Harvest Moon Brewing -- Beltian White

As our epic poast-bar-exam road trip continued we made our way up to Kalispell, Montana to spend the night before a full day exploring Glacier National Park.  A popular chain in Montana is MacKenzie River Pizza. Co., and we had been to the one in Helena, so we knew it was a safe bet for a good dinner (FYI, the MacKenzie river is actually in Northwest Territory, Canada even though the pizza chain is a Montana chain with locations also in Washington, Idaho, and Indiana (random)).  They had Harvest Moon Brewing Company's Beltian White on tap so I had to order one having fallen in love with it two years ago.  It comes served with a slice of orange.  Kiki loves Beltian White.  She says it tastes like beer with fruit.  In short its light, crisp, fruity, has a brief linger, and is smooth and easy drinking.

MacKenzie River Pizza: Hot Hawaiian Pizza with Half Jalapenos = AMAZING

What I like about this beer is that it can fit so many different occasions.  The spiciness makes it great for holidays, or the fall, or the winter.  Its fruityness makes it perfect for the spring or summer.  Its refreshing after a long day.

What's up with the name "Beltian?"  Harvest Moon Brewing Company is in the town of Belt, Montana which is about 15 minutes outside the megaopolis of Great Falls, Montana (well, at 58,000 people Great Falls seems like a megaopolis comparied to Belt's 633 residents).  Beltian White is a Belgian-style wheat beer so its a play on words (thanks James I already figured that out).  Its made with malted barley and wheat, and Czechoslovakian and Saaz hops from the Pacific northwest.  The spiciness comes from coriander, and the frutiness is from orange peel.  Plus if you add a slice or orange, its like a flavor explosion.

Harvest Moon Brewing Company was started in 1996 by Stan Guedesse, a former homebrew supply store owner, and John Ballantyne, a former geologist and avid homebrewer.  Harvest Moon takes advantage its location which gets water from the Madison aquifer.  That's important because 90% of beer is water so you want good quality water.  Madison aquifer water is good because its the same water that gets bottled up and sold across the state.  Besides being centrally located in the state, Belt is in a high plains farming area and barley is grown only a few miles away.  Similar to Sierra Nevada Brewing, since its near farms, Harvest Moon Brewing recycles its mash by giving it to a local farmer to feed his hogs. 

Harvest Moon is still small enough that owners Stan and John can still be involved with every step of the process.  Despite the brewery's small size it's able to can its beer.  As I mentioned before, canning helps Montanans be able to recycle since they only have glass recycling twice a year.  Plus, cans keep the light out, they don't have to be stored vertically, you don't have to worry about the cap getting rusty, they're easier for the brewer to store and ship, you're not going to get broken glass if it breaks, and if you're enjoying the great outdoors you can crush it when you're done.

That said, we made sure to buy a couple 12-packs to take back with us to California.  Kiki suggested three cases, but I was concerned about space in our little two door car.  As usual, she was right and I wish I had more Beltian.

If this were sold in California I would drink this all the time, and I'm not normally a wheat beer person.

All in all, Beltian White is one of my favorite beers of all time.  Harvest Moon is smart to focus on its most popular beer for state-wide distribution.  I hope that Harvest Moon can grow enough to get its beer into other states.