The Great American Ale Trail (Revised Edition)
Page 21
THE YAK & YETI
7803 Ralston Rd. • Arvada, CO 80002 • (303) 431-9000 • theya.k.a.ndyeti.com
Nepalese chef Dol Bhattarai specializes in “mountain food for mountain people,” and the house beers are made to go with his amply spiced cuisine. Try the Chai Stout, which tastes of cardamom, cocoa, and ginger.
DRYDOCK BREWING CO.
15120 E. Hampden Ave. • Aurora, CO 80014 • (303) 400-5606 • drydockbrewing.com
Established in 2005 and connected to the Brew Hut, a home brew shop, Dry Dock anchors an otherwise flavorless suburban strip mall. The nautically themed Dry Dock has hauled up a treasure chest of top brewing awards. A boost from government stimulus money (allowing an expansion, which was later followed by another, and another), has helped to propel it to national prominence in a short time. For kicks, they’ve been known on occasion to serve beer from tap-enhanced hollow watermelons and once from a 208-pound pumpkin.
TOMMYKNOCKER BREWING CO.
1401 Miner St. • Idaho Springs, CO 80452 • (303) 567-4419 • tommyknocker.com
Established in 1994 in an historic mining town halfway between the ski areas of Summit County and Denver, the spacious Tommyknocker Brewery was built in the old Placer Hotel, a haven for the miners who gathered there to compare the day’s work. Their Butt Head Bock is a toffeeish, raisiny 8.2% ABV lager with a creamy mouthfeel that won a silver at the 2015 GABF.
REVOLUTION BREWING CO.
325 Grand Ave. • Paonia, CO 81428 • (970) 260-4869 • revolution-brewing.com
This tiny Delta County mining town has been attracting wineries and vineyards of late; now, brewer Mike King’s tiny homespun operation, with a charming little tasting room in an historic house (and beer garden out back), is consistently busy, packing the house for open mic nights and musical guests. King’s TJ 60/40 Wheat Lager is a seasonal based on one of Thomas Jefferson’s recipes, with 60 percent barley and 40 percent wheat (5.2% ABV).
COLORADO BOY PUB & BREWERY
602 Clinton St. • Ridgway, CO 81432 • (970) 626-5333 • coloradoboy.com
Brewing industry veteran Tom Hennessy’s twenty-five-seat brewpub in a converted 1915 drugstore in tiny Ridgway—the northern entrance of the San Juan Skyway Drive—is cozy but updated with pastel orange and green walls, craftsman light fixtures, an antique bar, and art on the wall.
The inspiration for it all came from travels abroad. “My wife and I were hiking in Scotland,” he recalls, “and I fell in love with the small breweries up there. This is my sixth brewery and smallest by far. Probably my most fun one also.” The piney, aromatic IPA, often on cask, took bronze at the GABF in 2009 (under the ESB category). There’s now a sister brewpub and pizzeria on Main Street in Montrose, Colorado, twenty-seven miles north.
GRIMM BROTHERS BREWHOUSE
547 N. Denver Ave. • Loveland, CO 80538 • (970) 624-6045 • grimmbrosbrewhouse.com
Grimm Brothers draws on Teutonic aesthetics and the wicked fun of Grimm’s fairy tales. Little Red Cap is a fine version of altbier Snow Drop American Pale Wheat Ale is a brew style predating the Reinheitsgebot, or German Beer Purity Law of 1516, and contains wheat, oats, honey and molasses—and won a bronze in 2015 at GABF in a category with forty competitors.
WYOMING
SNAKE RIVER BREWING CO.
265 S. Millward St. • Jackson, WY 83001 (307) 739-2337 • snakeriverbrewing.com • Established: 1994
SCENE & STORY
The mere presence of great craft beer is not the first reason to go to Jackson—let’s face it, the Grand Tetons are the real draw here, especially in the winter for skiers—but it does sweeten the deal. Opened in 1994, Snake River has built an excellent restaurant and award-winning brewery. The brewpub itself is a spacious, well-lit, multilevel affair with lots of windows, and frequented by locals who avoid the tourist traps in town (i.e., the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, which, truth be told, can be a fun pit stop). It turns into a serious party around holidays like Oktoberfest, Mardi Gras, Halloween, and Saint Patrick’s Day, and the food earns high marks, especially “the Roper” sandwich: braised brisket, applewood-smoked bacon, caramelized onions, white cheddar, and horseradish mayo on a housemade bun.
