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SCENE & STORY

Chuck Schnabel and his wife, Lyza, opened a little brewery (seven-barrel system) in Butte against what some would call considerable odds. Butte was once home to five breweries at the turn of the last century (when “the Richest Hill on Earth” had made it a fantastically rich mining metropolis), but none survived past the mid-1960s, and the rough-around-the-edges town wasn’t exactly the place to try anything too newfangled.

But today the Schnabel’s airy taproom, built in a converted old garage, is a kind of testament to the steady community-building power of craft beer. It’s comfortable and well lit, with brick walls and high ceilings, chalkboards and games for kids, and a wide wooden bar where Chuck or Lyza can usually be found tending bar. It’s a good stopping point between Bozeman and Helena.

The only quibble is that Quarry’s beers, which are named for types of local rock (basalt, granite, mica, calcite, etc.), were not (when sampled in late 2010) on par with other Montana brews in terms of quality. But they were not entirely lacking merit, and Schnabel is beginning to experiment with new recipes to meet the rising expectations and changing palates of beer lovers. (Note: In early 2011, Schnabel announced that Quarry was moving to a new location two blocks away, at 124 W. Broadway, in the old Grand Hotel, built in 1915 but gutted by fire in 1992 and vacant ever since. Plans for a ten-room bed and breakfast would make it Butte’s first brewery B&B in the modern era.)

PHILOSOPHY

Schnabel is a pragmatist, even a bit curmudgeonly, and his beers reflect a utilitarian approach. “I try to keep it simple,” he says. “There’s no sense in overcomplicating recipes, overcomplicating brews. I don’t even send beers to competitions. I don’t believe in them. My biggest thing is this: If the beer sells, it’s good. We have 157 members of our mug club and 260 on the waiting list. We gotta be doing something right.” True enough. He’s already risked a lot to get a craft brewery going in a macrobrew tavern town, and three years into it business is booming.

KEY BEER

Schnabel is particularly proud of his Gneiss IPA, made with Chinook and Cascade hops, and Galena Gold, a golden ale.

A WILD RIDER’S PARTY TOWN

Robert Craig Knievel, aka Evel Knievel, was born and raised in Butte (Oct. 17, 1938 to Nov. 30, 2007). Evel Knievel Days, a festival in his honor, occurs the last weekend in July, drawing some 50,000 every year. As the story goes, eight-year-old Knievel attended a daredevil show in town, and the rest is history—thirty-five broken bones later. On St. Patrick’s Day, Butte, which has no open container law, becomes a massive open-air street party, and Quarry sells a great deal of beer every single second of it.

Helena

BLACKFOOT

RIVER BREWING

54 S. Park Ave. • Helena, MT 59601 • (406) 449-3005

blackfootriverbrewing.com • Established: 1998

SCENE & STORY

Head Brewer Brian Smith and Brewer Brad Simshaw met while working at the state capitol (a big employer in town). “It’s the exact same story many brewery founders will tell you,” says Simshaw. “One day I walked home and got a catalog in the mail. It was James Page’s Homebrew Supply out of Minneapolis. I walked back to the office and told Brian, ‘I’m gonna order this!’ And from there, we started brewing once a week for a couple of years, and just progressed from there.” Today, their brewery in the heart of town is a popular, after-work spot, and the high tables for six encourage mingling. It cheerfully buzzes with servers, patrons, and conversation, and it’s walking distance to Last Chance Gulch, the historic heart of downtown Helena.

PHILOSOPHY

Straight to style. It may not be terrifically adventurous, but it’s effective, and the beers are uniformly tasty, fresh, and sessionable. They have a fourteen-barrel brew house, never pasteurize or package, rarely filter, and serve only on draught.

KEY BEER

Don’t be confused: Blackfoot River’s copper-hued Single Malt isn’t a whiskey. It’s an American IPA, and while it’s heavily hopped with Pacific