40.0°

Most dreams tend to be larger than their reality, but for Frank and Debbie Kassik of Kassik's Kenai Brew Stop in Nikiski their dream of retiring and starting a micro-brewery is getting larger all the time. Few athletes that dream of an Olympic medal are ever able to wear it, but the Kassik's Kenai Brew Stop recently claimed a bronze medal in the Brewers Association (BA) World Beer Cup, often referred to as the "Olympics of Beer Competitions," because it is one of the very few international beer competitions awarding only one gold, silver and bronze in each category. Every two years a highly qualified professional panel of beer judges honors the top three beers in 91 beer style categories in a global beer competition that evaluates beers from around the world and recognizes the most outstanding beers being produced in the world today.

This year the prestigious World Beer Cup awards were presented Saturday, April 19 at the close of the annual Craft Brewers Conference to a crowd of 1500 excited brewers and their colleagues during the Gala Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Town & Country Resort in San Diego, California. "We decided to give it a go and attend this year and sent down two entries to the World Cup where 58 countries and just under 2,000 entries and totally blown away to come home with a bronze medal for our Caribou Kilt Strong Scotch Ale," Kassik told the Dispatch. The Strong Scotch Ale has become popular locally, but according to Frank it was his wife's decision to enter it, "Actually Debra decided which two beers to send down, I guess it was her woman's intuition or her best feeling about the Scotch, and she was proven right by all those judges. We are proud to bring this award to the Kenai Peninsula and we appreciate the support our community has given us. We enjoy giving back to the community and have built our business on word of mouth, quality in product and service," added Frank, head brewer at Kassik's.

Alaska has 12 breweries and 8 of the 12 submitted entries to the World Cup this year and earned Alaska a place in the top 20 craft breweries in the nation, "Alaska continues to gain respect throughout the world in the brewing industry. Alaskans do a lot of networking, recently some brewers from Snow Goose restaurant in Anchorage came down and spent an entire day here tasting a lot of beer and creating a double batch that day and I learned a lot from their ideas and techniques, and in the next couple of weeks I'll go brew with them, it's all part of the Alaskan spirit of working together to do our best and produce the best product," explained Frank.

The Kassik's fully intend on expanding their dream and hope to even include a bottled product in the future, "My youngest boy will be joining me next year when he gets out of the Air Force and will be going to U.C. Davis for a six month course at their brewing college," said Kassik. Kassik's Kenai Brew Stop is located in Nikiski off Holt Lamp Light Rd. nestled in a clearing in the woods next to their home on Spruce Haven Street. To find out more about Kassik's go to www.kassikkenaibrewstop.com or call 776-4055, they are open daily May - August. To learn more about the World Beer Cup 2008 competition visit www.WorldBeerCup.org .

Frank Kassik returns with the bronze from prestigious World Beer Cup awards.