Are Helena breweries the hidden gem of the Montana beer scene?
Ask a Montanan what comes to mind when they think of Helena.
They’ll probably say something about the state legislature and the 90 days of chaos the town endures from it every two years.
Maybe they’ll gush about fresh powder at Great Divide and how it’s traditionally the first ski hill to open each season.
They might talk about how much they love grabbing a bag of chocolates at The Parrot and window shopping on Last Chance Gulch.
What they’ll probably fail to mention is that Helena has one of the most vibrant craft beer scenes in the state, and that’s really saying something in Montana. Not quite on par with Bozeman or Missoula, but it’s downright impressive.
So next time you’re in Montana’s capital city, be sure to hit up at least one of the town’s many breweries. Not sure where to start the evening? No worries, I’ve been to all eight of the breweries in Helena (and its surroundings), and will tell you the good, the bad, and the delicious of each.
Montana brewery laws are a little bit different. Unless they have a liquor license (and most don’t), breweries in the state are limited to serving three pints per person and can only serve until 8:00pm.
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Helena Breweries on Last Chance Gulch
Last Chance Gulch is the cultural heart of Helena. It’s where prospectors struck it rich in the 1860s, and today it’s where you can enjoy the capital’s best shopping, eating, and drinking establishments. No surprise, three of the best breweries in Helena are found around Last Chance Gulch, making for easy bar hopping.
Blackfoot River Brewing Company
Best for: Cheap drinks and old-school charm
Downside: None (Is it the rare perfect brewery?)
Blackfoot is the elder statesman of the Helena brewery scene, having opened by the south end of Last Chance Gulch back in the wild and crazy days of… the late-90s. It’d only been a few years since the legislature had decided Montanans could even be trusted with small-scale breweries. In those 25+ years, not a lot’s changed at Blackfoot, and that’s why I love it.
Blackfoot offers a solid beer selection, with a dozen or more brews on tap. Most of the flavors lean traditional, save for the two served on their beer engine – a unique hand-pump system that doesn’t require CO2 to transfer beer from keg to glass. Beers on the engine change every week, and this is where Blackfoot gets creative – brewing flavors like green tea Japanese lager and mango cinnamon amber in small batches.
There’s no food at Blackfoot, as most of the state’s earlier breweries don’t have the license to serve it. Fortunately, some exceptional free self-serve popcorn is available to compliment your delicious beverage.
For a more substantial meal, Brooklyn Pizza next door probably offers the best pizzas in Helena. Grab a slice or whole pie (no judgment if you’re by yourself), and enjoy it on Blackfoot’s spectacular patio.
Oh yes, the patio is another reason to choose Blackfoot. Not the tables and chairs at ground-level, though this is the best spot for fortuitous dog-petting.
It’s the upstairs patio, with its oak barrel tables and spectacular views of Mount Ascension, that makes Blackfoot one of Helena’s hottest hangouts on a Friday night. Well, before 8pm at least… There’s even a second bar up there; no need to worry about navigating those stairs just to grab another pint.
And you’ll have to visit the taproom if you want to taste their product. Blackfoot adheres to the philosophy that bottling and canning is bad for a beer’s flavor, so you can’t grab a six-pack at the grocery store, not even in Helena.
You can get a growler fill, though, and I’m fairly certain their growlers are the cheapest in the state: just $9 on Sundays and Wednesdays ($10.50 the rest of the week).
Ten Mile Creek Brewery
Best for: People-watching and events
Downside: Is ridiculously crowded on weekends in the summer
Oftentimes, the best breweries in a city are on its outskirts, in the industrial hinterlands, where the real estate’s cheap and there’s no pressure to cater to tasteless tourists. The taprooms lean into brutalist aesthetics, making it abundantly clear all their efforts went into the brewing tanks rather than frivolities like ambiance.
Ten Mile Creek absolutely shatters that cliche, with their inviting location on the pedestrian-only walking mall and a taproom complete with beautiful hardwood floors and repurposed barrel tables.
This is not a bougie tourist trap either, but a true local success story, in which three friends just a few years above the legal drinking age opened a beautiful taproom on Last Chance Gulch in 2015. It’s right next to The Parrot Confectionery, with a front patio that’s perfect for people-watching.
Then there’s the beer. Ten Mile is a fairly small operation, with nine beers on tap at any given time, and they switch them up fairly often. Some lean experimental and others are solidly traditional, but there’s always enough variety that you won’t be disappointed if your old favorite gets discontinued.
However, what really sets Ten Mile Creek apart is the abundance of events. There’s weekly live music, like at many breweries, but the schedule goes far beyond mere guitar strumming and soulful ballads.
If you’ve ever felt the urge to belt out an inebriated sea shanty, beer choir on Mondays is your jam. No singing experience necessary, just a passion for the music and zero shame for your tone-deafness.
Prefer a side of mindfulness and light stretching? Downdogs and Draughts on Sundays gets you an hour-long yoga class (in partnership with Loft Studio) with a free pint afterwards for just $15, making it one of the cheapest yoga classes in Helena.
