Grizzly Growler

You know craft beer has permeated your life when you see Stone Imperial Stout flavored gelato at your local cafe. That craft beer should become a part of your dessert vocabulary is not surprising given how people have taken to things like beer floats and pairing chocolate with stout beers and barrel-aged beers. What surprises me is how few people understand how approachable craft beer is, whether served in a bottle, a can, a glass or whipped into your favorite dessert.

A quick trip around Missoula’s taprooms will produce a myriad of beer flavors and styles that only a beer geek could understand. And yet so little is done to educate people on how craft beer can enhance their lives. A quick taste of that Stone Imperial Stout gelato would reveal that it’s a tremendously rich dessert with all kinds of depth to it, and yet it was the fullest container in the display case. That tells me that people are unwilling to try it or that it’s so popular they’ve had to pull out a fresh tray. I’m going to go with the first possibility.

My point here is that craft beer can be consumed in fine glassware, made into dessert or used to prepare a whole chicken on the grill. And yet the majority of the population has no idea that such a varied product exists for more than just plain old drinking.

I’m grateful for all the beer geeks out there who keep shops like Worden’s stocking great beer and places like Caffe Dolce serving up stout-flavored gelato. But it’s time for breweries to start reaching out beyond the traditional craft beer consumers, i.e., beer geeks. Craft beer should be a household word, and there should be a growler in a place of honor in every refrigerator.

Prost,

GG