Montana Craft Beer Connection

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Montana Craft Beer Connection

🍻Consulting, educating & celebrating the MT Beer Industry
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16/08/2024

QUARTERLY CONTRIBUTOR HIGHLIGHT
HOPE JONES

“I’m the Assistant Director of Student Services at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law and a photographer. I have a bachelors degree in studio arts with a minor in communication.

I fell in love with photography when I bought my first camera at the age of 9!

I love being able to connect the world of love, art, and craft beer together. Right now, I’m trying to get more creative with my beer photography and have been testing some new ideas with my self portraiture. I’ve also been hired for quite a few engagement and family sessions recently.

Being in the craft beer industry is such an honor. I love being able to expand my palette in both beer and art.“

Here at MCBC we are so thankful to have Hope as part of our team. We look forward to many more whimsical adventures with her and are so grateful she is willing to share her talent with us.

Want to become an official MCBC contributor?? Message us! We’d love to connect with you and your talents here at MCBC.

12/08/2024

What a smoke show🔥 Missouri River Brewing Co Smoke Show I mean!
really turned up the heat with this BBQ event in East Helena Last weekend. Vendors and locals alike all came together to support this fundraiser for Impact Montana
**rs

31/07/2024

AUGUST BEER EVENTS🍻

AUGUST 3RD : 2024 Montana Brewers Summer Rendezvous, Helena

Plan head for your craft beer excursions!
Have a beer/beverage related event? Not on our list?
Please feel free to reach out for more details, we’d love to include you!

22/07/2024

What’s your favorite way to beat this heat?
I’ll go first…

06/07/2024

Paying Homage to Montana Beer History: and Lozenbrew

No better time to celebrate the history of our great industry than the same day we celebrate the history of our great nation. Read all about this beer collab in our last MCBC Spring issue!

Hope everyone had the perfect beverage to accompany their Independence Day!

26/06/2024

Hump day mood☀️

Send this to the person you NEED to grab a patio beer with!

26/06/2024

It’s time for another Tipsy Tuesday Truth and this week we are talking about fermenting time!

Myth: Beer is ready the day it is brewed.

TTT: Wort needs time to ferment into beer.

Walking into a brewery and it hits you, the smell of sweet cooking grains and hop aromas, and you just know it’s brew day. However, don’t expect to get a sip of this new beer for at least a week and for many styles even longer.

Brew day is all about creating wort, the sugary liquid that will eventually turn into beer. Grains are steeped in hot water to extract the sugars within and the liquid is then boiled to convert those complex sugars into simple sugars, which is what the yeast will eventually ferment into alcohol, and hops are added throughout the boil to add bitterness and aromas. This new liquid is called wort.

From there the wort is cooled and transferred into a fermentor and yeast is pitched into the liquid. All this is done in a day, but it’s not alcohol yet. At this point the liquid needs time to sit and let the yeast do its thing. Some yeast will work its magic over several days but other strains need weeks.

But wait! Like actually, you need to wait a bit even after the yeast is done. Once fermentation is done, the temperature of the beer is cooled way down and rests here for several days. This allows time for the yeast and other particles to settle to the bottom of the tank before transferring the beer into conditioning/serving tanks.

From here most styles sit in these tanks anywhere from a few days, several weeks or even a couple months. This gives the beer time to condition and settle, allowing the beer to brighten and develop flavors, and for remaining particles to fall out. It can now be transferred into other vessels such as kegs, cans and bottles.

So whether you are homebrewing or waiting for the newest release from your favorite brewery, be patient.

And that folks is the tipsy truth. Oogy wawa!

Got a myth you want debunked? Comment below or message us!

19/06/2024

So excited to be reunited with these goons in Great Falls this weekend for Great Falls Craft Beer Week & Montana Brew Fest!

11/06/2024

Tipsy Tuesday Truth is back!

Myth: Frozen glasses are best for drinking beer

TTT: Frozen glasses shouldn’t be used, they are unsanitary and can ruin your beer drinking experience

Warm weather and cold beer is one of our favorite pairings, so long as you keep those frozen glasses out of the mix.

