By Taylor Anderson Explorebigsky.com Assistant Editor
Bill Hyland, the Bozeman Brewing Co. brew
master from Boston, sits over a snifter of Bozone
Amber Ale and talks about the thing he loves
most in the world: beer.
Maybe that’s not quite
true (he got married this summer).
The brewery added a canner in October and will
begin selling beers in cans.
That is, Hyland said, “As soon as we can figure
out how to use it. We’ve been planning to do this
for a long time.”
A man walks into the brewery at 12:15 p.m. one
Friday, 15 minutes before open, and orders eight
growlers, eight pint glasses and eight shirts for a
wedding reception. “My son told me to come to
you guys,” he tells Hyland.
Bozone’s newest addition comes at a time when
Montana ranks third in per capita breweries in the
country. Last year’s stats, released by the Montana
Brewers Association, reported one brewery for
every 36,645 people in Montana.
The numbers trail Vermont, which sits at No. 1, with
one brewery per 29,797 people, and Oregon, No. 2, at
31,662.
The brewery, owned by Todd and Lisa Danzl-Scott,
seems to have a strong hold on local brewing, and stays
full during pub hours.
Still, it could be better, hence the canner.
“We’re not brewing at capacity right now,” said
Hyland, his sharp accent leading the conversation
in the empty room that would hold the added
equipment. The building had to undergo a remodel
to increase size, and construction started months
before the canner’s arrival.
The addition comes at a time when Bozeman has
fallen behind Missoula in breweries per capita.
Missoula’s Big Sky Brewing Co. ranks No. 37 in
U.S. craft beer sales, and No. 50 in overall beer
sales (including Anheuser, Miller and Pabst at
Nos. 1, 2 and 3).
Bozone’s addition of a canner gives it better footing
when it comes to appealing to beer drinkers who can’t
bring bottles on hiking or river trips.
1,753 craft breweries last year accounted for 4.8 percent
of total beer sales in the U.S., slightly up from 2009.