PHILOSOPHY
Snake River’s huge popularity could have led it down the path of mediocrity in a hurry. Instead the family-owned brewery seems to be getting better every year. Since 2007, the brewery has ramped up its brewing program considerably, adding bold new styles and experiments that are gaining notice.
KEY BEER
Snake River Brewing Company has traditionally excelled in one particular style that few manage to nail or even dare to tackle: Foreign (a.k.a. Export) Stout, which is characterized by a huge roasted malt profile, a higher than usual alcohol content, and malt-given flavors of caramel, cocoa powder, and coffee. Their 6% ABV Zonker Stout has won scads of awards over the years (more than 200!), helping make Wyoming’s first brewpub something of a legend in craft beer circles. But it’s Le Serpent and Le Serpent Cerise that have bitten hardest into the regional, and indeed, the entire national beer landscape. A pair of limited release, Flemish-style sour ales aged in French oak barrels up to eighteen months, these two beers made surprise appearances in the top ranks of the American and international craft brewing awards circuit in 2010. The Cerise version is aged in the barrel with whole Washington cherries; both burst with funky, earthy, tart flavors of wood and fruit.
Q ROADHOUSE AND ROADHOUSE BREWING COMPANY
2550 Moose Wilson Rd. • Jackson, WY 83014 • (307) 739-0700 • roadhousebrewery.com • Established: 2012
SCENE & STORY
Five miles from the famed Jackson Hole ski area between the town of Jackson and Teton Village, Q Roadhouse is part of restaurateur Gavin Fine’s upscale group, with ambitious food and a range of beers that have helped Jackson locals experience styles well beyond IPA. There’s a restaurant and attached Roadhouse Brewing Co., a semi-independent entity, which has been taking on a life of its own (with expansion plans brewing in 2015). While their (excellent) Cream Ale and IPA are huge sellers, brewery co-owner/head brewer Adam Chenault and assistant brewery Kyle Fleming are making great saisons, like the 2014 silver medal-winning version with apricots and peaches called Saison en Regalia (a sly reference to Frank Zappa’s prog-rock epic). Meanwhile Q Roadhouse is a modernist take on the usual brewpub, in which chef Matty Melehes, who appeared on the popular cooking show “Chopped,” mans the stoves with aplomb, doing exceptional high country barbecue with local lamb, pork, and beef.
PHILOSOPHY
Artful barbecue and bold beers in the Tetons, made for local skiers, beer geeks, and bon vivants. Can’t go wrong there. “We focus on Belgian styles and big, West Coast style IPAs,” Chenault told me. “We brew beers by different sources of inspiration; another beer, the lyrics from a song, a moment on the hill after some fresh pow turns, or a random ingredient. For instance, I was standing in line waiting for a sandwich and saw some dried apricots and peaches in packages—our GABF silver medal–winning Saison en Regalia was born. We brew beer that we want to drink. We pay attention to the history and tradition of styles but use our own techniques and sometimes unique ingredients.”
KEY BEER
If Saison en Regalia isn’t on, look for Sacred Creed (6.2% ABV), a Franco-Belgian style saison with ample American hops and wild yeasts imparting complex, appealing flavors.
MONTANA
THE BEST WAY TO DISCOVER MONTANA’S BURGEONING BEER CULTURE IS TO FOLLOW ALL OR PART of the Montana Beer Trail, dotted with twenty-three (and counting) breweries along some 700-hundred miles of the state’s most scenic rural and wilderness areas including Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, the Bitterroot Valley historic mining rail, and ghost towns, not to mention trout-filled rivers like the Yellowstone and Gallatin (find the map at montanabrewers.org).
When you do go, one of the first things to know about Montana, an idyllic state with pure water, some of the finest barley in the nation, and a per capita
brewery density among the highest in the United States, is that for some reason, it has maddeningly confusing alcohol laws that conspire against craft brewers. Brewpubs are technically disallowed, as is production of more than 10,000 barrels (a beer barrel contains thirty-one gallons), unless they close their taprooms. At the same time, microbreweries may not sell more than forty-eight ounces of beer per consumer per day, and then only until 8 p.m. If they want to serve food and house beer from the same location, they must establish separate businesses at the same physical location that then must buy beer from said brewery. And so on, ever crazier with each new rule and exception.
