Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 9

107 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 9 ALASKAN BREWING COMPANY by millions of gallons per year. Taking it a step further, we adopted a way of using that spent grain as the fuel for our boilers, and reduced our dependence on fossil fuels by half.” Innovation has been a core belief that has helped grow this company to the point where they now ship to the entire western half of the U.S., with hopes of broadening into Canada and the rest of America. At the same time, they continue to explore new ideas, most recently introducing a line of Seltzers. “Another story from history comes from the explorer Captain Cook,” says Geoff, “who had one of the healthiest ships on the water, partially because he brewed his own beer. He didn’t store hops or anything, so they would get off wherever they were and use local ingredients. One of the things he used as a replacement for hops was spruce tips – the new growth on the spruce trees that looks like candles. Well in Alaska, we already harvest Sitka Spruce tips which are used to flavor jams and jellies – and we just went back to the example set by Captain Cook and used it as a flavoring for our seltzers. Again, it is history in a bottle.” The company’s innovation can also be seen in their multi-award-winning Porter which took a nod from the fact that beer in ages past just incidentally had smoke flavoring because smoke was everywhere when wood was the only fuel. Their porter became the most award-winning beer at the Great American Beer Festival. Not only do they have a track record of getting it right, but the Alaskan Brewing Company continues to grow on the idea of bringing the past to life, while creating a perfect beer for the future. Cheers!