The Northernmost Foeder in the World?
“You wouldn’t believe the number of tourists who stick to the bars in sight of their cruise ship. We get barely a trickle up the hill, so we started this shuttle”. Matt, of Alaskan Brewing, stroked his predictably long beard. “I love bringing people up on it, though. Means I can play tour guide a bit too. Did you know we call bald eagles ‘Alaskan Pigeons’ because there are so many of them here?”.
We had alighted our ship in Juneau, Alaska’s state capital, and headed to Alaskan Brewing’s downtown pub, before being informed that the pub wasn’t even owned by Alaskan and that their brand new taproom was two miles away, mostly uphill. Figuring an attempt to make the journey on foot in this part of the world wasn’t going to be the leisurely stroll we thought it might, we were told there was a shuttle for this exact reason, and along came Matt in his small, branded van, ready to take us to the home of the state’s most famous beer export.
It is always fascinating to see where the beer is actually brewed for a large brand, and Alaskan was smaller than most breweries in London, while still comfortably being the largest brewery in the state. We tried some experimental flavours (a spruce tip-infused Golden Ale and a funky spiced Gose were memorable) and chatted to some of their regulars, who were quite excited to tell us about the progression of the brewery. It turns out it had long been a small local institution without an official taproom, but nationwide distribution deals had allowed it to evolve into its current iteration, with the state of the art taproom we now sat in opening in 2021 and “the same old good beer” being poured. We tried their signature Amber Ale, fresher and more punchy than from a well-travelled bottle one might find at a craft beer shop a thousand miles away, before being shuttled back down the hill, all the while getting more local tips and opinions from Matt, including that of two other brewery taprooms in Juneau, Barnaby and Devil’s Club.
It was at the latter we were treated to delicious beers from what was reportedly the Northernmost Foeder Barrel in the World, and even brought a couple of aged bottles with us for future consumption. We also popped into Barnaby, a smaller operation notable for being one of very few women-owned breweries in Alaska. We were delighted at the variety of beer we kept finding across the state, and marvelling at how difficult it must be to set up a successful brewery.
As you might expect, getting certain ingredients in Alaska is more complicated than in your average US State. Washington, home to the majority of US hop farms, may be close-by in comparison to the East Coast, but it still requires a plane or ship to get ingredients to major Alaskan towns such as Skagway, Sitka, the state’s first Russian settlement, and Juneau itself, both of which are, remarkably, completely inaccessible by road. This is the type of challenge Alaskan breweries face, not to mention extreme winter conditions which necessitate huge energy outlays in order to keep the lights on, let alone the kettles.
One ingredient they aren’t lacking in is water, and the glacial purity of it tends to dictate the styles that are most commonly found and done to the highest level. Hazy IPAs and Imperial Stouts, so often the mainstays of US breweries, are in the minority, with flavourful Lagers, Amber Ales and Farmhouse Saisons far more common. We also stumbled across a pleasing number of innovative beers using Alaskan ingredients such as spruce tips, and rare styles such as Eisbock, a type of dark lager that has been frozen, and then thawed, to increase alcohol content.
And therein lies the next stage of the conversation. Alaska is in near total darkness for six months of the year, with relentlessly freezing temperatures or weeks of nonstop rain. We spoke to plenty of locals about what they do during this time, to which they would jovially respond “sit inside and drink”. While the image of sipping a flavourful Stout, next to a burning log fire, in a remote wood cabin, while the snow falls outside, is at the very top table of beer experiences, you can see how it could quickly become problematic.
To curb this, Alaska has a novel rule regarding how much beer a brewery taproom can serve a customer per day. At every taproom we visited, we were given a small punchcard with 4oz (120ml) circles. The card stated that in any given day, the brewery could not serve us more than 36oz – which equates to barely two pints in UK terms. Interestingly, this didn’t seem to be the case at bars, seemingly because they served food.
We were also surprised to find only one or two brewery taprooms in most Alaskan towns; given the number of cruise tourists who visit during the summer, there was a distinct lack of competition. On asking why this might be, assuming something about local camaraderie, we found another quirky rule: taprooms per person. In a 2022 state legislature, it was decided that there can be one taproom per 9,000 inhabitants (although the number of breweries is not limited). For towns like Sitka, where the population size swells from just about 9,000 permanent inhabitants to double that during the summer season from June-September, this feels a little unfair. Then factor in the 40,000 cruise ship passengers who pass through every week, and it feels positively cruel. Sitka’s one taproom, Harbour Mountain, did deliver the goods (especially the Porter) but another option wouldn’t have gone amiss, especially given the 36oz rule.
Anchorage is a different beast entirely, with nearly half the population of the entire state living there and one of the only urban spots accessible by air, land and sea. Here the taproom ratio isn’t an issue, while they all served food and didn’t issue us with the 36oz punchcards, which meant the brewery scene is alive and thriving. Beer flights at the downtown 49th State and Glacier Brewhouse setups (large, well-oiled machines that were constantly busy with tourists and locals alike) were highlights, as were the plentiful Amber and Dark Ales at Broken Tooth, the in-house brewery for the highest grossing pizza restaurant in the USA, Moose’s Tooth. Further out of town were Midnight Sun and Cynosure, both with solid offerings, and then the piece-de-resistance of the scene, Anchorage Brewing Company itself. A hefty warehouse-like taproom, this is the closest the state has to a hype brewery and it lived up to it, with barrel-aged beers and intense heavy Stouts galore, well worth the visit out of downtown.
It is also important to note the dearth of Native Alaskan owned breweries, although it was encouraging to see artwork by Native Alaskans adorning the walls of a few of the breweries, much of it paying homage to their history and culture. On a similar note, there was evident respect on show, with none of the beer labels or names that we saw appropriating Native Alaskan culture for a brewery’s own gain. There is a larger conversation to be had about the challenges Native Americans in general have in the beer industry, which we won’t delve into here but which is explored well in this article.
The best part of the Alaskan beer experience, of course, was the extraordinary nature statewide, constantly surrounding you as you sipped a beer. Girdwood Brewing near the Portage Glacier gave us sheer amazement; as we sipped each beer in our flight outside their taproom, we would see a different wild animal, spot another mountain in the distance, hear a river or waterfall flowing. It was a far cry from the industrial complex carpark views that we are used to, and added to an overall sensory experience which made the beer taste even sweeter (or more bitter…or malty…or whatever it was meant to taste like).
It won’t surprise you to hear that the people of the Alaska beer scene are kind, humble and laid back. They are relentlessly proud of what they are doing, and pleased that we had taken some time to visit them. We found everyone we met to be a source of information on their town, opinions on Alaska and provided us with a snapshot of what Alaskan life in general is like, something you don’t always get from a visit to somewhere so set up for tourists. It was yet another bit of proof that so often, the best way to get the flavour of a place, both literally and figuratively, is by visiting the local brewery. Plus, otherwise we’d never have known that they call bald eagles Alaskan Pigeons. So there’s that too.
