Quaff The Raven

The Raven on a cruise ship. It does happen...

Alright folks, as some of you may know (those that get my Twitter feed do, #theravenbn) I just got back from a wonderful vacation to Alaska. I took a cruise with my girlfriend’s family on the Coral Princess, which picked us up in Vancouver and stopped in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway, and dropped us off near Anchorage. The trip witnessed a few firsts for me: my first trip to Canada (Vancouver), my second trip to Canada (a creepy little town in the Yukon called Carcross), my first sighting of a calving glacier (Marjorie was very active that day) and my first introduction to Alaskan Ale.

Based in Juneau, the Alaskan Brewing Co. has been in operation since 1986 and was, at it’s inception, the only brewery in Alaska. They produce 8 varieties of ale on a regular basis ranging from light to dark and including a summer and winter ale. The best known of their offerings is by far the Alaskan Amber, and for good reason: this is a really good beer and is available in most of the western states of the lower 48.

Alaskan Amber

This was the brewery’s first beer and is based off a recipe used over a century ago during the Alaskan gold rush. I’m not the best at verbalizing taste profiles, but the Amber is well-balanced, with the sweet and bitter parts mixing well. This beer is available at virtually every bar in Alaska, and is well worth a taste for any drinker.

Loyal readers will know that I’m not much of a fan of lighter beers, and I would be remiss if I did not spend some time discussing the darker end of the offering. Alaskan Brewing regularly offers two dark beers, the Oatmeal Stout and the Smoked Porter. The stout ranks very well among the craft beer stouts I’ve tried. It’s not as chocolaty as some, but easily a stout that I’d keep in my collection. The real story though is the Smoked Porter. I can’t tell the story quite as well as they do at the brewery, but it goes something like this: across the street from their facility is an old salmon smokehouse. One day, one of the brewers was sitting at a local bar with the owner of said smokehouse and the conversation started to drift to and fro, as conversation often does in a bar, and it came out that the smokehouse went dormant for part of the year, on account of the fishing seasons. One thing led to another and soon the two businesses had worked out a deal where Alaskan Brewing Co. would smoke their malt during the smokehouse’s off season.

The result is Alaskan Brewing Co.’s award winning Smoked Porter. The only way to really describe this flavor is to compare it other smoked foods…the first thing that hit my mind was salmon. (Note, this has nothing to do with my previous MxMo post; instead, I was in Alaska and had just enjoyed some smoked salmon.) That’s not to say that the beer tasted fishy, but rather the smoke imparted the same flavor on each of the base foods. It is worth noting that this beer requires that you like at least one of the components (porters or smoky flavor); those who aren’t fans of either probably won’t like this concoction. If you enjoy either flavor, I personally recommend trying this beer.

Just so no one accuses me of selling out, I must say that I discovered that I am not a fan of pale ales or IPAs, and their offerings didn’t change my opinion. I’m told that the Alaskan pales are quite good, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Alaskan Brewing Co. also has a program they call the “Rough Draft”, in which their brewers create small craft batches of varying flavors. A recent offering was based in jalapeno, and the current Rough Draft (which I may not be allowed to reveal yet, so I won’t tell you the name) is a very spicy (though not hot) beer. I was the only one in the group that really liked it, but I like strong flavors. The Rough Draft beers are generally only available locally, but I’ve heard rumors of some making it to Seattle.

John, Ben, Annie, Bonnie, Raven, and Tony (in the back!)

The brewery itself is an experience. They offer free tastings for all of their currently produced beers. I spent a good half hour discussing beer with Tony Hand, one of the brewers there. Anyone making the trip out to Juneau does themselves a disservice to miss the brewery, the tour, and the sampling.