For Day 7 we’re staying local again with beer from Blacksmith Brewing Co. in Stevensville, MT. It had been a while since we’d taken the drive down from Missoula and a couple of extra days off to start the New Year’s Eve weekend seemed like the perfect time.

As is common for Blacksmith, the place was lively and social and we ordered up a couple of pints while waiting for our pizza to arrive from Kodiak Jax’s just down the street. I chose Ahh La Nina Pale Ale (6.2% abv), Blacksmith’s ode to the weather phenomenon that is bringing above average snow to Montana this year. It has a medium reddish/copper color with a nice off-white head.  There are full aromas of floral hops.  The flavors run from floral to pine hops balanced expertly on top of a nice amount of caramel malt flavor.  It finishes with a bit of a hop bite that lingers pleasantly.  This is a very good brew, but unfortunately we hear there not much left.  Sorry to do that to you, but the new winter ale wasn’t on tap yet.

I also chose some of the most recent round of Blackout Stout (8.0% abv), a rich, excellent beer with a variety of flavors to enjoy.  It is jet black with an off-white head.  The aromas are of roasted malts, a bit of sweet chocolate and hints of charcoal (in a good way).  The flavor is wonderfully robust, super smooth and mellow all at once.  I get flavors of coffee, milk and dark chocolate and quite a bit of molasses.

These are two more great examples of the excellent beer we’ve come to expect from Blacksmith.