St. Elias Brewing Company
Breweriana, Collectibles, Ephemera and Memories
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| Also see the BIG VISIT MAP | 434 Sharkathmi Ave., Soldotna, AK |
I have visited St. Elias Brewing Company,
in Soldotna, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA.
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Reason for Visit: We were in Alaska on vacation for a couple of weeks, spending most of our time on the Kenai Peninsula. There are a surprising number of breweries and brewpubs on this rather compact peninsula (relatively speaking -- compared to the rest of Alaska) and I think we hit all of them during our wanderings. St. Elias Brewing Co. is directly off the Sterling Highway just outside of the eastern edge of Soldotna. Getting to it is simple even with all the traffic heading in and out of town, although it's a bit difficult to spot from the highway.
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Outside of the Brewpub: We pulled up to St. Elias at lunchtime and it had a decent sized crowd going even at mid-day. I got to wondering about the name, St. Elias. It's named after Mount St. Elias in southeastern Alaska, straddling the US - Canadian border, which is the second highest peak in both countries at 18,000 feet. The early Russian explorer Vitus Bering reputedly sighted the mighty peak on the feast day of St. Elias, and legend has it that he named it accordingly. St. Elias was also known as Elijah, a Jewish prophet that is also revered as a Christian saint. I have absolutely no idea what any of that has to do with beer or with Soldotna, Alaska. |
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St. Elias Interior: Anyway, the interior is a warm, casual space. This angle looks out over the bar and taps but the majority of the restaurant is off to the left out of view. They offered a variety of sandwiches and salads, but their signature food is a series of stone fired pizzas. That's exactly what I ordered. One can't go wrong with the house specialty. |
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Sampler: The pizza went great with this fine selection in the sampler of each St. Elias beer. There are eight beers in this particular flight so they had some of their seasonals on tap when we arrived. |
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Growler: St. Elias offers growlers for sale for off-premise consumption so we took one home. It was their milk stout. I really liked the half-sized growler which made it easier to consume before it would go flat. This growler didn't even last through the first evening so it was truly brewery fresh. We enjoyed it while sitting on the porch overlooking the mountains near Cooper Landing, where we were staying. The logo appears to be a rendition of Vitus Bering sailing past Mount St. Elias, enclosed within an onion-shaped design similar to a dome on a Russian Orthodox Church, thus portraying an important period in the settlement history of Alaska. |
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Apparel: This is the graphic from a T-shirt we purchased for our collection. It's the design for their Puddle Jumper Ale. Float planes such as this are a staple of Alaskan travel in the more remote areas. These guys are flying above the lakes and muskeg of the tundra, while apparently enjoying a couple of pints along the way. The onion-shaped design reappears, although it looks a little more tear-drop here than what we saw on the brewery logo. |
Sample list of beers produced by St. Elias Brewing Company
- Even Keel Kolsch
- The Farmer's Friend (seems influenced by a French/Belgian saison style)
- Puddle Jumper Pale Ale
- Williwaw IPA
- Mother's Milk Irish Stout
- Plus seasonals
Items featured on these breweriana pages are personal souvenirs of my visits to these locations, and an expression of the events and travels leading to their collection. They are not for sale or for trade.
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