Brewing With Gabe Fletcher of Anchorage Brewing Co.

Our writer caught up with Gabe Fletcher, a longtime participant in the Alaskan brewing scene, shortly after the official opening of his beautiful new brewery – a celebration of reclaimed wood where visitors can literally get a hands-on experience in the tasting room. It’s more like a “tasting area” that flows into the fermentation room, which opens into the brewing equipment area, bottling line and very soon into a beer garden.

Fletcher’s own path is similar to many craft brewers who have worked every job and held every title. What set him apart are his skills as a wood, metal and concrete artist; he has also painted some of his own labels. Fletcher’s unique barley creations certainly qualify as works of art.

BC: How did the official opening go this spring?

Fletcher: It was amazing. I had no idea how many people would show up. I was thinking we would have a few people initially, then a few rushes. But there were five or six hundred people that showed up. From the time we opened the door until the time we closed there was a line.

Throngs of people at the official opening of Anchorage Brewing’s new brewery and tasting room.

BC: That’s certainly a compliment to your beers. When did you first start brewing?

Fletcher: I started brewing at Midnight Sun when I was 21 years old in 1998, and I didn’t start as a homebrewer. I was interested in the process and I was working two jobs: one at Alaska Airlines and one at this little shop for making your own wine. One of the girls working there got a job at Midnight Sun as a brewer and she told me to give them a call. I went in for an interview, and I was bottling that same day. A year and a half later, I was head brewer.

BC: Is there a first beer you brewed that you think of as your very first unique creation, a Gabe beer?

Fletcher: The first commercial beer I made was called Old Snagglepuss. It was an Old Ale aged in red wine casks and dry hopped with East Kent Goldings. It turned out really well. I always loved that beer. I had been at Midnight Sun for six or seven months at that point and back then one of my favorite beer styles was Old Peculiar. I was so inspired by it that I did something that was my version of that beer.  

BC: When did you develop your love of barrels and wood to complement the so-called traditional styles?

Fletcher: I really got into it when I started making Brett beers. I think that was a turning point for me, and that’s where I really fell in love with it. I especially liked doing part of the fermentation in barrels. That was different than just getting flavor from a barrel.  

A showcase of what’s on tap at Anchorage Brewing’s new tasting room.

BC: When did you first discover you liked wild, funky, sour beer?

Fletcher: The person who introduced me to it was Billy Opinsky, owner of Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse in Anchorage. All the years before anyone had even discovered gueuze and all these beers, he was cellaring the stuff – Cantillons and Hanssens and all that. I remember going to his house one night and he started popping open bottles of gueuze and it really opened my eyes to the range of flavors. I didn’t understand it, and I still don’t quite understand it but it was good!

BC: Was it your experiences with wood barrels that evolved into a love of what Brettanomyces brings to a finished beer? Or is it the other way around – did you love the beers first and then decide to create them in your own brewery once you became experienced with barrels?

Fletcher: Yes and no. There were definitely beers I wanted to create. I remember Pride from the Seven Deadly Sins series, which wasn’t my first Brett beer, but it was definitely one where I felt that I had really nailed it. I sort of figured things out as I went along and achieved the flavors I wanted. I don’t think I had the exact beer in mind as much as I wanted to see how far I could go with the barrel-aging process.

One of the beers that changed what I thought about barrel-aging and new styles was by Jolly Pumpkin. I remember drinking Oro de Calabaza for the first time; it’s still one of my favorite beers. We now actually blend it into one of the beers we make here. The flavors Ron Jeffries comes up with for the Jolly Pumpkin beers are unbelievable. That turned the switch in my head to wanting to open my own brewery and do all these great beers.

BC: The original Anchorage Brewing Company was unique in my experience. It was a brewery built inside of an already existing brewpub.

Fletcher: Anchorage Brewing literally came to me in a dream. I woke up, grabbed a sheet of paper and started writing out a business plan. I said: ‘Wow, this could actually work.’ I drew the plans for this new building five years ago. I had everything written out, and then Greg Mills from the Snow Goose brewpub said ‘Why don’t you brew here?’ The idea made sense once the wheels started turning: He had all this extra room over there, and it would be a great starting point because I wouldn’t have to come up with all this extra capital.

Large oak foudres at Anchorage, where Gabe expertly ages his beers with wood.

BC: Do the large oak foudres you have add an additional layer of character or do they fundamentally change the beer in your opinion?

Fletcher: It’s a pretty dramatic difference. The beers seem to come out a bit softer. There’s a better ester profile. There are a lot more variables and it’s more dangerous. It’s easy to ferment in wood one time and have it become pretty predictable. But wood continues to evolve over time, and you have to be on top of things or you will have bad batches. That’s just part of the risk.  

BC: Do you have any advice for homebrewers if they choose to brew on the wild side? Are there fundamental mistakes many make?

Fletcher: I wouldn’t start by putting wort outside and fermenting it. That can be tricky (and dangerous) if you’re not careful. I’ve done primary Brett beers and secondary Brett beers, and I definitely prefer beers where the Brett was introduced into the secondary fermentation. I feel that you get much more complexity out of the beers that way. There are a few myths out there – like Brett can’t handle hops. Actually Brett is a hop’s best friend. You can have a really hoppy beer and the Brett will keep the hops from oxidizing. The Galaxy White IPA, you can have it two years from now and the hops will die down but they won’t oxidize. The esters come up and the Brett is more forward, making it a different experience, but the hops still taste fresh because of the Brettanomyces. The Brett stays alive so much longer than regular saccharomyces yeast. Also, if you want to make a true wild beer don’t force carbonate it – it needs to be alive.  

BC: What would you tell people who have trouble grasping the often confusing terms like wild, sour, funky, farmhouse and barnyard?

Fletcher: People say in reviews online: “This beer has Brett in it, but it isn’t sour.”  The presence of Brettanomyces doesn’t make a beer sour. It will create a little tartness over time, but it takes all the other organisms to create sourness in beers. Also, I don’t understand all these beers that are supposed to have horse blanket and barnyard flavors from Brett. I think when you have Brett in its purest form, it has all these beautiful fruity and woody notes.

The Anchorage Brewing Bar and Taproom “flows into the fermentation room” in the background.