Anchorage Brewing Company celebrates 10th anniversary

Who’d have thought that the boyish winemaking employee at Denali Winery so many years ago would end up as one of the most defining brewers on the globe today, pushing spigot after spigot and can after can of cutting edge beers out of his own self-designed, state-of-the-art brewery? Anchorage Brewing Company (ABC) has put Alaska on the map as any craft brewer’s or craft beer lover’s dream destination with a visit to Anchorage Brewing Company at the top of the list.

Sometimes it’s even hard for him to believe.

Anchorage Brewing Company’s 10th Anniversary Celebration takes place on Saturday, June 27 between 6:30 and 10:30 p.m. at the brewery at 148 W 91st Avenue. Tickets are only available on Centertix and they’re moving quick. Get after them; this is an event you don’t want to miss.

Owner/Brewer Gabe Fletcher reflected when I asked him what it felt like at this stage in his brewing career. “Fuck! It feels like it’s been like five seconds,” he laughed. “It went by so quick; I still can’t believe it,” he says of the realization of a dream that took him from the winery and into Midnight Sun Brewing Company where within a year and a half he evolved from chore boy, to keg washer and on to head brewer.

Thirteen years later he left Midnight Sun to start his own brewery, but without backing or a wad of cash, he had to get creative. Creativity has never been scant in Fletcher’s existence and continues to drive him today.

Fletcher moved into the cavernous space below what was then the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company and rented the upstairs brewery on a per-use agreement to start ABC and begin making a range of beers that Alaska – and even parts of the world – had never seen before, but that Fletcher knew people were ready for, even if they didn’t know they were.

Although very soft spoken, Fletcher’s always making a statement, most of which doesn’t come out of his mouth as words, but out of his soul as keenly focused brewing art reflected in the brewery, the beer and product packaging, not to mention an endless stream of game changing industry moves that keeps his beer and brewery at the front of the pack.

Again, Fletcher doesn’t react to the industry — he defines it.

“I don’t know; I’m always trying not to get stuck in old thoughts. I’m still growing as a brewer and if I rely on the same stuff I did ten years ago, that’ll be the same space I occupy 10 years from and that doesn’t work for me,” he says. “It’s hard to stay relevant today with all of the new breweries opening, all of the new, undefined styles beers coming out, and everyone wanting what’s hot and what’s new. Surprisingly, we’ve been able to stay on top of and ahead of that most of the time.”

“New beers? At least one new one a week, but usually way more than that,” Fletcher says of production that’s purposely structured to stay well ahead of demand and leave enough room for Fletcher’s unquenchable creative thirst in the form of new, heretofore undefined styles that no one’s tried before.

“For example, we have three new beers coming out this week and four more the following week. It’s pretty intense keeping up with so many new beers,” says Fletcher.

Every beer is a statement, not just a quip to keep up with what everyone else is doing. “It’s definitely pretty intense coming up with so many new beers that have to be exactly right. It’s not just the beers, it’s the art and the labels that surround them. It’s got to be a high quality product inside and out. I’m as much into the aesthetics that the beer delivers as I am the beer itself. It’s critical that my packaging represent the beer inside of it,” he says.

Fletcher cares enough about his beer that he doesn’t sell it to just anyone. You can find a lot of his somewhat standard, albeit eclectic bottled beers around town easily enough, but he keeps his most precious and delicate IPAs at the brewery where they’re sored, served and presented the way there supposed to, a concept that Fletcher doesn’t trust the run of the mill grog shop or publican to give much of a shit about.

There’s no doubt Fletcher loves his IPAs.

“I’ve always been IPA-centric,” he says. “We’ve recently been trying to brew some IPAs with fruit, but not as a defining element but one that contributes to or accentuates the natural fruitiness that the hops I use impart.”

“As for hops, we’re constantly bringing in new varieties. We’re always pushing the envelope and learning and finding out what works and what doesn’t,” says Fletcher.

We talked about the constantly changing, even roiling evolution of the fastest morphing style in the global history of beer. “I was never a fan of Brut IPAs. You can forget about milkshake IPAs,” says Fletcher of a style of beer he’s become the master of, and helps drive some of the change to himself.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of people that gravitate back toward simpler west coast IPAs. I’m watching this and see that trend a little more. People are drinking delicate pilsners a lot more. I’m really into making traditional pilsners. We just bought some dedicated lagering tanks and are giving the beers three or four full months of fermentation and maturation before packaging, he says.

“We’re releasing a beer at our Anniversary celebration. It’s called ‘Time for a Change’. It’s a 3.5 percent Czech pils. It’s one of the best I’ve ever made.” Time for a change? When doesn’t something change at ABC?

“Our next chapter is a new building this fall. We’ll be breaking ground behind the existing brewery pretty soon here. My sister started her restaurant Familia at the brewery, so we’re adding a kitchen in the new space along with a big roof top deck, an orchard and a dedicated coolship room,” says Fletcher. “After this new building, although you’re probably going to make me eat my words, that’s going to be it for expansion at Anchorage Brewing.”

Yeah, right. The “eat my words” part comes from me consistently rubbing it in that when he got started, this was the guy that said, “I’m only brewing six beers a year in this new operation.

“I guess I’m making closer to six new beers a week now,” says Fletcher.

There are actually two new beers being released at the June 27 Anniversary Celebration. One he talked about, the other he wouldn’t.

“Our Anniversary beer is called 10 Year. It’s a blend of different vintages of barleywine and imperial stout. We’ve blended them into a tank after long aging in bourbon barrels and used or special infuser to intensify the coconut, cocoa nibs, vanilla and cinnamon,” he says of the special beer.

I’m interested in the mystery beer, but he’d give no clues.

Head to Centertix for you shot at the few remaining tickets to the celebration. “We’ve dropped the gig from 600 to 400 for the safety of everyone,” Fletcher says. “We have special masks. Familia is going to have food there and White Buffalo will be headlining the music after Medium Build opens.”

Parking’s always a bitch at Anchorage Brewing, so do the right thing and get dropped off or picked up, or take a cab.

As a nod to Fletcher’s front running mindset, “this is the first concert in Alaska since COVID got started, and it’s the only thing going on right now,” says Fletcher of the magnitude of his 10th Anniversary party. “A lot of eyes will be upon us, and I want to show people we can do it right and safely.”

I’ll be there reveling in Anchorage Brewings roots and celebrating what lies ahead.

See you there.