where in the beer world?

Do you know where in the beer world this photo was taken?

Please include the village, town or city.

By now I hope you have a good idea what is going on here. If not, visit the archives.

A hint? Well, if you try what I think would be the obvious Google search don’t get too excited. Lots of results, but the correct answer doesn’t come up early.

If nobody provides the correct answer in relatively short order then I’ll have another hint that should make it really easy. Just can’t be sure when I’ll be back online to lend that helping hand . . .

Please don’t look at the photo above and think, “That jerk really is determined to stump the readers. Where’s the beer connection? Heck, where’s the beer?”

I picked this photo because I’ve been wanting to pass along a bit of beer history for a while. That might be the whole point of this non-contest contest: a chance for me to post a few photos I don’t seem to have an excuse to use otherwise. And ask you where in the beer world is was taken.

Also, some advance warning. It may be a while before I can post the details. Once we reach Europe in a couple of days finding an Internet connection will seldom get any kind of priority treatment. although I hope to participate in The Session on Friday.

And if you are still with me you deserve a hint on this one. It coulda been a brewery.

The answer: This is a building in Douglas (across the Gastineau Channel from Juneau), Alaska, that Geoff and Marcy Larson looked at quite seriously when they were looking for a location for Alaskan Brewing. It can’t be far from where the old Douglas City Brewing Company operated more than 100 years ago. Alaskan based the recipe for its Amber on one from Douglas.

Would this location have accommodated expansion as easily as the property the Larson eventually chose? Surely not.

It reminds me of a story I’ve been meaning to confirm, that Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan considered Crested Butte before locating New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins. NBB surely couldn’t have grown like it has were the brewery trying to ship beer out of Crested Butte — a beautiful town known for biking, skiing and its wild flowers but not at a transportation crossroads like Fort Collins.

Curious how important those first startup decisions turned out to be.

Could this be the stumper?

This photo was snapped during our current adventure. That narrows it down to 24 states, eight provinces and one territory. I’ll rule out Alaska and the Yukon for you.

Anway, this isn’t really a hit-the-buzzer-first-Jeopardy-type contest (Daria would kick your butt), so feel free to comment even if you don’t know where this barn resides.

Heck, I bet we’d all like to know if you can tell us what Koehler beer used to taste like.

(Here’s how this feature started, in case you forgot.)

This week’s “Where in the beer world?” includes a person . . . for those of you with facial recognition software.

A hint? We bought “scratch and dent” cheese at a store in a nearby town. These are cheeses presumably from small-batch cheesemakers of the region that didn’t end up quite right in the package, and thus cost a little less. This is one of America’s great cheese regions, but the S&D swiss did not do well in a family tasting. It seemed a like a good idea at the time, but later I thought, “Would I buy scratch and dent beer?”

I know I promised we’d be talking about prizes for sharp-eyed contributors (readers are four-for-four), so here’s the first: a $50 gift certificate at BeerBooks.com. Lots of great books there to choose from, but Carl Miller also has other cool stuff. Including a bunch of new photos.

Comments are open.