Good weather, a good crowd and good beer combined to create quite a success for the inaugural Bigfork Brewfest on Saturday. Perhaps a bit too successful. Brewers were left scrambling for more kegs when a larger than expected crowd fully drained some offerings in the first hour. Yet, the hundreds in attendance didn’t seem to miss a beat, enjoying the return of Black Star Lager from Great Northern, a couple of Madison River’s and Tamarack‘s favorites, Bitterroot Brewing’s seasonal CTZ single hop ale and a variety of others.
Temperatures in the 40s meant a pair of gloves and a nice fire were all that was necessary to enjoy beer outside in Montana at the end of February. I suspect the timing, as well as being the inaugural event, made it impossible to predict the size of the crowd. One volunteer said pre-sales of tickets early in the week were in the single digits. That doesn’t surprise me. This time of year the weather can be as great as it was, or snowing like mad. It is always going to be a wait-and-see kind of event for attendees when it is held outdoors. The annual brewfest in Missoula in May has wild swings of crowd size depending on the weather. As many as 6,000 were reported by one news story at last year’s Garden City Brewfest when the sun shone and temperatures hit 80 degrees. I’ve been there other years with a few hundred braving cold winds. The turnout in Bigfork was impressive and Sick Pony provided a great, energetic musical background.
But what about the beer, you ask? Brews were available from Bitterroot, Tamarack, Madison River, Great Northern, Blackfoot River, and Big Sky – though I’m curious why Big Sky was pouring Moose Drool and Trout Slayer from 12 oz. bottles. Blackfoot River brought its most popular, and excellent, Single Malt IPA along with a very good seasonal, Mardi Gras Red. After running out, they rustled up a keg of Double Black Diamond Extreme Stout, one of my favorites.
Our hands-down favorite was Great Northern Brewing’s Good Medicine Imperial Spring Ale. It is by far my favorite of Great Northern’s brews so far and I was impressed with its rich, full bodied flavor. It was a dark amber color with an off white head. A strong initial malt taste gives way to a balanced hop bitter finish. The 8% abv gives it quite a punch. I’d give it four out of five hops on my scale.
Here’s a few more shots of the action:
