Grizzly Growler

I’ve wanted to write more about Colleen Bitter since I met her many moons ago. However, time and job promotions got the better of me, and I’ve only barely been able to maintain the friendship through short stops at the Kettlehouse Brewing Co.’s north side location, where she seems to be working her brewster magic most of the time now days.

It’s not that I’m impressed with Colleen’s physical ability to brew beer, I’m enlightened enough to know there is nothing out there women cannot do that men can. I’m impressed with her dedication to the art and craft of brewing beer. After all, spending your days in knee-high boots and stirring hot cauldrons of mash just doesn’t seem that rewarding until you consider the beauty and the artistry of the finished product.

And Colleen certainly puts her stamp on what she does at the brewery. I’ve had the chance to enjoy a beer tasting session with Colleen, and I loved hearing everything from her perspective. My brewing friends of the male persuasion tend to be all over the board when it comes to identifying beer structure, flavor and taste profiles. Not so much Colleen. She’s got it nailed down, and her appreciation of the nectar of the gods goes beyond the simple pleasure of alcohol to the more refined pleasure of the whole process of beer. After all, beer is not like wine. You can’t just throw some juice in a steel container with some yeast in it and wait to see what flavors unfold. Oh, I don’t mean to demean wine, I know it’s a more complicated process than that, but beer is the brewer’s and the brewster’s art. It’s as much of their passion and devotion that go into each batch of Cold Smoke, Double Haul and Eddy Out as barley, hops and water.

Take a moment and get to know Montana’s only female brewer in this wonderful article by Tristan Scott.

Prost,

GG