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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6.5/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 7
Can from Darby’s Liquor, Vancouver
Hazy blond color with small head. Dry mouthfeel but not weak, with delicate malt aroma and flavor; the hopping provides enough bitterness but not much quality, just a light citrusy touch and some mild resins.
But in this warm summer afternoon it works very well.
Tried from Can on 16 Jul 2014 at 16:34

5.9/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 5.5
Bottle from Metro Liquor, Victoria
Hazy blond color with small head. Both aroma and flavor have a paper character; the body is thin; it has a light citrusy touch, and correct bitterness.
Boring.
Tried from Bottle on 13 Jul 2014 at 10:52

8.4/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 9 Texture 8 Overall 8.5
Draft - Vintage 2012 - Toffee, wood notes, vanilla and a nice caramel sweetness. Clear copper with a rich beige head. Dark cherry, toffee and oak notes. Really nice.
Tried from Draft on 10 Jul 2014 at 11:33

6.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 7
Bottle pour. Pours golden with a sweet, bready aroma. Flavor is a lot of sweet caramel and bread. Wheat flavors throughout. Very light beer, and all flavor is really mild. Very easy drinking, and fitting for the nice weather, but expected a little more from this one. Not bad. I’d drink it again. Update: I did drink again. Much better experience on draft at the collective. Pretty good.
Tried from Bottle on 06 Jul 2014 at 13:55

6.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 6.5
Bottle. Pours a hazy yellow color with a small white head. Has a fruity malty spicy yeasty aroma. Fruity malty spicy yeasty flavor with weak hints of citrus. Has a fruity malty spicy yeasty finish.
Tried from Bottle on 06 Jul 2014 at 08:07

8/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8
12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 3/13/2014. Pours crystal clear deep reddish brown color with a 2 finger dense light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Spotty soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big caramel, chocolate, cocoa, toast, toffee, brown sugar, nuttiness, light roast, herbal, and toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roasted malt and light earthy hop notes; with good strength. Taste of caramel, chocolate, cocoa, toast, toffee, brown sugar, nuttiness, light roast, herbal, and toasted earthiness. Minimal bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, chocolate, cocoa, toast, toffee, brown sugar, light nuttiness, light roast, and toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Damn nice balance and complexity of dark/roasted malt and light earthy hop flavors; with great robustness and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth and fairly creamy/bready mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is well hidden with zero warming present after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice brown ale. All around good robustness and balance of dark/roasted malt and light earthy hop flavors; and very smooth and crisp to drink. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried from Bottle on 27 Jun 2014 at 18:46

7.5/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 8
Draft pour. Pours a dark orange with a sweet, boozy aroma. Very sweet malt flavor with some citrus fruit and caramel. Pretty boozy this one is. Good flavor though, and a solid beer overall
Tried from Draft on 26 Jun 2014 at 19:30

7/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 6
Bottle @ pussy palace. Pours a hazy light yellow appearance with a white head. Pretty spicy, hay, a bit dusty, lightly corny aroma. Lemon, straw, slightly sweet, white peppery, yeasty flavor. Alright.
Tried from Bottle on 20 Jun 2014 at 20:59

6.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 7
Bottle thanks to a trade! Pours a clear light gold with a white head that dissipates to the edges. Aroma has lots of bread and grain with underlying grass, light fruits and a bit of Belgian yeast. Flavor has a good amount of sweet grains with light fruits and some Belgian yeast.
Tried from Bottle on 20 Jun 2014 at 20:42