Drinking local: Next up, beers from Alaska

Our next local beer will be from Alaska. Good deal.

We’ve been seeing beer from Alaskan Brewing since we hit Idaho, but it wasn’t the local beer then. Instead we bought an Idaho Riesling (instead of Alaskan Amber) in a gas station — an idea that turned out to be about as good as we expected when we did it. We saw lots of Alaskan in Washington . . . but still not the local beer.

Tonight we drank wine, Piety Flats Mercantile Red that we picked up in Yakima Valley. Fruit forward and pretty oaky, so very new American, but enjoyable. The winery is located across the road from an abandoned hop kiln (here’s a picture), and the plan was to call it the Hop Kiln winery until the owners discovered there was already a Sonoma County winery (situated in old hop kilns) using that name. We think the “hop kiln” wine in Yakima is better.

The Slow Travelers currently are bunking just west of Smithers, B.C., with an Internet connection that feels painfully dialup. Where’s Smithers? A long way from home and a long way from the northern “top” of our trip. Tomorrow we head for Prince Rupert, to catch a ferry that heads up the Inside Passage.

The government liquor store in town has plenty of beer, including mainstream, imports and craft (however you want to define the last). Unibroue costs the same as at home ($5.95 for a 750ml), but hardly qualifies as local since it is produced at the other end of the world’s second largest country. Most six-packs are in the $11 to $12 range, including those from B.C. breweries such as Granville Island, Phillips and Tree.

And just in case you were wondering, Stella sells for $22 a 12-pack. Wouldn’t be tempting even if it were local.