The Mountain Brewers Beer Fest, held this past Saturday in Idaho Falls, ID, is one of the biggest and best in the West with more than 80 breweries serving hundreds of beers. Even more breweries enter the associated brewing competition. The competition is sanctioned by the North American Brewers Association and consists of a blind…
The 2012 Brewers Association World Beer Cup took place this past week in connection with the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego and some Montana breweries took home some nice medals. In the American-Style Wheat Beer category, Montana Brewing Co. (Billings) took the Gold Medal for Whitetail Wheat while Lewis & Clark Brewing Co. (Helena)…
As we’ve covered in previous posts, Kettlehouse Brewing Co. announced this month they’re pulling out of the Kalispell, Helena and Great Falls markets. If Kettlehouse ramps up production to keep up with demand, they’ll pass the 10,000 bbl per year mark and could no longer sell beer in their two Missoula tap rooms. Thus, unless…
Today, Growler Fills welcomes guest writer Eric Cioe* for his take on the 10,000 barrel limitation recently highlighted by Kettlehouse Brewing Co.’s decision to pull out of three Montana markets. BY ERIC CIOE – Kettlehouse Brewing has unfortunately been forced to make a tough decision: either pull out of some of their markets, or shut…
Montana, we have a problem. Back in January we highlighted an issue mentioned in a Missoulian article that featured a recent expansion at Kettlehouse Brewing Company’s northside location. Local brewery expansions are always worth celebrating, but this one came with a troubling quirk. Montana law allows breweries to sell pints for on-premise consumption within a…
This morning’s Missoulian newspaper has a story about Kettlehouse Brewing Co.’s expansion, but also contains a couple of nuggets detailing the problems with Montana’s brewery laws. On Monday, Kettlehouse swapped out two 40 barrel fermentation and bright tanks for two 90 barrel ones to increase capacity. With the switch, Kettlehouse now has the capacity to…
2011 was a great year for craft beer in Montana and beyond. While overall beer sales were down across the country, craft beer continues to capture more of the market. There’s no question the “buy local” movement is alive and well in the craft beer industry. With more than 1700 craft breweries in the US…
Some days blog posts darn near write themselves. Other days, not so much. So, until the next idea strikes, here for your viewing pleasure are some random, recent beer shots. First up is a Headwall Double IPA from Tamarack Brewing Co. at their Missoula location. It’s an excellent full bodied bunch of hop goodness over…
Okay, so “dangerous” really isn’t the right word, but now that I have your attention hear me out. If I ask you to name that one beer that has, shall we say, an unusually pronounced effect on you does one immediately come to mind? For me, that beer is Cold Smoke Scotch Ale from Kettlehouse…
Any lingering doubt about the intersection of craft beer and running was wiped away Wednesday night in Missoula as hundreds of runners, walkers and craft beer enthusiasts packed Kettlehouse Brewing Co.’s northside location for Community U-Nite in support of Run Wild Missoula. Runners in the Run Wild Missoula marathon training group gathered under threatening skies…