May 19, 2021
How does one survive in a place where temperatures regularly hit
negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit, if not below that? A toasty
Barleywine might hit the spot, but in the 49th state of the Union,
residents are just as likely to pick up a classic IPA or Vienna
Lager as they are an Imperial Stout. How, why, and when did Alaska,
of all places, become a beer destination?
In Bailey Berg’s first piece for Good Beer Hunting, titled “Way Up
North — Exploring the Growing Beer Scene in Fairbanks, Alaska,”
which was published on April 27, 2021, the Anchorage resident
explores the rise and embrace of local craft beer in one of the
vastest frontiers on Earth. There are fewer than a million people
across the entire state, but the amount of independent breweries
continues to rise, thanks to a streak of independence, ingenuity,
and adventure that tends to define those who call the severe, but
beautiful, landscape their home.
In our first podcast conversation together, Berg enlightens me to
the spirit of entrepreneurship required to thrive in the burgeoning
beer scene in Fairbanks, why being the first to accomplish
something specific holds such sway when you’re on the edge of the
world, how unique obstacles—like the mere access to ingredients
like water—force brewers to squeeze every last bit of use out of
what they have available, and why Alaskans are going to do what
they like to do relatively free of outside influence. She’ll also
tell me how much a pint of beer costs at the literal end of the
road, and how common it is to see wild moose wandering around the
streets. (It’s apparently a lot more common than I realized.) I
strongly encourage listeners to scroll through her photographs
within the article during this conversation: She captures snowpacks
and sled dogs, the pints and the people, all framed beneath the
mystical emerald serpent of the aurora borealis twinkling across
the night sky. Let’s travel together to the Land of the Midnight
Sun with Bailey Berg.