Join the Brew Crew

By Bill Schneider, 7-24-09

This just in: You don’t have to be a brewer to belong to the Montana Brewers Association (MBA) and support Montana’s rapidly growing craft beer industry.

Announced today by MBA executive director Tony Herbert, Montana’s craft brewers have started offering a chance to “join the brew crew” by becoming an individual member.

And what a deal! For $25, you can get a numbered membership card good for $50 to $60 worth of beer at the 16 participating breweries.

“This is essentially the start of our individual membership program,” Herbert explains. “It’s a good value for members and gives them another reason to go in and visit brewers across the state. People in Montana tend to travel a lot within the state.”

As an incentive to join the brew crew, members can take the card into any of the 16 participating brewers and get it stamped and get a free beer, one from each brewery. As a bonus, they can stay in closer touch with issues affecting the industry.

“We’re looking forward to having a grassroots group of people following the activities of the brewers,” Herbert said. “If people give us their email, we can keep them connected to important issues in the state as it relates to the brewing industry. It brings people one step closer to their local brewery.”

The cards are numbered, he notes, and number one has already been sold, to Gary Parisi of Helena, a loyal at the Blackfoot River Brewing taproom.

It’s a lifetime membership, Herbert adds, but members can buy another brew crew card if they fill up their first one. The current card, which will be good until December 31, 2010, goes on sale next week at the participating brewers and the MBA website, moontanabrewers.org.

The participating brewers are:

Big Sky: Lone Peak
Billings: Angry Hanks, Carter’s, Montana Brewing
Belgrade: Madison River
Bozeman: Bozeman Brewing
Butte: Quarry
Hamilton: Bitterroot
Helena: Blackfoot River, Lewis and Clark
Lakeside: Tamarack
Missoula: Bayern
Red Lodge: Red Lodge Ales
Stevensville: Blacksmith
Whitefish: Great Northern
Wibaux: Beaver Creek