Skagway Brewing Company

Skagway Brewing CompanySkagway Brewing Company
Skagway Brewing CompanySkagway Brewing Company
Brewery, Bar, Eatery, Beer-to-go

4th Ave. just off Broadway
PO Box 946
Skagway, Alaska, 99840-0946
United States

(907) 983-2839 | map
skagwaybrewing.com
BEER STATS
Average:
3.79
Beers:
7
Ratings:
155
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.02
Reviews:
22
Ratings:
44
pDev:
10.7%
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of GrumpyGas
Reviewed by GrumpyGas from Illinois

3.85/5  rDev -4.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.75 | service: 4 | selection: 3.75
Large multi floor space with indoor and outdoor options. The outdoor patio is covered and seats 100 easily. Table service is scheduled dependant, but the sign was turned to "no" on my visit. Inside, the bar seats 8 and high tops and four tops seat another 40 or so. Pool and foosball tables fill the remainder of the public space with a good mix of music.

The restaurant upstairs had a line; seems like a good thing. But I didn't stay to eat.
Aug 17, 2023
Photo of Stevedore
Reviewed by Stevedore from Oregon

3.82/5  rDev -5%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 3.75 | service: 4 | selection: 3.75
Has a touristy vibe to it. Bartender was clearly a bit drunk when pouring beers. I got a flight of 4 beers and the spruce tip blonde in a pint which was solid- our tour guide was talking it up a lot, so we had to get that one. They had 5 beers on tap. People smoke outside on the back patio, which was bothersome. Interior is a bit divey. Didn't buy any food. It's fairly touristy, but since Skagway is such a small town compared to Anchorage and Juneau, that can't be avoided.
Aug 12, 2018
 
Rated: 4.09 by BeerBucks from New York

Jul 29, 2018
 
Rated: 4.07 by Kdouble from Tennessee

Jun 17, 2018
 
Rated: 4.03 by kylehay2004 from Illinois

May 20, 2018
Photo of tigg924
Reviewed by tigg924 from Massachusetts

3.1/5  rDev -22.9%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 2 | food: 2.25
Place is at the far end of Skagway as others have mentioned. Building itself is neat as it has the look and feel of an antique house. This place was crazy busy despite having only one cruise ship in town. I gathered most of the crowd was from the ship with a few locals and other tourists. There were only four beers on tap and while I really really enjoyed the Spruce Tip ale, the rest were ok at best. Food here was also just so so. We had the pretzel appetizer and I had the barbeque pork. Not bad, but not memorable and nothing I would rush out to get again. I will probably be back if ever in town for a growler of the Spruce Tip, but will most likely just eat on the ship or another establishment.
Aug 07, 2017
Photo of Lone_Freighter
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont

3.73/5  rDev -7.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.75 | service: 3.75 | selection: 3.75 | food: 3.75
Pretty nice and clean brewpub located along the main street of town, further back from where the cruise ships dock up. Go past all of that touristy stuff. This place does open early to serve breakfast/brunch type of food. They have other liquors and cocktails for non-beer lovers. Somewhat easy to take kids in as it's not exactly a "quiet" atmosphere every time I've been in there. Fairly clean with good service, you won't find much in Skagway for beer to be honest as Gold Rush is a seasonal brewery.
Jun 10, 2017
 
Rated: 4.15 by StoutAtTheDevil from Alabama

Jun 04, 2017
 
Rated: 4.03 by cd34 from Illinois

Aug 20, 2016
Photo of bradybeer
Rated by bradybeer from California

3.61/5  rDev -10.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.25 | service: 4 | selection: 3.25
Nice little place to get a pint when you are off a cruise ship. No great beers but the barley wine, stout, and spruce beer hit the spot.
Jul 05, 2016
 
Rated: 3.75 by smanson56 from New Hampshire

May 22, 2016
 
Rated: 4.56 by Matthowland from New Hampshire

Apr 08, 2016
Photo of Sabtos
Reviewed by Sabtos from Ohio

2.53/5  rDev -37.1%
vibe: 3.25 | quality: 2.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 2.5 | food: 2
This place is practically an old Western saloon at the end of the street at the end of the cute little port town. It's probably primarily a tourist trap during the season and who knows what if anything during off season.

