Well, I think I have recovered from Alaska’s unofficial beer week. I have a feeling that Dr. Fermento’s constant prodding with the members of the Alaska Brewers Guild paid off; they will no doubt have their ducks in a row January 2011. I want to personally thank all Alaska Brewing Guild members and all of our distributors for their participation in Beer Week and the Great Alaskan Beer and Barleywine Festival. You have made all the events surrounding the festival a true joy to be part of and on behalf of our club members, we thank you all. Special thanks go to Todd, Jason and Candice Alstrom from Beer Advocate. Your passion and spirit for beer and the geeks who love it made it a very memorable week. I am looking forward to the GABBF and the new “Alaska Beer Week” in 2011.

As you can see the Prez Sez picture has changed. I’m still flabbergasted by the ability of the photo contest winner, Joe “Alaska Joe” Michael. The original photo was taken at Café Amsterdam on Friday night during the Brewer’s Appreciation Party. From what I remember we were discussing the demise of Alaskan Brewing Co. Baltic Porter. I was holding my arms up to the Beer Gods after recreating the challis of life. It is my favorite beer that they brew, and from an inside source I learned it is also their most expensive. Well, they do have a business to run, I hopefully have procured my fix of Baltic Porter and pray it will last until they bring it back or they release a clone recipe. Thank you Joe, you did an awesome job. Next time you’re at the house you get your pick from the cellar.

If you thought we were going to slug through the late winter months and wait for spring to arrive you have another thing coming. Our club calendar is packed with upcoming events. Here is a short list, check out the corresponding articles for all the specifics. Please feel free to contact each event organizer and volunteer to help them out. Our great club can’t be run on the backs of only a few.

Our next event will be the Fur Rondy Homebrew Competition. Soon after that we will be having our February 16th GNBC club meeting, our special guest will be Kyle Beus of Matanuska Creamery. He will be giving us the skinny on process of making cheese and sharing his wisdom on how we can make our own artisanal cheeses. We will also be doing the judging for the American Ales for the AHA COC competition. See the article elsewhere with all the particulars on what you will need to bring.

In the month of March we have a couple of club events; our club meeting will be on the 16th. The AHA National Homebrew Competition entries can be submitted between March 22 and April Fool’s Day. Later that month we will be invading Talkeetna; check out the article “Beer Tripping”. The following weekend April 3rd it’s time to celebrate the Annual Snow Goose Spring Breakup Homebrew Competition. Catch Dan Bosch’s article about the competition. You still have plenty of time to knock out a few batches of beer. Don’t forget about the Brewers Challenge, a black wit.

The month of May will bring us back to John and Rose Craig’s home for Brewathon. We will be having a double showing of the movie “Beer Wars” on the 15th of May. See Tim Bisson’s article for the breakdown of the double showings. I am tossing around the idea of adding an AHA Rally to coincide with the showing of “Beer Wars” and various homebrew demonstrations scattered between showings. All club members please set this date aside and don’t forget to invite a friend or two. It will be a great opportunity to introduce them to homebrewing. We have a capacity of around 500 people for the combine showings. It would be great to see a large turnout, so invite everyone you know.

John Trapp has an article this month on the secrets of extract brewing, so all of you new brewers take note. John has perfected the process, and his article coincides with the next AHA COC, which follows the American Ales competition. Stay tuned for dates in which the club will judge and forward the GNBC submission.

Julie Mc Donald has written a wonderful article on one of the latest commercial beer dinners/ pairings. Julie is the club’s foremost expert in the art of food pairings with either beer or mead, so get hold of her and get on the spam list for club dinners.

I want to wrap up this Prez Sez article by thanking everyone for all the hard work over the last month. For everyone who made last month’s club meeting a total success to those who coordinated and judged the GABBF Barleywine and Winter Seasonal Competition, without your dedication none of this would have been possible. To all of the club members who stepped up and volunteered to serve in one form or another, I personally thank you. Until we meet again “Respect Beer” as BA would say, please think before you drink and Brew On!