How Alaska Got Its First Craft Brewery | Glass Half Full

How Alaska Got Its First Craft Brewery | Glass Half Full

When Alaskan Brewing Company opened in 1986, Juneau got its first craft brewery since Prohibition. Where others only saw the challenges of brewing in Alaska, Geoff and Marcy Larson saw an opportunity to bring fresh, delicious craft beer to the state they loved. We journey to Juneau to learn how unique native ingredients, historic recipes, and groundbreaking techniques in sustainable brewing combine to bring beer to America’s frontier!

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The pioneer spirit of Alaska is embodied in everything Alaskan touches–especially their flagship Alaskan Amber, initially recreated by Geoff from a Gold Rush-era recipe uncovered in Juneau’s historic archives. Other brews incorporate unique local ingredients like Sitka spruce tips, while malts smoked with native alder wood produce their award winning Smoked Porter–perfect for warming you up in the cold Alaskan winter. Of course, as any brewer will tell you, water is the most important ingredient of all, and Alaskan’s water is as pure as it gets–straight from the glaciers in the Juneau Icefield.

Geoff and Marcy love the wild splendor of Alaska and they want to help preserve it. As Geoff says, “Our environment makes us do what we do. We do things outside of the box, because we are outside of the box.” They were the first craft brewery in the US to install a CO2 recapture system, reducing emissions and eliminating the need to ship out waste CO2 tanks. Meanwhile, their biomass boiler system uses their own spent grain as fuel. By powering their brewing with their own waste product, Alaskan saves nearly 65,000 gallons of diesel fuel every year. They call it: Beer Powered Beer.

Launched with the help of small investors across the state, Alaskan puts their community and their employees at the heart of all they do, with an employee ownership program and their One Barrel system which allows any staff member to develop their own brewing recipes. And yearly partnerships with local charities see their beer sales supporting worthy causes from animal rescues to coastal cleanups.

Forged by a can-do spirit while rooted in community, blazing a trail of innovation while cherishing tradition, sustaining their environment while creating legendary brews imbued with local flavors, Alaskan Brewing Co. is truly pushing the frontier of beer.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
00:00 Moving to Alaska for Love–and Beer
00:29 Bringing Fresh Beer to Juneau
01:03 Big State, Small Community
02:20 America’s Longest Coastline
03:23 Brewing Beer to Capture Carbon
04:26 Spent Grain Fuels Brewing
05:29 Mash Filter Press to Reduce Waste
06:41 One Barrel Beer Making
07:19 Alaskan Amber Historic Recipe
08:07 Winter Ale Old English Style
09:21 Alder-Smoked Porter
10:47 Beer to Bank On

How Alaska Got Its First Craft Brewery | Glass Half Full

Directed by Eric Feigenbaum
Created by Conor Gaughan and Kate Tucker
Written and hosted by Kate Tucker

Produced by Consensus Digital Media in partnership with Remedial Media

Executive Producer – Kate Tucker
Executive Producer – Jessie English
Executive Producer – Eric Feigenbaum
Executive Producer – Conor Gaughan

Featuring:
Marcy Larson – Co-Founder, Alaskan Brewing Company
Geoff Larson – Co-Founder, Alaskan Brewing Company
Terwilliger Paige – Master Production Scheduler, Alaskan Brewing Company
Dave Martin – Quality Assurance Manager, Alaskan Brewing Company

Filmed in Juneau, Alaska at Alaskan Brewing Company.

Archival images and additional footage courtesy of Alaskan Brewing Company and Cornfield Studios.

Supervising Producer – Geoff Rock
Editor – Jack Mankiewicz
Assistant Editor – Angaelica LaPasta
Director of Photography – Isaac Rosenthal
Camera Operator – Eddie Bernard
Gaffer / Drone Operator – Fletcher Anstis
Sound Engineer – Tom Eichler
Production Coordinator – John Ryan Gage
Makeup & Hair – Jessie English
Wardrobe – Hollie Van Osenbruggen
Audio Mixer / Sound Design – Dillon Terry
Color Grading – Ind3x
Motion Graphics – Yuriy Netrebyuk
Graphic Design – Stephen Lepsch

Music courtesy of Soundstripe, Audiio, and Artlist

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