Food is goofy and large, stale even, and the beers are okay to less than okay, with a spruce tip beer not bringing an eighth of the punch Pennsylvania Tuxedo brings. I thought I was going to get something I hadn't tasted before, but it really tasted pretty basic to me.

Service is a little lackluster, since they know there isn't much competition for a bar crowd.
Dec 15, 2015
Photo of Back_in_the_Saddle
Reviewed by Back_in_the_Saddle from Vermont

3.24/5  rDev -19.4%
vibe: 3.25 | quality: 3.25 | service: 3 | selection: 3.25 | food: 3.75
Okay, not a bad place but limited taps lead me only to Chilkoot IPA, Blue Top Porter and Spruce Tip Ale. Friendly serviceable staff came fairly quick to serve me. Fairly clean and a well kept place. I had a mushroom swiss burger which was good. Overall, not what I was expecting. Spruce Tip was their best. I’ll only come back when they have more beers on tap. Average brewpub.
Nov 18, 2015
 
Rated: 4.39 by mwaltz99 from Wisconsin

Jul 27, 2015
 
Rated: 3.79 by JMS1512 from New Jersey

Jul 02, 2015
Photo of DoubleMalt
Reviewed by DoubleMalt from New York

4.1/5  rDev +2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.75 | selection: 3.75 | food: 4.75
Slow service but that was expected when there were 4 cruise ships in port.
The soup and chili were excellent and it was great to have a brew pub to visit while off the ship.
Jun 24, 2015
 
Rated: 4.18 by sohearn from Alabama

Apr 21, 2015
 
Rated: 5 by fureousangel from California

Nov 24, 2014
Photo of SitkaSteve
Reviewed by SitkaSteve from Idaho

3.75/5  rDev -6.7%
Decent place. I have been here several times.
What it has going for it is that it's opened year round unlike the other brewery in town that actually makes a way better AIPA.
Anyways, well this place is always a happening place - though I don't have kids, a parent could definitely take their kids here - it's a loud place that muffles children's loudness. Though I always sit at the bar, I practically have to scream to place my order.
The service is always good despite a huge crowd almost always. They got other booze there other than beer.
My only thing is that they make an average AIPA...The good AIPA is out the road at Gold Rush brewery.
I still go back here when my boat pulls into port.
Sep 29, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by ColForbinBC from New Jersey

Sep 09, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by amanforallsaisons from Connecticut

Sep 01, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by slader from New Jersey

Aug 22, 2014
 
Rated: 4.21 by krome from Illinois

Aug 07, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Filabee from Michigan

Aug 03, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by Pyedog from Florida

Jun 28, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by schnarr84 from Canada (AB)

Jun 25, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by Agentveba from North Carolina

May 26, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by Griffith from Connecticut

Feb 23, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by shoretaxi from New Jersey

Jan 25, 2014
Photo of Dok
Reviewed by Dok from Alaska

4.73/5  rDev +17.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.75
An exceptional staff in a friendly place. The decor is 1900's style mirrored bar, good medium lighting, polished wooden floors, fair to good artwork on the walls, with private dining and party rooms available for reserve. The overall ambiance is comfortable, the staff young and energetic. The food is typical fair, nothing ambitious but all exceptional tastes on the menu.

The location is a good small town locale, the exterior of the building modelled to represent the tradition of the mining community roots. The best time to visit is wintertime when you do not need to shagg off tourists in order to have a place to stand on the sidewalk. And the Spruce Tip ale is in stock, another reason to fire up the dog team and cross the tundra. The staff is friendlier also, and who would not be in a better mood when you are not spending your day running wild trying to keep ahead of the droves of people asking questions you have already answered too many times? Overall, one of my favorite places in small town Alaska.
Oct 15, 2013
Photo of wvsabbath
Reviewed by wvsabbath from West Virginia

