Breweries I love: Alaskan Brewing Co

Alaskan Brewing Co, Juneau, Alaska, USA

Alaskan Brewing Co is one of the breweries that was part of my craft beer formative years. I used to work on cruise ships and spent several seasons in Alaska. It's beautiful and scenic, but one of my favourite things was drinking amazing beers and eating gorgeous food while sat between two snowy mountains.

Alaskan Brewing creates a wide range of craft beers out of its brewery in Juneau. They use water from the glacier out the back and therefore they don't distribute their beers very far. They have said they couldn't contract brew to be able to produce more beer because nowhere else has the same water as they do. Their IPA and Pale Ales are some of my favourite ever because of the clean, fruity flavours this pure water allows to happen.

Alaskan Amber is their flagship beer and it is an easy drinking beer to have at a bbq in the woods while on a hike (I have evidence of this, having done it!). Their seasonal offerings are also delicious - I'm a big fan of their Raspberry Wheat and Smoked Porter.

I visited the brewery while in Alaska, but during lockdown they also hosted a virtual tour which allowed me to see how they have changed since I visited in 2012 (8 years - really?!). They now have a C02 reclaimation system and a malt filter press that helps them save water - it saved 1 million gallons of water and 600,000 gallons of fuel in it's first year. They call this Beer Powered Beer which you can find out more about on their website. So not only do they make great beer they are working hard to keep their environment and the beauty of Alaska intact as well. That's worth a cheers!

If only I could get their beers here in the UK!!

Check out their website for more info about Beer Powered Beer.