List of breweries in Montana
Breweries in Montana produce a wide range of beers in different styles that are marketed locally, regionally, and nationally. Brewing companies vary widely in the volume and variety of beer produced, from small nanobreweries and microbreweries to massive multinational conglomerate macrobreweries.
In 2012 Montana's 38 brewing establishments (including breweries, brewpubs, importers, and company-owned packagers and wholesalers) employed 220 people directly, and more than 4,700 others in related jobs such as wholesaling and retailing. As of August 2016, there are 68 breweries in operation in the state of Montana.
Including people directly employed in brewing, as well as those who supply Montana's breweries with everything from ingredients to machinery, the total business and personal tax revenue generated by Montana's breweries and related industries was more than $98 million. Consumer purchases of Montana's brewery products generated more than $21 million extra in tax revenue. In 2012, according to the Brewers Association, Montana ranked 3rd in the number of craft breweries per capita, with 36.
For context, at the end of 2013 there were 2,822 breweries in the United States, including 2,768 craft breweries subdivided into 1,237 brewpubs, 1,412 microbreweries and 119 regional craft breweries. In that same year, according to the Beer Institute, the brewing industry employed around 43,000 Americans in brewing and distribution and had a combined economic impact of more than $246 billion.
Definitions
According to the Montana Code Annotated 2009, section 16-1-106:
(5) (a) "Beer" means:
(b) The term does not include a caffeinated or stimulant-enhanced malt beverage.
and section 16-3-213, Brewers or beer importers not to retail beer—small brewery exceptions:
(2) (a) For the purposes of this section, a "small brewery" is a brewery that has an annual nationwide production of not less than 100 barrels or more than 10,000 barrels.
(b) A small brewery may, at one location for each brewery license, provide samples of beer that were brewed and fermented on the premises in a sample room located on the licensed premises. The samples may be provided with or without charge between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. No more than 48 ounces of malt beverage may be sold or given to each individual customer during a business day.
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