Happy Thanksgiving from GG
Photo by the Josh Mauser via the Associated Press
Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Hope it’s full of delicious ales, lagers, friends and food!
- Matt Pritchard
Philipsburg Brewing Co. opens doors
Just a quick note, Philpsburg Brewing Co. is now open at 101 W. Broadway in, well, P-Berg. The brewery launched on Aug. 25 and is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. until 7 pm. Haven’t had a chance to make it there yet, but the beer should be good with Mike Elliot, who used to work at Kettlehouse Brewing Co., as the head brewer.
For more info, call (406) 859-2739, or check out this story from the Montana Standard.
- Matt Pritchard
Missoula Craft Beer Week begins today
The Missoula Downtown Association and the guys over at Growler Fills have come together to create the inaugural Missoula Craft Beer Week. There are events all week, including a screening of “The Love of Beer” a documentary that details women in the craft beer industry, which takes place Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Wilma.
If you didn’t have a reason to drink beer this week, better clear your calendar and help celebrate the brews of the Garden City.
- Matt Pritchard
Mirco Brew Review and Cool Dog Ball hits Helena on Friday
The 18th annual Micro Brew Review and Cool Dog Ball heads to the Helena Civic Center Ballroom on Friday, Jan. 27, as part of a fundraiser for the Race to the Sky sled dog race. Seventeen breweries will be on hand, including Blackfoot River Brewing, Lewis & Clark Brewery, Big Sky, Bayern, Bitter Root Brewing, Harvest Moon, Beaver Creek and more. Tickets are $18 in advance and can be purchased in Helena at Bert & Ernie’s, Topper’s Cellar, The Overland Express, Staggering Ox, The Man Stores and the Downtown Helena Office, or they are $20 at the door. Music will be courtesy of Destiny and Johnny Rawls and festivities get started at 6 p.m. and last until 11:30 p.m..
And just a note, the dog above has decided not to compete in the race.
- Matt Pritchard
Visit to Higherground Brewing Co.
Higherground Brewing Co.
Finally got the chance to head over to the Bitterroot Valley’s newest brewery, Higherground Brewing Co., over the weekend. The brewery, located in Hamilton at 518 N. First St., opened about a month ago and has a bit of different feel. It seems more like a cafe with a brewery inside, with checkerboard floors and wooden tables throughout. On the Saturday afternoon that I was in there, plenty of families stopped by not to drink but to have some wood-fired pizza that’s available in the brewery. The pizza is pretty good, by the way.
Lewis and Clark Brewing works to meet growing demand
Lewis and Clark Brewery’s Sean Tobin, left, and Gary Hicks help guide in one of two new tanks that arrived Tuesday from Portland, Ore. Photo by Eliza Wiley/Independent Record
We here in Montana are lucky. Not only are new breweries opening up all around us, such as Higherground Brewing, Bowser Brewing, Draught Works and 406 Brewing Co., but existing breweries are expanding just as rapidly. Lewis and Clark Brewing in Helena is one of those places. The brewery last year moved into a new and much larger location, and just this week installed some new tanks in one their first moves to meet growing demand for their beer. Hit the jump for the full story from the Helena Independent Record. (more…)
Summit Beverage’s Winter Beer Survival Guide
Western Montana’s Summit Beverage has an excellent guide to decadent winter beer on its website. The guide has more than 30 beers, from Deschutes’ Stoic to Bayner’s Face Plant to Boston Beer’s Infinium Ale, to help keep you warm on these cold nights. There’s also food pairing recommendation with each brew. Now I assume these are all beers that Summit distributes, so it may be a little biased, but I can’t complain with the choices. You can pick up most these at Worden’s, Pattee Creek Market, Good Food Store, Orange Street and the like.
- Matt Pritchard
Shmaltz Brewing Co. owner to sign book, host tasting in Missoula
Jeremy Cowan, owner of San Francisco-based Shmaltz Brewing Co., returns to western Montana for the second year in a row to talk about and sign copies of his book “Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How It Took 13 Years, Extreme Jewish Brewing, and Circus Sideshow Freaks to Make Shmaltz Brewing Company an International Success.” Cowan will be in Missoula on Wednesday, Nov. 23, at Fact & Fiction, 220 North Higgins Ave., from 5 to 7 p.m. where he will read and host a beer tasting. An after-party is to follow at the Rhino where several of Schmaltz’s beers will be on tap.
It’s not every day you have the chance to rub elbows with the owner of one of the best breweries in world, at least one that’s not based in Missoula.
Here’s a little about his book:
In his small business memoir, Jeremy Cowan divulges how he took on the craft beer world and ultimately created one of the most respected niche brands in the country. Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah tracks Cowan’s evolution from the earliest days of hand squeezing pomegranates and delivering 100 cases of hand-bottled HE’BREW Beer to winning awards 13 years later at top U.S. craft beer festivals. This meaningful, insightful and often hilarious memoir takes readers on a wild ride with the head of today’s most successful and decorated Jewish Celebration Freak Show Craft Brewery.
- Matt Pritchard
Glacier Brewing Co. releases Winter’s Nite Smoked Porter
Just received an email from David Ayers, head brewer at Glacier Brewing Co., about a new seasonal beer that’s on tap now in Polson. Winter’s Nite Smoked Porter is an imperial smoked porter that “weighs in around 8.9% (alcohol) by volume and has a deep, rich smokiness wrapped around a very well-balanced porter!” It’s only available in pints right now, but if you like it well enough you might be able to fill a growler next week.
I haven’t had a chance to try this. Has anyone out there taken it for a spin?
- 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