Blacksmith Brewing

Nice little spot located in a historic brick building on the main strip in Stevensville. Stopped in for a beer while my son and I were exploring the area.

The vibe is charming and rustic. Nice layout and design (I thought the open beam ceilings and the interior brick wall were cool). A few interesting things to look at while enjoying a brew, as they've incorporated pieces of old machinery, old snow shoes, etc into their decor. Clean, with ample seating as well. Probably the only place I've been to where the brewery logo has been incorporated into the bathroom sink- definitely unique!

Quality was decent. I ordered a glass of their hazy IPA, which wasn't quite my jam but not inherently bad. Also got a growler fill of the imperial red, which I had tried before and really enjoyed (recommendable if you're into the style!)

The service was good- nothing over the top, but solid. Pleasant beertender; offered me a few samples.

Beer selection was small-ish, but as to be expected with a brewery of this size. Right around 10 taps, but a pretty good spectrum of styles. With that being said, the offerings were fairly traditional styles (was hoping for something one-off/unique aside from the imperial red). No take-home options other than growler fills. Lots of merch available, though.

Overall, worth a stopover if you're in the area.

visit date: 06.23.23

cool old building downtown, feels historic and small towny, like there arent that many places like this around anymore, rural montana has so much charm in the right spots still, and this really does feel like an old barn or something inside, old brick on the outside, barnwood and neat wood beam trusses inside with a real rustic feel, pretty expansive too, bigger than it looks from the outside, and they have a significant patio space as well, really chill, old western frontier feeling, lots of awards on display, looks like they have done real well for themselves. a fine selection when we were in, nothing absurdly ambitious or anything, but i had a flavorful and summery mexican lager as well as a robust ipa, both well enough made, a little amateurish but in the flatting sort of way overall i think. this place is sort of like a time capsule, a real different vibe than i am used to where i live, and i liked how i felt in here. the beers were good and ive liked their beers ive had around montana too. service was fine, unremarkable and unexcited, but she poured the beer in the glass and was kind. this place is a vibe, and i was into it, definitely stop by here if you are in the area or passing through, old timey in an endearing way, excellent hopwater here too, not that easy to make a good one. ill go back when i am back through here for sure...

 

 

 

 

In Montana two weeks ago for a backpacking trip and stopped by the Blacksmith Brewery for a few post-hike beers. Must say that I was quite impressed.

Blacksmith doesn't bottle any of their beers, but have a pretty decent selection on tap. We tried four different beers and were pleased with all. Personally, I like the Pulaski Porter the best, but they do span many different styles.

The brewpub is aptly named being that they have remodeled the old Stevensville blacksmith shop to turn it into a brewery. They have a lot of historical blacksmith, and Stevensville, decor that gives the place an authentic old-town feel.

The place is almost always busy after 5:00, but they have to shut down at 8:00 (old Montana law) so get in there early to get a seat and get your four beers. The servers were all social yet efficient. They had a live band playing the last night we were there, and the place was packed with locals.

Great start for Blacksmith Brewing. I will certainly be back the next time I make it to Montana.

I had an afternoon in Missoula to kill and decided to head ~30 min south to begin my brewery tour of the area.

Blacksmith wound up being my best stop of the three breweries that I visited in the Missoula area (Bayern and Kettlehouse being the two others).

In Montana, all brewery tap rooms stop serving beer at 8:00 pm. They also limit you to something like 48 oz. per day. They will accompany your first beer with a ticket indicating how much you've had. At first I was hoping it was a "buy three, get one free" ticket. Not the case.

Blacksmith is located in an old, refurbished building with lots of wood and exposed brewing room. They had a pale and two different IPA's on tap which wins me over. While they had the Belgian-style glass rinsers, I caught a server pouring a new and different beer for a customer in their existing glass. Otherwise, service was very friendly and even printed out directions to my next brewery stop for me.

I highly recommend the short drive down from Missoula or if you happen to be in the area.