Arctic Red

Walking back from the liquor store, I passed the occasional fellow-walker—usually a guy in brown coveralls, with a mustache and beard as impressive as anything on the Arctic Red beer label. That’s the beer I went to the store to buy. There’s a small brewery in the Yukon, in Whitehorse, and a few years ago I had the good luck to meet the man behind the beer, Bob Baxter, who cheerfully tours people through Yukon Brewing Company (you just have to call & ask). I had wanted to meet Bob because of the labels on the excellent beer the company produces: both Yukon Gold (the lager) and Arctic Red (my favourite) feature grizzled gold-panners, glaring out at the world. Turns out they’re local guys, Kevin on the Gold and Leo on the Red, not movie-extras. Fittingly, Bob says he paid them for the photoshoot with beer. So now I'm home with Leo on a box staring at me from the top of kitchen cabinet. I can’t think of a better way to kick myself in gear on getting down to work out here.