Alaska Brands Group revives bottling company; firm eyes markets in Lower 48, Asia for local water.

• Author: Jaeger, Stephanie
• Position: MANUFACTURING

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Alaska Brands Group is a company of Anchorage entrepreneurs who are dedicated to the development and marketing of unique Alaska food and beverage products. Greg Galik, the company's founder and chairman, established the group 10 years ago in accordance with his belief that Alaska's economy could become more self-sufficient and experience fewer fluctuations if local foods and beverages could be marketed to consumers in the Lower 48 and abroad. Alaska needs to diversify its own companies and promote their products around the world, he said. He and his wife have already revived and improved Matanuska Maid's bottled water factory and transformed it into Alaska Brands Group's first industry.

"Clearly Arctic" bottled water was first produced and sold by Matanuska Maid in 1998 and became well known before its closure in 2007. Having been involved in its marketing and development since its beginning in the late 1990s, Galik and his wife, Lynn Allingham, decided to buy and bring back Matanuska Maid's bottled water capability in 2008. Unfortunately because of the recession, they were unable to fully finance this project until 2010. It also took most of these two years to engineer and install the equipment they needed and to satisfy all the requirements for the permits the Municipality of Anchorage demands before such a facility can operate. The first bottles of Alaska Brands Group's new "Clearly Arctic" bottled water finally rolled off the line on Feb. 1 of this year.

Clearly Arctic can be bought at Alaska Tesoro stores and in some coffee shops, hotels and small restaurants, Galik said. The factory also produces the same water under the label of "Clearly Alaskan" for export overseas. Currently, "Clearly Alaskan" is sold in Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, Bangkok and Singapore. The same water is also sold in special glass bottles that incorporate a small LED light to give the product an "aurora blue glow," and it's called "Crystal Glacier Water." Developed by Larry Murray and Gil Serrano, this special bottle is available in premium hotels and restaurants in Alaska and the Lower 48, and has been shipped to an international hotel chain and a major resort hotel in Las Vegas. ABG planned to begin exporting "Crystal Glacier Water" to Asia in September. "Crystal Glacier Water", with its blue LED light, is a special keepsake that can be collected to commemorate special occasions such as proposals, weddings and important government or...