Icy Strait Brewing

History

Many people don't know the story behind the building that we have turned into our brewery. We believe that it was built around 1914, due to its architecture and some old newspapers that we found plastered to the walls and painted over. It is one of the few structures that was able to survive the devastating fire of 1943 that burnt Hoonah to the ground. We found a sign in the attic that says "Hoonah Bakery and Steve's lunch corner," which leads us to believe that in the past it was a bakery and restaurant. The house was most recently occupied by a local family in the 1990's, and changed hands a couple times before we purchased it in 2013.

Our goal with this house was to restore it back to its original glory. The summer of 2014 was spent digging out the old pilings by hand and replacing them with new ones. Local Juneau resident, Russell Brown, was there to help us along the way! He came up with a system that used shore jacks to support the building while the pilings were being replaced one row at a time. The winter of 2014-2015 was spent doing the structural repairs and remodeling. It has been a long, tiring project, but the support of friends and family, as well as the good people of Hoonah, has made it all worth the hard work!