Alaskan Brewing’s Beer Garden Kinda Sucks

Picture of Juneau by Sadie

I can’t take or plan any trips right now. So lately, maybe like you, I spend a lot of time drinking beer from a bag, thinking about guacamole in beer and gazing at beer gardens and taprooms from around the world, via Instagram.

“One day I will go to there.” is about all I can think or plan on.

Today I thought, “Hey, I wonder what the Alaskan Brewing beer garden looks like? I bet it’s pretty fucking gorgeous.” Juneau looks beautiful as all beautiful gets (see picture above, dude).

I bet that beer garden is a stunerrrr..

Well, kinda? I guess? … Actually, I’m disappointed.

I like the mountain thick with trees. THAT is a nice view, one I expect. But the garden? It leaves something to be desired.

Most noticeably, that green cyclone fence! It looks hideous in that environment.

I’ll accept it in an urban taproom setting from a young brewery just trying to do their best with the space they have. But not from a craft brewery in one of the prettiest spots in the world. A brewery that has been around since the 80s.

Also, the plants. Look at the sadness. They’re trying. But still.

The tables and Easy-Ups are ok-ish. But they also give off a “best we could do with $200 bucks” kinda vibe.

I have sadly never been to Alaskan Brewing’s beer garden, so I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.

Maybe they have never had an outdoor beer garden because it’s cold as hell all the time, but they created one because of the pandemic and that’s why it’s so underwhelming.

I’m just kinda losing it because of the COVID thing and bored, and picking fights nobody cares to pick. Hi.

A good time to get reacquainted

Alaskan Brewing. Located in Juneau, Alaska. They have been around since freaking 1986 people! From what I have gathered, still owned by original owners, Marcy and Geoff Larson – a fact that is amazing to me in these days of buyouts.

The Larsons were the first people to open a brewery in Juneau since prohibition.

They sound like a wonderful example of a successful independent brewery that has never gotten too greedy or over-its-skis.

I have a new respect for them and will look out for a six-pack of theirs to pick up soon and will happily look the other way if I see a cyclone fence on the package.

Things To Be Dankful For [Drinking & Thinking Vol 11]

Welcome! Come on inside. You are safe. I will keep my mask on the entire time you’re in my newsletter shop.

Meme That Made Me Nod With Agreement (courtesy of Al Green)

As much as I agree with this and find it boring to use the same hops over and over, I also will buy this hop combo again and again. Forever.

Stone Of Controversy

As the drama continues regarding Stone vs. SawStone (Stone’s CEO left the company), a great byproduct happened this week. The Full Pint offered $500 to someone with inside knowledge of what’s going on at Stone…

…and then Stone’s Greg Koch comes in with a nice comment:

Gotta love the beer world.

Packaging Of The Week!

Stone & Modern Times colab for video play magic. This is available nationwide. The actual beer is a Hazy Coffee IPA. I don’t really know what the hell that is but I still want it.

Videos Worthy of Watching!

John G from Drakes Brewing kicks off a new video series by Drakes. In it, he leans into you for not liking pales more. I think I agree.

From the nice and knowledgeable blokes at The Craft Beer Channel, a solid primer on the basics of being a good beer geek when shopping for the right beer:

Beer That Stopped Me Scrolling

Definitely the beer I feel like I saw the most on Instagram this week, “Insert Hip Hop Reference There” by Trillium. Never had it, always wanted to though. Love that damn can art:

Window Of My Dreams

I did not think I’d be linking to a New York Post article today but I am because I think the concept of a wine window is rad:

(photo: nypost.com)

So yeah, the pandemic has sparked Italy to bring back a concept that the bubonic plague brought about: wine windows. The benefit is obvious right now, as little as contact as possible. Just move the concept over to taprooms and beer and we are set.

I have written about how we need more walk-up window style things, even before COVID-19, I would really love to see updated versions of these windows around the beer world, even staying after this is all over.