With marketing strategies like frozen beer taps and cans that turn blue when at freezing temperatures, it has become pretty ingrained in our culture that beer is best served at ice cold temperatures.

But where did this come from? What seems like the most common explanation is from domestic beer companies. Drinking beer extra cold slows the volatilization of aromatic compounds, allowing them to stay in solution. What this does is makes your beer less flavorful, making cheep beer easier to drink.

However, when it comes to beer you actually want to taste and smell, this is a problem. Lighter beers that have more delicate flavors, such as pilsners or blonde ales, can become fairly tasteless, while beers that have complex aromas and flavors, such as IPA’s or stouts, can lose their nuance, becoming less than exciting. In reality, the temperature at which you serve beer varies depending on the style, but most craft beer should fall somewhere between 38°F and 55°F. While glass temp is a matter of preference, it is often recommended that beer be served in room temperature or only slightly chilled glasses, in order to optimize your drinking experience.

If you prefer a chilled glass, just make sure it is not frozen. Freezing glassware, or even chilling it, can cause a thin layer of ice to form. The ice can trap in any lingering sanitizer or contaminants, which won’t fully wash away with a quick spritz from a glass rinser commonly used at bars before filling the glass. This can lead to the beer tasting soapy or the drinker ingesting harmful bacteria.

All and all, cold beer is great, but ditch those frozen glasses!

And that folks is the tipsy truth. Oogy wawa!

Got a myth you want debunked? Comment below or message us!

07/06/2024

Don’t miss MCBC with our one and only BEERCYCLED merch today at the Backcountry Brewfest!
5-9 at Caras Park
See you there!

06/06/2024

And now…It’s time for the gold medalists!
Here are the Montana breweries recently declared NABA 2024 Gold Medalists!

Congrats to all the NABA Medalists representing Montana.
Did your favorite make the medalist list? Let us know in the comments🍻

05/06/2024

Continuing on with NABA’s International Beer and Cider Awards presented last month, it’s time to show off the Montana breweries recently declared NABA 2024 Silver Medalists.

Stay tuned for the NABA 2024 gold medalists!

05/06/2024

Tipsy Tuesday Truth is back!

Myth: Tap water is ready for brewing

TTT: Chlorine and chloramine should be removed from water before brewing

The first ingredient in beer is water, which can have a huge impact on your beer’s taste. There’s much to discuss on the topic of brewing water, but today’s focus is specifically on water containing chlorine or chloramine.

Chlorine and chloramine are used to treat water; keeping it germ free. Unfortunately, they also make our beer taste bad. Both compounds will react with phenols found in yeast, malt and hops, producing chlorophenols. Chlorophenols have a low taste threshold, meaning they are detectable to most people, and often present as a medicinal, plastic, chlorine disinfectant (ie. bleach) or band-aid taste.

So how do we deal with this problem? The first step is knowing your water source.

If you know your water source doesn’t contain either of these two compounds, such as reverse osmosis (RO) water or untreated well water, then you’re good to go. If you don’t know, it’s time to do a little research. Whether your city municipality uses chlorine or chloramines to treat the water is public knowledge and can be found online or by contacting them directly.

If you are using water with chlorine you have a couple simple choices. Chlorine can be removed by collecting all the water you plan to brew with and leaving it open to the air for at least 24 hours. The chlorine will escape from solution naturally. If you forgot to or cannot leave water out for that long you can boil your water for 15 minutes and it should be free of all chlorine.

Unfortunately, chloramines cannot be removed from water through these processes. Both chlorine and chloramines can be removed from water by passing it through a carbon filter, adding potassium metabisulphite (Campden tablets). Or skip using city water and use RO water - in some cases easier said than done.

And that folks is the tipsy truth. Oogy wawa!

Got a myth you want debunked? Comment below or message us!

04/06/2024

NABA’s International Beer and Cider awards took place this last Friday in Idaho Falls and Montana brought home their fair share of metals!

