Dr. Fermento is a busy guy. He just returned to Alaska after judging at the Toronodo Barleywine Competition in San Francisco and is settling back into what sounds like a busy schedule of beer writing and working several jobs in several different locations. I feel honored that he took the time to answer my questions and quench my personal thirst to know what the beer culture is like up in Alaska. He is a real testament to dedication in the craft brew industry.
Cheers "Fermz"!
Name: Dr. Fermento (a.k.a. James Roberts)
(RHP) Where do you live and what are some of your favorite local places to get a beer?
(Dr. F) Anchorage, Alaska. Although there are many breweries, brewpubs and fine quaffing venues in Anchorage and the surrounding area, I find my carcass planted most frequently at Café Amsterdam, (530 E. Benson Blvd: 907.274.0074) a quiet little Belgian-esque café in midtown where the beer is all high end, there are 17 taps serving no rice, no lite, and no ice, and the beer is served in the right glassware, at the right temperature and only by BJCP certified folks that care about what they’re pouring. Life’s too short to get a shitty serve, eh? I don’t have a favorite local beer. As a beer writer, this is the most frequent question I’m asked and in my circle of peers, rather than commit to a single beer, we discuss our respective “Desert Island Six Packs (DISP),” which include six beers that we’d want to have with us were we to be stranded somewhere and have to drink them for the rest of our days. The rule is that beers can be moved in and out of the six pack at whim (until the day of stranding, of course). It’s hard to pick a favorite local beer. With 15 licensed breweries and brewpubs in Alaska and the daily availability of well over 100 different locally produced beers, it’s a tough pick. The one that’s been in my DISP the longest, however is Fairweather IPA from the Moose’s Tooth Brewing Company, (3300 Old Seward Highway: 907.258-2537)a well-known pizzeria that serves it’s own beer (produced offsite). Fairweather IPA is a local cult favorite, and I guess I’m one of the groupies.
(RHP) What made you decide to start a beer blog?
(Dr. F) Oddly enough, I didn’t decide to start a beer blog; someone else decided to start one for me. Although I write a weekly column in The Anchorage Press and a bi-monthly column for The Celebrator Beer News, a fellow beer lover decided it just wasn’t enough (and he’s right), so he created the blog for me. Now I can churn out upwards of eight pages a week for an increasing audience of local beer lovers. I actually enjoy writing the blog more than the other venues because it’s dicier and I don’t get my emotions edited out.
(RHP) Other than blogging, how else are you involved with your love of beer?
(Dr. F) I consider myself an ambassador of good beer, and do what I can to spread the gospel and ruin mainstream schwag drinkers one palate at a time. I was an avid homebrewer for years and actually was President of our local brew club, The Great Northern Brewers, but writing got in the way of that (along with a full time day job and living in a little community called Hope, Alaska, on the weekends where I work remote for a small mining company) and I haven’t brewed in a couple of years. With the price of beer soaring due to the cost of hops and malt, I might be picking up the paddle soon. I had a radio show on KRUA 88.1 called The Doctor Fermento Growler Hour for a couple of years, but because it was broadcast out of a university with a dry campus, the neophrobies got wind of it and it went away.
(RHP) If you could visit one brewery, that you've never been to, which would it be?
(Dr. F) There’s no single brewery I’d visit if I had the chance because I intend to visit them all, either here or in the afterlife, assuming my liver holds out and my spare doesn’t fail. Actually, I’d love to visit the rather inaccessible breweries right here in Alaska including Kodiak Island Brewing Company, The Easy Hooker Brewing Company (Sitka) and a couple of others that require extensive charter air travel or boat travel to get to. From there, it would be a long foray in Belgium.
(RHP) What comes to mind when you think of Maine?
(Dr. F) When I think of Maine I reminisce fondly of my two years there in the Air Force and long forays into the woods and surrounding countryside in 1978-1979, long before craft beer showed up and I was having my coveted Anchor Steam Beer illegally sent to me in regular doses in the mail. I long to visit again because I know there are fabulous hop spots there today and could combine a trip with pleasure and research.
Some more info. from Dr. Fermento:
"I have an extensive travelogue that is available by request and is sent in Word format. I also answer every beer related email query and love to share the foamier aspects of Alaska with anyone with an interest or a planned visit."
My best email address is at work at jrobertsATpeakalaskaDOTcom with a CC to jamesDOTrobertsATgciDOTnet"
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CHEERS FOR ALL THAT YOU DO FOR BEER IN THE LAST FRONTIER!
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