Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“Just another day on the job,” says Chris, the brakeman, but his grin and the grins of his
fellow Alaska Railroad employees belie that statement.
The Great Alaska Beer Train serves “food that I like,” says the Brewhouse's executive
chef Eric DuBey, “food that I don't get to do all the time at the Brewhouse.” Back at our
table, Rhonda has returned with a melt-in-your-mouth thyme-encrusted lamb chop,
washed down by an Oktoberfest aged in Napa Valley red wine barrels.
Robert McCormick, the financial manager for the Glacier Brewhouse, says the Beer
Train is “a chance to get out of the restaurant and serve up some neat food and beer com-
bos.” No mode of transportation is safe from them: This year the Brewhouse added a Beer
Plane, in conjunction with Era Aviation's classic DC-3 flight (see
Chapter 19
). “We served
petit fours and canapés and did a family-style barbecue and then loaded up the plane and
flew up to Mount McKinley.”
“Trains, planes, what's next?” I ask, and Robert says, “You'll have to ask Kevin.”
“I'm looking for a blimp,” Kevin says, deadpan. “Or maybe a space shuttle.” Kevin
Burton is the Brewhouse's brewmaster, and according to all sources the inspiration behind
taking the Brewhouse to wing and rail. The Beer Train is in October because October is
after tourist season, and because October is also the month Kevin brews up a lot of differ-
ent Oktoberfest beers.
It's time for the third course, German style bratwurst with white beans and red cabbage.
It's even better than the lamb chop, and the beer is divine, although I'm having a hard
time remembering which one we were drinking by then. Might have been the steel-aged
Oktoberfest, but it could have been the IPA or the Hefeweizen, too. Maybe it was all
three. My gait is more in sync with the motion of the train, there is slightly more spillage
going on, eyes are bright, faces are flushed, and all the sixty-somethings have congregated
in the first car behind the engine, where the laughter and the music is not quite so loud.
In the Tiki Railbar (yes, really, complete with palm trees) there is actual dancing. In the
dining car people sit down to red-and-white checked tablecloths and their third or fourth
lamb chops until the lamb chops run out. We arrive in Portage, the engine switches ends,
and we head back toward Anchorage, the signal for dessert.
Dessert is the Brewhouse's justly famous bread pudding, and there's enough for
seconds and we observe some people going back for thirds. Rhonda says, “Next year, I'm
