The new 29,000-square-foot Bridger Brewing location at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90 is pictured on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022.
An outdoor patio looks out over the lawn where Bridger Brewing plans to hold “small, intimate concerts” capped at about 1,500 tickets, pictured here on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. Pinky and the Floyd will play on Friday.
The interior of Bridger Brewing is pictured here on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. The brewery opened on July 26, 2022. The building is capped at 400 people but currently only the first floor is open due to staffing shortages.
Rows of clean glasses are lined up behind the bar at the new Bridger Brewing location on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. The brewery opened on July 26.
A window in the back of a booth looks out into the brewery part of the building on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. The mural and interior design was done by Hardy Brands out of Bozeman.
A large lawn stretches towards the mountains behind Bridger Brewing on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. The brewery plans to hold “small, intimate concerts” capped at about 1,500 tickets during the summer months.
A Bridger Brewing logo is placed on the cover of a brewing tank at their new brewery at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90 on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. A large part of the 29,000 square foot building is dedicated to the brewery operations.
Ten fermentation tanks sit along a wall of the new Bridger Brewing brewery at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90 on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. A large part of the 29,000 square foot building is dedicated to the brewery operations.
The new 29,000-square-foot Bridger Brewing location at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90 is pictured on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022.
An outdoor patio looks out over the lawn where Bridger Brewing plans to hold “small, intimate concerts” capped at about 1,500 tickets, pictured here on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. Pinky and the Floyd will play on Friday.
The interior of Bridger Brewing is pictured here on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. The brewery opened on July 26, 2022. The building is capped at 400 people but currently only the first floor is open due to staffing shortages.
Rows of clean glasses are lined up behind the bar at the new Bridger Brewing location on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. The brewery opened on July 26.
A window in the back of a booth looks out into the brewery part of the building on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. The mural and interior design was done by Hardy Brands out of Bozeman.
A large lawn stretches towards the mountains behind Bridger Brewing on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90. The brewery plans to hold “small, intimate concerts” capped at about 1,500 tickets during the summer months.
A Bridger Brewing logo is placed on the cover of a brewing tank at their new brewery at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90 on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. A large part of the 29,000 square foot building is dedicated to the brewery operations.
Ten fermentation tanks sit along a wall of the new Bridger Brewing brewery at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Interstate 90 on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. A large part of the 29,000 square foot building is dedicated to the brewery operations.
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THREE FORKS — Bridger Brewing’s Three Forks location is a two-in-one package.
On one side of the facility is a restaurant and bar, filled with the smells of seasoned and grilled meats.
On the other side, through a doorway with a sign warning of forklift activity at the back of the restaurant, is Bridger Brewing’s expansive brewing and packaging operation.
David Breck, one of the owners of Bridger Brewing, said that he and his fellow owners wanted to do something different with the Three Forks operation. For starters, unlike Bridger’s Bozeman location, there is no pizza.
The facility, which is just off exit 274 on Interstate 90, opened on July 26.
Instead of labor-intensive pizza, the restaurant will serve thinly-sliced, flame grilled meats, dubbed Montana Street Style Plates, that include beef, pork, lamb and chicken.
“We’re a brewery first that can surprise you with food,” Breck said.
The intent for the new facility was to create a destination brewery, like a winery, where people could travel to and see a different part of the Gallatin Valley, Breck said.
For now, the restaurant is only open starting at 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The restricted hours are in large part because of staffing issues, but also to ensure that the staff that already work in the restaurant get time off from the culinary grind.
The restaurant is similar in its floor layout to the Bozeman operation — there’s an upstairs dining area, a central bar and a stage inside. But then there is an outdoor seating area with a view of the hulking Bridger mountain range in the background.
A manicured lawn is outside of the patio area, where people can play cornhole or hang out, and chalk for kids to decorate the sidewalks.
Adjacent to the lawn area is where Pink Floyd cover band Pinky and the Floyd will play the brewery’s inaugural show Friday.
David Sigler, another Bridger Brewing owner, said that seven years ago the company was throwing around the idea of building a packaging space for its beer. Previously, the Bozeman location has hosted music acts in its parking lot — including Pinky and the Floyd.
The idea to combine a packaging facility with a music venue morphed into the present-day Three Forks operation.
“What we try to build here is a culture,” Sigler said.
Next to the restaurant is Bridger Brewing’s high-tech brewery and packaging facility.
Max Rabidue, a spokesperson for Bridger Brewing, said that the Three Forks operation strives to be a green facility.
There are massive solar panels on the I-90 side of the building, and electric vehicle charging stations in the parking lot. Spent grain also finds a new home.
Rabidue said that spent grain is basically useless to the operation. Instead of throwing the grain away, it gets sent through a pipe system to a hopper on the backside of the building where farmers or ranchers could park a truck underneath to collect it.
The company has also invested in a water filtration system that turns used water from the brewing process into gray water that can then be reused throughout the building in various capacities, like in toilets.
The brewhouse uses a German-designed system, which connects to snaking white pipes that move throughout much of the brewery, feeding beer and other ingredients into towering metal containers.
Next to the massive indoor cooler is the canning and packaging line. Fresh silver cans are fed into a machine by the pallet, sterilized and filled with beer.
Then they’re labeled and ushered down a line to be placed on a pallet for distribution. Sigler said that the company just started distributing beer from the facility last month.
For now, the distribution focus will be on Bridger Brewing’s four flagship beers: the Mad Mile Cream Ale, the Lee Metcalf Pale Ale, the Vigilante IPA and the Ghost Town Coffee Stout.
The brewery is built for expansion, but the company plans to start slowly at first.
“We want to do a few things well and grow from that,” Sigler said.
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