Have Beer Will Paint

Lest ye doubt that the art of beermaking is alive and well in Alaska, consider the proliferation and popularity of microbreweries here. Consider, too, the success of Alaska-raised, homebrewing “Beer Painter” Scott Clendaniel. While beer is just one of his obsessions and subjects, it’s gained him a reputation. His other work draws inspiration from Alaska’s natural world and the lifestyle. “You see wine paintings all the time. But beer is considered a working class beverage,” he said. You could say he created his own niche.

Clendaniel’s creative process as a visual artist dialogs with the creative endeavor of brewing. As an earnest homebrewer, his education got a boost during his stint working at Arctic Brewing Supply. He’s well equipped to appreciate a good beer with nuance. “I want to promote connoisseurship,” he said. “Not intoxication.” During our visit in Sober October, his keezer (a chest freezer converted into a kegerator) was temporarily loaded with sparkling water on tap.

Clendaniel’s work bringing palate and palette together is social and communal. A lot of ground between making paintings and making a living with them is masterminded by Maria Benner. Clendaniel’s partner in both business and life, Benner is an entrepreneurial, organizational force in their relationship and in the wider beer world. “We like the culture, but we’re not really brewers—we don’t want to own a brewery,” Benner said, to which Clendaniel agreed: “I want to be in the industry, but in my own way.”

I first met the duo in McCarthy. In the years since, they’ve built a cabin out here and done many art shows around Anchorage. Benner helped channel Clendaniel’s art practice into a self-supporting business called Real Art is Better. “Art kind of elevates the beer to a different level, right?” said Benner. She does everything from photograph originals to print and stretch giclee canvas prints over handmade frames. She runs their Etsy store and ships art and product all over the world.

When they aren’t working together, they play together, too, often on bikes or skis. They pedaled a tandem bike down the West Coast from British Columbia to Mexico. Later, they bicycled across Europe from Russia (Benner was born there) to Paris. They’re no strangers to the slopes of Alyeska and Arctic Valley—or to the mountain bars where they enjoy frosty apres-ski beverages.

Soon after Midnight Sun Brewing Co. first opened the Loft, their upstairs tasting room, I joined the throngs that showed up for Clendaniel’s 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall opener back in 2011. Clendaniel had painted a series of 6-by-12-inch beer paintings over the course of three years. Benner posted one of them per day on Facebook for the 99 days leading up to the show. “The opening at Midnight Sun was insane. You could hardly get in the door,” Clendaniel said. “There were 99 paintings on the wall.” They both quit their day jobs the following year—a decade ago, now—to go full-time with painting.

Commissions and getting to know folks buying work is rewarding for Clendaniel. “One of the best things about homebrewing is that I serve it up to people who stop over to pick up their paintings,” he said. “It’s like a social hour, you know? That’s my favorite part about it.” Many breweries win, too, when patrons swing by the studio to collect work. “People have told us that once they buy a beer painting they end up buying more of that beer,” said Benner. “Scott and I have been kind of a part of the industry, but not really. We do more, like, advocating within the industry, promoting craft beer in a positive way,” she said.

One of Benner’s contributions to the vibrant beer community has been to launch and manage the Alaska Beer Nerds group on Facebook, which has grown to around 3,000 members. She and Clendaniel are also both active members of the Great Northern Brewers Club, too. After our visit at the studio over some homebrew (stout conditioned with bourbon-soaked oak spirals and cubes, vanilla beans, and cacao nibs), Benner was on the way to co-judge the AK Beer Awards, a fundraiser for the Brewers Guild of Alaska in advance of the Alaska Crafted beer festival this fall. They set up a vendor table at the well-attended event.

Clendaniel and his originals and limited edition prints can be found at gallery openings and pop-up shows throughout the year. As we go to print, he’s prepping to hang a November show at Snow City Café and getting set to create his way into the holidays, brush in one hand, brew in the other.

This story originally appeared in Edible Alaska Issue No. 26, Winter 2022.