We are proud to showcase the Montana breweries recently declared NABA Bronze Medalists for 2024.

Stay tuned for the NABA 2024 silver and gold medalists!

04/06/2024

JUNE BEER EVENTS 🍻

JUNE 7th: Backcountry Brewfest,
Caras Park, Missoula

JUNE 15TH: Blues Brews & BBQ, Downtown Historic Philipsburg

JUNE 17TH-21ST: Great Falls Craft Beer Week, Great Falls

JUNE 22ND: Montana Brew Fest,
Great Falls

JUNE 22ND: 10th Annual Tap Into Montana, Miles Park, Livingston

For your convenience we will also be posting a calendar of events on our website (link in bio)
So you can plan head for your craft beer excursions!

Have a beer/beverage related event? Not on our list? Please feel free to reach out for more details, we’d love to include you!

20/05/2024

Enjoying some great saison in the sun (not Montana but an excellent brewery!)

17/05/2024

After 3 long weeks of travel for CBC and magazine delivery, took a much needed break. Working semi-off grid is the best way to unwind and catch up on work that benefits best from your FULL attention

14/05/2024

It’s Tipsy Truth time and we’re here to tell you to clean your growlers at home.

Myth: Growlers can be cleaned by the bar staff when you go to refill it

TTT: Most bars do not have the capability of cleaning growlers

Growlers are great for many reasons. They give you the ability to take home fresh beer from the taproom and they help cut down on waste as they are reusable. However, it is important to give your growler a good rinse when you finish off the beer in it. If not taken care of, growlers will become gross, harder to clean and will affect the taste of the next beer to go in them.

Depending on how long it’s sat, residual beer, even if there is only a trace amount, may be stuck to the growler and mineral build up can start to occur, this requires a good soak or possibly even a proper cleaning and you should never expect that the bar can or should be able to do this for you.

Even worse it could have mold or bacteria growth, which doesn’t take long to happen, especially in the summer, and the cleaning process becomes much more labor intensive. The rinse and sanitizing done at the bar won’t do this. All of this can cause your next fill to taste bad and even make you sick.

Most bars only have the capability of rinsing and sanitizing growlers - see our previous post from Jan 23 to learn more about why sanitizer doesn’t clean. So if you bring in a growler that has had beer sitting in it, even a small amount, the rinse and sanitation process simply will not be enough.

Not to mention handing a dirty growler to a beertender is down right inconsiderate. Brewery staff take pride in the product they serve you. The last thing they want is for your dirty growler affecting your experience with their brewery’s beer, so they may try and clean it for you but this takes away from them doing their job and adds more work to their already full plates. Not to mention if the mold or bacteria get into their sanitation solution they then have to drain the solution, clean the sink and refill it.

And that folks is the tipsy truth. 건배 - Geonbae (pronounced Gun-bae)!

Got a myth you want debunked? Comment below or message us!

07/05/2024

No Tipsy Tuesday Truth Today…But we promise we’ll be back with it next week!

We’re so excited that we have so much going on but hustlers need a little rest too.
Thank you all for your support and we promise next week’s will be worth the wait!
Love, MCBC & Lambda 🐾

What is something that’s been keeping you busy this week?
Let us know in the comments!

#406

05/05/2024

MCBC & Luxurious Libations Proudly Present:
THIRSTY THROWBACK
Montana’s only alcohol-themed Bo***ir Photoshoot, This May!

Get ready for a delectable fusion of bo***ir and booze, paired with the retro stylings of your favorite 80s & 90s gaming elements

May 28th, OddPitch Brewing
✨Only 7 Slots Available ✨
Book now and get all the info at: luxuriouslibations.photography

Luxury and laughs await you🥂
Sign up today before all of our Seven Slots are filled

***ir ***ir

03/05/2024

THROWBACK THURSDAY
Anyone recognize this metal Thanksgiving??
Straight out of the November page from the MCBC 2024 Craft Beer & Bods Calender, the amazingly festive friends over at OddPitch Brewing gave us a shoot for the ages.