The main reason for all this confusion is that the tavern lobby opposes craft brewers on the grounds that they believe craft brewery taprooms siphon off customers from their own establishments (despite the glaring differences in appeal). It all spells frustration for the small breweries, who are quite obviously offering something different. Drinking good, local, honestly made beer is an inalienable right in this country, as is the right to run or patronize a dive bar. Both can and should exist. Ultimately, craft beer is bringing better beer, jobs, and tourism to Montana and other states that are hurting financially, and it’s fun to drink, explore, and manufacture. Time to wake up and smell the hops.
The good news is that even against the odds, Montana’s craft beer scene is vibrant indeed. “It’s growing. In Montana there’s really this mentality to buy local,” says Chuck Sowell, a brewer at Carter’s Brewery in Billings. “So many of the small towns have their own breweries, and you don’t have to be a beer connoisseur to come in and drink the local beer.”
Change has come slowly, but come it has, and now you can pull into a formerly forlorn city like Billings and find craft breweries making interesting styles, barrel-aging beers, and educating consumers on life after the fizzy yellow stuff. “We’re breeding a culture here where we have more home brewers, and more people that really appreciate the good craft beer, and so more breweries are now branching out beyond the basic wheat, stout, IPA, and ambers,” says Sowell. “More breweries are doing barley wines and Belgian styles, and so there’s an appreciation for that, too. It’s really cool that there’s a beer culture in Montana now.”
Tony Herbert, executive of the Montana Brewer’s Guild, says it’s all part of the state’s character. “Montanans have long had a history of liking their beer, so it’s fertile ground, first of all. And a lot of the beers are coming right out of these Montana fields,” he says, referring to the state’s own amber waves of grain. “The water is fantastic, too. What I’ve seen is that people really appreciate the newness of these breweries and the beers that they make. We’ve been experiencing the same kind of growth that craft beer has recently. There’s been a palate shift.”
Time to shift into gear and get to Montana yourself.
ITINERARIES
1-DAY Fly into Billings and hit downtown breweries within walking distance, experiencing the gamut of Montana beer culture.
3-DAY Combine Billings with Red Lodge and the incredible drive to Bozeman near the Beartooth Highway.
7-DAY Fly into Bozeman or Missoula and drive north to Whitefish along Flathead Lake.
Billings
MONTANA BREWING CO.
113 N. 28th St. • Billings, MT 59101 (406) 252-9200 • montanabrewingcompany.com • Established: 1994
SCENE & STORY
Situated downtown in the historic headquarters of what was once the Montana Power Company, MBC is a popular dining and sipping spot for locals and out-of-towners alike. Thanks to the refurbishment of the Babcock Theater, this part of town is becoming the arts core of the city. With a reputation for good burgers, nachos, and pizza, the portions are huge (as they are throughout Montana). The interior is traditional brewpub, and a bit dim beneath craftsman glass fixtures. But it’s comfortable, with wooden booths and a large central bar area and tables in back that offer of view of a tidy brewhouse behind glass. It’s quiet; the sports bar Hooligan’s next door seems to siphon off the loudest cheering sections, but there’s a large flat-screen in the front area for the truly devoted.
PHILOSOPHY
The whole place is festooned with banners and descriptions of the company’s many GABF and World Beer Cup medals earned over the years, most recently in 2010 (the sole winner for the state, for Sandbagger’s Gold—a light, smooth, biscuity ale), attesting to the effort that goes into the beer. The brewery claims it was the first in the state to do any barrel aging, a costly and time-consuming experiment for any brewery.
KEY BEER
MBC’s Whitetail Wheat, a GABF winner for American wheat beers, is above par, with a clean-tasting, full-but-not-too-sweet body and a faintly spicy finish. The Sandbagger Gold and the Sharptail Pale Ale are two other beers on the lighter end of the spectrum, and a pleasingly spicy but light at 4.6% ABV amber and slightly tannic coffee stout round out the offerings nicely, too.
CARTER’S BREWING CO.
