COMPANY MANAGES TO STAND OUT.
LEWIS AND CLARK BREWING COMPANY
STARTED IN THE CAPITAL CITY MORE
THAN A DECADE AGO, AND HAS COME
TO GAIN NATIONAL RECOGNITION.
M-T-NS JACOB FUHRER SHOWS US
THIS MONTANA-MADE BUSINESS
CONTINUES TO EXPAND, AND ONE DAY
COULD BE SEEN ON SHELVES
ACROSS THE GLOBE.
Max Pigman says, "When you first
start to mash in - and that’s
where you’re taking
the malted barley and you’ve
ground it up and you mix it with
water in what’s called
the mash tun or the lauter tun -
the smells that that generates
in the morning are
something that even to this day
I still just walk through the
brewry and stop and
take a big wiff and say "this is
why I do what I do"
LEWIS AND CLARK BREWERY OWNER
MAX PIGMAN TOOK OVER SLEEPING
GIANT BREWERY 16 YEARS AGO,
RENAMING IT LEWIS AND CLARK
AFTER
THE COUNTY AND THE FAMOUS
EXPLORERS.
BUT...HIS INTEREST IN BREWING
STARTED OUTSIDE U-S BORDERS.
Max Pigman says, "I was
stationed in the military. I was
over in the air force in Japan
I had a hard time finding good
beers. I started homebrewing in
Helena and that’s
where it all came from."
WHAT STARTED AT HOME HAS GROWN
INTO A SPRAWLING FACTORY WITH
STATE OF THE ART
EQUIPMENT...PUMP ING OUT SOME OF
LEWIS AND CLARK’S MOST POPULAR
BREWS... LIKE MINER’S GOLD AND
PRICKLY PEAR
PALE ALE.
NAT- "the best thing about it is
the quality"
AS CRAFT BREWING TOOK OFF, LEWIS
AND CLARK RODE THE WAV
SWITCHING FROM BOTTLES TO
CANS...AND SEEING DRAMATIC
INCREASES IN SALES.
LAST YEAR, THE BREWERY ADDED A 9
MILLION DOLLAR EXPANSION,
INCREASING PRODUCTION 6 TIMES
OVER.
Jacob Fuhrer says, "Now the
summer months are very important
to Lewis and
Clark. It’s when they do about
fifty percent of their business.
Just to give you an idea, all
of these kegs right here are
empty. They’ve come back from
restaurants
around Montana in just the last
two weeks"
BUT AS THE SCALE INCREASES, THE
FAMILIAR TASTE - MAX ASSURES US
-
STAYS THE SAME.
THE BREWERY TOOK HOPE MULTIPLE
AWARDS RECENTLY AT A
COMPETITION IN DENVER.
THREE OF THE MEDALING BEERS WERE
MADE IN THE EXPANDED
BREWERY.
Max Pigman says, "The beer that
we’re putting out at this point
really has the quality
that the judges are saying ’hey
this is really good beer’"
WHAT MAKES IT SO SPECIAL? PIGMAN
POINTS TO MONTANA’S AMBER
WAVES OF GRAIN.
Max says, "Being able to utilize
some of the best malted barley
in the world which is
grown just north of us in the
golden triangle and malted just
north of us up just above
Great Falls there is a huge
advantage for us." PIGMAN FINDS
OTHER WAYS TO DRAW IN CUSTOMERS
IN
WHAT’S BECOMING A CROWDED CRAFT
BREWING SCENE.
Max says, "We’ve got a new
seasonal beer that comes out
about every six weeks now"
THIS MONTH, A SEASONAL PUMPKIN
BREW ENTICES
CUSTOMERS.
RECENTLY PIGMAN ALSO ALLOWED
CUSTOMERS TO START BUYING
BEER WITH THE DIGITAL CURRENCY
BITCOIN.
ANYTHING TO KEEP THINGS
FRESH...A STRATEGY THAT’S PAYING
OFF.
Max says, "Here we are almost 17
years later and it’s beyond my
wildest drea
and it’s really a blessing"
Jacob Fuhrer says, "As for
what’s next for the brewery -
well it might be international.
Max says he’s already traveled
to Japan to talk with some
interested clients. Reporting
from Helena, Jacob Fuhrer, MTN
News."
LEWIS AND CLARK CURRENTLY
DISTRIBUTES TO ALL OF MONTANA,
IDAH
AND EASTERN WASHINGTON, AND SOON
WILL BE AVAILABLE IN
WYOMING.
###
When Montana This Morning
retu
