This is right on the banks of the Clark Fork River. A great little spot in one of the best mountain college towns in the country—Missoula. Inside is just what I’d expect from a Montana cider house, it is a bit of modern farmhouse meets mountain ruggedness. Indeed, it is representative of where they work and grow their apples in a beautiful broad valley at the base of the Bitterroot Mountains. Inside you have the contrast of clean white lines with the dark wood-paneled booths, complimented by exposed brick and stuffed buffalo and bighorn ram heads on the wall. On the stereo were modern jazz classics and I was fortunate to have Charles Mingus and Miles Davis accompany me as I drank. The taproom is run by Ellie, who hails from Virginia, where she had interests in working for Jazz at the Kennedy Center in DC but decided to head out West for grad school to study environmental studies and sustainable food systems. She seems to have brought the best of that sophisticated East Coast feel to smooth out the rough edges of this Montana town to create a comfortable rustic feel. In the back there is an excellent cider garten with views of Mt. Dean Stone and sounds of the rushing river just beyond the fence. I honestly can’t imagine a cider house better suited to my personal tastes.

The selection of local, and in some cases ultra-local, and regional orchards makes this an exceptional cider brand that has national potential but will always remain deeply communal and local. Beyond growing their own orchard and using their own apples they have an annual communal cider where anyone from the Missoula area can bring in their own apples form their own unsprayed trees to be turned into a cider. They then get to put a pin in the map showing the location of where their apples were picked. (see pic) This is a brilliant concept that is both being a good steward of local resources and builds community at the same time. Cider smarts, gorgeous environs and love is what makes this an exceptional tap house and it is undoubtedly one of the best cider rooms in America.