Hey all - the lady friend and I are road tripping from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons towards the end of next month. We'll be taking I90 out with a two night stop in Rapid City, SD, then spending a couple nights in the Tetons, a couple nights in Yellowstone and returning via MT and ND on I94 with an overnight stop somewhere around Dickinson, ND. I'm looking for recommendations on any of the following along our route: Breweries Brewpubs Bars with great (preferably local) craft beer selections Any brews worth trying to track down in liquor stores that don't get distributed to MN Thanks in advance!
Billings has some really great breweries and they are all very close to one another. Carters, Angry Hanks, Montana Brewing and Yellowstone valley are all good, especially Carters and Angry Hanks in my opinion. There is a new place in Billings called Uber brew, havent been there but have seen pictures and it looks really cool. Red Lodge ales in Red Lodge MT is very good. And as the previous post said Snake River in Jackson.
Near Rapid City (Custer actually) is Bitter Esters Brew House. They had 3 of their beers on tap last week with a decent selection of bottles as well. I had Red Medicine and Raw Beast from them. Both pretty good brews. Near Yellowstone/Teton is Grand Teton Brewing located in Victor, Idaho. Some very good beers there. Bitch Creek ESB is my favorite. It's a very small place and it's easy to miss as your driving by but worth the stop. In Missoula is Big Sky Brewing (Moose Drool / Trout Slayer) but I think those are available in the Twin Cities already. Decent liquor stores were hard to find in Rapid City but look for beer from Squatters Pub. I was able to find a Double IPA six pack for $9 and it was very good. I think it was called Hop Rising Double IPA. In reality, the scenery in Yellowstone/Tetons is such that any beer will be really good... Enjoy your trip.
Rapid City: Stores: Smith's Liquor - By far best selection in the area, Canyon Lake Liquor - Only other store with notable selection of craft. Bar: Independent Ale House - Good selection of locals. Vino 100 - Tends to be expensive, but has a good selection of Belgian stuff. Also a cigar bar, avoid if you can't stand smoke. Brewpub: Firehouse Brewing Company - food is quite good, beer is nothing special. Sorry, really not much in the area. Make sure you hit Crow Peak Brewing in Spearfish though, brewery that always has something interesting on tap, and is SD's only brewery to bottle (can). Chris
There was pretty cool place in Jackson Hole called Thai Me Up, they had a couple of their own brews and a pretty great tap & bottle llist. While we we there they had Le Terrior on tap, so I was pretty happy.
