Missoula and : a history Alex Sakariassen

When Missoula trademark attorney Bob reverie didn't stop there. Lukes fielded Lukes revived the decades-dead stories for the next year, by letter and by Highlander beer brand in May 2008, he email, from folks across the country. advertised a simple request in the com- Some shared childhood memories of munity: He wanted stories. Lukes had local businesses running contests on the already seen plenty of memorabilia from radio, each offering the winner a the old Missoula Brewing Company's Highlander sixer. Others recalled their standard brew - bottles, cans, boxes, teenage years working at the brewery, signs, old tap handles, etc. - but the unloading 100-pound sacks of barley self-proclaimed beer history buff lacked from railcars and washing glass bottles the backroom anecdotes that made that were recycled five, six, even seven Highlander Missoula's go-to brew for times a day. more than half a century. Lillis Waylett, now of Decatur, Texas, I moved up here in '85, and I was just responded to Lukes' plea with page upon loving the place and the history of the page of backroom brewery history. He place and wanting to learn more [Lukes remembered seasoned workers packing says]. I started seeing this Highlander lunches of pretzels, cheese, chips or stuff. You go out to Fuddruckers (a smoked whitefish, ‘anything to go along hamburger franchise) and in one corner with a quart or two of beer.’ Employees of it they've got this big collection of cans, even had their own large pails, which or you're in the Missoula Club (a small they filled several times a day at a tapped local restaurant chain) and they've got keg of Highlander. Bill Steinbrenner, that neon sign and painting … It just kind whose grandfather co-founded Missoula of got my fancy. Brewing Co. after the repeal of prohibi- tion, says beer was essentially ‘part of So shortly after Highlander's return at their wages.’ the 2008 Garden City BrewFest, Lukes hosted a small bash at Sean Kelly's, an The overwhelming response from a Irish pub in the north-east of the city, thirsty and grateful public convinced with an open invite to any former Lukes he'd done the right thing bring- Missoula Brewing Co employee. And the ing Highlander back to the taps. But

16 Journal of the Brewery History Society Missoula's history of beer goes well brand officially hit the market in 1910, beyond that signature blend of hops and enjoying a decade-long reign before the barley. has been a vital thread US Congress passed the Volstead Act in the fabric of the nation's beer industry in 1919. since the late 1800s. The emergence of craft breweries and the ever-increasing Prohibition spelled the end for Montana's popularity of taprooms has only strength- early hey-day of beer. Garden City ened our devotion to that heritage or, Brewery held on for several years, pro- rather, to that smooth, heady liquid so ducing soda and near-beer. But just favored by local residents. days after President Franklin Roosevelt's repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Highlander Missoula, Montana, in the western United brewing operations kicked back into States, in the early 1870s contained a gear under the newly re-founded and population of just over 100, hardly renamed Missoula Brewing Company. enough to fill a downtown bar on a Friday The beer was once again a hit, generat- night these days. Half of the existing 66 ing fierce loyalty among drinkers across buildings had been constructed after western Montana and catching the 1869. The Northern Pacific Railroad and attention of West Coast beer mogul subsequent building boom was still a Emil Sick. Sick, the son of brewing pio- decade off, making the Garden City every neer Fritz Sick, inherited family interest bit a frontier town. in the highly successful and multination- al Rainier Brewing Company shortly after Yet commercial brewing started as early the repeal of Prohibition. He spent much as 1874 under George Gerber, and as of the late '30s and early '40s expanding the town grew, the demand for beer his beer portfolio, acquiring both the skyrocketed. The Missoula Brewing Co. and the Great Falls opened in 1893, ushering in additional Breweries - producers of the popular drinkers, and by 1900 Missoula's popu- Great Falls Select - in 1944. Highlander lation numbered more than 4,000. That's remained under the umbrella of Sick's about the time barflies got an official Rainier empire for nearly 20 years. name to go with Gerber's beer: Garden City Brewery. Like all rural communities Bill Steinbrenner never concerned him- of the day, Missoula relied on local pro- self much with the broader business ducers for its goods and beer was no interests at the Missoula Brewing Co. His exception. More than 30 breweries grandfather, William Steinbrenner, had statewide started up in growing commu- helped bring the Highlander name back nities like Philipsburg and Anaconda to Missoula in 1933. But Bill Steinbrenner during the latter half of the 19th century. stuck to the brewery floor, working sum- Bars in Missoula sold bottles delivered mers on the bottle line like so many fresh from Garden City, and the Highlander other local teenagers. It was just another

