Blackfoot River Brewing, Helena, MT

Glacier National Park was not kind to us. We hit REALLY bad weather, it was horribly crowded, we broke a few things on the RV, and the weather was REALLY bad.  Did I mention the weather was bad?  Coming from Central Oregon, we are not bothered by a little rain, but this put a damper on our visit.  While Monday’s lightning storm was fun to watch, the wind, rain, sleet and snow that followed were not appreciated.  We had three days of miserable storminess before we finally called it quits.

So we tucked our tails between our legs and headed for warmer climates, which meant Helena.  I have been following Alan over at Growler Fills, and received a strong recommendation to visit Blackfoot River Brewing.  While Alan is based on Missoula, he stressed my need to visit BRB.  After a quick visit to the state capital, we headed over.

I had not been to Helen in over 30 years and was impressed by the downtown area of the city.  It is an old mining/gold rush town and many old brick buildings have been restored and renovated. Like other Montana breweries, BRB offers only beer and if you are hungry, popcorn.  But the layout of the brewery was one of the better I had seen in a while.  The ground floor held the bar and taps, with all of the brewing equipment visible behind large glass windows.  The bar had a special place in line for growler fills and each fill included a free 8 oz. beer or a $2.00 pint.  They must fill a lot of growlers as every one had a number assigned to it before filling.  They also had a spacious upstairs area with an outdoor patio. This was one of the more social breweries I have ever seen.

As for the beer, Alan was right.  At the suggestion of a local, I tried the Scotch Ale.  Strong, flavorful and good, but it did not mesh with the   high temps outside.  So I filled the growler with their signature brew, the Single Malt IPA.  This hit the spot.  While some IPA’s can have too strong of a flowery flavor, this was strong without overdoing it.  We loved it and the growler did not last the night.

This place might be the best brewery I have visited outside of Oregon.  It is in my top five of all time.  I recommend visiting Helena and BRB.