Alaskan Amber bottle and original Chinook Alaskan Amber bottle
Alaskan Brewing Company will always be one of my favorite breweries if for no other reason than I lived in Juneau, AK for awhile as I was being introduced to craft beer. At that time, the brewery was called Chinook Brewing Company. Chinook (now Alaskan) Amber (5.3% ABV, IBUs 18) was the beer of choice in town and today remains their flagship beer.
Since then I have enjoyed many of their award winning beers such as their Smoked Porter (6.5% ABV, IBUs 45), Barleywine (10.7% ABV, IBUs 50), and Baltic Porter (9.8% ABV, IBUs 53)
When I lived in Juneau, the people there were rugged and innovative, and this new project that Alaskan Brewing Company has created is a great example of this.
Juneau, Alaska (January 15, 2013)—The Alaskan Brewing Company is now operating with a new fuel source: beer. More specifically, they are using the wet grain known as “spent grain,” left over from the brewing process, as the sole fuel source for their new steam boiler. Alaskan is the first craft brewery in the world to use this brewing by-product in this way, reducing the company’s fuel oil consumption in brewhouse operations by 60-70 percent.
“We have the unique honor of brewing craft beer in this stunning and remote place,” explains Alaskan Brewing Co-founder Geoff Larson. “But in order to grow as a small business here in Alaska and continue having a positive effect on our community, we have to take special efforts to look beyond the traditional to more innovative ways of brewing. Reducing our energy use makes good business sense, and good sense for this beautiful place where we live and play.”
dryer. The equipment dried the wet, protein-rich spent grain in preparation for shipment to the lower 48 for use as cattle feed, due to the absence of farms or ranches in Southeast Alaska. Alaskan designed the grain dryer to use up to 50 percent of the grain as a supplemental fuel source to heat the dryer itself. This reduced the oil required in the drying process, and provided experience in burning spent grain that would later prove useful in designing the steam boiler.
Over the latter months of 2012, Alaskan completed the final stage of the process with the installation and commissioning of the $1.8 million, custom-constructed spent grain steam boiler. This brewing byproduct is a unique and challenging fuel, so brewery engineers put their years of experience with drying grain to work with existing combustion technology to develop and fine-tune this first-of-its-kind process.
In 2011, Alaskan Brewing Company celebrated 15 years with the release of their Perserverance Ale. Alaskan Brewing distributes to Minnesota and Wisconsin, which is as close as it currently gets to Michiana. Luckily I have a very kind sister-in-law who lives in the Twin Cities.
The beer nut sporting my Chinook T-shirt, holding my bottle of Perserverance Ale, compliments of my sister-in-law.
About Alaskan Brewing Company
Alaskan Brewing Co. has been making award-winning beer in the remote, coastal community of Juneau, Alaska, since 1986. The Alaskan Brew Crew bottles the unique character of the Last Frontier with historic recipes, local ingredients, and glacier-fed water. The pristine location and popularity of Alaskan beer has inspired the brewery to apply innovative thinking and a respect for the local environment to their growth, making Alaskan an industry leader in sustainability. Alaskan Brewing handcrafts Amber, Pale, White, IPA, Stout, Winter Ale, Summer Ale, Black IPA the award-winning Smoked Porter, and an array of limited edition beers in the Alaskan Pilot Series. Visit www.alaskanbeer.com to learn more and connect with Alaskan at Facebook.com/AlaskanBrewingCo and @AlaskanBrewing on Twitter.
