FAIRBANKS — Beer festivals are fun but can be frustrating, too.

Even when attending the recent Golden Days 2010 Summer Beer Festival at Silver Gulch Brewery with my wife and two friends, we couldn’t come close to trying even one-third of the 150 or so beers on offer.

That’s not to say we didn’t give it a shot, sampling beers from Belgium (some of our favorites), Japan (some of the most unusual), Scotland (as lush as the moors at night), Germany (full of childhood memories), Alaska (surprise favorite), as well as several other European and West Coast brews.

Our first stop, and maybe seventh, too, was the Canadian brewery Unibroue. This isn’t Molson territory. Unibroue specializes in Belgian-style ales — strong ales — and we spread the samples about. Two that stood out (though all were exceptional) were 16, the company’s 16th anniversary Belgian Strong Ale, which had a light alcoholish overtone, but warm, creamy and spicy textures and mouthfeel. Trois Pistoles was a darker version with a spiciness that lingered on the tongue among sour apple and black currant notes.

We could have stayed there, but the cartoon owl of the Hitachino brewery caught my eye. The pourer said he “also liked the Hello Kitty label,” and it wasn’t far removed from that. In some ways, that close but not quite star logo marked the beers as well. To its credit, this Japanese brewery wasn’t producing the typical crisp, dry and bitter Japanese beers, but attempting to emulate brews from other parts of the world, such as Belgium, England and the United States.

The Weizen was fruity with apples and strawberries and crisp, but lacked the requisite malty wheat flavor. The excessive fruit was pleasant, however. The White Ale, a Belgian staple, “lacked the oomph,” my wife stated. Not sure if coriander was used, as is tradition, but little spice was present. The Ginger Beer, however, was extremely zippy, though it would be hard to drink more than one.

I was excited to try the Red Rice Ale. Rice is more often used as an adjunct to classic malts, but few beers are made primarily of rice. Initially, it seemed as if I raised the glass and missed my mouth.

It was like I tasted nothing. Gradually, however, the dry, crisp, here-and-gone essence slipped in. It was a refreshing beer. Holding it in my mouth there was even a hint of plum — very Japanese indeed.

After those unexpected offerings, something deep and dark was in order. So I happily asked for a glass of Old Engine Oil from Scotland’s Haviestoun Brewery. “Beware the moors,” went through my head, though this beer could certainly stop a werewolf. Darker and heavier than Guinness, this stout was thick, creamy and rich with a malty sweetness and pleasant warmth. Highly recommended, and it received the two-raised-eyebrow look of surprise and approval from Jeff, one of my companions.

Another pleasant surprise was the Alaskan Baltic Porter. Now in limited supply, according to Alaska representative and pourer Jon Blakely, this beer was rich, creamy and smooth with a lingering something that was tantalizing. That something, we learned, comes from hand-scraped Madagascar vanilla beans — scraped by monkeys, no doubt, we joked. This offering was very slowly consumed.

As we made our way toward another all-Belgian beer table, I was stopped by a vision from my high school years — EKU 28 from Germany. The backstory is that a friend worked at a liquor store with a cool boss, so the occasional missing sixer wasn’t a problem — and we always experimented with new brews. One of those beers was EKU 28, a strong, roasted malt ale with deep warmth and nutty overtones. Flash to the past!

Now, at the Belgian table, the Rochefort 10 was poured. This Quadruple Ale was deep with complexity. High on the malts and sugars to pull the alcohol content up, this ale was naturally malty and sweet, which competed with a coriander-like spiciness, old banana and sour apple flavors. Our pourer wasn’t so fond of this, though Marin’s wide-eyed, “Oh, wow,” spoke volumes in the 10s favor.

While there is hardly the room to mention all we sampled, some other standouts worth trying include the syrupy sweet, but smooth Delirium Nocturnum and the Mostyntije, or “beer brewed with spice,” according to the sign. Others include two sour beers, Midnight Sun’s Pride, with a “wet horse blanket” essence, stated the pourer, and the Rodenbach classic, a refreshing Belgian sour beer perfect for sunshine-y summer evenings, or those filled with rain of which, on this beer tour, there was plenty.

Yet, with all this fine beer, we hardly noticed.

Features editor Glenn BurnSilver is the former associate editor at Brew Your Own magazine, where he still contributes timely articles on beer and the making of beer. Contact him at 459-7510.