Great Divide Brewery Trail

Day Six: LAKESIDE - The Rack; WOODS BAY - Flathead Lake Brewing; WHITEFISH - Great Northern Brewing

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.