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Montana Coffee, Idaho Beer Take Home National Good Food Awards

By Kate Whittle, 2-03-11

Idaho's Grand Teton Brewing Co.'s Sweetgrass APA beat out the competition at the Good Food Awards for tasty, sustainable products.

Two small companies—Montana Coffee Traders and Grand Teton Brewing—were honored among much bigger competitors at the inaugural 2011 Good Food Awards in January. While most of the winners are based in larger markets, including Public Domain coffee in Portland, Ore., and Bison Brewing in Berkeley, Calif., the Rocky Mountain businesses impressed a series of judges to earn the Good Food Award seal for high-quality and environmentally-produced food and beverages.

When Barb and Scott Brant started Montana Coffee Traders in Whitefish in 1982, they were the only coffee roasters in the state. “In the ‘80s, people didn’t really know about good coffee,” Barb Brant said. “Most people had never heard the word ‘latte’ before.”

From the beginning, the Brants wanted to offer fair trade and organic before those words were common in the coffee aisle. The company now also sells special blends that contribute to causes. A dollar from each pound sold of the Grizzly Blend, for instance, goes toward supporting habitat for grizzly bears.

Winners can now put the “Good Food Award” label on their product. Barb said it’s her hope more consumers will look for that label and support it. “If I see ‘Good Food Award,’ I know that it’s sustainably produced, I know it’s encouraging community and I know it tastes fantastic,” she said.

Southeast of Whitefish, in the tiny town of Victor, Idaho (population: 840), Grand Teton Brewing Co. brews, among other styles, the Sweetgrass American APA that also placed at the Good Food Awards.

Brewmaster Rob Mullin said Idaho, of all places, is an excellent place to brew beer. Idaho farmers produce malted barley and hops, which allow Grand Teton to brew completely local beer. Grand Teton, which is also involved in several environmentally-minded projects, recently received a federal grant to set up equipment that will use the heat created by yeast to heat the water for brewing. Mullin estimates it will save thousands of gallons of diesel every year.

Mullin said he didn’t know how Grand Teton got the attention of the Good Food Awards, but he was happy about it. “The Sweetgrass APA that won the award is everybody at the brewery’s favorite beer,” he said.

Beer and coffee were only two of seven categories including charcuterie, cheese, pickles and chocolate. The Good Food Awards, started by San Francisco-based Seedling Projects, awarded winners for making sustainable and tasty goods. Sustainable food icon Alice Waters presided over the awards ceremony on Jan. 14.

Seedling Projects spokeswoman Hannah Hausauer said they started the awards to fill a gap in artisanal food recognition. “We want it to be a yearly event, sort of the James Beard award but for food crafters,” she said.

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