Craft Brewing in the Alaskan Wilderness: Craftwerk with 49th State Brewing Company

Facing -40°F winters and tourist-packed summers, 49th State Brewing Company has emerged as a craft beer destination in the heart of the Alaskan wilderness. Owners David McCarthy and Jason Motyka are passionate about two things: following your dreams and beer -- or rather damn good beer.
Set against the backdrop of Denali National Park, 49th State Brewery offers Alaskan-inspired beers, like Prospector’s Gold, Baked Blonde Ale, and Belgian Double On Tundra, brewed with glacial water and single-use yeast. However, despite winning a Great American Beer Festival gold medal for their Smoked Märzen in 2015, you won’t find these beers on shelves in the lower 48, which is all the more reason to make the pilgrimage to the last frontier and taste these beers fresh from the source.
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[@FatYellowDumbBird]

this place looks beautiful, you can really tell how proud the owners of it are

[@DjDeanJames]

Non-hipster, down to earth brewers. A rarity these days... Really liked it, keep it up!

[@Panther-kid]

maybe they're alpha hipster's, think about it. Nobody else is moving to alaska to wear fleece vests.

[@Three_Random_Words]

Non-hipster - a Munchies first? Congrats.

[@serginaru]

implying a non-hipster is someone who is down to earth, lol... people are still believing this hipster nonsense

[@BBQGuys]

That water quality must make for a great brew!

[@49thStateBrewingCompanyHealy]

It is! Our beer in Denali is brewed with water from a glacial aquifer. Anchorage beer is also glacial. We are pretty lucky.

[@finnnation]

You make beer and you help that guy make beer flavoured pigs!Genius! I will make a pilgrimage to this place one day. For some reason i got very thirsty after watching this.

[@richardramirez7758]

One of the best breweries and restaurants ive been to. Cheers🍻

[@LuisJimenezV]

big up guys! great story, risk taken paid off

[@PackLeaderUSA]

"What makes our beer different? It's passion!" YES!

[@TotallyGeeky]

Was actually there just last week on Labor day, did a day road trip down with the girlfriend. Excellent brews, Prospectors Gold and Seward's Folly are my top favorites. Excellent pick for a feature, +Munchies!

[@49thStateBrewingCompanyHealy]

Thanks for coming in!

[@matthewlee2404]

What a beautiful country

[@RedBeardedLife]

Man that is a thing of beauty......What a brewery and a community should be *Goes on Orbitz to book the next flight to Alaska*

[@ljr1908]

Went here last May. I had the king crab grilled cheese and seafood chowder. It was so delicious, that it makes me want to go back to Alaska just to eat here.

[@TTTHC]

32oz cans, that's awesome!

[@vukvuk5]

Keep these up!!!

[@killercaos123]

Loved it. Real genuine people with original and awesome beer. Good shit.

[@nailz09mm]

pure dedication to the craft of craft beer i respect the hard work seems like a great company ..

[@TiredLikeSnorlax]

907! This company and the Midnight Sun Brewing Company in Anchorage are the best.

[@Ufowavecollective]

Went there in September. Yak burger was phenomenal and beers great. Long trip from Florida to Alaska, but this place was a must go to place

[@ironbooze2937]

What makes out beer different? passion. Oh c'mon, give me a break

[@onraj9mm]

well it sounds corny, but he explains it. you can take many shortcuts in beer brewing, so you have to be extremely dedicated to the craft to do the job really well

[@ironbooze2937]

onraj9mm well, I know. Fact is, that nearly 95% of craft brewers are passionate about their product

[@j_as_in_j]

Yeah I thought this comment was rather cocky myself. Every commercial brewer (hell even home brewer) I have ever met has been 101% passionate about the product they are making and if you were to question them if they are otherwise, you would get an ear full!

[@kevindeloscities]

My kneejerk reaction was similar, however, I quickly came around. Because he's not saying there aren't other passionate craft breweries or passionate breweries in Germany, Belgium, etc. He's talking about his market. He's not competing with other passionate breweries. He's competing with Budweiser. He mentioned thats what their customers drank. More importantly he talks about what's available to him. The water. That water is unreal. Anyone who brews or knows about beer knows water is everything. So actually, he was spot on that passion is their difference. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[@markgoodair2978]

Good to see that they are using Weymanns malt from Bamberg. I will be at their open day in November.

