Ten years ago, when Edible Alaska fermented its first issue, beer was king. Barleywine was selling at all-time highs, and sour beers were rare and sought after. New breweries were popping up all over the state, in small niche places as well as larger establishments. The Great Alaska Beer & Barleywine Festival reigned supreme, and Alaska Beer Week lit up the darkest, coldest month of the year.
The scene is a bit different now. Some breweries have closed, new ones have replaced them, and people don’t drink as much beer as they used to. Younger drinkers seem to prefer cider or (shudder) hard seltzer, if they drink at all. Maybe it was COVID, or maybe it’s a new health consciousness, but Gen Z doesn’t drink like in years past. I think smartphones and social media play a role. People don’t gather as often, and more life happens online. Maybe it’s as simple as it being hard to win at Fortnite after a few drinks.
Breweries, like all businesses, are facing rising costs for ingredients, equipment, staffing, and real estate. A bag of grain has nearly doubled in price, and stainless steel is at an all-time high. Global instability and tariffs haven’t helped.
We’ve seen some closures in Alaska. Resolution Brewing closed its doors in 2021 after operating in Mountain View since 2015. The space is now a seltzer-making facility and bar called Buzzed Beetle. Arkose in Palmer, which opened in 2011, closed in 2025. Gakona Brewing, just north of Glennallen, also shut down. Kassik’s on the Kenai Peninsula operated from 2006 to 2024, closing after citing rising costs and location challenges. One of my favorites, Midnight Sun Brewing’s Loft, closed, and the brand was sold to Denali Brewing in Talkeetna. Denali will continue to produce Midnight Sun staples at its Talkeetna facility, and the new Midnight Sun project Undertap location at the White Birch Hotel, which has been under development for five years already, seems ready to open this summer. Undertap will continue the Midnight Sun brand under Denali’s ownership, producing exciting bold beers. The Alaska Craft Brew & Barley Wine Festival will only be on Saturday next year, instead of the usual two-day, three-session event. Friday will be dropped from the itinerary. Hopefully the Brewers Guild and the home brew Great Northern Brewers Club will bring back Alaska Beer Week in a big way to make up for this smaller truncated festival.
Closures of favorites are depressing, but Alaska remains an incredible beer state. There are so many new breweries, it’s hard to list them all. Highlights include Turnagain, Black Spruce, Magnetic North, Ship Creek, Brewerks, Devil’s Club, Valdez Brewing, and Copper River Brewing. It’s remarkable. Nearly 20 new breweries have opened in the last decade, while fewer than 10 have closed. If you want to keep these places around, get out of the house and visit tasting rooms. Local beer is best when it’s fresh, and nothing beats drinking it at the source.
What about the feel of the scene? Hazy IPA, which was barely around ten years ago, is now everywhere and arguably on the downslope of its trend. You’ll still find plenty, but it’s no longer novel. Sour beers were exotic ten years ago, but now almost every brewery has a gose or fruited sour. Traditional styles still exist, but ambers are less common and sometimes not even on the menu.
The way we buy beer has shifted, too. Growlers are still around, and the growler bar is alive and well at La Bodega in Anchorage. But many breweries now push 4-packs of cans. Modern canning lines are small, compact, automated machines. They fill and label cans quickly and efficiently. For drinkers, a 4-pack (around $18) is more convenient than storing, cleaning, and quickly finishing a growler before it goes flat. Still, growlers are cheaper and arguably better for the environment.
Some breweries won’t use cans. Turnagain Brewing, opened by Mary and Dr. Ted Rosenzweig in 2018, avoids cans altogether, opting for bottles and growlers. Dr. Ted has concerns about can liners, especially considering the acidity of the sour beers produced at Turnagain. Glacier Brewhouse still offers one of the best deals around: half price growlers every Tuesday. They’ll even swap your glass, so you don’t have to worry about sanitizing it perfectly at home.
Tasting room laws have also improved. Breweries can now stay open until 9 p.m., host live music, and show sports on TV. At the same time, new limits on breweries have been set. Small communities are capped at one brewery per 3,000 residents. I love drinking a lot more at a brewery’s tasting room than at a traditional bar. Personally, I’d rather have a fresh local pint than what’s typically on tap at a standard bar.
When I think back over the last ten years, I get nostalgic about the breweries that have closed. But when you think about the new ones that have opened, we are way better off today than ten years ago. The flavors are more interesting. The new places are clean and fresh. When you go to a brewery, there is a good chance you will get to hear live music, and it will probably be quiet enough that you won’t need hearing protection.
Get out, meet your friends, grab a beer at your favorite brewery, support the local craft brews, revel in the live music, and cheers to a decade of Edible!
