Thousands of beer fans braved the crisp wind on a chilly afternoon Saturday to enjoy the Montana Brewers Association’s annual Fall Rendezvous in Missoula.
The largest festival of its kind featuring only made-in-Montana beers, the warmly-wrapped patrons were treated to 118 beers in a wide-variety of styles from breweries stretching from Hamilton to Sidney. (That’s 599 miles along the fastest route from Bitter Root Brewing to Meadowlark Brewing.)
Missoula’s homebrewing club, the Zoo City Zymurgists, judged the beers in a blind-judging format, selecting the highest scoring beers in each category to compete for best-in-show honors. The winning beers were:
Festbeir: Stacktoberfest, Smelter City Brewing, Anaconda
Pilsner: Two Ski Brewski, Kalispell Brewing Co.
Wheat: Don’t Hassle the Hef, Beehive Basin Brewery, Big Sky
IPA: Shady Brady, KettleHouse, Missoula
Imperial IPA: Headwall, Tamarack Brewing, Lakeside
Pale Ale: Pine Creek Pale Ale, Neptune’s Brewery, Livingston
Stout: 81 Chain, MAP Brewing Co., Bozeman
Porter: Plum Street Porter, Bozeman Brewing Co.
Wood Aged Beer: Speedy G, Tequila Barrel Gose, MAP Brewing
Fruit/Specialty: 5 Phantoms Barleywine, Philipsburg Brewing Co.
Red Ale: Irish Red Ale, Conflux Brewing Co., Missoula
Scotch Ale: Mountain Man, Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Co., Great Falls
Barrel-Aged: Sour Brett Saison, Bozeman Brewing Co.
Belgian: Dirty Ginger, Flathead Lake Brewing Co., Bigfork
Lager: Party Mexican Lager, MAP Brewing Co., Bozeman
Best Festival Special Release: 5 Phantoms, Philipsburg Brewing Co.
Best of Show: Party Mexican Lager, MAP Brewing Co., Bozeman
