Mountains Walking Brewery

Ohs, Bozeman. A couple of hours on the road today, not half of what we did yesterday coming out of Portland but still some road time. Dropped into the hotel to drop bags, talked the what what with the local folks, and set out for I don’t know what or where. Jon knows though, he’s been here before, his brother went to school here once upon a some time ago, so he’s got some places in mind. Haunts that haunt...

Standalone corner place with a ‘metric fuckload’ (an actual weight & measure now recognized in 23 states) of small children running around (go away!) Bypassed the seating wait and took space at the bar; phat wood plank topped long & straight, horizontal plank base, and a foot rail. Seating for a dozen on hightop wood seat steel chairs. 2 dozen handles logo’d and non-descript on a loooooooooong stainless panel on barback center. Glassware shelved below and dangling from the topside underside above. Pieces shelved above (medals, glassware, growls, a ski boot, hats, etc.) Untapped boards to both sides of the taps (beer, style, ABV, IBU, and pricing for pint, crowl, growl, and cans if applicable). A rail above tracing the bar with baby inlay spots.

Horizontal plank walls and inner ceiling area, and concrete floors. Large far wall windows with an overhang above the seating with spots. 2 super long shared tables; one off the bar horizontally and the other around the bend vertically, with a few shorter tables filling in the gaps in between (it’s somewhat Battleship-like). And then 3 step up booths on each end of the room, 6 hightops running the length along the far wall windows overlooking the slight outdoor seating area, and a single hightop shared to the rear fronting the kitchen. Merch corner and can cooler action a-happening.

Beer here, and a lot of ‘em. 24 taps, 18 of them beer (Beringia, Artic Pilsner, 5.3%; Nice Fella, Italian Pilsner, 5.4%; Yamabiko, Japanese Rice Lager, 5%; Damsel Fly Reel, Pale Ale, 5.3%; Daruma, American IPA, 6.5%; Gallatin Roar, Cold IPA, 6.5%; Junegrass, IPA, 6.5%; Kodama, Imperial IPA, 8.5%; Yabai Tanuki, Cold IPA, 6.5%; Grazing Clouds, NE IPA, 7%; Sky Flowers Hybrid Citrus IPA, NE IPA, 5.5%; Sky Flowers Hybrid Tropical IPA, NE IPA, 5.5%; BA Barleywine Fall ’22, English Barleywine, 10.9%; Bear Went Out Porter, American Porter, 5.4%; Dessert Cart - S’mores, Pastry Stout, 10.5%; Nitro Dessert Cart - BA Coffee Coconut Macadamia, Pastry Stout, 10% Twisted Karma - Mt Huckleberry, Fruited Sour, 5.3%; Sweets - Huckleberry Pie, Fruited Sour, 8%), and then things take a turn for the Hard Seltzer (Maji Mango on Draft 5/13, Hard Seltzer, 5%; Lychee Kozo, Hard Seltzer, 5%; Pine Appuru, Hard Seltzer, 5%; Yuzu Onna, Hard Seltzer, 5%), and the Slush (Fruited Beer Slush, Fruited Beer, 4.9%; Fruited Seltzer Slush, Hard Seltzer, 6.4%), +3 can pours (Helles, Mexican Lager, NE IPA), 6 Athletic N/A’s, & a Hop Water.

It’s a really good range and they’re doing some interesting things. I might have sampled through a few, uh huh (Yabai Tanuki, Cold IPA, tropical fruit, crisp, lightly bitter, Washburn loved it, he felt it was almost as good as his favorite Cold IPA, which is from Wayfinder; Beringia, Artic Pilsner, spicy, floral, & earthy; Nice Fella, Italian Pilsner, crisp, citrusy; Bear Went Out Porter, American Porter, rich, coffee, roast, & dark chocolate goodness; and Junegrass IPA, dank, crisp, & citrus solid. Am thinking Yabai Tanuki Cold IPA, Beringia Artic Pilsner, & Junegrass IPA for the wins, but really, there was nothing of the suck going on here.

