The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [79]
BOZEMAN
BREWING CO.
504 N. Broadway • Bozeman, MT 59715
(406) 585-9142 • bozemanbrewing.com • Established: 2001
SCENE & STORY
Ask anyone where to drink craft beer in Bozeman and the response is, inevitably, “Dude. The BoZone.” The nickname has, admittedly, a catchy ring to it. Nestled in a former pea canning factory in Bozeman’s northeast-of-center “warehouse district”—really just a line of buildings a few blocks off the main street—it’s packed every night with locals clutching pints or goblets poured off of one of the eight taps. Mondays bring bluegrass jams, and the clubhouse feel lends an added buzz. This seems like the place Bozeman’s most dedicated beer drinkers and ski bums come together when it snows outside, and with charming servers and walls that were literally painted with a sort of brewer’s grain-infused paint, it’s easy to see why. Bottle art was derived from a variety of historic Montana breweries, and overall the place has an unpretentious, friendly feel.
PHILOSOPHY
“When I started out here, it was on a shoestring—borrowing against my house and the whole nine yards,” recalls founder and head brewer Todd Scott, who brewed for the well-known (but ill-fated) Spanish Peaks brand, and scored much of its equipment after it closed. “And I was having a kid at the same time. I needed to come up with a beer that was going to start out selling well right out of the gate. I didn’t have time to build a reputation for brewing awesome IPAs, or something like that. I needed a beer that was easy drinking, that people could drink three, four, five of, that was popular at the time—like Fat Tire. The idea was to brew something that looked like a Fat Tire, but didn’t have that biscuity flavor. And that was our Amber.”
KEY BEER
The malt-forward Bozone Amber Select is Scott’s flagship today. “It’s just such an easy drinking beer,” says Scott. “There’s nothing ‘wow’ about it necessarily, other than, ‘I can have another one, and another one,’ and that was by design.” But don’t skip the roasty, draught-only Plum Street Porter (six malts; no fruit added) and seasonals or one-offs, like a recent sour Belgian tripel-style creation called Funky Virtue; at 11% ABV, it is aged with cherries in port wine barrels for three years and was first released after Montana’s state law changed in 2008, allowing the sale of beers of up to 14% ABV. It’s got all the sourness and power and oaky notes one expects of well-made American wild ale.
MONTANA
ALEWORKS
611 E. Main St. • Bozeman, MT 59715 • (406) 587-7700
montanaaleworks.com • Established: 2000
SCENE & STORY
Spread out spaciously beneath the rafters of an 8,000-square-foot former train depot in the heart of town, Aleworks is packed nightly with locals, and its pool tables, cement bar, and outdoor patio accommodate crowds of around 300 at any given time. Still, with its cavernous wood ceilings and long layout, it doesn’t feel like a madhouse even on a very busy night. The pepper-Parmesan fries have a well-deserved good reputation, and the fare centers around burgers and other steakhouse specialties like bison, Wild Alaskan salmon, and a superb eight-ounce tenderloin steak.
PHILOSOPHY
Upscale but not uptight. “We’re not fine dining by any means, but we do a lot of really nice food, and one of the big things for me is keeping it affordable for locals—for everybody,” says Executive Chef Roth Jordan. “We’re really preaching that we take as much pride in a $9 hamburger as we do in a $36 Kobe rib-eye steak.”
KEY BEER
There are thirty-two mostly local taps and eight rotating guest taps weighted toward regional brews from Belgrade, Missoula, and Big Sky. There’s always a cask-conditioned beer (recently, Madison River Oatmeal Stout) and several seasonals like Bozeman Brewing Company’s piney Harvestfest.
Butte
QUARRY
BREWING CO.
45 W. Galena St. • Butte, MT 59701
(406) 723-0245 • wedigbeer.com