We’ve made it to 2026 and it’s been 21 years since this all started. Making it through the last five years has been both a challenge and a joy. There have been so many times we wondered if we would make it to the next year but our customers have supported and encouraged us to keep going. The most frustrating thing has been having to raise our prices after fighting to keep from doing so. Thankfully our customers are the ones who pointed out they would rather pay a little more than lose us and no longer be able to find their favorites.
This has also been one of the coldest winters on record for the Fairbanks area. Smoking mustard seeds, paprika and sea salt at -40F has its disadvantages when the metal is so cold it burns. On the plus side when it’s that cold the smoke stays in the smoker longer and it takes less days to smoke the items. We do have to “trick” the smoker though with an automotive heat gun down the vent pipe in order to make the thermostat think it’s warm enough to kick on the heat coils and fan. We also had a ton of snow this year so the parking lot may be quite a mess for a while this spring. Our space at the Farmer’s Market may also take a while to emerge from the lake/parking lot.
It’s the end of 2017 and this has been an exciting year with new products available. While our Alaska Frost line of wild Alaskan berry sugars has been available for a couple years locally we have been able to finally get them available on our website along with a couple new Denali Sp’ice items. We have been updating our gift sets and found new ways to ship for less using the regional rate boxes and save our customers a couple extra bucks. The Moosetard Factory is starting to feel a bit small but it will be a few more years before any expansions take place. We had a great year at the Farmer’s Market meeting lots of new people from all over the world. Food is truly a common language!
2011 has brought many changes and new challenges. In July we moved out of Silver Gulch Brewery and into our own Moosetard Factory in Fairbanks. We renovated a small warehouse and have greatly increased the amount of mustard and other products we can produce. We have also added to the number of private label products we make for other companies.
The biggest news however, is the opening of our own store at 945 Aurora Drive where people will be able to obtain our mustards, marinades, spices and fresh pasta year round. The store will be open after October 4, 2011 with limited hours to start with. Please see our facebook page for updates with hours and featured products Products page.
A big thanks to Silver Gulch, the Northern-most brewery in Alaska, for allowing us to develop several beer mustards with their awesome beers. Not only did they encourage us in our endeavors they were willing to part with a little space at the brewery. In 2006 we moved into a kitchen in the old Fox Roadhouse and were able to step up production and put our mustards in stores all over Alaska and a few spots around the country. Although we have outgrown our kitchen there and moved into our own place the Silver Gulch restaurant still features some of our mustards on the menu plus a retail store which sells them as well.
We have been getting great feedback from our customers all over the country and love to hear what they think about our products. If you have any suggestion on ways we can improve our product or service we want to know. We have also been providing “complimentary culinary consultations”, so if you want to tell us what you’ve got too much of in the freezer and want a little help putting a meal with mustard together let us know.
Please check back here for more news about our products.