Perhaps you might have heard by now about the 18th Annual Garden City Brewfest taking place this Saturday, May 1 at Caras Park in Missoula beginning at noon?  What, three posts in this blog not enough for you?  If not, this week’s Missoula Independent is devoted to the beer scene in Missoula and has your official Brewfest guide with descriptions of all the beers in the lineup.  The issue is a great read.

Indy writer Alex Sakariassen brings us a featured article tracing the history of Highlander Beer and Missoula’s microbrewing revival in interviews with Bob Lukes, the man behind the new Highlander, Tim France, owner of Worden’s Market, the go-to spot for beer finds, and Kevin Head, part owner of the Rhino, the unquestioned Montana king of microbrew taps.  He follows that up with a look at Jim Lueders, the Beer Doctor, a microbrewery-consultant-extraordinaire right here in our own backyard.

There’s more, too, with all the info you need on Kettlehouse’ new gluten-reduced concoction, a Flathead ceramic artist who creates custom growlers, classic beer moments from the big screen, and the artists behind local beer labels.  George Ochenski puts down his enviro-political crusade long enough to give a short history on the Montana legislative battles that opened the door for taproom sales.  Even local favorite musician Bob Wire gets into the act with a list of his favorite drinking songs.

But wait a minute.  Not a single mention of Growler Fills, the Number 2 (out of 2) beer blog in Missoula? Growler Fills is hurt, shocked, stunned . . . . well, perhaps mildly perturbed, but will cheerfully carry on. In all fairness, Alex, did mention Growler Fills in an Indy blog post back in February, increasing the daily blog hits by 10 on an otherwise sleepy Wednesday.

See you at the Brewfest! I’ll be the one sampling beer.