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Montana

THE BEST WAY TO DISCOVER MONTANA’S BURGEONING BEER CULTURE is to follow all or part of the Montana Beer Trail, dotted with twenty-three (and counting) breweries along some seven-hundred miles of the state’s most scenic rural and wilderness areas including Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, the Bitterroot Valley historic mining rail, and ghost towns, not to mention trout-filled rivers like the Yellowstone and Gallatin.

When you do go, one of the first things to know about Montana, an idyllic state with pure water, some of the finest barley in the nation, and a per-capita brewery density among the highest in the United States, is that for some reason, it has maddeningly confusing alcohol laws that conspire against craft brewers. Brewpubs are technically disallowed, as is production of more than 10,000 barrels (a beer barrel contains thirty-one gallons), unless they close their taprooms. At the same time, microbreweries may not sell more than forty-eight ounces of beer per consumer per day, and then only until 8 p.m. If they want to serve food and house beer from the same location, they must establish separate businesses at the same physical location that then must buy beer from said brewery. And so on, ever crazier with each new rule and exception.

The main reason for all this confusion is that the tavern lobby opposes craft brewers on the grounds that they believe craft brewery taprooms siphon off customers from their own establishments (despite the glaring differences in appeal). It all spells frustration for the small breweries, who are quite obviously offering something different. Drinking good, local, honestly made beer is an inalienable right in this country, as is the right to run or patronize a dive bar. Both can and should exist. Ultimately, craft beer is bringing better beer, jobs, and tourism to Montana and other states that are hurting financially, and it’s fun to drink, explore, and manufacture. Time to wake up and smell the hops.

The good news is that Montana’s craft beer scene is vibrant indeed. There are, at the time of this writing, twenty-three breweries and several more on the way. “It’s growing. In Montana there’s really this mentality to buy local,” says Chuck Sowell, an assistant at Carter’s Brewery in Billings. “So many of the small towns have their own breweries, and you don’t have to be a beer connoisseur to come in and drink the local beer.”

Change has come slowly, but come it has, and now you can pull into a formerly forlorn city like Billings and find no less than four craft breweries making interesting styles, barrel-aging beers, and educating consumers on life after the fizzy yellow stuff. “We’re breeding a culture here where we have more home brewers, and more people that really appreciate the good craft beer, and so more breweries are now branching out beyond the basic wheat, stout, IPA, and ambers,” says Sowell. “More breweries are doing barley wines and Belgian styles, and so there’s an appreciation for that, too. It’s really cool that there’s a beer culture in Montana now.”

Tony Herbert, executive of the Montana Brewer’s Guild, says it’s all part of the state’s character. “Montanans have long had a history of liking their beer, so it’s fertile ground, first of all. And a lot of the beers are coming right out of these Montana fields,” he says, referring to the state’s own amber waves of grain. “The water is fantastic, too. What I’ve seen is that people really appreciate the newness of these breweries and the beers that they make. We’ve been experiencing the same kind of growth that craft beer has recently. We [the Montana brewing industry] grew eight percent in 2009, and I think people have just changed. There’s been a palate shift.” Time to shift into gear and get to Montana yourself.

ITINERARIES

1 – DAY

Fly into Billings and hit all four downtown breweries, all within walking distance, experiencing the gamut of Montana beer culture.

3 – DAY

Combine Billings with