I will be flying in to Missoula and spending time with some friends in the area, are there any good bottle shops or beer bars you guys can recommend?
Beer bar = The Rhino (50 taps, had all 12 Sierra Nevada Base Camp beers at once) Bottle shops = Summer Sun (by Draught Works) for best price and great selection, Worden's (pricey but can find some gems) Breweries = Great Burn Brewing opened one week ago and has an incredible Black IPA and smoked Porter
You're gonna have a blast first of all, Missoula is an awesome place. I was just there two weeks ago visiting a friend (my second trip up). Whatever you do, make sure you find time to check out Kettlehouse - they're always putting new stuff on cask at both locations. Drink plenty of Cold Smoke!
Big Sky is pretty off the beaten path though and they don't serve pints, plus they have a pretty wide distro.
Worth at least mentioning that you do get 4 pretty healthy sized samples (for free) and they have numerous brewery-only beers on tap. Big Sky was a good stop I thought. Kettlehouse (both) also recommended. Draught Works was a real nice surprise - will definitely spend more time there next time. Bayern was meh (beer and food) imo
Valid point, the samples at Big Sky and the brewery itself do make for a cool trip. Kettlehouse is my place though! I never come home without a few 8-packs of Cold Smoke.
