Alaskan Brewing Company

Visited during a cruise stop in Juneau. The mothership is a bit out of town--we had rented a car, although you can get a shuttle from the Alaskan Public House right by the cruise docks. So the smoked porter is to me Alaskan's iconic beer and probably the most iconic American smoked beer. I love the smoked porter so this was kind of like when pilgrims would go to Santiago--like not the holiest site, but somewhere in the pantheon (they had a 5-year-old version of the smoked porter on draft, and the 10-year-old had just kicked earlier in the day). Don't go looking for innovation or anything, but if you love the smoked porter, you want to stop here.

Legacy brewer in Alaska, got the beer ‘tour’ to their brewery, with their history, got a taste of the landmark beers (no choice), plus an extra 3 samplers. Nice for the history, yet in the world of beer, not much on the complex side of beer crafting. Slightly overrated for me.

Out of the way industrial spot in Juneau. Hard to get to but worth it. People were very nice, they even gave me a crowler of their glacier-fed tap water. Beers were above average, Alaskan distributes pretty well where I live but there were some things I had never seen before.

Great tap room, with an awesome merchandising store. Fantastic home brews.

Big brewery, small tasting room. Knowledgeable and friendly staff. Had 6 small pours. Iipa's were meh, rest were good. Excellent gear shop. Well priced. Takeaway beer well priced as well.

Small tasting room when you first walk in with a growler fill station and a large gift shop, around the corner is another small bar with some a couple taps, but a lot more seating and a view of the pilot system and original 10 BBL brewhouse. Service was super friendly, super knowledgeable and super accommodating considering we got there 30 minutes before they closed. All the possible Alaskan beers on tap, including tap room exclusives. Impressive operation, would love to come back and do a tour.

Ticket at the Depot. Van to the brewery. Starts with an interesting historical talk with some beer notes. Three common samples during the lecture. Three more samples in the main tasting room after the lecture. Ok, but the chances of a bunch of rare beers is nil. The chances of a new beer seem pretty good. I got one not yet in the database. Good talk with the guy at the taproom taps.

I was really excited about this brewery. I know it is a rather large one in the Pacific Northwest. I had gotten a sampler case from Costco so I had an idea about this beer. We bought a ticket at the beer depot to take us to the brewery. The ticket included a special beer tasting and is a great way to sample the beers and get a history of the brewery. The tasting room is rather small but they have a really large selection of beers on tap. Wide variety which was really nice. No food but the beer more than makes up for it. From the outside of the building you can see the bottling line which is pretty cool. Most of the large facility is dedicated to their production floor. Lots of wood all around. The tasting bar is rather small and can fill up quickly but there is a small room off to the side to enjoy your beer and be out of the way.

Had a great tour with one of the brewers, who shared some vintage smoked porters with us. Everyone we met at the brewery and its outlet store downtown was incredibly friendly and helpful.

This was an excellent visit, and they treated us very well. Full tour, tasting, plus great advice as well. The brewery has a tasting bar/growler station, including a bunch of brews that don’t get much distribution beyond the doors of the brewery.