Background
When this reviewer attended Montana State University in 2012 the craft brewing scene in Bozeman was nearly nonexistent. That changed in a big way in 2015 when Patrick Kainz founded MAP Brewing on a beautiful parcel of land on the outskirts of the city. Kainz had previously run Onion Pub and Brewery in Illinois and has been in the industry since 1995.
Experience
The taproom is spacious covering two floors and a massive outdoor patio for fair weather. If you fancy a walk, there is a short loop trail around a serene lake right outside of the brewery – a great way to appreciate the beautiful vistas MAP finds itself in. The décor is very much like a Montana-lodge, and is a cozy place to stay and drink.
Unfortunately, the beers did not match the stunning landscape. After sampling a variety of their offerings, we found them lacking depth or excitement. The beer was accompanied by middle-of-the-road pub food offerings (a slightly overcooked burger and fries). For example, the “New England Hazy IPA,” Strange Cattle, was an alright IPA, but the monikers “hazy” and “New England” were a bit misplaced given our ability to see through the mostly transparent beers.
However, the brewery scene is still growing in Bozeman, so MAP is not necessarily worse than the other, limited offerings. We still recommend spending a couple of hours sipping these average, palatable beers in a magical environment.
MAP was fairly busy when we visited, but the place is huge and there is plenty of room to spread out (and plenty of parking). Dogs are welcome outside. We did not note any lodging close by, as the location is outside of town. Given the necessity of renting a car to visit Bozeman, we had a wonderful time at the Lewis and Clark Motel in downtown Bozeman to really take advantage of the city.
