It’s a rare thing for my editors to encourage me to talk about beer and even rarer for them to direct me to write about it. I don’t need an excuse to enjoy one of Montana’s hand-crafted beers, but to be able to defend something that is so robustly Montanan is a rare opportunity.

        Montana Sen. Ryan Zinke and I apparently share a similar affection for Montana brews as his proposed bill, Senate Bill 202, would shift operating hours of small brewery tasting rooms from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. to noon to 10 p.m. According to the Montana Brewer’s Association, who supports the measure, the bill would not increase operating hours of tasting rooms, would align with neighboring state laws and would match Montana winery laws, which have no serving hour restrictions.
        According to Montana state law, a “small brewery is a brewery that has an annual nationwide production of not less than 100 barrels or more than 10,000 barrels.” Current provisions exempt small breweries from expensive cabaret license requirements with which bars and restaurants must comply, so long as they serve only “samples” of their products. This “sample” translates to the 48-ounce, or three pint, limit that many patrons are all too familiar with.
        The Bozeman Chronicle recently reported that Joe Domanski, owner of Spectators and the Pour House, has dropped Montana microbrews from his taps in protest of the proposed measure. Domanski perceives the bill as unfairly encroaching on the markets of those bars and restaurants that pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for their cabaret licenses.

What market, however, do Spectators, the Pour House and similar establishments actually serve, and are they really jostling for the attention of the same potential patron?

Small breweries provide only the product that they produce on the same site they brew and ferment. This connection to the process is precisely why many beer-lovers visit tasting rooms. The Pour House, however, provides an atmosphere similar to a frat house basement while Spectators is no different from any other sports bar.

This isn’t to say that small brewery customers don’t fulfill their own stereotypes. More out-of-town license plates are found in small-brewery parking lots than anywhere else, and those plates are typically bolted to Audis. Besides the trust-funders, most patrons visit small brewery tasting rooms not because they need a drink, generally, but rather because they crave a pint of some new concoction that is exclusive to that specific brewery.

The microbrew is a beautiful thing. It is the aggregate of a community’s toil, time, tradition and taste--the delicate melding of local agriculture and community knowledge, all of which fit conveniently in a clear pint glass.

Additionally, small breweries are often locally owned and operated, purchase local ingredients and produce a beer that is adapted to local climate, like winter ales or summer lagers, and local taste.

To drop local brews in favor of beers shipped hundreds of miles from Colorado, Washington or Oregon does little more than deny something uniquely Montanan from the lips of the thirsty. Cheers to you, Sen. Zinke, for supporting the microbrew. Your next one is on me.