[@johnnyrotten6191]

I'm impressed with where he went to brewing school. I'd love to do that, but don't have the income or savings to buy an egg, much less an education from the premier brewers on the planet.

[@mediocrecyclist]

All the emotions I'm experiencing.

[@NCER999]

Great place! Happened across this while traveling. As an Aussie it was great to have an Elk burger an some good beer in the middle of nowhere!

[@Davidsbeenhere]

Love the video!!

[@Nyxeme]

Love this series!

[@morales1190]

I live in florida and this makes me wanna move there!!!!

[@Bl1ndarknes]

Awesome video, Munchies crew.

[@Gmoney2dope]

my favorite ep so far. would love to try this brew. good vibes from miami.

[@Dan-hn1lx]

This place looks freak....dude gets a roadie sealed and canned freshly just for him he was the happiest man in Alaska at that time..

[@JEHNLEROY]

You guys should do a Minnesota brewery already.

[@EstebanBarriga]

love it, cant wait to try them

[@truthtr33]

Awesome sauce!

[@nomadchad5733]

wow this was so good, makes me want to move there

[@jmontis2]

just the title of this "craft brewing in the alaskan wilderness" will make a city dwelling office worker cry

[@jcn84256]

So cool! Loved this video.

[@Tkenny35]

guy @8:37-8:42 is my spirit animal

[@jim1550]

Can we get a video on the pig farmer they send their spent grain to?

[@49thStateBrewingCompanyHealy]

Don't have one on the pig farmers (We go to Moffett Farms, Delta, and a few others). Here is a story on the yak farm we work with. We are also sending our spent grain to a farmer that is raising chickens for us. www.ktva.com/story/36036362/harvesting-alaska-ranchers-try-to-meet-demand-for-yak-meat

[@neutrino7374]

Beauuutiful pork chops mit bernnandessee sauce, delicious! Avangardnese!

[@vmvlev]

man i bet this tastes amazing

[@psychorealmjeditrick]

I would love to take a trip out there man

[@bubumic2971]

Beautyfull ...

[@Mw2knifeme]

Shakopee Minnesota!

[@greywhite]

be ready to sit for about 30 minutes before you get to place your order and another 30-45 even if it was a burger

[@airun894]

Love this

[@IbzGibsonfreak2]

Can you ship some bottles to Germany? :)

[@Lindlboo]

What s the song around 1:40? sounds familiar

[@darrelcdammann]

sweet😍

[@donaldblankenship8057]

Wow

[@artuurs1]

pretty nice

[@dirtyred3133]

MCCARTHY is from CANADA

[@PureOhmage]

This is the most VICE video title ever conceived

[@constantinecherneff7097]

been there drank that

[@hasslehoffs]

In the beginning when he was pouring out the beer to test the CO2...i feel sorry for the third person who didnt get to try :(

[@Bighomieali]

9 people didn't like the chandeliers.

[@bloodsuckern]

could your editor learn to edit?

[@rayruiz6702]

This is a 13 minute commercial \o_O/

[@chesroberts2275]

Ray Ruiz Surly

[@dirtyred3133]

that's MCCARTHY

[@dirtyred3133]

he is a FUCKIN genius he took all his crystal.meth $ opened 3 bars & a store charges employees to live & work

[@ClawsAndSlots]

What?

[@matthewbrooker]

Head!!??

[@nilswillemsen2346]

.

[@finarm]

whack it up to about a thousand

[@profssrfunk]

Its sad to see such a well made show cover the most boring brewery in Alaska.

[@johnnyrotten6191]

It's sad to see knuckleheads who think any brewery's number one priority should be to entertain said knuckleheads. You want entertainment? Stay home, drink a Budweiser and get laid.

[@5megamind]

boring

[@greywhite]

terrible service here

[@johnnyrotten6191]

Simple solution: Call ahead and tell'em you'll be showing up with X-number of crew to do a video about their establishment for KZbin tourism. Bet your service is snappy and the food is outrageously good.

[@BrvoGrlY]

They don't reuse (propagate their yeast)? That's honestly just bad practice, not something I would be boasting about...

[@BrvoGrlY]

That being said, the owner seems like a super nice, passionate, and down to earth guy.