2526 Montana Ave.-B • Billings, MT 59101 (406) 252-0663 • cartersbrewing.com • Established: 2007
SCENE & STORY
Constructed in an old railroad depot storage building in the center of town opposite Billings’s old hotel row, Carter’s is named for owner-founder-head brewer Mike Uhrich’s son; Uhrich was a brewer with Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co. before getting the itch to brew his own styles. Carter’s is the young turk of the Billings scene, with some sixteen taps from traditional kölsch to Belgian-style saisons and farmhouse ales, Imperial IPA and even an American-style sour. There are more than thirty oak barrels for wood-aging Belgian and other experimental styles strewn around the tiny 7bbl brewhouse—a marvel of space management—and it’s a popular gathering place for the local beer fanatics, who come in to chat, fill growlers, and catch the occasional game.
PHILOSOPHY
“Mike experiments and brews what he wants to brew and not necessarily what people want to drink,” says Chuck Sowell, one of three assistants who bartends, and a dedicated advocate for Montana’s growing craft beer scene. “It’s an interesting approach,” he adds. “We’ve met a lot of brewers who brew ‘to style’ or they brew to win medals, or they brew to meet demand for whatever sells the most or whatever people like the most. Mike brews what he wants to brew. He’s really, really passionate about his beers.”
A former Crow Nation redoubt and mining capital an hour out of Billings, the historic town of Red Lodge (established in 1884) is the gateway to the Beartooth Highway, a famed sixty-nine-mile ribbon of switchbacks on Highway 212 that leads south from Red Lodge into some of the most beautiful corners of Yellowstone National Park, with high glacial lakes, alpine tundra, and year-round snow. Ringed by soaring 12,000-feet peaks in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, including Montana’s tallest point, Granite Peak (12,799 feet), the town itself is quintessential Old West, with 100-year-old homes and stone buildings dating from the 1880s looking over the main street (and a certain bank scoped-out—but never robbed—by Butch Cassidy, who worked the area). Despite a bit of grim history—a mining accident outside of town in 1943 remains the state’s worst ever, having killed seventy-four men—it’s a vibrant place today. Make sure to stop and read the roadside sign (which explains the disaster) heading into town from Billings, and stroll down Broadway, Red Lodge’s main street. Red Lodge Ales hosts an Oktoberfest every September, and there are scores of other events (including annual hoe downs, a Red Lodge Festival of Nations for Native Americans, and assorted adventure races including 10K runs and a skijoring duel).
KEY BEER
De-Railed IPA, at 6.5% ABV, is a big, piney, clean brew with a bitterness-to-body ratio that approaches the heartiest of West Coast IPAs. And the Keeper, a bière de garde, pulled down a recent silver at the North American Beer Awards.
RED LODGE ALES & SAM’S TAP ROOM & KITCHEN
1445 N. Broadway • Red Lodge, MT 59068 • (406) 446-4607 • redlodgeales.com • Established: 1998
SCENE & STORY
It’s hard to miss the brewery a
long the road into Red Lodge with its jolly crimson paint job. On a busy day, depending on the season, you’ll be on the heels of plenty of bikers and skiers, for starters. The taproom adjacent to the Red Lodge Ales brewery is Sam’s Tap Room & Kitchen, a bright, sunny space that manages to feel both retro and modern at the same time. There are shiny metal stools and wall details of rusted and corrugated metal, a large woodstove, reclaimed barn wood, and historical photographs to warm things up. There are large viewing windows inside to the brewery, and outside space is plentiful as well, with a beer garden and separate lawn for weddings and concerts. It all feels easy-does-it and well designed, and the hops growing on all the fences outside are utilized in the brew-house every fall. The coldest months bring some rowdy fun with a Winter Carnival (redlodge-mountain.com), complete with a local dog sled-pull contest.
Founder Sam Hoffmann, whose family comes from Germany, started out small, with a 500-square-foot facility, brewing tanks made of discarded dairy equipment, and a trio of German-style brews (alt, kölsch, and wheat), none of which are at all easy to make well. Now that the company has earned its local and regional fans and graduated to a much larger facility, the approach is much the same. There are seven year-round beers, and nine to twelve seasonals, many of them lighter to medium in body, and generally mellow in hop character, all made with Montana-grown barley.