Grizzly Growler

So far we’ve had a barley wine breakfast and some session beer for the long, holiday football game. Now it’s time for the main course, so to speak.  Every Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I see people searching frantically through the wine section at their grocery store for some wine that will match some part of their [...]

Here’s an update from Red Lodge Ales, in case you find yourself in that neck of the woods over the holiday weekend. Happy holidays dear friends! I would like to give you an update on Sam’s Tap Room & Kitchen and Red Lodge Ales before your holiday schedules become too full. 1. Holiday Specials Monday: [...]

So we’ve covered our breakfast beer, which should conceivably take you through the morning hours until the first football games start. Drinking heavy beers all morning could leave you full and bloated all afternoon, so you’ll need something much lighter to get you through the football games. Or, as I said yesterday, just sip on [...]

As far as I can tell, pumpkin ale goes back to the time of George Washington and perhaps farther. Particularly brewed around harvest, these so-called spiced ales reflected the need to use up as many resources as possible so that nothing was wasted. You see, pumpkin doesn’t actually add that much flavor to a beer. [...]

While the consensus isn’t consistent, I think the fact that most people have an individual favorite beer for the 4th of July is awesome. For me, it’ll likely be Full Sail Session stubbies. For another guy, it’ll likely be PBR in cans. Hey, whatever floats the boat and keeps it floating while you spend time [...]

I’m curious what you like to drink on the 4th of July. It seems like a pretty epic beer holiday. However, I don’t always hear back from you. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m giving away a collectible growler full of beer to one lucky member of the craft beer group on Speakupmissoula.com. [...]

Yes, it’s Cinco de Mayo again. For many years, I/we’ve celebrated by going to a gloriously overcrowded Mexican food restaurant and ordering TexMex food and buckets of Coronas with lime wedges. I did none of the above this year. Perhaps it’s because I live in Montana, a land curiously devoid of anyone of Hispanic ethnicity. [...]

All of my knowledge of whiskey comes from the years I spent tending bar while in journalism school. My first St. Patty’s day at the pub was a dark affair. We only had Jameson’s, and we seriously offended a bunch of beer-drunk Irish Protestants. That was the first and last time I was pulled over [...]

With the number of Irish folks in these parts, it’s a wonder that the only local brewery that really advertises an Irish beer of any kind is Bayern Brewing. Their Killarney Red Lager is a German ode to that most Irish of saints. And while it can be a fine beer to quaff on St. [...]

I don’t like making lists. Someone inevitably gets left off and then pissed off at me. But, I know some of you really like lists, so I’m going to round out the top local beers of 2008. I may or may not get around to doing my favorite beers anywhere list, so enjoy this one. [...]