About
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.
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.
6.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
12oz Bottle pours out gold topped with a nice white head. Aroma of malt and a little sweetness. Tast wa spretty good, of light hops a little sweetness. Another good summer drinker from Big Sky.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Jul 2008
at 13:25
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
12oz Bottle Pours out a cloudy amber topped with a white head. A nice light crisp aroma of floral hops and a little malt. Tast more of the nice light hop and malt. A nice summer pale.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Jul 2008
at 13:20
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Draft. An amber beer with a thin brown head. Both the aroma and flavor are sweet and dominated by caramel.
Tried
from Draft
on 21 Jun 2008
at 01:31
5.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Bottle. Straw colored beer with a whitish head. Low malt aroma. Malt, honey, light spice flavor. Medium-light body. Lingering malt and a bit of honey. Easy to drink.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Jun 2008
at 22:33
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Acquired via trade with OSLO, thanks buddy. 12oz bottle pours clear deep copper with bumpy nearly frothy tan head. The aroma holds both grapefruit hops and tangelo sweetness along with sweet malts and mildly roasted malts. Sort of on the light side but an inviting aroma nonetheless. The taste is much the same with grapefruit and tangelo notes mixing with sweet malts and also carrying late addition to the boil hop flavors. So the hop bitterness isn’t over the top and in fact a bit subdued for the style but still grows nicely into the finish. Rock solid IPA with a tasty malt backbone.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Jun 2008
at 21:55
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle. Pours a dark dolden color with a longlasting slightly off-white head. Malty hoppy grapefruit aroma. Malty fresh hoppy grapefruit flavor. Has a nice fruity malty hoppy grapefruit finish with a bitter aftertaste.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 May 2008
at 09:41
6.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Sampled at Dickinsonbeer’s Hoboken gathering - this seems more like a barleywine than a quad - muddy dark brown beer - loads of dough and fig and candied fruits in the aroma and flavor - a little bit of acidity and oxidation - some vegetal notes near the end - drinkable, but leaning heavily into the territory of lame.
Tried
from Can
on 13 May 2008
at 21:19
4.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 4.5
Bottle: Lighter brownish amber color with a large, creamy sand colored head. Aroma is bright with grassey hops and sour fruity tartness. Taste is initially light cherry up front before moving into a heavy maltiness with some grassy hops. Finishes a little bitter and of sour fruit. I might have enjoyed this more if it was Valentines Day and I shared it with my wife, but she refused to taste it on the premise that it "Looked and smelled like beer and I don’t like beer." She encouraged me to drink up and leave her alone so I could better enjoy the brew, but I digress... Barely enjoyable given any circumstances and I doubt that any female companionship could have changed it. This brew was a huge dissapointment.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Apr 2008
at 22:32
6.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle conditioned. Aroma of slightly sour cherry over roasted malt. White head that doesn’t last long. A cherry amber or copper color. Smooth, fairly full bodied, with creamy carbonation. There’s a note like a bit of Brett. Or wood. Or cherry pits. It’s got an underlying sweetness after the initial unsweetness. Sweet brown fruits come up. Not at all sticky sweet, just not entirely unsweet. Finally finishes cherry/woody. Leaves a woody bitter ending. It’s pretty dry en fin.
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Apr 2008
at 20:30
6.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Muddy dark chestnut colour. Sticky demerara nose with light alcohol and some oversteeped assam tea. Soft body with sticky sugars and alcoholic dryness.
Tried
on 22 Mar 2008
at 17:31