Speaking of Throwbacks at OddPitch…
THIRSTY THROWBACK SHOOTS
Luxurious Libations is holding this Months round of Bo***ir shoots at OddPitch Brewing, May 28th!
Info and sign up at link in bio🍻
Sign up now before all of our select seven spots are gone!

***ir

01/05/2024

QUARTERLY CONTRIBUTOR OF THE MONTH:

MADISON APPLE

Welcome to MCBC Contributor Spotlight! Once a quarter we highlight one of the many amazing souls who makes MCBC possible. This quarter we are showing off our Graphic Designer Madison.

Madison is a Graphic Designer, as well as an artist in many other media!

Madison got into graphic design because he was always drawing and painting growing up, his first passion. For college, he wanted to explore other career paths beyond fine art so studying graphic design was perfect. Pursuing his Graphic Design BFA at Columbia College Chicago, he learned advertising, marketing, photography, and digital design. The inspiring classes and professors has kept him in this profession.

When asked what MCBC means to him, Madison says:
“I think Montana’s craft beer community deserves a bigger spotlight and I want to help make that happen. Montana is a big part of the national beer industry with a lot of smart people and I think MCBC is a great way to spread their knowledge.“

MCBC was Madison’s first beer industry
client. It was a great fit from the start! He now works with many beer industry clients around the state.

Want to become an official MCBC contributor??
Message us! We’d love to connect with you and your talents here at MCBC.

01/05/2024

No Tipsy Tuesday Truths Today
Because…

We’re delivering MCBC magazines!!

It’s that time of season once again! Mcbc is so excited to get this quarter’s issue into your hands. Featured in this issue’s travel article, Harvest Moon Brewing Co of Belt, Montana.

Want to look like me at the start of my journey in the second picture? Get into your local brewery, grab a pint and check out the new issue! If you already subscribe, expect this issue in your mailbox real soon!

Want to be featured in an upcoming issue? DM us!

28/04/2024

MAY BEER/BEVERAGE EVENTS

For your convenience we will also be posting a calendar of events on our website (link in bio)
So you can plan head for your craft beer excursions!

Have a beer related event? Not on our list? Please feel free to reach out for more details, we’d love to include you!

23/04/2024

No Tipsy Tuesday Truth This Week!
There’s no TTT…because of CBC!

The MCBC team is so excited to announce their attendance at this years Craft Brewers Conference & Beer Expo! We have been nose deep in craft beer since the 21st and it has been amazing! So excited to share more about the experience here with y’all. For more info on CBC, check out their insta

Who else is here at CBC? Come say hello🍻

#406

21/04/2024

Nerds drink good beer too!
What’s your go-to game night classic?

21/04/2024

Was able to squeeze in one last ski trip before the end of season! Got to enjoy a variety of craft beers while on the slopes.
What’s your go-to beverage for your ski/snowboarding trips??

13/04/2024

Got a hand in brewing this years batch of “Fempire Strikes Back.”
The latest batch of ‘s annual collaboration beer.

MAP brews Fempire Strikes Back each year for their PBS beer and use the pink boots hop blend. This year they have also incorporated the pink boots malt crafted in collaboration by , and along side malt soured locally from and .

#406

09/04/2024

Welcome back to another Tipsy Tuesday Truth! Today we are talking about lagers.

Myth: Lagers are pale beers.

TTT: Lager refers to the yeast used and these beers can be all different colors.

When we think of a lager often the American lagers such as PBR, Bud and Miller come to mind. However, the word lager isn’t in reference to a specific style of beer, but rather the yeast used.

What produces color is mostly due to the malts or other adjusts used. American lagers use pale malts and sometimes rice or corn. If you use darker malts with lager yeast you will have a darker lager.

Take the märzen, often amber in color, this style uses pale malt as the base malt and often Munich malt which is in the middle between pale and dark. Another example is the Baltic porter. Much darker, sometimes opaque black in color, this style often uses Munich or Vienna malt for the base malt and dark malt. Both styles use lager yeast and so they are lagers.

