Missoula breweries, Tavern Association team up to distribute special brews

Missoula breweries and the Missoula County Tavern Owner’s Association are joining forces to brew up and distribute specialty beers twice a year with proceeds going toward Missoula charities.

The Garden City Community Brew project features all four of Missoula’s breweries, Bayern, Kettlehouse, Big Sky and Draught Works, and the unique brews will be available in about 20 bars. The first installment is a Black IPA brewed at Draught Works. Brewing will begin on Dec. 5 and the beer is scheduled to be available Friday, Dec. 21.

The Tavern Owner’s Association members and Missoula breweries have already donated about $4,000 that will go to help the Missoula Food Bank. It’s nice to see our breweries and bars coming together for a worthy cause.

You can grab a pint at:

• Al’s & Vic’s
• Bodega
• Brooks & Browns
• The Depot
• Double Front Lounge
• Eagles
• Elbow Room
• Iron Horse Brew Pub
• James Bar
• Joker’s Wild
• The Keep
• Montana Club (both locations)
• Mo Club
• Paradise Falls
• Red’s Bar
• The Rhino
• Rowdy’s Cabin
• Sean Kelly’s
• Stone of Accord

- Matt Pritchard

Happy Fourth of July! Sit back, relax and keep it local

Linda Thompson/Missoulian

It seems like every year it takes forever for summer to hit these parts of the Northwest, but when it’s here it’s brilliant. The sun, the water and the mountains make it so. Plus, we’re also pretty lucky to have some world-class craft beer in our midst.

So when celebrating our Independence Day this year, remember to keep the beer local. Have a Summer Honey on the dock, a Double Haul on the river, a St. Wilber Weizen in the backyard, a growler of Clothing Optional Pale Ale on the deck or myriad other craft beer options made in Montana and the U.S.

Happy Fourth of July. Be safe and have some fun.

- Matt Pritchard

Bayern Brewing continues to help Mother Earth

I’m not sure why I haven’t posted about the Bayern Ecopack before, but a recent trip to the brewery managed to jog my memory about a pretty great program. Bayern Brewing has long been doing its best to help the environment and they’re still one of the only places in Missoula where you can recycle glass.

It used to be that you could drop off your clean Bayern bottles and they would recycle them for you. For the past several months now, they have a new program that involves the Bayern Ecopack. The Ecopack holds 24 qualifying bottles, with these qualifiers:

• Standard brown 12-oz. bottles
• Good condition: no cracks or chips, no cigarette butts or other garbage inside
• Pry-off: no twist off threads
• No embossing on the bottle (brand names, etc.)

For a $3 deposit, you can pick up an Ecopack and fill it with empty beer bottles that meet those standards. Then, are here’s the best part, you get a 5 cent refund for each bottle and a 10 cent refund for each full Ecopack you bring in. Bayern will give you another empty one or you can choose to get your deposit back if you want.

As you probably have seen, you can pick up an empty Ecopack at Bayern, Orange Street Food Farm, Good Food Store, Pattee Creek Market and Worden’s Market. But you can only drop off a full container at the brewery.

Pretty sweet deal if you like beer and the environment.

- Matt Pritchard

Bayern Brewing to celebrate Snowbowl’s 50th anniversary with new beer

With Montana Snowbowl turning 50 this year, Bayern Brewing has decided to celebrate the anniversary with a new beer called Groomer. On Tuesday, they kicked off the brewing process, and a friend who was there said the winter Marzen should be ready just before Thanksgiving, with a release party slated for Nov. 17. Can’t wait for the season to start, rumor has it that it’s going to be powdery.

Update: Click here for more info from the Missoulian.

- Matt Pritchard

In the news: Montana No. 2 biggest beer drinker

Bloomberg Businessweek has Montana as the second biggest beer-drinking state in the country.

According to the article, Montana’s beer sales come in at 30.5 gallons per person, just shy of New Hampshire’s 32.7 gallons per person. The national average was 20.7. Rounding out the Top 5 is North Dakota, South Dakota and Nevada. It also says Montana collects just more than $4 million in state excise taxes on malt beverages.

Montana has 30 brewers, according to the Beer Institute—that’s far fewer than states such as California, which has 318, but it’s plenty per capita for a place with only 989,415 people. Montana brewers manufacture more than 75,000 barrels of beer each year, according to the Montana Brewers Assocation. Makers include Big Sky, Kettle House, Bayern and Bitter Root.

I love it when these articles mention Missoula-area breweries as examples for the state. Be proud you’re blessed with such great beer.

- Matt Pritchard

St. Patrick’s Day fun: Quarry Brewing, Missoula Firkin Tour

Illustration by Detroit Free Press

I’ve been to the St. Patrick’s Day party in Butte only once, and I think that’s about all I can handle. I made it until about 5 p.m. and then the fun got the best of me.

