Juneau / Alaskan Brewing Company

OK, blogging by text message half-worked. I made it to Fairbanks and have a ton of pics from Juneau to Haines to Yukon to here. But, as promised, first my review of the Alaskan Brewing Co. Brewery.

This is a small, micro-brewery but they put out a lot of beer. They say you can find it from Prudhoe Bay to Southern California. On the tour, priorities straight, the beer sampling comes first. Willy(?) started slinging samples to me right away.

So the Alaskan Amber is a great beer. I'd say it's neck and neck with the Summer Ale. I liked the Stout, the ESB, and very much liked the IPA. It wasn't as hoppy and bitter as other IPA's I've tried and not liked (Sierra Nevada).

The most interesting beer award goes to the Alaskan Smoked Porter. Here it is winning my award:


The sample the dude gave me smelled like a wad of smoked meat. Now, that may sound strange, and it is. It's jarring. But once you sip it, you're transported to a lovely new space-time continuum, where beer can have a deep smokey flavor and still be refreshing and delicious. Three of these, and I'd bet you'd feel like you had a smoked steak dinner.

The smoked flavor is produced by actually smoking the barley before brewing. From the website: "Smoked Beer. Known as "rauchbier" in Germany, smoke-flavored beers were virtually unknown in the U.S. until Alaskan Smoked Porter was developed in 1988.

The dark, robust body and pronounced smoky flavor of this limited edition beer make it an adventuresome taste experience. Alaskan Smoked porter is produced in limited "vintages" each year and unlike most beers, may be aged in the bottle much like fine wine.

Introduced in 1988, Alaskan Smoked Porter has been credited with helping inspire an American revival of smoked beers. Alaskan Smoked Porter is one of the most award-winning beers in the history of the Great American Beer Festival and a perennial winner at the World Beer Cup."

Very nice. But here's a warning: once you have a Smoked Porter, you're commited to it. Any beer immediately after that will taste like hickory sticks.

Here's the dude who fed me samples. I think his name was Willy, but I can't really remember. (update: I've been informed his name is Tony Hand.)


After sobering up, I went back and checked out the Mendenhall Glacier again. Pretty amazing. The super-cooled air started blasting down it in the afternoon.


I'll post about Haines when I get some power for my laptop...