4.44/5  rDev +10.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5
Typical bar setting, it was clean, roomy and easy to walk around. This is a brew pub, and they off a sampler of all there beers for 7$. 5 different beers, all were very solid. The service was great, the bartender was easy to engage convo with. I didn't eat but person beside me ordered a chicken salad and it looked amazing. The gift shop was off to the side, had shirts and glasses, and the person at register was extra nice. There fkagship beer was the sprucetip ale and was very tasty. There ipa and brown ale was solid. There standard beers are as good as 75% of what the micro brewers that bottle put out. A great find, and a true gift being nothing is bottle, so other then by trade or visiting, only what you get to sample. Will stop by again on my next Alaskan visit.
Sep 09, 2013
Photo of TBoneJones
Reviewed by TBoneJones from Texas

4.14/5  rDev +3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.75 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
Like most who surely discover this establishment, I came from port via the Alaskan cruise I took with my wife and about a dozen other family. My first stop here was solo, as I hadn't booked any of the morning excursions anyone else in my crew had. I was a free man for about half a day, so best to head for local craft beer that I became aware of thanks to a commercial which played on our stateroom TV on board the ship. I bellied up, was greeted warmly by a bar tender who it turns out was my age (a milestone in conversation for me as I'm all about getting in and out, especially since i had a fishing charter booked for early afternoon). But hey it's vacation. She agreed with me I should try the Spruce Tip Ale, but as I noticed the wall sign advertising a flight of about 5 of their brews, I decided on sampling more than just the spruce. Impressed, yes. Thirsty, yes (cruise ships offer mediocrity as far as beer, in case you're not aware). All 5 beers I enjoyed, most so the Spruce Tip and also the IPA. The pale ale was refreshing as well. In hindsight, I wish I had sampled the barleywine, but this wasn't even 11am and I had a full day of fun for which to remain energetic. The fish and chips was my logical choice for trying Alaska's local grilled fare. Best I recall having to date; I demolished the fish and the tasty fries. The other fellow tourist from Iowa next to me agreed that the Spruce Tip was the best of the sampler (it was almost a tie for me with the IPA, with the brown ale trailing the lot). Behind-the-bar service was attentive at first, but it eventually became more "distracted" as a lunch crowd entered. After this filling "brunch", I made my salmon fishing charter meetup back at the docks, and persuaded the family to return there for dinner late that afternoon before the ship re embarked. Everyone in my group who had the fish and chips had no regrets. Dinner service was well-staffed and handled in the dining room. Connected gift shop offers brewery merchandise. The only issue was the distance (end of town), but this won't be an issue for anyone who likes to call themselves active. There are shuttles back to the port for all others.
Jun 17, 2013
Photo of coldriver
Reviewed by coldriver from Texas

3.95/5  rDev -1.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5
Like most people my visit to Skagway was via cruise ship. Skagway has an old-time gold-rush theme which is ruined by the presence of dozens of tanzanite (and ammonite and alexandrite and meteorite and dynamitatite, etc) jewelry stores. It's hard to imagine a more blatant money grab of a town. So any BA cruisers visiting Skagway will definitely want to visit Skagway Brewing to escape the mind-numbing shopping strip.

The place was packed with cruisers, mostly men who were probably like myself - refugees from their wive's delighted shopping frenzies. A fair amount of friendly locals were on hand as well. I found a seat at the bar and service was extremely prompt. They had a solid selection of beers on tap and I managed to down two pints plus a sampler flight of four more. I wouldn't say any were outstanding, but all fit the category of "damn good." I especially liked the Oosik Stout. Food was above average bar fare. Overall a great visit and the best beer joint I found on any of our port calls between Whittier and Vancouver.
Jul 11, 2012
Photo of notchucknorris
Reviewed by notchucknorris from California

4.06/5  rDev +1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4
Stopped by Skagway Brewing during one of our cruise stops last week. We had been in Juneau the day before and tried going to Alaskan but got there too late, so Skagway was the only brewery we were able to stop by during the cruise. As it turned out, it wasn't half bad. The town looks like the Knott's Berry Farm ghost town, but it definitely has some character. I was glad to find the brewery at the end of town so that it wasn't as packed with tourists as most of the other shops in town. The service was good and the beers weren't jaw dropping, but they were solid and it was great to try something new. I would definitely recommend stopping by if you're in Skagway.
Jul 14, 2011
Photo of potownbill
Reviewed by potownbill from New York

