Correction: In my haste to publish the article below I screwed up the details and got it wrong. Briefly, Michael Healy is the person who started the brewery in 2007 while Trevor Clifford is the brewer. My original, faulty, article follows:
OK, I know this has nothing to do with sake nor sake brewing but I have not been able to find any sake on this trip …so far… and I don’t have access to my regular materials. I wanted to do a short note about something light from the trip, so here it goes. Skagway Brewing Company, 1897? Yes, no? I say no not really, at least not under the eye of the current owner and brew-master Trevor.
Several years back, 2006 or 2007, Trevor decided that he wanted to open a brew pub in Skagway, Alaska. Skagway has an ordinance that only those who have hotel(s) with at least 12 rooms can own alcohol licenses and there can only be two licenses in the city. The Skagway Brewing Company held one of these licenses but had been driven into the ground by previous management. Having been dormant and out of commission for around 5 years, Trevor was able to negotiated a deal to reinvigorate the Skagway Brewing Company and carry the heritage forward. From this deal he got a 4 barrel brewing system along with the brewery and pub. Trevor asked his cousin Deland, who had earlier completed culinary school, to come and open up the kitchen of the pub.
We went in to see the place and of course to see what was on tap. On tap was:
– A barley wine
– A pale ale
– An IPA
– A Spruce Tip Ale
– A brown ale
– And two they don’t brew:
- Pike’s Kilt lifter
- PBR
All in all not a bad line up. I had a pint of the IPA, pretty nice with good Chinook hop aroma. I then had the spruce tip ale. This was the first time I have tried this type of beer and was pleasantly surprised with the flavor. Not piney at all. More of a mildly sweet fruit hint in the background. At first the hint of fruit drew all my attention but after a while I noticed more of the hop bitterness. All in all two very nice beers; this is a place I can whole heartedly recommend!