So I’ve been asked quite a few times about a new brewery or beer produced in Missoula. In fact, last night at Big Sky Brewing Company, a number of patrons of the taproom were chatting happily about some newfangled beer about to make its appearance in our town.

Here’s what I know. Earlier this week I was approached by the members of a certain social networking club here in Missoula. They wanted to run a little contest featuring two kinds of Search Engine Optimization. Basically, one person is using good practices like providing content on a website that is related to beer. This is known as “White hat SEO.” The second person is using techniques that are a bit underhanded to get more page views. Things like meta tags that don’t have anything to do with the site but that are likely to garner page views. This is known as “Black hat SEO.”

The bottom line here is that there is no new Missoula brewery or beer that I’m aware of. The names of the beers in this case are Social Media Stout, Facebook Doppelbock and White Hat Pale Ale. I’m not going to link to the site, because it’s exactly what they want to run their contest. And I’m not against the contest on general principle. I’m simply disappointed they chose to mislead people with a fake web site that is causing a lot of rumors around town. Frankly I think that’s irresponsible.

Someone asked if I’m jealous of their page views or if their project hurts me. The answer is no. My blog has been around for three years and has well over 900 entries with all kinds of information about Montana breweries. It takes years to build up a following, and they’ll likely either let the site mold after they’re done or take it down. Either way, the Grizzly Growler is the place to go for information about Missoula beer.

Prost,

GG

For those of you who don’t know the Art of Manliness, it’s one of my favorite websites. Since I discovered it last year, I’ve wanted to write something manly for AoM as it’s called. The dedication to the lost arts of manliness is admirable in this day and age.

Well, the opportunity arose, and the Growler is officially part of the AoM archives.

Here’s a snippet.

It could be said that beer was the downfall of the hunter gatherer, the man of the woods, mountains and streams, the man with spear in hand whose need for meat was matched only by his need for shelter. After all, it was likely the propagation and harvest of the materials required to make beer that caused the famous bipedal wanderer to settle in one location. Or, you can think of it like this: Beer changed the world.

Read the entire Beginner’s Guide to Craft Beer here. And spend some time checking out AoM for all kinds of tips on everything masculine.

Betty’s For Beer, this does not necessarily exclude you. AoM is a great place to find gift ideas and a good, basic understanding of the things that influence men.

Prost,

GG

Saw this on Big Sky Brewing Company’s Facebook Page. View the whole CNBC slideshow titled America’s Biggest Beer-Drinking States here. I find it interesting that the top 7 included most of the central and northern United States. Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota, in fact.

Montana is the number one beer-drinking state

Prost,

GG

Since the elusive Montana spring seems to be in full swing in early March, it’s a good time to start thinking about your next craft beer road trip. Much like exploring the micro regions of France’s wine country or other such adventures, much of America can be broken down into large craft brew regions and even small micro regions, complete with different food varieties, brewing techniques and interesting locals to intermingle with.

PubQuest came to my attention via Facebook the other day, and I thought I’d share it with you, since navigating the country’s many microbreweries can be a tough yet ultimately rewarding job.

Check out PubQuest’s detailed craft brewery map. I’m a map fanatic, so I can study this thing for hours on end. In fact, after viewing it, I really want to make a swing through far eastern Washington, where I noticed a lot of tiny breweries that I never knew existed.

And if you’re interested in Montana craft breweries, check out my beer map dedicated to those breweries. I’ll be adding pictures and video tours to the map soon, so check back often for those details and more.

So who is up for a eastern Washington craft brewery road trip?

Prost,

GG

View Larger Map of the Montana craft breweries.

Watching the breweries delve into the social networking world has been fun for me. I’ve always advocated beer as a social primer, as it were. It’s more than a conversation, it’s the impetus, the topic and warm afterglow. Therefore it only makes sense that the marriage of breweries and the social networks should find such a blessed union.

With that, here is a list of Montana breweries that I know have a presence on Facebook. I’m sure there are more, and if you know of one, please send it my way. If you are a brewer and you are on FB, become a fan of the GrizzlyGrowler.com fan page, and I’ll do the same for your page. Ain’t social networking grand?

Montana Breweries on Facebook:

Big Sky Brewing Co.

Montana Brewing Co.

Glacier Brewing Co.

Kettlehouse Brewing Co.

Highlander Beer

Prost,

GG