And food being in order, I took in a cup of bison chili with shredded ched, fresh jalapeno, scallion (king of all onions), & sour cream served with a cilantro-scallion corn bread of goodness. It was ever so slightly kind of totally amazing. And dry rub wings, ‘cause they’re kind of my thing. Yum factor a lot. Jon went with Pecorino Truffle fries which he described as being ‘fucking fantastic’. I agree. Couldn’t decide which of the 2 sauces (curry aioli or house made ketchup) was better.

Chill scene this late afternoon, food to fix the head, and a few beers, just perfect. Someone knows what they’re doing here.

Has its own building near downtown. Twenty five taps, featuring its own beers plus guest brews, including quite a few non-alcoholic. Seating is at the long bar, tables, and booths. Large coolers have the to go beers, and singles are available. Outside patio. Small parking lot and nearby street parking. Busy but friendly staff. Food is available, including pizza.

Cool sheet steel building on the east side of town. Straight bar opposite the entrance seats about a dozen with tables and booths about the room. 17 beers and 3 can pours on tap, the 2 I had were very nice. Friendly, professional bartender. I did not try the food.

 

Just around the corner from Bozeman brewing, this new, chic brewery had a wonderful setting, was nice and airy with a variety of seating options. And of course their taplist is extraordinary. Attentive staff, great service. Food available and was very good. Must visit in Bozeman.

 

 

Nice modern open space with tons of windows. I thought it would be loud but the designer did a good job with the choice of materials.

There is an outdoor space and mid-sized bar inside. Plenty of tables so they can handle a pretty decent crowd. Speaking of crowd, it was a much younger crowd than the nearly adjacent Bozeman Brewery.

The beers were solid. As expected a lot of IPAs, sours and beers with lactose. They also offer several guest beers and craft seltzers. The pilsner was my favorite, but the mosaic IPA was no slouch.

We enjoyed our food and I thought they were pretty inventive with their ingredients.

Well worth a stop!

 

this place is really cool. part of the new wave of breweries, more of a modern flare here, even a designer look to the place, and some really hip and inventive beers, very tasty stuff, this is one of my favorite breweries in the state that i have been to so far, and i will be stoked to make it back in here at some point. its a cool space, smaller than i thought it would be from the outside, with neatly arranged lateral wood stripping around the whole place, concrete too, clever lighting, almost a nordic aesthetic or something, very cool, chic, yet inviting. they had a decent selection of beers in here, covering quite a bit of ground. i liked all of them that i had, the honey rye as a safer choice, the saison as a beautiful and drinkable clean take on the style, and the tin sky as a delicious yet trend following hazy beer driven by mosaic hops. the level of quality here stood out across the board, and that was also reflected in their small but thoughtful food menu. i had some killer spicy beef kebabs, and crave them again now as i write this. i want to go back for the wings too, they looked awesome. i wish i had more time to stay and hang, this is a great place, and i am sure they will be successful here with beers like this. service was solid too. great experience here! highly recommended.

Its taken these guys a little bit to get going, but they have rapidly developed into one of the best breweries in Montana. The service can be a bit spotty, but anywhere you go in Montana service can be hit or miss. Their food menu had a larger selection of items a few months ago but they have pared it back. I hope that they expand the menu a bit more in the future. But what makes this place shine is of course the beer. Grazing Clouds is one of the best IPAs produced in the state of Montana and it has garnered national attention by winning a gold medal at the most recent North American Beer Awards. As if that wasn't good enough they jut recently started producing Tin Sky, another Hazy IPA which showcases the Mosaic Hop. In my humble opinion it is better than Grazing Clouds. These guys have some exciting brews coming down the pipe and I am excited to see where they go from here. If you like beer and you are in Bozeman, Montana, Mountains Walking is a must for a delicious adult frosty malted beverage.