Daily Sitka Sentinel

Unique Flavors on Tap at Sitka’s New Brewery

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer

A week and a half into their new operation, the Harbor Mountain Brewing Company plans to move forward cautiously as they start building a local reputation.

“If we can get through this and start slow and easy, I can use it as an advantage,” company co-owner Zach Anderson told the Sentinel today. Along with his role as one of four co-owners, Anderson is the head brewer for the company and also spends time at the tap serving customers.

Anderson noted that many details remain uncertain.

“It’s pretty much just me with the other owners. And we have to make it work... and there are a lot of unknowns,” he said.

The new brewery and tasting room are at 1209 Sawmill Creek Road, where they occupy the facilities left by Baranof Island Brewing Co., which went out of business in 2019 after nine years of operation as a craft brewery.

Anderson said Harbor Mountain Brewing Company is taking a different approach than BIBCO’s.

“What we will be doing differently is starting extremely slow. I’m the only one here, the only one doing it. We will get the taste room set up, get everything to the bars in the next month or two, build the relationships from there on out,” he said.

“We still have quite a bit to do as far as building a brand.”

Zach Anderson stands at the bar of the recently opened Harbor Mountain Brewing Company Tuesday afternoon. The brew pub, on the site of the former Baranof Island Brewery, is open Wednesday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The pub set up an outdoors area and spaced indoor seating to allow for social distancing. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

As part of the slower start, Anderson said, he’s focusing on four brews this summer, a Grisette, an India Pale Ale, a stout, and a pale ale.

Prior to his time in Sitka, Anderson worked for Alaska Brewing Co. and Devil’s Club Brewing Co., both located in Juneau. All told, he has spent about six years brewing.

He said it was at Devil’s Club where he had the opportunity for some more independent brewing work.

“They gave me total creative freedom,” he said. “In brewing there’s a combination of what people want and what you want to do as a brewer. So mainly learning flavor combinations... I found myself chasing more wild sour beers.”

He said his personal favorite style of beer is saison, a European variant in which the temperature of yeast is not controlled while brewing.

“In Europe, there’s a traditional standard, saison means season (in French), so you used to brew it in certain seasons on the farm, and it was whatever was on the farm,” Anderson said. “You get a little flavor of where you live.”

For a flavor of Southeast, he said he adds wild blueberries.

The beers don’t yet have formal names, he said. Instead, he said, he is spending this summer “dialing in” his brews.

Anderson hopes his taste room will become a social and family venue in Sitka.

“Beer is one thing, I’m really proud of the beer I make, a lot of this is trying to find the path to make the best beer possible,” he said. “But we are trying to make a community spot, where people and families can come hang out... a meeting place for the town. The taste room can kind of be a place where you put your phone away.”

Co-owner Casey Campbell agreed.

“At this point it’s really Sitka-centric. And we want a nice, bright tasting room where people can relax and hang out with friends,” he said.

Campbell added that the brewing company has taken steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19, from outdoor seating to spacing seats and encouraging to-go orders.

“The tasting room is a bit sparser, there’s not as many seats, we’re trying to have a little more distancing. And then ... we’re asking that people have masks when they enter, keep their social distance, we have hand sanitizer,” he said.

“Trying to just allow for social distancing to occur, so we have the outdoors space, it’s pretty open on the inside. And you can be close with your family but stay away from other patrons if you choose,” Campbell said. “We’re really trying to encourage to-go orders – we’re going to continue to evolve.”

Overall, Campbell was happy to be open and running.

The Harbor Mountain Brewery tasting room is open five days a week, 4-8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 2-8 p.m. Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.