When Barnaby Brewing Company opens its doors Saturday, you can thank Gov. Bill Walker.
For more than a year, Alaska’s governor has promoted the idea that growing Alaska’s native industries — things like beer brewing and agriculture — can compensate for an oil-driven recession.
When Walker talked, Matthew Barnaby was listening. A state employee and homebrewer, he’s turning his brewing talent into a business.
“It’s always been in the back of my head,” he said. “The 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 — Bill Walker.”
On Saturday, attendees of Barnaby’s open house won’t find beer — he’s still waiting for his federal license — but they will find locally manufactured nitro coffee, ginger beer and root beer.
“We’re sort of opening the business in two phases,” Barnaby explained.
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.
Saturday’s opening is the result of a basic question: “How can we make money without doing alcohol?” Barnaby explained.
Licensing a brewery is a task that can take months — it’s easier for an Alaskan to open a marijuana farm — and while Barnaby has enough capital to wait until his federal license arrives early next year, starting to sell sodas is “important to make sure I’m not eating beans and rice every night,” he said.
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.
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.
“I think we should ask the CBJ to change it to Libation Lane instead of North Franklin,” Barnaby said with a laugh.
You could almost call his brewery’s approach to beer “punk rock,” Barnaby said. After all, the brewery is literally underground, in a basement space formerly occupied by the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council.
He’s planning a one-barrel brewing system that will produce about 90 gallons of beer per week. He’ll start selling it on Fridays until it’s gone, then repeat the process.
Barnaby has talent as a homebrewer: At this year’s Haines Craft Beer and Home Brew Festival, Barnaby’s English-style barleywine took home the best-in-show award.
Barnaby also took home the first-place and second-place awards in the IPA category.
“I’ve got a lot of good success putting up beer competitively,” he said.
Barnaby had been planning to open his brewery in the Mendenhall Valley next year, but he couldn’t pass up the space that opened on Franklin Street.
“I just had my second child two weeks ago, so a lot happened pretty quick,” he said.
Barnaby’s open house runs from noon to 6 p.m. at 206 N. Franklin St., Suite 1.
• Contact reporter James Brooks at 523-2258 or james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com.
Barnaby Brewing Co., located at 206 N. Franklin St., is the newest addition to Juneau’s brewery scene. The business is still seeking its federal alcohol license but will hold an open house Saturday as it begins offering locally made ginger beer, ginger ale and root beer.
