By Joseph T. O’Connor EBS Managing Editor
A new brewery in Big Sky Town Center held its grand opening on July 25 to a full house looking to meet the owners, partake in a pig roast, and fill their pint glasses.
The Beehive Basin Brewery, located in the Peaks Building behind Roxy’s Market, held a soft opening on July 10, but is now pouring pints and filling growlers in its tasting room seven days a week from 12-8 p.m.
Owners Casey Folley and Andy Liedberg – also the head brewer – welcomed the overflowing crowd at 2 p.m., and took their turn with the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce’s giant scissors for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The chamber’s Executive Director Kitty Clemens handed over the brewery’s “first dollar,” gifted in a picture frame.
“It was a lot of fun,” Folley said. “A bunch of people came down and were trying beer even if they don’t usually drink beer. They seemed to all like it.”
Montana law limits tasting room customers to three beers apiece, and bartenders poured more than 600 before the day was out, according to Folley.
Buck’s T-4 Lodge provided two pigs for the roast, catering the event on site. The swine were fed spent grain from the brewing process.
