It all culminates in the epic weekend event, the Great Alaska Beer and Barlywine Festival, which is one of the best beer fests in the nation with more barleywine than you can drink (no that is not a challenge, it is a fact!). I recommend the connoisseur session on Saturday afternoon, as the glass is better (real glass) and the barley wine offerings are more plentiful.
The Saturday afternoon session presents the marching bagpipe band, and the barleywine and winter warmer contest winners are announced. Overall, a great week to visit Alaska! Fortunately, the airlines haven’t figured this out, so you can get some of the cheapest rates to Alaska at this time.Tag Archives: alaska beer week
Putting Together an Art Show
~ by Maria Benner
Last night Scott and I hung an art show at Midnight Sun Brewing, which was a culmination of planning, painting, and getting everything ready for the venue. We’ve done this many times, so we’re getting pretty efficient at it. The process begins several months in advance when I book a venue. Then Scott and I brainstorm about a theme, decide how many new paintings he needs to paint, and what they should look like, and which existing paintings to hang. About two weeks in advance, I submit event information to the venue, ADN, and the Anchorage Press, and a couple days later, create a FB event, and schedule on my calendar the e-mail blast, and social media posts promoting the art show. A day before we hang the art, we work for about five hours making prints, framing paintings, pricing everything, creating an inventory sheet, and signage. Normally we have to wait until the venue is closed to the public to set up. Midnight Sun Brewing closes at 8 PM. So we packed everything up and loaded it into our truck from the studio around 7:30 PM, and arrived at the brewery with just enough time to order a beer before last call. Setting up took about two hours this time. We always have a great time at MSBC after hours, because the employees have a lot of charisma, and they appreciate Scott’s art. They get first dibs, because they’re the first ones who get to see all the paintings, and sometimes, someone buys their favorite piece. Last night the Banksy beer parody sold. The theme for this art show is Beer Art History, and it features many of the beer parodies of famous paintings that Scott released in 2015 on Thirsty Thursdays. We are also unveiling the new Pops series, which is several bright oil paintings of poppies in front of Anchorage scenery.
Scott’s art will be at the brewery until February 4th. We hope you stop by and check it out. You can take the paintings and prints home with you right away. Scott will be tapping a firkin on January 8th at 5 PM, since First Friday was on January 1st this year. Click here for more event info.
Hopefully the firkin will do this again.
Here are some pictures from last night.

We put together this list of things to do to get ready for the art show.
A Toast to Our Mountains!

“A Toast to Our Mountains” painting series, Anchorage Skyline and Chugach Mountains. 24″x12″ oil on panel.
One day in September I was working on our log cabin in McCarthy, Alaska when I heard my phone ring. I was surprised to see an unknown number, and answered as professionally as I could while ripping a chainsaw helmet off my head to access my ear quickly. A gentleman on the other end identified himself as David Crewdson, a beer connoisseur in Anchorage. He told me that he came up with a delightful beer painting concept and got my number from one of the beeristas at Midnight Sun Brewing Co., and wanted to share it with me (the beer painter), but he wanted to meet me in person. He said he would be giving the brewery tour at the MSBC in a couple weeks as a guest lecturer while Gary Busse was out of town, so we agreed to meet at the brewery right before the tour. Luckily, I had planned to be in Anchorage then, so I trucked over to MSBC to see what David had to say. He told me that paintings of glasses of beer with Alaskan mountains in the foam would be a great idea. I immediately agreed. He also came up with a name for the art show “A Toast to Our Mountains”. He didn’t ask for anything in return, except credit for the idea, which I am happy to give him. So you can look forward to seeing these paintings at my next art show at MSBC, which opens January 3rd with me tapping the Firkin keg at 5 PM. Also look for other beer paintings. I have been playing with concepts like “The Art of Beer,” and “Beers of the World.” I will also fill out the space with a final showing of the remaining “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.” The art show will be up all month, during which Alaska Beer Week takes place. Stop in for a taster, small, or large glass of avant-garde brew, as well as my paintings, art prints, and mini-original painting magnets!