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By: Living a Stout Life<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jeremiah Johnson isn\u2019t your typical American craft beer story. He didn\u2019t find his passion for beer by brewing at home in his garage. He didn\u2019t go to school to become an engineer, only to find art amidst the science of beer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In fact, Jeremiah worked in sales and marketing and then economic and real estate development before craft beer wafted him away.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When Jeremiah and Katie, his wife, finally decided to jump into the craft beer business, it was out of love for the beverage, but even more so about a passion for entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe always loved beer. But an opportunity presented itself and I had very strong feelings that I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I had a career, but in my heart, I knew I had to be an entrepreneur,\u201d said Jeremiah.<\/p>\n When the opportunity to take over the struggling brewery The Front in Great Falls, Montana, presented itself, Jeremiah and Katie didn\u2019t hesitate. They recognized the opportunity to finally realize their entrepreneurial dreams while keeping their roots steadfast in the bountiful Montana soil.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Being born and raised in Montana, and named after the legendary mountain man, Jeremiah had no desire to take the brewery elsewhere. He just wanted to make the best beer possible and grow his brewery into the best possible business he could.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Despite taking over the Front and starting up Jeremiah Johnson Brewing<\/span><\/a> in its place in 2018, challenges abounded. Chief among them was no space for a taproom at the Great Falls brewery that now dons his name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s right, in an era of craft beer that is synonymous with drinking in the taproom, Jeremiah Johnson Brewing doesn\u2019t have its own bar on premise to welcome fans of Mountain Man Scotch Ale or Hazy IPA. Jeremiah\u2019s beer is available around Great Falls but he doesn\u2019t have his own taproom for folks to flock to.<\/p>\n He has built Jeremiah Johnson Brewing as a production brewery focused on seven key brands on shelves across Montana and throughout the region.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s something that could be changing soon, however. Jeremiah opened his first taproom in 2019 in Coeur d\u2019Alene, Idaho, just a stone\u2019s throw from where he grew up in the Flathead Valley of Montana. But he\u2019s always wanted a taproom in Great Falls, where the main brewery is located.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not happening just yet, but he\u2019s getting closer. Jeremiah opened a second taproom in 2022, this one even closer to home, in Whitefish, Montana. It\u2019s quite literally in the backyard of his family\u2019s homestead in the valley.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When he learned in 2020 that Great Northern Brewing was giving up the Blackstar Building in Whitefish, he pounced on the opportunity to put his own brewery in the Flathead Valley.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Partnering with real estate developer Rob Isackson and restauranteur Scott Gerber, it took nearly two years to open because of supply chain woes and pandemic-induced delays, but Jeremiah Johnson Brewing is cranking out new beers alongside the fine food of the Blackstone restaurant in Whitefish.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The opening of Blackstar allows Jeremiah a place for his new brewer Alex Johnson, formerly of Big Sky Brewing, to create and try new recipes. The hope is to keep the Whitefish location fresh with exciting new beers, but also to use it as a proving ground for the next big hit to scale up to a production level.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis is our opportunity to take our brand and create new and innovative products. In Whitefish, we\u2019re going to brew new and inventive beers,\u201d said Jeremiah. \u201cDoing Whitefish for us was a dream come true\u2026 a no-brainer!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alex Johnson is creating exciting new beers that will easily benefit from some of the new malts that Malteurop has developed<\/span><\/a>. He has already created a Fruited Tea Saison, a Belgian Wit, a Double New England IPA, a Dark English Mild, an Imperial Stout, and even a non-alcoholic hop water. These are all very different from anything Jeremiah Johnson Brewing has released before.<\/p>\n <\/h2>\n
The Founding of Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Co.<\/h2>\n
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Taprooms in Coeur d\u2019Alene, Idaho and Whitefish, Montana<\/h2>\n
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Jeremiah Johnson Eyes Expansion in Great Falls, Montana<\/h2>\n