North to Alaska

Headed up North to Alaska to give training which means I get to check out some great breweries in the Last Frontier. I purposely avoided drinking Alaskan Brewing products in Anchorage and instead focused on the local brewing scene.

If you've never been to Alaska you're missing out on amazing scenery and experiences and each area of the state brings a different adventure to the table.

Anchorage has a number of great breweries for the beer adventurer.

Glacier BrewHouse is located in downtown Anchorage on 5th ave and H St. This warm and inviting restaurant brewery was packed when I showed up at 9:30 pm on a Wednesday. I found the last seat at the bar and ordered a sampler and some food. The menu had some great looking and tempting choices including pizzas and seafood. The guy sitting next to me had some amazing looking seared tuna. I ordered a very tasty thai chicken sandwich.

The beer was tasty and the food was great. I recommend stopping here for a nice dinner if you're in town.

The Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewery is located two blocks down from the Hilton on 3rd street. The views from the restaurant and bar of Cook Inlet are nice and on a clear day you can see the 20,000 foot tall Denali (Mt. McKinley) 160 miles away. Their food is okay, the halibut tacos I had were watery and my companion's food was okay too. Nothing really to write home about. Their beer sampler wasn't bad but they were out of their stout.

Humpy's Ale House is a local and tourist place at the same time. Their Kodiak Arrest Challenge has been featured on Man vs Food and consists of 6 pounds of Alaskan King Crab legs, reindeer sausage and salmon cakes. When we were there one person was finishing the challenge. It was to say the least, disturbing. That said their food was good and they have a great beer list featuring local brews and breweries on tap and in the bottle. Don't forget to get your "Beer Geek" or "Beer Snob" t-shirt.

Ketchikan - Go for the hiking. This cruise ship port is home to a lot of jewelry and craft stores. There is some great hiking at Settler's Cove. Visit Creek Street to see the old red light district. While there are no distinctive beer places here the food was good at Annabelle's. Just remember that this is a tourist town.