Great Divide Brewery Trail

Day One:

Start in Helena with enough time that evening to visit Blackfoot River Brewing and Lewis & Clark Brewing, both with great beer and friendly taprooms. Neither brewery serves food, but both are within easy walking distance of several fine restaurants. In 2008, Blackfoot expanded its taproom into a gorgeous facility, and Lewis & Clark plans to do the same in summer of 2010. Stay in Helena that night.

Day Two:

Leave Helena early in the morning and head south on I-15. At Boulder, leave the freeway and take State Highway 69 down to Cardwell, and then left (east) on State Highway 2 for a little side trip over to see Lewis & Clark Caverns before jumping back on I-90 at Cardwell to head over to Butte for lunch. You might have some extra time in Butte, so check out the World Museum of Mining before visiting taproom of one of Montana's newest microbreweries, Quarry Brewing, where they really dig beer. Stay in Butte that night.

Day Three:

In the morning, continue west from Butte on I-15, turning south toward Dillon, but before you get there, turn west (right) at the Divide exit and take State Highway 43 through the fabulous Big Hole Valley. Follow it through Wise River and Wisdom, with a stop at the Big Hole National Battlefield for a short study of the famous Flight of the Nez Perce, until it junctures with U.S. 93 on the Idaho/Montana border. Turn right (north) on U.S. 93 and get a room in Hamilton in time to enjoy dinner and some of Montana's Last Best Brew at Bitter Root Brewing, which is conveniently located in downtown Hamilton within walking distance of several motels. You'll find the Brewer's Grill in the same building.

Day Four:

In the morning, take hike in the Bitterroot Mountains or fish the Bitterroot River before heading north on U.S. 93 toward Missoula. Along the way, hit the Blacksmith Brewing taproom, Montana's newest brewery in Montana's oldest community, Stevensville. You can take the East River Road, State Highway 269, from Hamilton to Stevensville, if you like a slower, more relaxed trip through a rural landscape with less traffic. If you have enough time in Stevensville, you can also check out Fort Owen State Park and St. Mary's Mission. Be sure to get to Missoula early enough to enjoy all three of the Garden's City's great craft breweries--Bayern, Big Sky and Kettlehouse, which has two taprooms one on each side of town. Stay in Missoula that night. (For detailed directions on finding them go to the Missoula Brewery Trail section of this website.)

Day Five:

From Missoula, take I-90 west for nine miles before turning north (right) on U.S. 93 to Polson. Along the way, you can take a side trip over to the National Bison Range by turning west on U.S. Highway 200 at Ravalli to just before Dixon, then north on U.S Highway 212 to the National Bison Range, before continuing on through Charlo back to U.S. 93. After checking out Glacier Brewing's taproom where everything on the wall has a story behind it, enjoy a pleasant dinner. Stay in Polson that night.

Day Six:

You'll have some extra time in Polson the next morning, so use it to check out one or both of the local museums--the Flathead-Polson Historical Museum and the Miracle of America Museum. Then, drive up the west side of Flathead Lake to The Rack, home of Tamarack Brewing, in Lakeside for lunch and a taste or two of the beer brewed on site. The Rack is the closest thing Montana has to a traditional brewpub--a great restaurant (Tamarack Alehouse and Grill) combined with a craft brewery under the same roof.

After lunch, drive U.S. 93 six more miles north to the intersection with State Highway 208/82. Turn east (right) here and then, seven miles later, south (right) on State Highway 35. Go eight miles, through Bigfork, to find to your next brewery stop, Flathead Lake Brewing, on your left in Woods Bay.

After a late afternoon visit to the tasting room (where you can also get some tasty pub fare), get back on State Highway 35 and head north, through Bigfork, all the way to Kalispell where you can either take U.S.2/State Highway 40 or U.S. 93 to Whitefish. If you need to stop at some big box stores, take U.S. 93. If you want a faster, nicer drive take U.S. 2 and State Highway 40.

At Whitefish, after checking into your room, before or after dinner, go to Great Northern Brewing, which also has a beer and wine license, so it stays open "until it closes," usually around midnight. You can get a great view of Big Mountain and the Whitefish Mountain Resort from the taproom, which is called Black Star Draught House. You can walk a block or two from the taproom to many fine restaurants in historic downtown Whitefish.

Day Seven:

Hit the road early because you have a big day ahead of you. Head west on State Highway 40 from Whitefish, through Columbia Falls, and then left on U.S. 2 to Glacier National Park. If it's summer, you won't want to miss the world-famous trip over Logan Pass on Going-to-the-Sun Road, which is open from early June until the snow closes it, usually early October. When you get over to St. Mary and turn right (south) on U.S. Highway 89, depending on how much time you have, you can either take the long route on State Highway 49 over beautiful and little-known Looking Glass Pass to East Glacier, stopping to see Two Medicine Lake along the way, or continue on U.S. 89 straight to Browning. If you have time, stop at the Museum of the Plains Indian on the west edge of Browning.

Go through Browning on U.S 89 (combined with U.S. 2) and turn right (south) on U.S 89 a few miles east of town. Stay on U.S. 89, all the way through Choteau and Fairfield to Great Falls. It's a long day, but hopefully, you can get a room there with time to make the 42-mile round trip (still on U.S. 89) over to the Harvest Moon Brewery in Belt (before it closes at 4 pm) and back to Great Falls for dinner. If not, cheek it out the next afternoon before heading south to Helena.

Day Eight:

Take I-15 south from Great Falls back to Helena, where it's acceptable to visit the Blackfoot River or the Lewis & Clark, again, and compare their brew to all the rest.