E-Malt.com News article: US, MT: Tamarack Brewing Company bubbling over with success in Missoula

There is an art-form and trend brewing in Montana- microbreweries. And two currently operating in the Flathead are finding that their business is bubbling over with success as they expand to the south, KAJ News report.

"Beer is a recession proof thing," Head Brewer Craig Koontz says, and Tamarack Brewing Company, one of the two Flathead breweries, is living proof.

"We knew Missoula was where we wanted to go next, when we did expand, one the proximity, it's our home and where the brewery is," co-owner Andra Townsley explained. "And we love Missoula. And Missoula loves beer."

So in April of 2011, Tamarack opened their doors to the Missoula community and beer enthusiasts welcomed them with tingling taste buds.

"In terms of numbers, I can't give them to you solid, but we have doubled our beer production," Townsley said.

She added the crew at Tamarack typically makes 160 barrels of beer a month, but in the first three weeks the Missoula location was open, they brewed 320 barrels.

Tamarack's mastermind behind the beer, Craig Koontz, has been perfecting his craft; craft beer, for years.

"We were ready for it; we hadn't maxed our brewery capabilities thus far, and now are," he said. "That's what we really want to strive for, to keep it going, we are at a production pace right now where we are just keeping up with what we are making."

It's taken a lot of hard work to get this beer from the tank to the tap, but Tamarack has a little something extra.

"We think we can make a beer, that someone, anyone can find something they like, and If I had to pick a niche, maybe that is it. We have a broad range of products, variety," Koontz commented.

"We wanted to have people come in and really enjoy their experiment, and not just the beer, but the food and the atmosphere. We want people to come in and relax and hang out," Townsley commented.

Now the Missoula crowd will get to enjoy and experience what the Lakeside locals have known for years, and that is in turn better for all Montana breweries.

"When we started talking about going to Missoula, the breweries we spoke to were excited because like us, they feel the more good places there are, the better everybody does," Townsley commented. "There more craft beer handles that are available, the more places there are to enjoy."

Tamarack is already looking to expand again, they say their 10 barrel system is not big enough and Lakeside building was designed to fit taller tanks.

The opening of Tamrack in Missoula also did wonders for the Missoula economy with owners saying that they hired 70 front of the house staff and 50 back of the house staff.


27 May, 2011