Ten Mile Creek is also the only brewery in Helena, and one of very few in Montana, to offer a tour. It’s $10, and comes with a free pint and plenty of time to pick the brewer’s brain. Speaking of free pints (!), they also give those away with every growler fill on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Mt. Ascension Brewing
Best for: A seamless transition from morning coffee to lunch beers… and those views!
Downside: Too many people watching the sunset over Mount Helena
The newest player in the Helena brewery game is also one of my favorites, especially when it comes to atmosphere. Mt. Ascension’s two-story taproom is housed inside the old Independent Record newspaper building and has amazing views of Mount Helena from the upstairs patio.
One of the few Helena breweries with food, Mt. Ascension operates a full sports bar-style restaurant on the ground floor. And beyond that, Montago, my favorite Helena coffee shop, is housed in the same building.
So you can easily sit down with your laptop, get a little work done while savoring a fine cup of joe, grab lunch, and then continue your remote work drudgery until you’ve decided it’s finally late enough to start having a few beers. No judgment if that’s 2:00.
Views and convenience alone do not make a brewery worth visiting, though. Fortunately, Mt. Ascension pulls no punches with their beer, including a couple flagship IPAs using all Montana-grown hops and several seasonals that lean into more unusual flavors. Many of the brews are named after hiking trails in Helena, so maybe choose based on your favorite hike?
During happy hour, beers are astonishingly cheap at $3.50, and apps are only $5.
One of the other things that makes Mt. Ascension special: in Montana’s bro-heavy brewery industry, it’s one of the very few places where you’ll find a woman running the fermentation tanks – Becky Peppelman is both the head brewer and general manager.
Mt. Ascension is owned by Rob Lerhkind of Bozeman’s Julius Lehrkind Brewing fame. If you know anything about this brewery, it’s probably that they use really cool resealable cans, so hopefully Mt. Ascension will transition to them sometime in the future.
If you max out your 48-oz. limit at all three of the Last Chance Gulch breweries – Blackfoot, Ten Mile Creek, and Mt. Ascension – you win the Beerfecta. There’s no tangible prize for this feat, or even wide-scale recognition, just a headache the next day and a misplaced sense of accomplishment.
More Breweries in Helena, MT
The city gets a bit less walkable away from the Gulch, but as is often the case, some of the very best breweries are out in the boonies. Helena is no exception, and it’s worth stopping in one of these out-of-the-way places for a less crowded spot to enjoy a pint.
Lewis & Clark Brewing Company
Best for: Live music and events
Downside: Feels a bit cave-ish, but like a fun cave
If you know of one Helena brewery, it’s undoubtedly Lewis & Clark. They’re the biggest player in the area, and their cans are found at any Town Pump worth its salt across the state.
Back when I was in college at MSU, Lewis & Clark was located on the basement level of The Brewhouse, and a stop for a beer with a delicious burger or beer cheese soup was often on the agenda when driving between Great Falls and Bozeman.
Today, Lewis & Clark occupies a massive space in the industrial district between North Last Chance Gulch and North Montana Ave. It’s an old paint factory with plenty of space for entertaining.
The taproom frequently hosts live music and other events, and there’s a game room (adults only) with shuffleboard, pinball, pool, and even a golf simulator. On warmer evenings, though, the back patio is the place to be, with a second stage ans plenty of green space for the kids to run around.
Lewis & Clark typically has a dozen beers on tap, along with five or so seltzers. Unlike most breweries, which have an IPA or an amber ale for the flagship brew, they’ve taken a more unique path. Their mainstays are the Prickly Pear Pale and Huckleberry Hefeweizen.
The brewery technically doesn’t serve food, but there is an outpost of the beloved East Helena pizzeria, Vigilante, just off the taproom. Like at many Montana breweries, you’re free to dig into one of these pies while you enjoy a beer, or even bring your own food.
Copper Furrow Brewing
Best for: Relaxed atmosphere
Downside: Limited seating
The most under-the-radar member of the Helena beer scene, Copper Furrow has been quietly pumping out delicious brews from behind Sportsman’s Warehouse since 2018. Though few outside the Helena area seem to be aware of this brewery, it consistently receives high marks as one of the state’s best on Untappd and the Montana Beer Awards.
The low-key persona could be due, at least in part, to their rocky start and a trademark infringement claim. They were originally called Crooked Furrow, but a North Dakota brewery already had the moniker, forcing a change to Copper Furrow just a year after opening. However, it’s been smooth sailing since 2019, insofar as any brewery can claim that since the pandemic.
The taproom is relatively small, but the back patio is a delight in summertime, with a small grassy area and firepit for enjoying the nice weather. They host plenty of one-off gatherings, but the events aren’t as consistant as some of the other breweries in Helena. Given its off-the-beaten-path location, you’re more likely to find a regular local crowd here, since few tourists venture this far away from the Gulch.
