Big Sky Brewing Company

Microbrewery in Missoula, Montana, United States 🇺🇸
Associated Venue: Big Sky Brewing Company

Established in 1995

Contact
5417 Trumpeter Way PO Box 17170, Missoula, MT, MT 59808, United States
Description
Big Sky Brewing Company was started by Neal Leathers, Bjorn Nabozney, and Brad Robinson. Brad and Neal had been homebrewers in Michigan since the mid 1980’s, and had moved to Missoula with a group of friends in the summer of 1990. In 1993 they started to set up a brewery. After about a year and a half, Big Sky Brewing Company had enough cash in the bank and a large enough bank loan to begin purchasing equipment and renovating its original location at 120-A Hickory Street. We brewed our first batch of beer in mid-June of 1995.

The company was a draft only brewery (no bottled beer) for its first five and a half years. We brewed everything on Hickory Street, but we realized that to really become a regional player we had to find a way to put our beer into bottles. in early 2002 we broke ground on a new brewery on Trumpeter Way just north of Missoula’s airport. We began brewing in the new brewery in September of 2002 and started bottling our beer there in January of 2003. Since then, we have been where we always wanted to be, brewing and packaging all of our beer right here in Missoula.

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8.1
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 9

Can from Corti Bros. Pours dark brn/blk with a small creamy tan head that didn't persist. Aroma of chocolate and bourbon. Full bodied. Not dry but avoids sticky. Fair amount of heat. Burnt malt, chocolate and bourbon for flavor. Good stuff.

Tried from Can from Corti Brothers on 25 Jan 2026 at 00:56


7.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8

Tried on 26 Jul 2025 at 18:51


6.4
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 5.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6

Review based on the BJCP2021 guidelines (style 19C). can 35.5 cl - Batch 309243 (BB: undeclared). AROMA: medium-low malt aroma (slight caramel) with medium-low fruity notes (lemony--like). APPEARANCE: dark amber color and clear. medium beige head, creamy, with good retention. TASTE: medium-low malt flavor (slight chocolate, nutty and caramel). medium-low bitterness with a semi-dry finish. MOUTHFEEL: medium-low body with medium carbonation. OVERALL: a regular american brown ale.

Tried from Can on 01 Jul 2025 at 15:21


8.3
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8.5

12 oz can from Total Wine, Las Vegas, NV. Pours a hazy orange-bronze color with an off-white head and great retention. Good lacing. Strong caramel malt aroma. The taste follows the nose: Caramel-forward flavor with some bready notes in the finish. Not quite as smooth as I expected. Older can? Medium body and medium carbonation. Light bitterness. It just tastes a little past it's prime.

Tried from Can on 01 May 2025 at 23:48


6.4
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 7

Big Sky Brown Ale. $3 can from giant eagle moon coraopolis. Pour is darker brown yet clear with a nice tan foamy head. Nose is malty sweet. First taste is a mildly roasted malt followed by the same sweetness I detected on the nose. This stuff is initially going down really easy and I'm liking this dark beer. Yes it has some ale bitter attributes but they are laid back and not in yer face. After a difficult work related task, this stuff is quite a good reward. However, after the middle and towards the end that burnt ale bitterness is starting to build, its peaking out from behind the curtain. Oh well, anyway it ends with a satisfying solid foundation of good dark beer. Overall, not bad, maybe better than expected for a brown ale.
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Tried from Can from Giant Eagle - Moon Township on 02 Apr 2025 at 18:04


6.8
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5

Aroma is candied mango, mango smoothie. Taste has a moderate pithy bitterness backed by the candy sweetness from the mango.

Tried from Can on 08 Mar 2025 at 19:22


7.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Deep brown in color with a three-finger light tan head. Aroma is a lot or malts with hints of mocha and toffee. Taste is also mocha and toffee.

Tried on 21 Jan 2025 at 05:38


7.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

12 ounce can from the brewery, 8/23/24. Clear gold, large white head, average retention. Aroma of bready malt, corn, Noble hops. Taste is Noble hops, bready malt, Crisp, well balanced. Nice pils.

Tried from Can on 11 Jan 2025 at 07:31


6.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

12 ounce can from the brewery, 8/23/24. Clear pink-ish amber, large light purple head, good retention. Aroma of sweet berries (huckle I assume), wheat. Taste is the same, with maybe some grape jelly notes. Slightly medicinal. Huckleberries are a thing up here, but I'm not sure I'm a fan. Decent beer.

Tried from Can on 11 Jan 2025 at 07:30


7.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

19.2 ounce can from the brewery, 8/23/24 . Clear gold, large white head, average retention. Aroma of mango, passionfruit, pale malt. Taste is pineapple, mango, tropical fruit, pale malt. Juicy, low bitterness.

Tried from Can on 11 Jan 2025 at 07:30