EP 129 A leap of faith with Geoff and Marcy Larson of Alaskan Brewing

In this one, Cody talks to Geoff and Marcy Larson of Alaskan Brewing. Geoff and Marcy opened the brewery in 1986. Back then, Geoff says that craft beer was a novel idea — only a fraction of beers that were consumed were craft beers. He says that, altogether, there were probably only 100 breweries in the entire country. So, there was a lot of education involved in those early days — learning about the craft of brewing and also teaching it to others. But before they could focus on the beer, they needed to raise money for the whole operation. Both of them come from families that have rocky relationships with alcohol — both have lost family members because of it. So, they knew their families wouldn’t really like the idea of them starting a brewery. So, they needed to find investors. 88 small investors became integral to the start-up of Alaskan Brewing. Of those original investors, around 63 are still involved.

 

From the beginning, they wanted their beer to represent Alaska. To be something Alaskans were proud of and that accurately represented the state to the rest of the beer-drinking world. Many times, they’ve gotten ideas for graphics and for brewing from their time in nature and from being around other Alaskans. For example, they have a cabin in Gustavus where they go to relax. And with help from residents of the town, it’s also where they harvest the spruce tips they use in their beer.

 

They're both adamant about how lucky they are and about how much help they’ve had along the way. Marcy says that the fishing fleet in Juneau was largely responsible for introducing their beer to people outside of Alaska because after they were done commercial fishing for the season, they would spend their winters in cities like Seattle. They’d pack up all the Alaskan beer they could fit on their boats, head south and then share it with their friends and families. To this day, it’s still surprising for Geoff and Marcy to see one of their beers outside of Alaska, in the hands of someone they don’t know.

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