Late winter and Belgian beer were made for each other
Blacksmith Brewing Company
Those gray and imposing Missoula winter days that don’t allow for much outdoor recreation are bone chilling and depressing. Far better to sit around and catch up on your movie list or maybe build a model, if that sort of thing still is done. Toward the later part of winter, the sun seems to regain some energy, and once-in-a-great-while, you’ll wake up to find the sun shining, lighting up the hills like the spilled contents of Fort Knox. Yesterday was such a day. In my haste, I ventured onto the front porch at 8:30 a.m. to find frigid temperatures despite the false messages beaming from the big orb in the sky. No matter, I was going to make the most of the day.
Scraping a lethargic family off the couch on a Sunday afternoon always is a chore, but incentives like root beer at Blacksmith Brewing Company pushed video games to the back of sugar-deprived minds. And away we went for a long, casual stroll through the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Area under washed blue skies and the growing shadows of snow-tinged Bitterroot Mountains. Aside from a small group of ducks and geese lingering in tepid sun rays, life seemed to be still embraced in the grip of a northern winter.
As the afternoon went on our thirst grew like the shadows, and we thought something to chase the chill away would be perfect after our walk.
Blacksmith Brewing Company in Stevensville has all the ambiance of nice coffee shop or a warm pub, so we filtered in to thaw out a bit and relax under a big screen playing the remains of an Olympic ice hockey match between Czech Republic and Russia.
The bar was full of recognizable faces, including Paul Roys, head brewer from Kettlehouse Brewing Company as well as Colleen Bitters, another brewer from Kettlehouse. Both of whom recommended a Belgian brown.
Belgian beers are wonderful for cold days, because they often have that alcohol heat that seems to warm you from head to toe. The sweetness of the malt is warming in some ways as well. This particular Belgian brown was a really nice dubbel-style beer with a lot of alcohol presence and really good yeast profile with candied fruits and some banana and clove.
Blacksmith Brewing Company is worth checking out for it’s regular lineup of beers, but the Belgian Brown is just such a great beer for this time of year.
Prost,
GG
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