Hey Anchorage folks.... I'm going to be down your way next week, and hoping to bring back something delicious. Where should I go other than La Bodega to find some choice bottles to bring back with me?
Brown Jug Warehouse near Tudor/Old Seward and their new store on Old Seward Hwy just south of Dimond, near Walmart. I believe the new store has a 40 tap growler bar.
Ditto on Brown Jug Warehouse. Gold Rush Liquor has a pretty good selection, but I'm not sure you'll find anything there that isn't at Bodega and the Warehouse. Anchorage Wine House's Huffman location has some unusual stuff now and then. But, top two recommendations would be Bodega and Warehouse. Plus, they are not far from each other.
Concur with all of the above. Plus, if you are flying out of Concourse C at Anchorage International, you can actually fill a growler to carry home with you at the new Silver Gulch outlet there. It's past the TSA checkpoint, so you can bring the growler as carry-on.
yeah... no need for a growler of silver gulch, i can get that any day of the week up here, and to be honest, apart from their porter, i couldn't imagine stomaching a whole growler of their beers....
Last year, I was very excited to pick up some beer at the Concourse C Silver Gulch store; they have bottles and cans from a variety of Alaska Breweries (I saw Midnight Sun, Kassiks, Kenai, another small town brewery I hadn't heard of) as well as growlers. Due to some ridiculous Anchorage (Alaska State?) beer laws, they could not sell before 11:00 in the morning, so all I could do was look at what I couldn't bring home. What an asinine idea to allow beer sales behind the security gate and then not let them be sold during a very busy flight period. I got up early, repacked my carry on and got to the airport early specifically to pick some new beer up, but it was apparently the outrageously early beer buying time of 10:30 in the morning, so I was skunked and really bummed. I was also surprised the night before to be grilled and lectured extensively by a clerk in a "Quickie Mart" type store (only place by the hotel, but they had Midnight Sun and Kassiks) just to buy a bottle of beer. My image of the rugged new frontier Alaska was tarnished to find it more irritating to buy beer here than anywhere else I've been recently in the states. Definitely check out the Silver Gulch store on your way out if you are flying during the few hours they can sell.
You should also check out the Grape Expectations store next to the 5th ave mall, its upstairs from their bar. They always seem to have something that I haven't seen anywhere else around town.
I stick to just La Bodega, not a fan of anything Brown Jug. There is a couple other smaller shops in town that are nice to patronize, but Bodega beats them for selection. If you want growlers, hit up King Street, Mid Sun, Glacier BrewHouse, and Moose's Tooth.
If you get some Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad (which I highly recommend) get it at la bodega it's like $5 cheaper than brown jug warehouse for some reason..
Just to piggy back on this a little bit, if you want any Midnight Sun beer, check their loft first, they are always cheaper there as well. I picked up some Second Hand Smoke for $8 at MS, a Brown Jug had it marked up to $11.99! La Bodega usually tacks on a couple bucks also.