Brewery History Number 142 17 job opportunity, he says, like timber You had your milk delivered to your door, and industry or mine work - except it had cer- same with your beer. tain perks. Sick's purchase of the Missoula Brewing There were just tons of people in the state of Co gradually changed the localized Montana who had worked at the brewery for character of Highlander. Signs painted various summers between the '40s and 1960 on buildings across the state proclaimed or so [says Steinbrenner, now 73]. One it 'Montana's Favorite.' The company reason people wanted to work at the brewery altered its advertising strategy in the '50s, was you could drink all the beer you wanted, adopting the now-familiar tartan label. no problem - as long as you didn't get drunk Montana had already established itself as on a union contract. a player in the country's beer industry with Leopold Schmidt, who created Steinbrenner remembers the typical Centennial Brewing in Butte in 1879 first-day gig for prospective employees. before moving west to found the Olympia High school or college kids would unload Brewing Company in . The 100-pound sacks of barley from railcars, growing distribution of Highlander before moving on to work the heavier through the Rainier network made the bottle-washing machinery. Steinbrenner brand a regional favorite and further says the former task weeded out about solidified the state's role in US brewing 20 percent of the applicants. history.

By Steinbrenner's account, beer had a However, this second wind in Missoula drastically different presence in Missoula brewing was also destined to end. Sick society during the 1940s and '50s. The began shedding his beer assets in the high cost of transporting beer long dis- early '60s, among them his entire tances meant the lion's share of draft beer Montana portfolio. Rainier's in Missoula was Highlander. Occasionally brewery continued producing Highlander Steinbrenner, who says he had his first for a short time, but the brand died com- sip of beer at age two, got a taste of pletely in 1964, when Missoula Brewing something else from the region. But beer Co. closed its facility at the base of was unpasteurized then, giving it a short Waterworks Hill to clear the way for shelf life and necessitating daily deliver- Interstate 90. The costs of transporting ies of fresh bottles and kegs. beer through the Rocky Mountain West and competing with national conglomer- When I was a kid, the only were ates simply became too great. One by Highlander, Kessler out of Helena, Rocky one, Montana's other breweries folded, Mountain out of Anaconda and maybe Butte with the last - Great Falls Breweries, then Special [Steinbrenner says]. The beers were owned by Blitz-Weinhard - shutting down all very local. It was like the dairy business. in 1968.

18 Journal of the Brewery History Society The disappearance of localized brew- [Head says]. Same with a six-pack of eries across Montana resulted in a 20- Heineken or Beck's. year dry spell for the state, an era punctuated by what Worden's Market (a So when a seeming novelty began to long-established grocery store in the emerge in the Missoula beer market in north east) owner Tim France calls 'brand the late '80s, no one knew quite what to loyalty.' Large companies like Anheuser- think. introduced the Busch, Rainier and Olympia replaced city to the unique flavor of craft beer in hometown brews with mass-produced 1987, a bold move by German master- American pilsners. Community radio brewer Jürgen Knöller that both Head contests ceased, gimmicky local beer and France recognized as an opportunity products became memorabilia. France to turn local drinking culture on its head. says Montana drinkers chose a big-name beer and stuck to it. Rainier had its run, What I saw a lot were people who were as did Lucky , each generating a willing to drink up and enjoy something over die-hard following that drank for the a longer period of time, rather than just get drink, not for the taste. 'Nobody talked a glow and drink as much as possible about Oly or Rainier or anything,' France [Head says]. They were willing to buy up says. 'It was just a given.' When he first and drink less. bought Worden's Market 30 years ago, France sold about 6,000 kegs annually. Worden's Market and the Rhino teamed Whether it was fraternity rush parties or a with Bayern and the Iron Horse Brew night with the guys, 'beer was the social Pub - the microbrewery's partner at the lubricant.' People just drank to drink, time - in 1993 to host the first BRIWFest France says, end of story. in Caras Park (the first initial of the four businesses' names made up the Rhinoceros bar owner Kevin Head first acronym). The event featured some 20 arrived in Missoula for college in 1977, in breweries from throughout the region, the days when Olympia and Rainier were Head says, and helped expand the more widely accepted with local crowds community's awareness of fine craft beer. than the likes of Budweiser and Miller. The foursome eventually handed the Imports were a luxury back then, Head event off to the Missoula Downtown says, something strictly reserved for Association, creating the annual Garden those rare moments when beer was more City BrewFest. than just a social norm. It's been a very welcome change, and it's It used to be that if you went over to a been a lot of fun [Head says]. There's a real friend's house and went into a refrigerator experience in trying new things now, whereas and they had a six-pack of Michelob, you before, you knew what you liked and that's would ask, ‘Well, what's the occasion?’ what you went for.

Brewery History Number 142 19 Figure 1. , Missoula, Montana.

Figure 2. The bottling line at Big Sky Brewing Company.

