Carter’s Brewing: Riding the Rails of Instant Success

From Newest.net, 7-17-08 of published article, Microbrew Montana: Carter’s Brewing: Riding the Rails of Instant Success, Bill Schneider. This article is presented in agreement with Newwest.net. All rights reserved, Copyright (© 2008)

Mike Uhrich, the Young Buck Brewer of Billings.
Photo by Bill Schneider.

Carter's Brewing of Billings is on the rails, right out the back door, in fact.

At Carter's, one of Montana's newest breweries, it's not only about making craft beer, but also about railroads and trains. If you're into railway culture and history, and happen to enjoy great microbrew, add this taproom to your pub crawl.

And July 19 would be a good time. Carter's Brewing will be celebrating its first anniversary. "We'll have a big party and release some new beers," says owner and head brewer Mike Uhrich, the young buck brewer of Billings.

"We'll have a bunch of special beers," Uhrich said, excitedly. "We're kicking it off with our new Belgian Kriek beer, and we'll also have our new Young Buck American Pale Ale."

He also plans to "ceremonial tappings," which means a new brew going on sale every hour. "These are kegs we've been saving over the year. These are beers that have been very popular, so we saved a few kegs just for this event as sort of a kickback to our customers."

Carter's is part of the de facto Brewery District in downtown Billings, where four breweries (Angry Hanks, Carter's, Montana and Yellowstone Valley) thrive within four blocks of each other, making it convenient to stay at a downtown hotel and have a microbrew tour on foot. Nobody seems to know why all the breweries located in such close proximity, but it certainly is serendipitous for craft brew fans. Billings has its own micro-microbrew tour.

Unlike most brewers, Carter's sells almost all of its beer right in the taproom--no bottling and only a few local keg accounts. And no wonder--on some nights, up to 200 thirsty craft beer fans crowd into the tasting room. That's one thing that makes Carter's different from most other breweries, but Uhrich admits his new business isn't that unlike his fellow craft brewers. Most Montana microbreweries credit their success to taproom sales, but very few sell almost all the beer they make on site.

"We do have a little more to choose from," he adds. "We have twelve beers on tap. That's more than most taprooms or bars do. A lot of people come here looking for more taste."

That includes tourists. "We didn't get too many last year because we opened late in the tourism season, but we're getting more this year."

He regularly offers "young buck" brews in at attempt to appeal to the younger beer drinker.

And the railroad theme permeates everything at Carter's--a great location (previously used by the railroad for storage), the logo (a toy train favored by Uhrich's son, Carter), and of course the beer names--Train Wreck Imperial IPA, Switchyard Scottish Ale, Dark Horse Stout, Golden Spike Pilsner, et al, and Uhrich's three "signature beers," Handcar Hefe, Derailed IPA and Black Magic Porter.

"We aren't trying to convert Bud Light drinkers," he notes. "We're trying to appeal to craft beer drinkers. We also get a lot of home brewers and have a great reputation with the more experienced beer drinkers."

Uhrich, who brewed beer for his neighbor, Yellowstone Valley Brewing, for five years before opening his own place, is already expanding his limited capacity (450 barrels per year) after only a year of business and is considering canning beer. Unlike a lot of brewers, he has plenty of room to expand.

Perhaps because of Carter, his three-year-old, you also see a small kid's play area at Carter's, something I haven't seen yet at any other brewery in Montana, although most of them welcome families to their taprooms.

So don't miss Carter's while in Billings sampling the local microbrew.

-Bill Schneider