Beer in Unique Places (Juneau, AK)

Brewery: Alaskan Brewing Company

Location: Juneau, Alaska, USA

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Juneau, Alaska's capital city since 1906, is located in one of the most amazing locations on the planet. Nestled along the upper part of the Inside Passage in Southeast Alaska it is like an island surrounded by water, mountains and glaciers. This is where good beer should come from...and it does.

Alaskan Brewing Company was born here in 1986. It was, at that time, the only brewery operating in the 49th state (there are now 7 other breweries and 6 brewpubs). Being located in Juneau, without roads connecting it to the outside work, means that everything needed to brew beer, with the exception of water, needs to be delivered by boat or plane. This also means that all of the Alaskan beer drank outside Juneau needs to leave by the same means.

Alaskan currently brews around 10 beers, including their flagship Alaskan Amber and a new IPA. One of their most amazing beers, and the only one I've been lucky enought to drink, has to be their Smoked Porter. It has consistantly won awards since its inception 20 years ago. The malt for the Alaskan Smoked Porter is smoked with alder wood, the same wood used to smoke Alaskan salmon. Its amazing stuff!

This is another place on my long list of places to visit (and have a beer) in Alaska. One day...

What I would do for a case of this stuff!

Beer in Unique Places (Fox, Alaska)

Brewery: Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Company

Location: Fox, Alaska, USA

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Ten miles north of Fairbanks, in the historic district of Fox, Alaska, stands “America’s Most Northern Brewery/Brewpub”.

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Owned and operated by “life long Alaskans”, Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling opened its doors in 1998. The brewery’s origins are rather similar to other breweries and brewpubs in the US. An avid homebrewer, in this case the brewmaster of Silver Gulch, Glen Brady, starts small with typical 5-gallon homebrew batches and starts brewing bigger and bigger batches. Silver Gulch now brews with a 24-barrel system (that’s 750 gallons), has a state of the art bottling line and along with its restaurant and bar employs over 40 people. It’s known locally as “the Epicenter”.
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Fox was originally established as mining camp along the banks of Fox Creek back in the early 1900’s. The latest census show Fox with a population of around 300 people. I can see why its known as “the Epicenter” as it is possibly employing about a fifth of the eligible work force in Fox!

Silver Gulch brews some incredible sounding beers, check them out HERE! I'd love to sample the Sourdough Oatmeal Stout, one of their specialty beers.

This spring, Silver Gulch will be opening an outdoor Beer Garden, to allow “the loyal fans of Silver Gulch beer and cuisine to bask in the afternoon/evening sun while enjoying a pint of hand-crafted beer”. That’s got to be a pretty special place to have a beer!

Fairbanks Lager from Silver Gulch Brewing Company

Beer in Unique Places (Kodiak Island)

Brewery: Kodiak Island Brewing Company

Location: Kodiak, Alaska, USA

Kodiak Island lies off the south coast of Alaska and is the second largest island in the United States. Although roughly the size of Connecticut, Kodiak Island is called home by only 14,000 inhabitants. Kodiak, once the capital of Russian Alaska, is the largest town on the island with a mere 6,300 people.

Kodiak is known for its fishing industry, its amazing scenery and of course Kodiak brown bears. The Kodiak brown bear can weigh more than 1,500 pounds, only the Polar bear is bigger. With rugged beauty and the feel only an island can bring, I don't think there could be a more perfect place for a small craft brewery!

Kodiak Island Brewing has been around for 5 years and has a handful of year round beers and quite a few tasty sounding seasonals and specialty beers. Recently the 100th batch of their Liquid Sunshine was brewed. Congratulations, I hear its incredible!

To learn more about this brewery and it's founder Ben Millstein go HERE!

Check out Kodiak Island Brewing Company's beers HERE!

you can get Kodiak Island Brewing Co. merchandise by going HERE!

Q & A with Dr. Fermento (Anchorage, Alaska)

Dr. Fermento is a busy guy. He just returned to Alaska after judging at the Toronodo Barleywine Competition in San Francisco and is settling back into what sounds like a busy schedule of beer writing and working several jobs in several different locations. I feel honored that he took the time to answer my questions and quench my personal thirst to know what the beer culture is like up in Alaska. He is a real testament to dedication in the craft brew industry.

