One of the great things about visiting Blackfoot River Brewing Co.’s taproom in Helena, MT, is you’ll usually find a new and interesting beer to try. In fact, it may be the only time you’ll ever find it. Frequently rotating, small batch beers are the norm at Blackfoot. Even better, they don’t just taste great, they’re often educational, too.
Take the Saphir Singlemalt IPA, one of four brews Blackfoot River is bringing to the Montana Brewers Festival tomorrow. Fans of Blackfoot River are well acquainted with their flagship Singlemalt IPA. Saphir Singlemalt IPA is a bit of a twist on the Singlemalt IPA in that it is both a single malt and single hop beer. Blackfoot replaces all 4 hop additions with with the Saphir hop variety while keeping the bitterness level and the amount of aroma/dry hop additions the same. Blackfoot has done this before with their single hop series to create beers using 100% Simcoe and Citra hops. More are on the way, too. Creating this series of single hop beers helps patrons understand the flavors created by different hops and the importance of how hop varieties affect flavors and aromas.
Blackfoot River’s Brian Smith says the Saphir hop is a special newer hop variety from Germany’s Hull Hop Research Institute. It is said to have a distinct aroma that is sweet and clean with flowery/fruity notes trending toward tangerine.
The fun doesn’t stop there. Festival attendees will also have an opportunity to try Double Black Diamond Mocha Stout. To brew it, Blackfoot River transferred some of their traditional Double Black Diamond Stout over to a special 1bbl tank with organic cacao nibs and organic coffee. The beer was allowed to finish fermentation and go through several weeks of conditioning while resting on the cacao nibs and coffee. Whoa.
And they’re not even done yet. Blackfoot River will also have a keg of their 2010 Brewer’s Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine that they’ve saved for a special occasion such as the Montana Brewers Festival. They aged the Barleywine in 12 yr old Elijah Craig barrels for more than 4 months. The 10.5% abv heavyweight will surely provide plenty of bourbon/vanilla aromas and flavors.
If that’s not enough, they’ve got one more: Kolsch, a German style subtle, refreshing, lighter bodied beer that is fermented with ale yeast, but at lager temperatures.
Need any other reason to attend the Montana Brewers Festival tomorrow in Bozeman? I didn’t think so. But once there, you’ll have your pick of more than 70+ Montana beers from 20+ Montana breweries. There’s no better chance to taste the fantastic beer our Montana brewers have to offer.
