I'm still not done recapping all the beers from our road trip. We finally made it to a brewery I've been wanting to go to for the last couple years: Blackfoot River Brewing in beautiful Helena, Montana. My friend Beau informed us that everyone that comes into Helena, Montana has to make their appearance at Blackfoot. Beau also warned us that Blackfoot is where all the yuppies in Helena hang out. He was definitely right about the yuppies, and man do they ever keep that place in business. We went on a Tuesday evening and the place was packed.
How did it get that way? In the mid '90s the founders started home brewing in a basement. Ultimately, they decided to make a go of it and presented a business plan to a bank to get some money, and in 1998 opened the brewery in what used to be a garage. They were there until 2008 when they had grown large enough to build their current taproom where a parking lot used to be next to the brewery. Its a great location on the south side of downtown Helena. The tap room has a really great atmosphere for hanging out so I can see why its popular with yuppies, although it does get a bit of a cross section of various hippies, middle-aged and older folk, etc. They also have free popcorn like Grand Teton Brewing.
The taproom has a bunch of photos of yesteryear to set the ambiance. This one is of Helena's now extinct Kessler Brewing Company.
Montana has some strange beer laws, although not as strange as Utah. From what I understand, in Montana people are limited to only having three pints at a tap room (don't quote me on that). That in turn limits how big taprooms make their samplers. Blackfoot sells four of the four ounce tasters for $4.50. What we did, per the bar tender's suggestion, is I ordered one and Kiki ordered one so we could try all seven of the beers they had on tap, and then we doubled up on the cream ale.
Here's what was on tap and how they stacked up:
Single Malt IPA -- 6.8% ABV -- light straw color, it's light on the hops, light body, and it doesn't really taste like an IPA. In short, I was not impressed. Beau informed me that Blackfoot's IPA used to be their signature beer, but then they changed the recipe. The cliche rings true: if its not broke then don't fix it.
Cream Ale -- 4.9% ABV -- this was the lightest beer, and it was too light because there wasn't much taste. there was a slight hint of lager flavor and a little cream taste at the end, but it was almost like drinking carbonated water. One star out of five.
Kolsch (imagine two dots over the "o") -- 5.2% ABV -- Kiki described the Kolsch as like drinking "spiced Budweiser." I thought it tasted a little like Bud with a hint of lime. In any event, there wasn't much flavor.
OPA (Organic Pale Ale) -- 5.6% ABV -- copper in color and a little hoppy, but another beer without much flavor
Amber Ale -- 5.5% ABV -- a little malty, a little spicy, a little creamy. This was the best one they had in my opinion, but it still wasn't great.
Blue Collar Bitter -- 6.4% ABV -- for a beer that has "bitter" in the name it wasn't very bitter, and for being called "blue collar" it was all white collar people there. This beer was more on the malty side, but was pretty unremarkable for a beer over 6% ABV.
North Fork Organic Porter -- 6.8% ABV -- lots of coffee flavor giving this porter a burnt flavor, but it still had a light body. At least this one had more flavor than the others but it would have been better if it wasn't so burnt tasting.
All in all, Blackfoot has a nice setup, a good location, is a cool place to hang out, and it has a welcoming atmosphere. The drawback, however, is that the beer disappoints. Whether its more malts, or more hops, or being creative with ingredients, they need to do something to distinguish themselves. Right now Blackfoot is all about image and being a cool place to hang out. On the bright side, Blackfoot has all the pieces in place, and if it revamped the recipes it could be a great brewery, but until then it will just be an attractive facade with sub-par beer.
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