20 Journal of the Brewery History Society Figure 3. Kevn Keeter, Director of Procurement at Big Sky Brewing Company, heads up the ladder to inspect the brewing process.

Brewery History Number 142 21 That change came slow at first. When largest impact we had on any beer Neal Leathers, Bjorn Nabozney and Brad [Nabozney says]. We took 65 Rainier handles Robinson entered the local scene by within a couple weeks of starting the brewery. founding Big Sky Brewing in 1995, Talk about a strange switch, from Rainier to Rainier still held the monopoly on local craft beer. taps. Big Sky's debut brew, Whistling Pig Red , appeared at a number of region- When Big Sky started brewing at its al brewfests to mixed reviews. Leathers former Hickory Street location, there says the culture in the west at that time were fewer than 600 microbreweries didn't instill much confidence in the established nationwide. But the early chances of local craft beer making it big. successes of Bayern and Big Sky gave the industry a strong foothold. Tim We came in in that deadzone when O'Leary founded the Kettlehouse Brew- Highlander was gone[says Leathers, who ing Company as a brew-on-premise moved to Missoula from Michigan in 1990]. operation the same year Big Sky opened. When we came in here, because I was For its first few years, Kettlehouse acted already a homebrewer and into craft beer, it as a community homebrew location, was great just having Bayern Brewing. But I where individuals could craft their own don't think aside from Bayern there was batches of beer. anything I associated with Missoula beside the keggers, and even that was before my O'Leary says he'd grown familiar with the time. That was sort of the beer-drinking model while living in Boulder, Colorado - culture-big parties. already a hotbed for microbrewing by the early '90s. The idea worked, until the Head at the Rhino had already given demand for craft beer by local bars and microbrews a shot when Bayern came on drinkers overwhelmed the number of to the scene, increasing the number of homebrew enthusiasts taking advantage available drafts at the bar from three to of the Kettlehouse facility. Greater busi- six to accommodate local tastes. But ness interests prevailed, and O'Leary those at Big Sky were surprised how began using the building on Myrtle Street quickly Missoula's prevailing attitudes to market a line of brews. toward beer morphed, making way for what most devout brew-a-holics hail as Kettlehouse was an instant hit with clas- Montana's microbrew renaissance. Bars sic American styles like Eddy Out Pale that once had two draft beers now had Ale. But the brewery quickly established four or five, and craft beers were even a reputation for being edgy and experi- bumping domestics off the taps. mental, implementing new-to-Missoula ingredients like hemp in the brewing Rainier was still the hot number, and in process. O'Leary says local business Missoula alone that was, I think, the single owners proved an invaluable asset to

22 Journal of the Brewery History Society early success at Kettlehouse, with bars ty generated by on-premise sales. By like the Rhino eager to open taps to even January 2000, after a contentious battle the strangest beer. O'Leary even credits in the Legislature, O'Leary says ‘we were the Rhino for coming up with the name able to sell the first pint beer from a tap- for his popular hemp porter, Olde room in Montana.’ Bongwater. The ability for microbreweries that pro- One obstacle still stood in the way of seri- duced fewer than 10,000 barrels a year ous expansion, however: Microbreweries to sell customers 48 ounces of beer - or could produce beer, but they couldn't three pints - opened the industry flood- legally sell pints on-site. Most breweries gates. More than a dozen breweries allowed customers to fill growlers in the cropped up over the subsequent decade, '90s, allowing the growing hoards of loyal including taprooms in small towns like drinkers to take their craft beer home. Stevensville, Lakeside and Wibaux. Still, O'Leary says selling beers straight According to the Montana Brewers from the taproom was a pivotal marketing Association, founded in 1998, Montana's tool to lobby for, and represents one of 25 micobreweries produce more than the greatest hurdles the local beer indus- 70,000 barrels of beer a year, employ try has faced in decades. In addition to roughly 200 residents and distribute to 19 helping business, the taproom acts as a states. ‘Petri dish,’ he says, or a place to test new brews before adding recipes to the The sudden spike in Montana micro- regular line-up. breweries mirrors in a large way what's happening to beer culture across the We had people that just wanted to come country. Craft brewers nationwide sold in and drink a beer [O'Leary says]. We'd over 9 million barrels of beer in 2009, and say, 'Well, we can give you [space] and 1,595 microbreweries are now in opera- you can brew your own and when you tion - the most since before Prohibition, bottle it you can sample your own bottle.' according to the national Brewers But people wanted brew pubs in this Association. state, and when your customers are asking for something, if you're a smart The newness of it all, it was like a little toy in business person you give it to them. Montana [Nabozney says of the growth statewide]. People thought the whole idea, In 1999, O'Leary helped lead the fight to the whole concept of craft beer was just rewrite Montana's laws governing tap- pretty cool. rooms. The Kettlehouse's growth had been hindered by the state's limitations, Head credits the rising popularity of craft and O'Leary believes the brewery would beers in Missoula partly to the interest not have made it without the brand loyal- and ingenuity of local brewers. Mostly

Brewery History Number 142 23 Figure 4. Filling barrels in the basement of the north side Kettle House, Missoula, Montana.

