By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka’s hometown brewery earned high praise and three awards at the first ever Alaska Beer Awards in Anchorage Friday.
After barely more than a year in operation, Harbor Mountain Brewing Company beers ranked highly in a competition featuring almost every Alaskan brewery.
Hosted by the Brewers Guild of Alaska, the Alaska Beer Awards spanned several days last week, with awards announced Friday. Harbor Mountain’s Totally Pitted Double Imperial IPA took second place in the IPA category, with the oatmeal stout coming in second among dark beers, and the Pocket Cruiser hazy pale ale brew claiming third place in the pale ale category.
Head brewer and company co-owner Zach Anderson told the Sentinel his beers are the result of a passion for his craft.
“In general, for this first (competition), just having ten categories, it was pretty low key, I think... Our beers stand out, each style is a little different but it was just being passionate about what you do, trying to make the best product possible,” Anderson said.
He first learned how to brew beer in Oregon, he said, and eventually progressed to work with the Alaskan Brewing Co. in Juneau.
“I had an internship at the place called Grand Station Brewing where I learned most of my basic skills and then went to the retail side of things... A lot of my beginning was more in the retail side, serving beer... in Oregon,” he said.
From left, Harbor Mountain Brewing Co. brewers Evan Pedrola, Amund Rongstad and Zach Anderson toast the brewing ribbons won in a recent statewide contest, Wednesday. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
He stressed the contribution of the others in his Sitka company.
“Having a good team, not just me making a beer but having people who like to portray our beer well behind the bar as well, that helps,” he said.
Harbor Mountain Brewing got started in July 2020 at 1209 Sawmill Creek Road in the space formerly occupied by the Baranof Island Brewing Co., which folded in 2019.
Anderson underscored the importance of high quality raw materials.
“A lot of beer judging correlates to the style of the beer in correlation to the history of it... Having passion, working way too hard and having good quality raw materials or ingredients that we use. That takes a lot of effort on our part out in Sitka,” he said.
Aside from the beer itself, Anderson highlighted the importance of the community as a whole.
“I’m very thankful for the opportunity to make beer, but we can’t do that without the community also being here and enjoying it,” he said.
Anderson extended particular thanks to distinguished Tlingit artist Michaela Goade, who composed digital art for the company. In January, Goade became the first ever Indigenous person to win a Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association.
Anderson was also grateful to work alongside Campfire Kitchen, which serves “probably the best pizza I’ve ever had,” he said.
He said the future looks bright.
“It’s always huge to have some accolades... to get recognized using the equipment that we are using – which we kind of recovered – feels great. And I think it’s good for the town of Sitka,” he said. “We’re on the right path and it’s only going to get better.”
Anderson said a competition like last week’s event in Anchorage boosts the professionalism of brewing in Alaska.
“It was a tremendous amount of work but that was kind of the collaboration, people getting together to make the industry more respected and more professional ... The more you can get the people together, especially because of the geographical landscape of Alaska, it’s hard to get everyone together in the same place,” he said. “So things like this I really look forward to and hopefully it keeps growing.”
He said heatwaves, droughts and fires are having an impact on production of the agricultural products needed for brewing.
“It’s pretty bleak at the moment. Australia did pretty well, but for the North American region, they lost about a quarter of agricultural growth ... Heat also made the growing aspect of things a little different. When I go to mashing this barley, the absorption rate is going to change,” he said.
“We got a lot of insight on the malt production and hop production for next year,” he said. “The extreme heat that happened down south really affected the agriculture industry. We have to use our equipment differently to make up for some of these changes. I think you’re going to see more hazy, or less clear, beer in the next year.”