Copper Furrow keeps a set of five regular beers on tap, along with a couple rotators, with enough variety to appeal to most drinker’s tastes. While their most popular offerings are available in cans, don’t expect to find them at too many retail outlets. Better to pick them up in person – or avail yourself to their free delivery service in the Helena area.
Speakeasy 41 Brewing Company
Best for: A unique drinking experience
Downside: More about the experience than the beer
“So you turn at the Meineke, make your way through the painfully-generic business park, then pull into a parking lot in front of a building with gray steel siding.”
If there’s one thing you can say about this brewery, it’s that they’ve absolutely nailed the speakeasy aesthetic. Nowhere in Helena would I feel less like I’m about to find an interesting brewery (that is unless you’ve been around long enough to know this is actually the same location and owners as the old Snow Hop Brewery).
As for getting into the taproom, you walk through the door and… a bookcase? Well, a very misaligned bookcase, just begging you to tug on the shelves. Stumble into the bar, and you’re greeted with a cozy fireplace, leather furnishings, and oak barrel tables.
I don’t think they had industrial-chic steel chairs or seltzers back in Al Capone’s days, but the essence of the Roaring ‘20s is definitely there. Yeah, the prohibition chic aesthetic is getting trendy, but it’s not something you’ll see anywhere else in central Montana.
There’s a dozen or so beers on tap, but Speakeasy 41 is especially popular with seltzer drinkers. Their White Lightning seltzer comes unflavored, and you choose your flavors at the bar, with options like peach, blueberry, and pina colada. They also have a busy events calendar with stand-up comedy, live music, and bingo a few days each week.
Breweries Near Helena, MT
There are more than enough breweries in Helena proper, but should you need just a bit more variety or an excuse for an afternoon outing, you won’t need to go far.
Missouri River Brewing Company (East Helena)
Best for: Family-friendly and huge second floor patio
Downside: East Helena?
Missouri River Brewing is Helena’s largest brewery, at least by footprint, which is why it has to be located all the way out in East Helena. The taproom can only be described as cavernous, and that’s before you realize there’s a whole upper deck with an outdoor patio, not to mention a little alcove with vintage pinball and arcade games, along with a reservable conference room.
They put that extra space to good use though, with a full calendar of events every week including bingo on Tuesdays, live music Wednesdays, ax throwing on Thursdays and Fridays, and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.
Yes, unlike most Montana breweries, Missouri River serves food, with the standard brewpub offerings of nachos, burgers, and sandwiches on weekdays, plus extra-special deliciousness like breakfast burritos on the weekends.
The beer list at Missouri River is actually a bit overwhelming, with over two dozen (!) brews to choose from, and half of those are seasonal. There are also the hard seltzers, which they make in 15 different flavors. And Missouri River is the only brewery in Helena with a full liquor license, allowing them to serve hard liquor, if you can’t manage to find something to try amongst the embarrassment of beer and seltzer riches.
The location is really the only thing I can knock Missouri River for, although that’s what allows them so much space. And with rising real estate prices in the capital, I’m not about to bash the area, though the neighborhood is a bit lacking in atmosphere when compared to Last Chance Gulch.
So let your eyes drift upward, ignore the highway below, and focus on the majestic Elkhorn Mountains off in the distance.
Canyon Ferry Brewing (Townsend)
Best for: Beers after a big day on the lake
Downside: Far from everything else
It’s not often that someone makes a dedicated trip to Townsend, MT. Nearby Canyon Ferry Lake, sure, and you have to pass through on the way from Helena to Bozeman, but it’s rarely a destination itself.
But ask yourself: have you been to Townsend lately? Did you know there’s a great pizza shop, a distillery, a cozy cafe, a bookstore with a resident cat, and this brewery – all within a block of each other? No, because you just drove straight through. Turn around, and do some exploring!
Canyon Ferry Brewing is well worth a detour, or even a day trip, with some of the best beers in the Helena area and a unique atmosphere. The taproom walls are decorated with beautiful black-and white-photos, sourced from the Broadwater County Museum, blown up, and mounted on canvas.
It’s built on the grounds of Townsend’s original saloon, dating back to 1900. It was a pretty impressive watering hole for a small railroad town back in the day, with a cherry wood bar and ornate mirrors decorating the walls. The original owner, Thomas Dixon, was known throughout the state for his Primrose brand beer.
Canyon Ferry’s continuing that tradition of excellence, and co-owner and head brewer Kelli Gibbs (another female head brewer!) even completed a brewing internship at Imagination Brewing in Missoula.
Now, they’re one of the few breweries in the state doing a milkshake IPA (although creamy beer is admittedly not for everyone). On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the Broadwater Select lager and Light as a Feather wheat beer. Both harken back to the brewery’s roots when German immigrants brought their passion for high-quality beer to the copper mines of Last Chance Gulch.
Map of Helena, MT, Breweries
You can see on this map where all of the breweries in and around Helena are located. Note that it’s about 15 minutes to East Helena and 40 minutes to Townsend.
Click here for an interactive version of the map!
What’s your favorite Helena brewery?
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