Alaskan Brewing Company celebrated 25 years of independent brewing in Juneau, Alaska this Independence Day, and company managers stress they have every intention of continuing this tradition for many anniversaries to come. Despite claims in a July 6 special edition of the Craft Brew News (CBN) that an acquisition deal was being discussed between North American Breweries (NAB) and Alaskan, the brewery unequivocally assures its many loyal customers that Alaskan is not in negotiations, nor do they plan to enter into negotiations with NAB or any other entity.
“We have no earthly clue where this rumor came from,” says Alaskan co-Founder Marcy Larson. “At first we thought it was a joke, that maybe someone had hacked into the CBN.”
The CBN also referenced Alaskan’s slower volume growth among other top 20 craft brewers, which Alaskan explains was the result of consciously limited distribution and a planned pricing decision.
“We have not engaged in the price wars or rapid expansion of other craft brewers and we have remained profitable,” said Brewery co-Founder Geoff Larson. “Over the last ten years, the price of oil, a cup of coffee and nearly everything else has gone up. Even the price of mass-produced beer has gone up, yet craft beer pricing remains at levels lower than those of a decade ago. In 2010, we chose a sustainable pricing strategy over the volume chase and are happy with where we ended up. We are proud to say that our growth has allowed us to issue profit sharing to our employees and investors for the last 15 years running and we are investing in state of the art brewing technology to help us remain a sustainable, profitable and independent brewery in Alaska for years to come.”
As a celebration of their 25th year of operation in Juneau, Alaskan is releasing a limited-edition Russian imperial stout brewed with alder-smoked malt, birch syrup and fireweed honey from Alaska. Named for the local mining history and the unique challenges of brewing award-winning craft beer from a remote Alaska town, Alaskan Perseverance Ale releases this September.