There are two main types of yeast used to ferment beer, ale yeast and lager yeast. There is over a hundred, possibly a thousand, different strains of ale yeast, each having it’s own unique characteristics. Lager yeast on the other hand is a hybrid of S. cerevisiae (ale yeast) and S. bayanus (wine and cider yeast) and because of this there are fewer lager strains.

The biggest differences between ale and lager yeast are the temperature at which they best thrive and the way they behave during fermentation. Ale yeast thrives at warmer temperatures, usually between 55°F and 75°F, and are considered top-fermenting yeast. This means the yeast tends to flocculate and rise to the top over time.

Lager yeast thrives at cooler temperatures (32-55°F) and is considered a bottom fermenting yeast. This doesn’t mean they just hang out at the bottom of the tank, but instead means they stay in suspension and less of the yeast rises to the top.

While ale yeasts have a wide range of characteristics they can impart on beer, lager yeast, when fermented in the proper conditions, will usually provide a clean fermentation profile and produce a dry beer.
(Rest in comments👇)

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Before and ✨ AFTER ✨ Little sneak peak into the magic that comes with each photoshoot behind MCBC Beer & Bods Calender Any guesses what the grande final product MCBC & @oddpitchbrewing created??? Let us know in the comments! Find out which legendary picture we created when you order your copy of Beer & Bods Calendar for 2024! Link in bio🍻 A portion of the profits for the 2024 calendar will support the non-profit Pink Boots Society, Montana Chapter. This year, give a Montana Made gift that gives back to Montana! #beforeandafter #mtbeer #drinkcraft #drinklocal #supportsmallbusiness #406life #beerlife #bigskycountry #brewerycalendar #drinkcraftbeer #beerculture #beerphotography #craftbeerlover #holidaygift #beerstagram #craftbeerlife #beer #beergirl #montanagirl #shoplocal #montanalife #montanabeer #christmasgift #montanabrewery #montanamagazine #beercalendar #montanamoment #nonprofitfundraising #tbt

12 Days of Christmas done RIGHT at Draught Works Brewery Steamer Event🍻 #12daysofchristmas #icesculpture #cheers #craftbeer #mtbeer #steamer #drinkcraft #drinklocal #supportsmallbusiness #406life #beerlife #bigskycountry #drinkcraftbeer #beerculture #beerphotography #craftbeerlover #beerstagram #craftbeerlife #beer #beergirl #montanagirl #steamer#draughtworks #montanalife #montanabeer #montanabrewery #montanamagazine #montanamoment #beermoment

A little BTS of the Craft Beer & Bods 2024 Calender shoot with @bridgerbrewing ! And introducing the newest mascot of the industry…Baity the Blowup Shark!! 🦈 Get ready for Baity’s modeling debut in the MCBC Craft Beers and Bods 2024 Calender! Available now for purchase at our link in bio #craftbeer #mtbeer #drinkcraft #drinklocal #supportsmallbusiness #406life #beerlife #bigskycountry #brewerycalendar #drinkcraftbeer #beerculture #beerphotography #craftbeerlover #holidaygift #beerstagram #craftbeerlife #beer #beergirl #montanagirl #shoplocal #montanalife #montanabeer #christmasgift #montanabrewery #montanamagazine #beercalendar #montanamoment #nonprofitfundraising #halloweekend #tbt

Traveling for beer means a lot of road miles. Many of which are after the sun has gone. It doesn’t mean I dread the drive, it just means instead of looking at the stunning Montana views I get to rock out! Hidden pleasure: jamming to @floggingmolly #itravelforcraftbeer #roadlife #rockinout #singalongs #craftbeerlover #beerstagram #craftbeerlife #406beer #beergirl #montanagirl #montanalife #montanabeer #montanabrewery #montanamagazine #beermagazine #montanamoment #montanacraftbeer #montanawomanmagazine #craftbeer #mtbeer #drinkcraft #drinklocal #406 #406life #beerlife #bigskybeer #drinkcraftbeer #beerculture #beerlover #beerphotography

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