The Culmination Festival At Anchorage Brewing

Saturday, August 20, 2016, Anchorage Brewing hosts The Culmination Festival in Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage Brewing handpicks some of the best breweries from across the country to pour beers at their festival, including five Oregon breweries this year including The Commons, Ale Apothecary, de Garde, Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery, and Gigantic Brewing Company. While it is too late to book a flight this year, this festival should be on your travel beer festival bucket list, for next year. It should also be noted that Jet Blue has offered $200 roundtrip flights from Portland and Seattle in August, for the past two years.

Tickets for the festival are $130, but are all-inclusive for food and drink (beers are not ticketed) from 2-8pm, which also includes live music. Anchorage Brewing produces high quality beers, specializing in Farmhouse, Belgian, and barrel aged beers. Anchorage Brewing asks festival goers to take taxis to this event.

From the outside, the brewery looks like a nondescript shipping container, surrounded by a construction zone. In fact, there is no identifiable signage from the main road. Once you open the doors, a beautiful brewery presents itself with Farmhouse character, colorful artwork, and a small, heated outdoor space. On a recent visit, I was able to drink several Anchorage Brewing collaborations with the likes of Jolly Pumpkin and New Belgium Brewing, along with collaboration bottles from Hill Farmstead. I’ve been lucky enough to visit most of the breweries in Anchorage, and Anchorage Brewing is by far, my favorite.

Beyond Anchorage Brewing, the city of Anchorage is a great beer destination, just not as well known since many of the smaller breweries don’t distribute in the lower 48 states. In addition to beer drinking, Alaska should be on everybody’s travel list due to the sheer beauty of the state.