When Barnaby Brewing Company opens its doors Saturday, you can thank Gov. Bill Walker.<\/p>\n
For more than a year, Alaska\u2019s governor has promoted the idea that growing Alaska\u2019s native industries \u2014 things like beer brewing and agriculture \u2014 can compensate for an oil-driven recession.<\/p>\n
When Walker talked, Matthew Barnaby was listening. A state employee and homebrewer, he\u2019s turning his brewing talent into a business.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always been in the back of my head,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reality is with the state budget cuts, it kind of made me re-evaluate where I am professionally. That fear, for sure, was sort of the incentive to go for it. I think indirectly, we can thank Bill \u2014 Bill Walker.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, attendees of Barnaby\u2019s open house won\u2019t find beer \u2014 he\u2019s still waiting for his federal license \u2014 but they will find locally manufactured nitro coffee, ginger beer and root beer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re sort of opening the business in two phases,\u201d Barnaby explained.<\/p>\n
He and his wife, Kelly, are the two people behind the business. Last year, they conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign to open the brewery. In 58 days, they earned $11,758 in pledges to get started.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s opening is the result of a basic question: \u201cHow can we make money without doing alcohol?\u201d Barnaby explained.<\/p>\n
Licensing a brewery is a task that can take months \u2014 it\u2019s easier for an Alaskan to open a marijuana farm \u2014 and while Barnaby has enough capital to wait until his federal license arrives early next year, starting to sell sodas is \u201cimportant to make sure I\u2019m not eating beans and rice every night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He plans to be open on Fridays and Saturdays, but the schedule may vary as the business gets rolling. He advises interested customers to visit his business on Facebook for updates.<\/p>\n
Barnaby Brewing is one of three breweries and a distillery in planning along Franklin Street but will be the first to open at least partially.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should ask the CBJ to change it to Libation Lane instead of North Franklin,\u201d Barnaby said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
You could almost call his brewery\u2019s approach to beer \u201cpunk rock,\u201d Barnaby said. After all, the brewery is literally underground, in a basement space formerly occupied by the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s planning a one-barrel brewing system that will produce about 90 gallons of beer per week. He\u2019ll start selling it on Fridays until it\u2019s gone, then repeat the process.<\/p>\n
Barnaby has talent as a homebrewer: At this year\u2019s Haines Craft Beer and Home Brew Festival, Barnaby\u2019s English-style barleywine took home the best-in-show award.<\/p>\n
Barnaby also took home the first-place and second-place awards in the IPA category.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of good success putting up beer competitively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Barnaby had been planning to open his brewery in the Mendenhall Valley next year, but he couldn\u2019t pass up the space that opened on Franklin Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just had my second child two weeks ago, so a lot happened pretty quick,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Barnaby\u2019s open house runs from noon to 6 p.m. at 206 N. Franklin St., Suite 1.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter James Brooks at 523-2258 or james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Barnaby Brewing Company opens its doors Saturday, you can thank Gov. Bill Walker. For more than a year, Alaska\u2019s governor has promoted the idea that growing Alaska\u2019s native industries \u2014 things like beer brewing and agriculture \u2014 can compensate for an oil-driven recession. When Walker talked, Matthew Barnaby was listening. A state employee and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":7761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7760"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}