The day before I flew out to the West coast for my Alaskan vacation, I had an Alaskan Amber here in town. Turns out that would be the beer I would drink the most on the trip.
In Juneau, after seeing some whales, we stopped by their public house for dinner
I, of course got a flight
And, after trying all 3, the amber was still my favorite.
After a nice meal, a few of us decided to go to the "World Famous" Red Dog Saloon, to see what it was about.
They had live country music, sawdust on the floor, and a famous shot called "Duck Fart", so we got a shot and a beer.
Not long after we had our "Duck Fart", we heard someone ring a bell, and the crowd cheer.....turns out someone was buying everyone in the bar a Duck Fart shot. This happened 2 more times in the 40 minutes we were there. And, as we were walking out (because he had to be back on the ship), someone bought MORE shots. It was crazy.
I've attempted to replicate the shot, but I haven't got the layering down yet. If your curious, it's Kahula, Irish Cream and Crown. Not bad tasting.
Unfortunately at our next 2 stops, we didn't have time to hit a brewery or distillery, because of other things we had scheduled to do.
In Ketchikan, we didn't have anything booked, and despite arriving at 8 in the morning, we hit BOTH a distillery and a brewery. The Uncharted Alaska Distillery opened at 9am (likely because of the cruise ships that arrive early), and we stopped by for a beverage.
I had the "Southeast Summer" which had Vodka, Rosemary Syrup, Lemon and Soda. It was actually quite refreshing!
I had to laugh when I saw the sign for their ONE restroom.
Since they only had one, I decided not to wait in line.
Thankfully just a couple blocks away was a brewery.
The Bawden Street Brewing had an interesting collection of beers.
Most weren't something I'd like, so I got my favorite style of beer of late....a Cream ale. It was very good, and it was a nice place to chill out.
After seeing some salmon trying to go upstream ( Ketchikan is the self-proclaimed Salmon Capitol of the World), we went to the 9th oldest bar in the state. "Arctic Bar", home of the "Happy Bears". (bears humping were their logo)
And, we actually decided to play pool.
Unfortunately I lost to my girlfriend (who now wants to beat me at pool in all 50 states)
That's some of the beverages we had OFF the cruise ship, we had more on the ship.
In fact on the 1st day, We signed up for an "Alaska Beer Tasting"
Well.....our first beer in the tasting....was Sam Adams Boston Lager......kinda surprised for our "Alaska Beer Tasting". 2nd beer wasn't from Alaska either, Pikes " Kilt Lifter" That was from Seattle (where we left port from), so it was better. The 3rd was the Alaskan Amber and the 4th was the Icy Bay IPA.
All and all disappointing as I was hoping for unique Alaskan beer. Not my only disappointment on the ship. They only had 4 taps on board (all in the casino)
And...of the 4 taps, the only 2 working were the two on the right....oh well.
They had other beers in cans, so I didn't go thirsty.
In fact they had some very tasty mixed drinks, like the Emperors Nectar
The Emperors Nectar had Grand Marnier, apple juice, cinnamon syrup, ginger beer and lemon juice.
My brothers favorite mixed drink was a smoked old fashion, where they infuse the drink with smoke right in front of you.
I had one smoked drink, and boy can you taste the smoke. It was a fun production to watch everytime my brother ordered one.
My favorite drink was the "Penicillin"
I've looked up the recipe, and hope to make one this weekend. It includes blended scotch, lemon juice, honey-ginger syrup, and islay single malt scotch.
hopefully I can replicate the taste. All and all it was good to try some new beverages on the trip.
THanks for reading my blog.
K.C.-ya!
PS, i forgot about the "Blueberry mojito" I had in a can, on one of the excursion boats.