Where you start at Alaskan Brewing Co. has little bearing on where you end up. Take Brent Kesey, for example. Alaskan's Brewing Manager since 2000, Brent started as a seasonal cashier and tour guide in the gift shop in May 1996.
 Where you start at Alaskan Brewing Co. has little bearing on where you end up. Take Brent Kesey, for example. Alaskan's Brewing Manager since 2000, Brent started as a seasonal cashier and tour guide in the gift shop in May 1996.
His road to the brewery didn't start there, however. Brent, who was born and raised in Eugene, Ore., first came to Alaska while serving as a radioman in the Coast Guard. He then returned to his home state to attend the University of Oregon. Alaska had gotten under his skin, though. Brent returned to Juneau, where he could enjoy flyfishing, hiking, skating and skiing. The need for work brought him to Alaskan Brewing Co. The love of beer kept him here.
Brent's appreciation for good beer had developed in college, when he took a homebrewing class. The first beer he ever brewed was a Porter. "I usually like to brew the darker beers." he says. "Porter is one of my favorite styles." After his stint in the gift shop ended, he began learning about commercial brewing. "It's the same general process as homebrewing," he says. "The main difference is the scale and the vastly superior equipment."
As Alaskan's Brewing Manager, Brent is responsible for overseeing the filtration and brewing scheduling and processes. "Our focus is on quality through all points of the process," he says.
Brent still enjoys homebrewing, but doesn't do it as much now that he has a 7-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son. His advice to homebrewers is simple: "Keep it clean. Sanitation is the key to making great beer."
Brent has continued to grow at Alaskan Brewing. He became a nationally certified beer judge, the highlight of which was judging at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). He likes judging Stouts and Porters, but the Wood-aged category was the most fun.
He has attended the GABF four times, with Alaskan winning medals each year. The wins are exciting, but Brent was equally enthused about meeting the many beer fans and judging with industry giants like beer writer Michael Jackson.
It's not the medals that keep Brent at Alaskan. It's the people. "It's a great crew," he says. And seeing the end product of the crew's hard work sold in area stores, bars and restaurants doesn't hurt either, he says. |
