California has its Napa Valley wine tours. Kentucky and Tennessee have their bourbon and whiskey trails. Scotland has a whole network of high roads and low roads by which trekkers can hike from one distillery to another tippling on one single malt after another.
Manufacturing of spirits has only recently arrived in the 49th state, at least legally. But one may perceive the outline of an emerging Alaska Vodka Trail. The Alaska Distillers Guild lists five commercial distilleries in operation. They include companies in Anchorage, Ester, Haines, Wasilla and Sterling. A sixth is under construction in Fairbanks.
The newest checkpoint, Anchorage Distillery, opened its tasting bar in early September at the Midtown plant built by the former Bare Distillery, a name that still appears on the label.
Bare launched Truuli Peak vodka in 2011. The niche product made with local barley and honey failed to gain a foothold in the vodka market and ceased operations two years later.
Enter Todd Goodew, an Oregonian with 30 years in the food business. (He's also a national barbecue champion; his Central Oregon brand of sauces, with his picture on the label, is stocked at Sportsman's Warehouse.) He came to look at the property last year, found $3 million in state-of-the-art equipment sitting idle and decided it could be turned into a viable business. Now, as CEO of Anchorage Distillery, he's producing gin and white whiskey -- aka moonshine -- and a straight, unflavored vodka.
"Vodka drinkers are picky," he said. "The purists don't want to taste anything except the vodka."
All the same, he has created a line of flavored vodkas and is experimenting with more, including an eye-popping ghost pepper vodka.
Goodew shipped his first product in April of this year. He also built the tasting bar -- literally built it; carpentry is one of his interests. Constructed from leftover crates and pallets, it resembles a mine shaft. Historic photos line the walls. It's already been used for private parties, like Anchorage Opera's speakeasy-themed fundraiser in June, and is now open to the public.
On-site tasting bars only became an option in Alaska last year when new legislation was passed to allow them. Most Alaska distillers now have them. But they're required to follow a labyrinth of regulations. No stools are allowed. If food is served, it must be catered.
The new law allows distillers to serve small shots on their premises -- and only at their premises -- so patrons can sample the product before they buy it. Pending legislation may allow for off-premises tasting events in the near future.
Keeping it local
Goodew said that one of the issues that brought down Truuli was that it didn't make the most of its Alaska connection. The labels on his bottles prominently proclaim "All Alaska."
"We use barley from Delta," he said, "wheat from Palmer. We're a couple of years from having our rye ready, but I've got contracts with rye farmers in the valley for their whole crop."
And, of course, the main ingredient: Alaska water. "I had Anchorage water tested and it's better than what we get from the aquifer in Oregon," he said. The plant takes water from Eklutna Lake prior to its arrival at the municipality's water processing plant, "before the city gets it and adds stuff."
Using Alaska ingredients is a source of pride, or at least advertising claims, throughout the state's distilling scene. Permafrost Vodka -- the first product from Alaska's first distillery, Alaska Distillery in Wasilla, originally established as Glacier Creek Distillery in 2008 -- is advertised as made from potatoes from the Matanuska Valley and "blended with" water from glacier ice collected in Prince William Sound.
Ursa Major Distilling, which started in Fairbanks in 2013 and relocated to nearby Ester in May of this year, also uses Delta barley for its vodka and gin.
"We grind it ourselves," said co-owner Tara Borland. "And one of us signs every bottle."
Even the equipment is all-Alaskan. Borland's husband, business and bottle-signing partner Rob made the plant's two stills (the apparatus used to distill the vodka) himself.
Fairbanks Distilling Company, which is renovating space in the Fairbanks' Old City Hall for a distillery and tasting room, likewise plans to use Delta barley, Alaska berries and potatoes for their product. Owner Patrick Levy said his vodka would "ultimately be available in Anchorage later this year or early next year."
Heather Shade, president of the Distillers Guild of Alaska, said Port Chilkoot Distillery in Haines, which she co-owns with her husband, Steve Copeland, will soon bring out an absinthe made from local ingredients in the next couple of weeks.
