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Founder Sam Hoffmann, whose family comes from Germany, started out small, with a 500-square-foot facility, brewing tanks made of discarded dairy equipment, and a trio of German-style brews (alt, kölsch, and wheat), none of which are at all easy to make well. Now that the company has earned its local and regional fans and graduated to a much larger facility (on track to produce some 5,000 bbl in 2011), the approach is much the same, with some variations for seasonals and one-offs, and room for a new big seller, Bent Nail IPA. There are seven year-round beers, and nine to twelve seasonals, many of them lighter to medium in body, and generally mellow in hop character, all made with Montana-grown barley.

PHILOSOPHY

German precision meets eco-minded. Head Brewer and Director of Operations Justin Moore explains that while the range of beers is somewhat traditional, there’s something for everybody. “We do have the IPAs and double IPAs that we get to have fun with as well,” he assures. What’s more, the methods of making Red Lodge’s brews are anything but traditional. “We have Montana’s largest solar array right now,” explains Moore. Among other innovations: a “free air” system which utilizes sensors and the outside air to keep beer fresh inside up to nine months a year, and an in-house bio-diesel operation (to run company vehicles and delivery trucks). The brewers also crowd-source some of their own ingredients: locals are invited to bring in their own homegrown hops for use in a special fall brew called Harvest, which those same growers later enjoy at a discount.

KEY BEER

Bent Nail IPA, a juicy, piney brew at around 6.3% ABV is the biggest seller these days, but the original altbier, called Glacier Ale and pleasantly quaffable at 5% ABV, gives a look at what Red Lodge was built on. “I think it most represents us, our best year-round beer that is true to style,” says Moore. Also try the 5% ABV Kölsch, known as Reserve Ale, cleanly made and made for sessions in the grassy beer garden out back.

Missoula

MADISON RIVER

BREWING CO.

20900 Frontage Rd., Bldg. B • Belgrade, MT 59714

(406) 388-0322 • madisonriverbrewing.com • Established: 2005

SCENE & STORY

Located a stone’s throw from Belgrade’s Gallatin Field Airport, which serves the Bozeman area, this unassuming taproom is the ideal place to unwind with locals before a flight (or after a bumpy arrival). While the warehouse exterior isn’t much to look at, the interior is inviting and busy. Friendly drinkers chat quietly at tall tables and a small wooden bar beneath the tall ceilings. There’s classic rock on the stereo, and a wall of ultracolorful hand-blown glass tankards belonging to the Mug Club members. It’s for locals, but they’re an amiable lot. “We get all kinds of people here,” says owner Howard McMurray, the tall, gentle fellow behind the brew kettles. “We get fly fisherman, we get college students. A few days ago a little old lady came here from Butte for our Double IPA (which is a 9% ABV beer) and I actually questioned her—are you sure you want this one? And she said she’d driven an hour and a half just to drink it. It’s great to see that.”

PHILOSOPHY

There are six standard taps and two seasonals at any given time, and McMurray employs a workmanlike approach, researching styles and the ingredients generally used in each, to just “go with it.” It’s refreshing to hear a brewer speak of his own beers in this unpretentious way; too many seem eager to proclaim near-magical powers. But McMurray’s straightforward approach doesn’t mean MRBC’s beers are boring. They’re sturdy and solidly made.

KEY BEER

“The Hopper Pale Ale is a beer I’ve been making for ten years in the different places I’ve worked,” says McMurray, adding that it’s changed subtly over time as he’s moved around in brewing positions. The most recent version, at 5.6% ABV, has a more ample body than many pale ales, the tang of juicy Centennial, Cascade, and Horizon hops, and a floral aroma. Copper