Cheers "Fermz"!

Name: Dr. Fermento (a.k.a. James Roberts)

Blog: www.drfermento.net

(RHP) Where do you live and what are some of your favorite local places to get a beer?

(Dr. F) Anchorage, Alaska. Although there are many breweries, brewpubs and fine quaffing venues in Anchorage and the surrounding area, I find my carcass planted most frequently at Café Amsterdam, (530 E. Benson Blvd: 907.274.0074) a quiet little Belgian-esque café in midtown where the beer is all high end, there are 17 taps serving no rice, no lite, and no ice, and the beer is served in the right glassware, at the right temperature and only by BJCP certified folks that care about what they’re pouring. Life’s too short to get a shitty serve, eh? I don’t have a favorite local beer. As a beer writer, this is the most frequent question I’m asked and in my circle of peers, rather than commit to a single beer, we discuss our respective “Desert Island Six Packs (DISP),” which include six beers that we’d want to have with us were we to be stranded somewhere and have to drink them for the rest of our days. The rule is that beers can be moved in and out of the six pack at whim (until the day of stranding, of course). It’s hard to pick a favorite local beer. With 15 licensed breweries and brewpubs in Alaska and the daily availability of well over 100 different locally produced beers, it’s a tough pick. The one that’s been in my DISP the longest, however is Fairweather IPA from the Moose’s Tooth Brewing Company, (3300 Old Seward Highway: 907.258-2537)a well-known pizzeria that serves it’s own beer (produced offsite). Fairweather IPA is a local cult favorite, and I guess I’m one of the groupies.

(RHP) What made you decide to start a beer blog?

(Dr. F) Oddly enough, I didn’t decide to start a beer blog; someone else decided to start one for me. Although I write a weekly column in The Anchorage Press and a bi-monthly column for The Celebrator Beer News, a fellow beer lover decided it just wasn’t enough (and he’s right), so he created the blog for me. Now I can churn out upwards of eight pages a week for an increasing audience of local beer lovers. I actually enjoy writing the blog more than the other venues because it’s dicier and I don’t get my emotions edited out.

(RHP) Other than blogging, how else are you involved with your love of beer?

(Dr. F) I consider myself an ambassador of good beer, and do what I can to spread the gospel and ruin mainstream schwag drinkers one palate at a time. I was an avid homebrewer for years and actually was President of our local brew club, The Great Northern Brewers, but writing got in the way of that (along with a full time day job and living in a little community called Hope, Alaska, on the weekends where I work remote for a small mining company) and I haven’t brewed in a couple of years. With the price of beer soaring due to the cost of hops and malt, I might be picking up the paddle soon. I had a radio show on KRUA 88.1 called The Doctor Fermento Growler Hour for a couple of years, but because it was broadcast out of a university with a dry campus, the neophrobies got wind of it and it went away.

(RHP) If you could visit one brewery, that you've never been to, which would it be?

(Dr. F) There’s no single brewery I’d visit if I had the chance because I intend to visit them all, either here or in the afterlife, assuming my liver holds out and my spare doesn’t fail. Actually, I’d love to visit the rather inaccessible breweries right here in Alaska including Kodiak Island Brewing Company, The Easy Hooker Brewing Company (Sitka) and a couple of others that require extensive charter air travel or boat travel to get to. From there, it would be a long foray in Belgium.

(RHP) What comes to mind when you think of Maine?

(Dr. F) When I think of Maine I reminisce fondly of my two years there in the Air Force and long forays into the woods and surrounding countryside in 1978-1979, long before craft beer showed up and I was having my coveted Anchor Steam Beer illegally sent to me in regular doses in the mail. I long to visit again because I know there are fabulous hop spots there today and could combine a trip with pleasure and research.

Some more info. from Dr. Fermento:

"I have an extensive travelogue that is available by request and is sent in Word format. I also answer every beer related email query and love to share the foamier aspects of Alaska with anyone with an interest or a planned visit." 

My best email address is at work at jrobertsATpeakalaskaDOTcom with a CC to jamesDOTrobertsATgciDOTnet"

CHEERS FOR ALL THAT YOU DO FOR BEER IN THE LAST FRONTIER!