4.36/5  rDev +8.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4
After stopping in 3 ports on an Alaskan Cruise, I was looking for a decent place to get a beer, and not have to deal with the "bordello themed" tourist places. Skagway brewing was at the edge of the tourist part of town, and fit my needs perfectly. Simple place with great beer. One of the locals said that this is the place where they go. Excellent beers. Had the Pale Ale, Brown, and Spruce tip. All three were very good. I didn't have the food, so can't comment. My daughter, wife, and Mother-in-Law all liked the beers, which is a first!
Jul 14, 2011
Photo of bishopgary
Reviewed by bishopgary from Utah

3.83/5  rDev -4.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4
I have visited Skagway a number of times, though always in the Spring and late Fall. Certainly not the most amazing atmosphere, but not bad. The great service, friendly staff and other patrons make up for anything lacking. They offer a pretty decent selection of brews, my favorites has almost always been the darker ones. Pretty memorable stout. The food is good, better and ore varied than most while traveling through this part of the woods.

Overall, it is a great place to visit if you are in the area, worth detouring the 90 or so miles to Skagway by road. It is a very reasonable value as well.
Dec 01, 2010
Photo of snaotheus
Reviewed by snaotheus from Washington

3.95/5  rDev -1.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5
We were in Skagway as a stop on a cruise, walked around until we found this place. Pretty good sized, but gets busy when there are four cruise ships in town. Even with all the out-of-towners, service was still prompt. Prices were quite reasonable, especially when I consider how much of their business must be tourists. Food's fine, but not exceptional. I had the pulled pork.

Pretty decent selection of styles for a little brewery in a little town. I was impressed with their porter and their barleywine. It's a shame they don't distribute beyond Alaska, but I guess it's also not much of a surprise.
Jun 08, 2010
Photo of brdc
Reviewed by brdc from Wisconsin

4.3/5  rDev +7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5
Had the pleasure of stumbling across this place, nearly at the end of the road where all tourists roam around when in town.
It has the typical brewpub atmosphere, bar and a few tables, quite small, with an adjoining store.
Service was polite and friendly, just like everything and everybody in town, but one of the waitresses seemed to know her stuff reasonably well. Good prices, and impressive beer; the sampler is a good way to start, but the barleywine and stout that are not included are worth a shot as well - see my upcoming reviews.
I would go back if this was not so far; it is not just a good spot for a small town, but rather a very good brewpub. Recommended.
Aug 25, 2009
Photo of sprucetip
Reviewed by sprucetip from Alaska

4/5  rDev -0.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5
Probably most BA folks who visit this establishment will be visiting Skagway for the day on a cruise. Some will be independent travelers. Some will be locals, like myself, if I can turn some of my friends on to BA. The thing to understand about Skagway is that it has a year round population of 850, officially, though many travel for much of the winter. The population more than doubles with seasonal workers in the summer. But we have a year round brewery-pub! The beer is decent. A couple of specialty beers this summer were better, maybe even exceptional. The Wee Heavy and Barleywine, more specifically. They typically have some beers that they don't make, as they have a hard time keeping up in the summer. Stone IPA, Young's Double Chocolate, North Coast Red Seal, Lindeman's Framboise, and Maudite are some that come to mind. You won't find world class selection, but keep in mind that it is 90 miles by sea or air (no road) to Junuea where the distributors live. The atmosphere is excellent, especially this time of year. Midday during tourist season you won't find many of the exceptionally friendly locals to visit with, as they are all working. But the service is excellent, and the locals are extremely welcoming and friendly, and they will be showing up in late afternoon, early evening during the summer. Who knows what kind of mischief you could become involved in once you start talking to the local next to you at the bar? The food is pretty decent for around here, but our standards are a bit lower than more urban areas with better ingredient availability. I listed the prices as reasonable, and for this part of the world they are. But compared to lower 48 states, you'll find them a bit high. A pint is $5, for reference.
Nov 22, 2008
Skagway Brewing Company in Skagway, AK
Brewery rating: 3.79 out of 5 with 155 ratings