exited the glacier at the same point we did heading in our direction. But that’s another story altogether, which will have to be shared over the second big beer”
Alaska is home to many stories like Sassan’s and we promise, we’ll have more of them coming your way soon!
