50 States of Beers, #2: Montana
Note: 50 States, 50 Beers. This is my project for 2021: one beer from every state in the Union. That sounds simple, right?
Montana, it seems, is having a moment. In recent years, its population has grown so much that it might even pick up a brand-new congressional district with the new census. Its city of Bozeman was “named the fastest-growing US city of its size in 2018,” with a flood of tech jobs attracting young professionals from around the country away from overcrowded cities like San Francisco and, well, probably Boston and Brooklyn, too. It’s even got the Hollywood cool factor, with Yellowstone as the biggest show on cable and a surprising capper to the late-career Kevin Costner renaissance.
Where there’s growth in America these days, breweries spring up like mushrooms. Bozeman is no exception. Mountains Walking Brewery seems to be at the spearhead of the Montana craft beer scene; I had my first exposure to them late last year when two friends of ours — road-tripping through the craft breweries and must-see stops across the COVID-pockmarked United States — posted an Instagram story from the brewery.
Wow, I thought. That looks very good. I filed it away in my brain to check out someday when the skies clear and the virus is gone and we can travel again to all these places I want to see.
Then I saw a four-pack of Mountains Walking “Tin Sky DDH” IPA at Downtown Liquors in Somerville a week later. If I can’t go halfway around the country to try it, that’s a great alternative.
“Tin Sky” is a great name for this beer. I’m assuming it’s a reflection/variation of the “Big Sky Country” nickname for the state, with imagery of some hazy, epic sunset or sunrise at its core. “This broad sky is my own house” is a sentence imprinted on the can. It fits. This beer is big and open and tasty, with plenty of floral and tropical notes dancing around the sip. It feels both familiar and unique, capturing something about those wide-open spaces I envision outside the brewery doors within the welcoming embrace of the New England IPA style.
That’s an excellent partnership — one any brewery should aspire to. It’s a nice reflection of this language I found on their website:
And just as many flavors to discover, like beers made with the wild yeasts floating in the Bozeman air or barrel-fermented and aged beers. Mountains Walking is a mutual adventure as we try a new recipe and you tell us what you think.
Our goal is to make beers that pretty much couldn’t come from anywhere but Bozeman. The climate, the altitude, the native yeasts — all these things make up our terroir, which will impact our beers.
Well, mission success. I may be half a country away, but at least for one glass, it was nice to get a taste of that tin sky. I’ll be on the lookout for more.
RATING: 93/100.
OTHER RANDOM MONTANA CATEGORIES
Why is the state flag that way?
I mean, give Montana credit — there’s no mistaking what state it is. There it is, right there on the flag, in Helvetica Bold: MONTANA. Apparently, they slapped those letters on there in 1981 to really make it obvious that this was MONTANA. The rest is just the state seal: there’s a purdy bit o’water (the Great Falls of the Missouri), the state motto (“gold and silver” in Spanish), and some agricultural tools hanging out. That’s it. Kind of boring. Looks like someone a third-grader would design on a “make your own state flag!” contest, which I think I did in third grade, actually. My idea was to just make the Connecticut state flag the Hartford Whalers logo, which would have been awesome. Sigh. Genius unrecognized.
Tell me about a political scandal or event from this state.
Well, the first Montana scandal to know about is a pretty important one. Back in the late 1880s, state legislatures chose senators — the people didn’t elect them. The mining and banking tycoon William Clark, a man once described by Mark Twain as “as rotten a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag,” basically dropped off some of those Monopoly sacks of dollar bills with “$” painted on them to the state legislators in return for them appointing him as Montana senator. The scheme was so blatant and outrage loud enough that it got the 17th Amendment of the Constitution (creating direct elections for the Senate) passed a few years later. Of course, Clark got elected to the Senate anyway a few years after, and a century later, we have Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, and Marco Rubio as elected senators … so who really won in the end?
Later on, Montana elected Jeanette Rankin to the House of Representatives — the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was a Republican and a committed pacifist (yeah, really) who became the only representative to vote against entry into World War II. That made her quite a pariah. Go ahead and read up on her story; think of the vote what you will, but it’s remarkably admirable to see someone in politics stick to their principles like this.
Of course, we can’t leave this without mentioning a member of the Trump administration! Montana’s own Ryan Zinke, Trump’s initial Secretary of the Interior, was too corrupt for this administration — which is one of those “speeding tickets at the Indy 500” situations. As Politico said:
Zinke also drew scrutiny for his mixing of politics and official business during taxpayer-funded travels such as trips to the U.S. Virgin Islands, a Montana ski resort and an Alaska steakhouse; his use of government helicopters to help him attend events such as a horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence; and his relationships with political operatives whom other conservatives have accused of misleading donors to so-called “scam PACs."
Folks, that’s some impressive, premier-level corruption right there! Congrats to the esteemed Mr. Zinke for his presence on this list.
How about a sports star from Montana?
Eek. Well, Montana isn’t exactly teeming with athletic talent. HOWEVER, it is the homeplace of this man…
Now that’s the face of one of the greatest leaders in sports history. Yes, Phil Jackson — the man always mentioned along with Scotty Bowman and Bill Belichick for that “greatest coach in American team sports” mantle — grew up in a little-ass town in Montana, the son of Assembly of God ministers. He went on to play for North Dakota, became a reserve on those excellent early-70s Knicks, worked his way up through the CBA/overseas coaching ranks, and then took over the Jordan Bulls after Doug Collins got fired. The rest (eleven rings) later is history. He’s a complicated, fascinating figure with one of the best resumes in all of professional sports — and, as a bonus, a pretty good writer. Eleven Rings is one of the better sports books of the last decade or so, and his other books are also worthy.
How’s that for a slam-dunk to end Montana with?
NEXT WEEK: NEW YORK