"It turns out everything you need grows really well in Haines: wormwood, lemon balm and hyssop," she said. The absinthe, dubbed Green Siren, has a mermaid on the label.
Making a splash
Port Chilkoot's 50 Fathoms gin has garnered national attention in recent months, winning a double gold medal in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and a gold medal at the American Craft Spirits Awards. "It's our most popular product," Shade said.
50 Fathoms is a remarkably fine sipping gin and it's easy to taste why it's made a splash in the Lower 48, even though Port Chilkoot spirits are only sold in Alaska. But their libations are not all-Alaskan. Haines is separated from Delta and its Alaska barley by an international border, making it more practical to ship grain from Washington.
Many spirits require primary ingredients that aren't grown in Alaska. Rum, for instance, is made from cane sugar. Ursa Major has to import that primary ingredient. They keep the Alaska touch by using an old sourdough starter to ferment the product in lieu of the customary yeast. The result is a white rum that's smooth but not particularly sweet. The sourdough is no more evident than the yeast used in other spirits.
Efforts to use Alaska-grown ingredients likewise flounder on bourbon, which must contain 51 percent corn. Anchorage Distillery is using corn from Canada for its batch, now in progress. Goodew said he'll call his bourbon Estate 49 in acknowledgement of that technicality as well as to honor Alaska's status as the 49th state.
Sell-outs
A number of Alaska spirits could be found on the shelves of area liquor stores over Labor Day weekend. They included gin and vodka from Anchorage Distillery, Port Chilkoot's gin, Blind Cat Moonshine from High Mark Distilling in Sterling and several flavored vodkas from Alaska Distillery in addition to their "straight" Permafrost vodka.
Ursa Major's vodka is available at liquor stores in Fairbanks, the Grog Shop in Homer, served at Sullivan's in Anchorage and sold at the Silver Gulch outlet at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. They'd like to have it in Anchorage stores, Tara Borland said, "but we're small and we're already selling all we can make."
As distilleries have opened, vodka is always the first spirit they sell.
"That's because it's the one thing you can make and bottle and sell right away," said Port Chilkoot's Shade. "It doesn't require aging; no herbs or flavors. And people want it because it's a good mixer and can be used in a whole lot of popular drinks."
And yet it's hard for a small craft distiller to crack the hugely competitive vodka market. A research trip to major liquor stores in Anchorage found upward of 200 types of vodka. "It's the most popular spirit out there," Shade said.
It takes additional steps and more time to create gin or moonshine. But for whiskeys, which get their color from aging in charred wood barrels, the process takes years. Maintaining a steady supply by guessing at future demand is a gamble. Alaska Distillery's Alaska Outlaw Whiskey is the only Alaska whiskey this reporter has seen and he hasn't seen it recently. There was none at Anchorage's big Gold Rush Liquor store. The Brown Jug Warehouse had a space on their shelves for it last week. The space was empty.
Calls to the distillery to ask about their product line, process, facility and availability were not returned. However, it appears that they're about to get some local competition.
Fairbanks Distilling's Levy said he planned to create a whiskey once the new facility is up and running. Anchorage Distillery has bourbon aging at the moment. Port Chilkoot released their first batch on Aug. 22.
"Actually, it was the first product we distilled," said Shade. "We made it right away and barreled it up. Before the vodka, before the moonshine and the gin. It's been aging ever since."
Shade said she thought it likely that Port Chilkoot's was the first bourbon made and sold in Alaska in modern times. They also have rye now being aged. "I'm definitely sure it will be the first rye whiskey made in Alaska," she said.
The question of whether Alaska's fledgling distilleries, small-scale operations in remote locales, will survive will be answered in the future. But a quality product has a good chance of finding a market. Port Chilkoot's inaugural bourbon sold out immediately, Shade said.
"It's that good," she said. "And the rye is going to be even better."
ANCHORAGE DISTILLERY tasting room hours are 2-8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Tours take place at 6 p.m. Thursdays. The distillery is located at 6310 A St.
Reach Mike Dunham at mdunham@alaskadispatch.com or 257-4332.