The first Montana brew: Black Dog Ale

Twelve years ago, at a quiet grocery in Tempe, I black Lab peering off a six-pack carton caught my eye. A decade would pass before I imbibed more Montana beer, but Black Dog Ale from Spanish Peaks Brewing was a strong introduction.

Once legal, I would continue to drink it any time I spotted one at the store in a far corner of a bar’s beer cooler. It vanished from the market for several years, but has begun popping up again in Nashville and elsewhere.

However, taste buds evolve; the palette will not hold. I reluctantly grabbed a six-pack of Black Dog English Style Amber from a Bozeman grocer.

The beer itself is fine, a nice smooth amber with the a little kick of malt. It’s a fine, no-frills session ale with a nice thrust of warming malt at its finish. Not enough brewers dabble in amber, much less one as friendly as Black Dog.

The bottle states the brewery was founded in Bozeman in 1991. Yet these days, Spanish Peaks Brewing Co. operates from Ukiah, Calif. Brewed in Bozeman and later Polson (if my tin sign is correct), this is a disappointment. The first beer I associated with Montana no longer has a home here. Plus the black dog on the label, Chug, is probably long dead.

With Chug in the ground and Black Dog brewed in California, not in the shadow of the Spanish Peaks where I sit now, I can no longer consider it a Montana brew, even though it originated from here.