GRAPES & GRAINS
CRAFT ALASKA
The northern beer scene rises to the top.
Traveling through Alaska invokes images of a vast untamed wilderness — calving glaciers, vivid northern lights, bears gorging on salmon, and the midnight sun. However, what many may not expect is that Alaska is also home to a thriving craft beer scene, with brews as wild as nature itself.
Alaskans are known to pair their beers with adventures, and I have fond memories of enjoying Single Engine Red sitting around a campfire after a long day of hiking, Smoked Märzen while grilling caribou meat, Hippy Speedball on a midafternoon break from snowboarding and Polar Pale Ale on long summer days.
Craft beer became part of the local adventure culture in 1986 with the opening of Alaskan Brewing Co., but the industry hit its stride in 2014 with over 40 craft breweries now open across the state.
FLAVOR INNOVATORS
Brewers in Alaska go against the grain, taking traditional brewing techniques into uncharted territory. It’s only fitting for The Last Frontier. The best example of this individuality can be found at Alaska’s smallest craft brewery, Bleeding Heart Brewery, located in Palmer. Zach Lanphier and Stefan Marty, the creative masterminds behind Alaska’s most unique brews, believe that “every beer tells a story; every beer has heart!” Instead of brewing a standard IPA, they make their Bleeding Heart Beet IPA with locally sourced beets, adding a mild sweetness (and deep ruby color) to the piney hop flavor. Bleeding Heart even has a brew certified by the Department of Agriculture for sourcing every ingredient locally. With the agricultural difficulties presented in Alaska, this is no small feat.
The lack of malting facilities in Alaska might deter some from opening a craft brewery, but Turnagain Brewing has instead created a meaningful partnership with a local wheat farm to offer a wide variety of sours all made with unmalted wheat.
Despite the many hurdles that brewing in such a remote place presents, brewers have risen to the top to produce award-winning beers such as Spruce IPA from Alaska Brewing Co., which won Gold in 2018 at the World Beer Cup.
BEER ENTHUSIASTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD COME TO APPRECIATE THE DIVERSITY OF ALASKA’S CRAFT BEER SCENE.
CLIMATE AND COMMUNITY
Maybe one of the reasons Alaskans enjoy drinking their beer in nature is that the brews are deeply intertwined with the Arctic climate.
Home to the northernmost brewery in the United States, the high latitude of Alaska results in a terroir unlike anywhere in the world. Brewers creatively utilize ingredients shaped by the Arctic climate and combine them with the pristine waters from glacier-fed aquifers, producing some surprising tasting notes. A perfect kind of synergy happens in Alaska with the long summer days and cold winter nights. Spruce Force IPA is brewed with the hand-picked, fresh new growth of Sitka spruce, resulting in notes of raspberry sorbet. Similar beers using spruce tips from the eastern United States often have more lemon and citrus flavors.
A land of many remote communities, often inaccessible by road, creates the opportunity for enterprising locals to open a small craft brewery in their hometown. Residents often feel a personal connection to their local, as it’s likely that they have a friend working the taproom, a relative that owns the farm producing the wheat, or they spend their spring handpicking spruce tips — such is the way of Alaska’s small towns. In return, the breweries are deeply rooted in the local community, doing their part to give back by supporting farms, creating jobs or donating their time, resources, and properties to community events. Baranof Island Brewing Company in Sitka hosts a community night where they donate proceeds back to various causes.
BEYOND BEER
For those that aren’t a fan of beer or are gluten intolerant, the craft beverage scene in Alaska is starting to see an increase in cideries, meaderies, wineries and distilleries — in fact, Denali Brewing Co. in Talkeetna oversees the operation of a distillery, brewery, cidery and meadery. Double Shovel, a cidery in Anchorage, makes a local rhubarb mint cider that will ruin all ciders for you in the future. Homer, home to Bear Creek Winery, takes advantage of Alaska’s bountiful berry harvest creating blueberry and raspberry wine. Two Seasons meadery just opened their doors, in Anchorage, to offer mead made with local Alaskan honey.
Beer enthusiasts from around the world come to appreciate the diversity of Alaska’s craft beer scene. They are immediately welcomed into the community by the friendly locals who are happy to swap Alaskan stories over a cold one.
Drinking local brew around an open fire, at the top of a mountain, or while reeling in a king salmon is an integral part of Alaskan culture. While taprooms and brewpubs are cozy, safe havens against the elements, Alaskans prefer to drink beer outside under the northern lights or the midnight sun. So, to do as the locals do, grab a growler and pair it with an outdoor adventure.
A PERFECT KIND OF SYNERGY HAPPENS IN ALASKA WITH THE LONG SUMMER DAYS AND COLD WINTER NIGHTS.