From the Flathead Beacon

Tapping the Last Keg at America’s Most Remote Brewery

MARION, Mont. – Down this rutted gravel road, 40 miles from the nearest incorporated town and 20 miles from a post office, loyal patrons of “America’s Most Remote Brewery” are tipping back beers and trying to cope with loss.

They are losing their beloved watering hole.

Owners Gary and Clydene Bultman recently announced that Lang Creek has quit brewing beers and is selling off its remaining inventory, bringing an end to one of the oldest and well-known breweries in the state.

FOLLOWING MY SHOTS

Montana Legislative Scorecard

I still have emotional scars from not making the basketball team. Back then, my coach told me, "Well, you're short, but you're slow." And that was the end of my basketball career. I did learn something, though, to follow my shots.

The Montana Legislature passed its budget bill and went home last week. During the session, I wrote commentaries about three bills our state lawmakers deliberated. Here's what happened on these three bills.

MONTANA HOUSE OVERWHELMINGLY PASSES hb 400

High-Octane Beer Bill Update

SECOND UPDATE, March 27, 11:30 am. Yesterday, the Montana Senate voted 39-11 to pass HB 400. That was the second reading vote, with the third reading scheduled this afternoon, with the results likely to be similar. That means the bill goes to the Governor's Office for signature. Tony Herbert, executive director of the Montana Brewers Association, said he has received no signs that the Governor won't sign the bill. He also gave speical kudos to the bill's main ball carrier, Represenative Deborah Kottel (D-Great Falls) and to Senator John Brueggeman (R-Polson) for carrying the bill on the Senate floor.

"This vote is a good indication that the legislature understands the value and importance of a vibrant brewery industry in Montana," Herbert said. "Brewers are creative in their trade, and HB400 gives them the opportunity to expand in new areas. Like Debbie Kottel has said many times, 'Montana has the potential to become the Napa Valley of Beer.'”

See following update and article for more details.

UPDATE: On Thursday, February 12, the Montana House of Representatives passed HB 400 83-17. "It was a very strong vote," Tony Herbert, executive director of the Montana Brewer's Association, told NewWest.Net, "and now the bill on its way to the Senate."

Herbert cautioned that this was only a Second Reading vote, with the Third Reading vote schedule for today.

"It's not so much a high-octane bill," he said. "It's more of traditional craft beer bill. It places the emphasis on the styles of beers brewers can make and the types of retailers can sell. It isn't about making stronger beer."

HB 400 SURVIVES KEY COMMITTEE VOTE

High-Octane Beer Bill Advances

A bill to allow Montana brewers to produce and Montana retailers to sell high-octane beer has just cleared a major hurdle in the Montana Legislature.

Earlier today, the House Business and Labor Committee voted 14-4 to send HB 400, sponsored by Deborah Kottel (D-Great Falls), to the House floor for a full vote.

NEW RULE LOOKS LIKE HAPPINESS ALL AROUND

Brewmasters and the Department of Revenue, a Peaceful Consensus

Last August, I wrote a three-part series about a serious dispute between Montana's brewers and the Montana Department of Revenue (DOR). In a surprise move, DOR proposed a new administrative rule that "clarified" the current 8 pm closing time and require brewers to close instead of stop selling and serving beer at 8 pm.

The proposed rule was instantly controversial. After receiving many angry comments and facing the expectation of a contentious public hearing, DOR Director Dan Bucks pulled the proposed rule from consideration and started working on a new version, which is now up for public comment.

And, it seems, it's a great example of how things should be done.

MICROBREW MONTANA, AN END-OF-THE-YEAR COMMENTARY

Reflections from the Microbrew Trail

For the past year, I've been on the Microbrew Trail, visiting every brewery in Montana, except one, and posting articles on all 24 of them. You can read the entire series here.

Along the beer trail, I'm made a few observations about what might be Montana's fastest growing industry and thought I'd pass them on to microbrew-loving readers.

MICROBREW MONTANA

Beaver Creek Brewing: Montana’s Microbrew Oasis

If you're like me, you're always asking yourself how dedicated you are? Well, I've recently learned, I'm not dedicated enough.

When I took on the Microbrew Montana project back in February I carefully calculated the miles I'd have to drive and the amount of time it'd take to see all the microbreweries in Montana.

Then, back in July, Jim Devine called and blew up my plan. He and his two partners, Sandy Stinnett and Russell Houck, had just started the Beaver Creek Brewery in Wibaux, and he wondered when I'd be out to see him.

MICROBREW MONTANA

Blacksmith Brewing: Montana’s Newest Brewery, Montana’s Oldest Community

Well, here we are, at the end of the Microbrew Trail, my last taproom visit for this yearlong series of articles, and what did I find? An old buggy salesroom and blacksmith shop transformed into Montana's newest microbrewery, Blacksmith Brewing Company.

Is that Montana-esque or what?

MICROBREW MONTANA

Baucus Bets Microbrew on Carroll Game, But Which One?

This story gets a little personal for three reasons.

First, my hometown school, Carroll College, is playing the University of Sioux Falls tomorrow in the NAIA National Championship, again. The Fighting Saints beat the Cougars last year. And this is the sixth time in seven years Carroll has been in the championship game--winning all five times they played in the big game, by the way, and four it a row, 2002-2005. I'd like to see that other college over in Missoula try to match that record.

Second, my yearlong endeavor, the Microbrew Trail, has made me a big fan of Montana's amazing craft beer producers. Read it all here.

Third, my hometown U.S. Senator Max Baucus made a friendly wager with fellow Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and he bet a case of Montana microbrew against a case of South Dakota beef jerky. (Doesn't seem quite fair, does it? If Johnson wins he gets a whole case of the Nectar of the Gods, and Baucus gets what's left of a dried up cow.)