(Thanks to BenjClark for the heads up on the article)

Release To Look Out For

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten excited about a Sierra Nevada release. Besides the lovely can art and promise of dankness, Sierra has already committed (yes, before you even buy it) at least one million dollars towards community non-profits. The money will be helped by the sale of this beer, but Sierra will donate at least one million no matter what the beer brings in. Look for it mid-September.


Thank you for reading! Please subscribe if you are new here and think this newsletter is mildly rad.

Be safe out there picking up your beer!

-Mikey

Dude, Where Is My Beer?

A point and click old-school adventure game about finding a Pilsner in a world of craft beer and hipsters? I may have to put my IPA down for a moment to play this on Steam (when the game is ready for play).

In case you haven’t heard of it, Steam is an online pc game platform where developers can create, play, and discuss pc games.

The site hosts thousands of games and one has caught the attention of the beer geek world (peripherally saw it on @WorstBeerBlog’s feed, to be honest). That game being “Dude, Where Is My Beer?”

I have never been on Steam before and this is the first game that might actually get me on there. The game is not actually live yet, but you can put it on your Steam wishlist so you’re ready when it is.

You can find out all ya need to know by checking out his website here.

Check Your Dates, HARD!

I was being lazy. Stupid. Not listening to my own advice.

When I say check your dates, I mean follow though and really check your dates!

A red flag was raised when I noticed the cans were kinda beat up. But I did not listen.

My lazy check of the first two dates 06/19/.. is what killed me. My brain auto-filled “2020”.

As soon as I took the first sip, I knew. It’s old. And I’m shit at beer tasting, giving notes. A master I never shall be. But this? This was obvious.

The damn beer was over a year old. Undrinkable. $12 of perfectly good beer money (literally) down the drain. I guess I won’t die though.

It’s Good To Have Beer Goals [Issue #8 of Drinking & Thinking]

Sadly, Modern Times Brewing had a couple of sucky announcements this week. One is they are having to furlough a large part of the workforce. Second is, two of their employees tested positive for COVID-19. They don’t work in any of the taprooms, but still.

This is the first I have heard of a major indie brewery having employees test positive. Actually, it’s the first time I have heard of ANY brewery have employees test positive. This makes me think breweries are just underreporting or I’m not paying attention. Both are probably true.

I was listening to a recent episode of Trader’s Joe’s podcast Inside Trader Joe’s and they revealed that they have a Cookie Butter dessert beer in the works. It is expected to be out around September. My only thought was “What the hell took so long?”

If you want to listen, it’s Episode 27.

There is an incredibly long article/blog post at Beer Crunchers sort of about DontDrinkBeer and the amazing amount of beer (and money from raffling off the beer), he has been able to collect for charity. The charity being money to the family of Breonna Taylor and the family of Elijah McClain. He was able to raise almost $68,000. There is also a Kate Bernot article about it.

I love what he did here with his following. He must have a pretty amazing reputation with the craft brewery world too because an insane amount of folks donated beer. Incredible good use of his influence. Big cheers to this.

So this is pretty rad. Victim Of Maths unearthed a map of Great Britan but with only pubs highlighted:

London and Liverpool look insane. One of my travel dreams is to go to Ireland or anywhere in the UK really, and have some beers at legit pubs. Goals.

I love sitting. Drinking. Thinking. Listening to music while doing this is also nice. So I have been meaning to create a Spotify playlist designed for just this. In the meantime, I found one @beer_pop did that you can check out too.

One highlight is “Oblivious” from The Strokes and… well, actually there are too many to highlight, it’s a pretty damn extensive playlist. It’s going to take a lot of drinking and thinking to get through it all. I’m here for that.

Okay cool, I’m Mikey Seay and I hope you enjoyed issue #8 of Drinking & Thinking! The goal is to have issues in your inbox every other Saturday, working to a goal of every Saturday.

If this is your first time reading, please considering subscribing.

Oh, and I have started a Ko-fi page if you want to check it out. I’m starting to figure out that having money to buy beer is pretty cool.

Cheers and be safe out there!

-Mikey