My family and I spent a glorious vacation in America’s Last Frontier—Alaska! This was a long planned vacation for for me and my sister’s family, plus Mom. I had a patient from Alaska who told me to NEVER eat salmon over there. I was puzzled. Why? Don’t they have the best salmon in the world? And that is exactly the reason, she said. Once you’ve tasted Alaskan salmon, you will never like salmon from anywhere else again…. Ugh!
Naturally, I Googled all our restaurant itineraries. I’ve always marveled how I ate during travel before the advent of internet. Do I keep walking till I get so hungry and just follow my nose? I do remember having great eating adventures back then so I must say my nose was pretty darn good…
Word of warning, this is kinda lengthy because it features two cities in Alaska that we had absolutely amazing eating experience: Anchorage and Ketchikan. Not that Juneau and Skagway don’t have amazing eats. We actually had too short a stay and there were just just so many things to do and see. Now, if this were a travel blog, you would need half a day to finish reading all this.
We were staying in Anchorage for two days before embarking on to the cruise, not nearly enough to go to Denali National Park. But my sister and her family are hikers, so they have no problem killing those two days hiking around; there were so many interesting trails, or so I was told. I, on the other hand, am on vacation. These Prada sneakers ain’t made for hiking. Luckily I came across this Beer Tour. BigSwig Tour. Now this is my kind of hike!
Naturally, I booked a tour. This is a treat for the hubby. He loves these craft beers.
As promised in the website, the tours are as much about the history of Alaskan beers, the masters who brew them and the locals who drink them, as they are about tasting the beers themselves. First stop was at Midnight Sun Brewery and Co. Anchorage’s oldest brewery, Midnight Sun has medaled at both the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup. Tastes like victory.
Second stop is at King’s Street Brewery. This is a fairly new brewery but are really good at their craft. It’s one of the few Alaskan beers that you can get outside of Alaska.
Last stop was Chilkoot Charlie’s. It’s impossible to talk Alaskan beer history without visiting world famous Chilkoot Charlie’s. This is Anchorage’s premier “night spot”. In a nutshell, it’s a beer garden with 7 nights a week of entertainment. It’s a huge venue divided into several areas so at any given time, there would be 5-7 bands simultaneously playing. One can go from one area to another at a whim.
In a way, I was kinda glad that we dropped in early and there wasn’t any “action” yet. Not only are my ears too old for loud music, I was getting a bad headache from the beer I had. Beer always does that to me. Wine, I can drink till the cows come home. Beer tells my head it’s time to go home.
We decided to grab dinner before my head explodes so we headed towards Glacier Brewhouse. At that point, I would have been happy never to see beer for the rest of my life.
And with that we called it a day in Anchorage, Alaska. tomorrow we will be heading towards some Nature Park my sister has planned. Food-for- the-eyes kind of thing. That’s her specialty.
Ketchikan is another harbor city in Alaska. It’s very quaint but filled with amusing little corners. Cities like that usually have hole-in-the-wall restaurants that are amazing.
After seeing some ancient tottempoles and shopping at Creek Street, we were cold and hungry. My sister is still very energetic for more shopping so we split and I followed my nose to some comfort food. It led me to Annabelle’s Keg and Chowder House.
It has an extensive bar, and lucky for us, despite its strategic location being so near the ports, it wasn’t at all busy.
To sum up my Alaskan Food Experience, its beer, beer and more beer. And some amazing salmon here and there. Oh and crab legs. Just when you think that’s a lot of seafood, wait till I feature my cruise dining experience. As soon as I gather up my pics, you will want to book reservations right away! Alaskan Cruises are known for having the best food among all cruises.