Anyway, if you can pace yourself better than me, and you’re heading to Butte on Thursday, stop by Quarry Brewing. They’ll be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will have specials on Emerald Isle (green beer) and Sandstone Stout. It’s also kilt day, anyone who wears a kilt into the brewery gets $1 off each pint.

In Missoula, Bayern Brewing is hosting a Firkin Tour, with firkins filled with Killarney Red Lager. Here’s the schedule:

- Matt Pritchard

‘Bulls, Blues and Brews’

The UM law school’s Environmental Law Group is hosting its annual “Bulls, Blues and Brews” benefit and silent auction this Friday at the Missoula Children’s Theatre Center at 200 N. Adams St. in Missoula and will be featuring kegs from Bayern Brewing.

“Bulls, Blues and Brews” is held each year to promote putting Montana’s laws to work to protect the state’s environment. Admission is $10. Those who attend must be 21 or older, and IDs will be checked at the door. Live music will be provided by the Discount Quartet, with special guests Chuck Florence and David Horgan.

This year’s event will raise funds to assist the Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, a newly formed nonprofit law firm based in Bozeman that is dedicated to preserving wild lands, wildlife and wild waters. Proceeds also will be donated to the Environmental Legal Education Network, an organization that works to enhance connections between law practitioners and law students. (more…)

Get a sneak peek at Bayern’s 2010 Oktoberfest tonight!

The mighty brewers from Bayern Brewing will be releasing a little Oktoberfest, the king of fall beers, early this year. Get a sneak peek tonight at 5:30 in the Beer Garden.

Prost,

GG

Bayern Brewing's Oktoberfest label

Craft beer weekend – All the tap rooms have something to offer

Big Sky Brewing Company is near my house. It makes sense to pop over there with neighbors or friends for a few samples and some good conversation. We usually fill the growler and head home for dinner. The Kettlehouse Brewing Company’s Northside location is on the way home from work. On Fridays I’ll usually take my daughter there for some root beer and a chance to connect with her friends who form a riotous mob in the back corner of the pub where we sequester them. The South Hole, as it the Kettlehouse Southside location is informally called, is a block away from work. It makes for a great after-work beer any day of the week. But what about Bayern Brewing, arguably one of the nicest tap rooms in the city?

After a soaking softball game in which the Missoulian Mauve Sox gave a bit of a drubbing to the Bondsman, a few of the players wanted to go somewhere warm and dry rather than sit around in drizzly weather for the obligatory after-game beer. The suggestion of Bayern excited a few people, but I was sure they were closed, after all, it was 7:30 p.m. on a Sunday evening.

Turns out they were open, and the house was packed. Six of us settled in with the one last pint we could get before the 8 p.m. Montana Beer Law curtain call. But most of us ordered one of the brewery’s famously malty and high-alcohol warmers, which did the trick against the chills permeating inward from the soaked rain coats, t-shirts and performance gear. It was great to relive the game in such a nice environment with a tasty beer in hand.

In writing about beer everyday, it’s sometimes difficult to see the wider picture of all we have here in Missoula and the Bitterroot and Flathead valleys. I’m grateful to friends Nick and Chelsi for suggesting Bayern, and I’m glad to be reminded that the tap room has Sunday hours, which makes it a prime player for after hikes, games and just about any Sunday activity Missoulians can think of.

Do you like hanging out at all of Missoula’s tap rooms? If not, where do you go and why? Proximity, beer styles, servers? Would love to get your feedback Missoula.

Prost,

GG

Breaking Beer News – Montana Breweries Clean Up at the 2010 Mountain Brewers’ Beer Festival

Here are the official results of the 2010 Mountain Brewers’ Beer Festival. I apologize if I missed anyone, the list was kind of difficult to read. Looks as if Bitterroot Brewing and Montana Brewing Company really cleaned house this year. Nice job everyone.

Bayern Brewing – Doppelbock, bronze

Big Sky Brewing Company – Bobo’s Robust Porter, Gold.

406 Series Saison

Bitterroot Brewing – Huckleberry Honey Ale, Silver

Collabeeration Porter, Silver

Munich Helles Bock, Gold

Nut Brown Ale, Gold

Kettlehouse Brewing Company – Cold Smoke, Silver

Madison River Brewing Company – Frostbite Rye Barleywine, Bronze

Copper John Scotch Ale, Gold

Montana Brewing Company – Custer’s Last Stout, Bronze

Whitetail Wheat, Gold

Stillwater Rye, Gold

Two Moon Saison, Gold

Red Lodge Ales – Red Lodge Hefeweizen, Gold

Glacier Ale, Silver

Congratulations to all of our Montana breweries and their phenomenal beers. You’ve proved once again that Montana is home to some of the best brewers in the Rocky Mountain West.

Prost,

GG