24 Journal of the Brewery History Society Figure 5. Kettle House brewer, Colleen Bitter, checks the brew process at the north side.

Figure 6. Tommy Patches, brewer, pulls a sample from a vat of reduced gluten Seeley Axe White beer, south side Kettle House.

Brewery History Number 142 25 though, he says Missoula's tastes Competition is good. It raises the bar. It evolved. The average citizen is more raises the expectations of all the beer worldly these days, and most college drinkers. kids have grown up with one or two brew pubs in their hometowns. Like the Rainier That competition continues to spur years, there's a shifting loyalty. Only this growth in Missoula. Kettlehouse gained time it's shifting back toward the local so much popularity in the region that product. O'Leary opened a second brewery location on North First Street in spring As people have come to enjoy a good 2008, largely to meet distribution beer, they've come to demand more demands. choice [Head says]. When [the Rhino] first started, most of the places had two, maybe Did I ever think it would go to this? No. I three beers on tap. That was it. I think would have been happy to be 3,000 to you'll find now, because of the micros, that 4,000 barrels keeping my buddies in most have five to 10 on tap. That specifically canned beer for their ski trips [O'Leary is because the people are demanding it. says]. It's only icing on the cake that there's They'll go to the bars that have it. People's a demand for it in western Montana, and expectations have changed. Their palates in the region. We can't send beer to have changed, and they want the better Billings yet because we want to make sure stuff. we don't run Missoula out of beer if the beer switch really turns on. At Worden's, France says many con- sumers have simply grown bored with Big Sky, already the largest producer of domestics. But the danger of boredom Montana beer, can't stop growing either. also applies to the microbrews. Big Sky, The brewery currently distributes across Kettlehouse and Bayern all need to most of the western , from release seasonals and specials on a the coast all the way to Minnesota. In constant rotation to stay competitive and 2009, Big Sky produced 36,500 barrels of hold the attentions of consumers. beer - an increase of about 10% from 2007. With local passion for craft brews Any of the local breweries would be the as strong as it is, Leathers says he's even first to admit a competitive edge to the surprised Missoula hasn't given rise to local industry. But they're just as quick to a fourth brewery. [Since this interview point out how vital each is to the contin- was conducted, two western Montana ued success of the others. breweries have opened branch locations in . And a fourth It's a very symbiotic relationship that all us Missoula-based microbrewery - Draught breweries have with each other [Nabozney Works - intends to open in an old says]. We're dependent on each other ... Westside warehouse by fall 2011.]

26 Journal of the Brewery History Society While the mass-produced domestics So many people here have a story about, won't disappear anytime soon, the return 'I remember that's all my dad used to to prominence of fresh, local brew makes drink,' or stories about their grandfather Missoula's beer culture seem somewhat [Lukes says]. People come up to me and cyclical. Though the recipe may be differ- say, 'We were remodeling our house last ent, and though the beer is now brewed year and we opened up this wall and there in Whitefish at Great Northern Brewery, were 30 cans of Highlander in there. The the triumphant return of the Highlander workers must have just put the cans in the name goes a long way in proving the wall.' I've heard that story about a dozen point. times.

Based on the community's initial strong Clearly the Missoula community never reception to the new Highlander, he host- really let Highlander go. Or perhaps it's ed a 100th anniversary, full-on Celtic bash just that sudsy allure of beer, whatever for the brew in July 2010 in Caras Park. the brand. France sums it up perfectly. Lukes hosted the second annual Celtic ‘It's the culture, man,’ he says. ‘It's the Festival Missoula on 20 July 2011, short- history.’ ly after announcing that Highlander would appear on store shelves in a spe- Head prefers a conclusion that's a tad cial 22-ounce bottle in August. It's the more grand, though in no way overstated first time Highlander has been available for those with an unquenchable thirst: in a bottle since 1964. ‘Beer is universal.’

One of the Missoula beer moments that really pops out for Lukes occurred A version of this article appeared in the downtown on a summer afternoon short- Missoula Independent, 29 April 2010 ly after Highlander's return. Lukes was cruising in a vintage truck tagged with Acknowledgement Highlander's tartan label and caught the eye of an elderly man who, upon seeing All photographs by Cathrine L Walters the familiar brand name, rushed home to www.cathrinewaltersphotography.com retrieve an old Missoula Brewing Co box.

Brewery History Number 142 27