Ketchikan, Alaska, U.S.A.-based distillery Uncharted Alaska was among the big winners at this year’s Alaska Symphony of Seafood awards.
The annual event, which celebrates the Alaskan seafood industry, invites top culinary talent in the Pacific Northwest to judge a number of categories.
"The Symphony of Seafood celebrates not only the exceptional products but also the people and companies driving Alaska’s seafood industry forward," Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) CEO Kristy Clement said.
This year’s winners included Fable Fish Company’s Teriyaki Salmon Jerky as the Best New Retail Product, and Alaskan Leader Seafoods’ Miso Black Cod Deli Kits as the Best New Foodservice Product.
The event, held in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., featured a tasting reception, dinner, and awards ceremony, wherein guests had the opportunity to taste all the product entries and vote for the People’s Choice Award winner, which went to M.I.F. Seafoods’ Cold Smoked Salmon.
Uncharted Alaska Distillery won both the Beyond the Plate and Most Innovative categories with their Holdfast Kelp Vodka, which is produced from Alaskan sugar kelp harvested by local company Seagrove Kelp.
In a video posted to the Uncharted Alaska Instagram page, Co-Founder Travis Robbins spoke about the economic, community, and ecological value of a product that is “100 percent Southeast Alaska” made.
"We’re taking a product that is grown here, cutting down the cost of shipping stuff here. We’re not bringing in grain from Indiana or corn from Kentucky," he said. "We’re able to use Alaska products wholly and keep it in house, and it makes it better for everyone."
Seagrove CEO Markos Scheer said Alaska already has the infrastructure and workforce to produce kelp products on a broad scale. He said the collaboration with Uncharted is an example of the kind of enterprise that could reinvigorate the struggling Alaska seafood industry.
Robbins told SeafoodSource that Unchartered Alaska was “extremely honored” to be nominated and win in the two categories. He said the collaboration involved significant trial and error.
“We met with Seagrove about four months back and decided that it would be fun to collaborate on trying to make vodka from kelp. When we received the kelp, the first run didn't go as planned, and we were unable to extract the fermentable sugars out of the sugar kelp. With the help of a friend who is a brewer, we were able to figure it out, and by the third cook, we were producing amazing vodka," Robbins said. “The vodka has more body than any vodka we have ever had, and it carries a lot of earthy tones to it. It truly is an incredible tasting vodka, and once people get over the fact that it is made from pure kelp and take a sip, they are immediately in love with it, as well.”
Robbins and his business partner Mark Sivertsen are both former Ketchikan Police Department officers, and they run Uncharted Alaska out of a building that served as the city’s fire station for 72 years. As Robbins told Alaska’s KPUtv, they named their business “Uncharted” because they hoped to seek new frontiers in distillation. Their novel kelp vodka not only represents this sense of exploration but their commitment to “hometown” products, according to the pair.
Robbins told SeafoodSource that the Uncharted Alaska team feels “a sense of pride that we are not only using a farmed local renewable resource but are a small part in keeping kelp crops alive and growing.”
