What'll You Have? The Paradox of Choice

It has been debated, as of late, if Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice theory is actually a myth, rather than a renowned decision-making and behavior theory. So the theory goes, Americans are more lonely and depressed than ever, because we have too many options to choose between and care too much about what everybody else has and what we don't have.

As I've mentioned before, most of my regulars are consistent, consuming the same food and beverages, come hell or high water. However, these "regulars," I speak of know who they are, The youngest among them are in their thirties. They've experimented, chosen poorly, and finally settled on what they know they like.

The patrons I meet that seem confounded by the Paradox of Choice are young and dumb. And I wouldn't attribute this just to the fact that they haven't been "around the block." If someone aged 21-28 walks into the Crystal and seems unsure, I can confidently say that I can choose better for them with just a few questions than they can choose for themselves, based on what I know we offer and my established perceptions and experiences. Perhaps this can be linked with a younger generation being more susceptible to FOMO, pressure from peers and society, and a greater concern for how one is perceived, both in person and digitally. I'm not sure I'm proud to be a Millennial.

Paddleboarding, Katabatic Brewing Co., and Mark's In & Out, Livingston, MT

One of my goals for this summer is to paddle board as often as I can. Costco has paddle boards on sale for $500 and I'm just itching to buy one. Paddle boarding has all of the allure of floating, but its more versatile, better exercise, and you can travel longer distances in shorter periods of time. It's a lot harder to drink a beer on a paddle board than it is in a tube, but that's probably a blessing in disguise.

My favorite paddle boarding excursion last summer was on the Yellowstone River outside of Livingston, MT. We put in just a couple miles down Highway 89 towards Gardiner and put out on Highway 89 past the White Sulfur Springs exit at the first fishing access. It was an awesome stretch, with both challenging and easy moments.

On our way home, we made one more stop in Livingston at Mark's In & Out. Mark's In & Out is an awesome little drive-up burger joint that's only open in the summer. Their prices are next to nothing and their food and milk shakes are heaven, which is why there's always a long line of tourists and locals alike.

This year, I'll also stop at Katabatic Brewing Co. Katabatic Brewing Co. is the newest brewery in the Greater Gallatin Valley. It boasts a solid and diverse selection of brews, defining itself as "rugged yet refined." It's located in a beautiful space, with plenty of tables, exposed beams and brick, a garage door, and plenty of art and architecture to admire. It also allows dogs. I'm by no means a beer snob, nor do I consider myself a connoisseur, but I like beer and I might drink a few from time to time. Katabatic's beer has what I've described as a "velvety mouthfeel;" maybe they use a water softener in their brewing process? I queried the bartender and she attested that they use plain tap water. After asking my fellow patrons, they agreed on the "texture of the water;" however, I wonder if this is due to the "herd effect," or because Livingston's water actually feels and tastes different. In any case, go to Katabatic next time you're in Livingston. You won't be disappointed.

Potosi Hot Springs, Naked Old Hippies, and The Pony Bar, Pony,MT

The first time I traveled to Potosi Hot Springs, night had already fallen and we stumbled along blindly, searching for adventure and new experiences. On the trail, I coincidentally came across two friends, who advised us to continue no further. "Too full," they said, "naked old hippies they said," "tea cups of ether water," they said. We forged on, despite the hot springs full of ether water drinking, naked old hippies that were monopolizing the modest hot springs. Did we strip down, jump in, and grab a tea cup? OF COURSE. NOT. We turned around, walked back down the trail, and on to the Pony Bar. Local favorite Montana Rose plays there on Sundays, if you're lucky, and the Pony Bar is famous for its summertime "Duck Races."

I have since been back to Potosi and camped for two days and I have only good things to say. For such a small feature though, I think this is an example of the "tragedy of the commons." Though I'd love to go to Potosi Hot Springs frequently, I know that by limiting my visits, I put less burden on the surrounding ecosystem, less wear on the trail and dirt roads around Potosi, and incur less negative human effect on the water in the springs and the vegetation around it.

Where No One Knows Your Name

In an age defined by unhappy comparisons, confounded by social media and the "fear of missing out" (FOMO), we should all just go to the White Sulfur Springs Rodeo and gain some perspective. No one cares who you are in White Sulfur Springs, or who you're not, and neither do you. Your Snapchat Story does not need to be meticulously updated, not that you would have the time or 4G LTE service to accomplish it, anyway. The Spa Hot Springs Motel is full of character and the staff and other patrons don't care how loud you are, how much money you have in the bank, or if you went to the gym yesterday. What do the people in White Sulfur Springs care about? Your good time. To quote Jeff Bebe of Almost Famous, "I get people off. I look for the guy that isn't getting off and I make him get off." The bartenders in White Sulfur Springs will invite you to their homes, let you drink their whiskey, and literally take the shirts of their backs when you beat them in a 4am dice game. There is only one choice in White Sulfur Springs and no one cares what it is.

Sir Scott's Oasis and The Broken Arrow, Manhattan, MT

Sir Scott's Oasis is famous for once telling Jane Fonda to "get out," after some less than diplomatic comments about the Vietnam more. Despite this affront to acting and aerobic fame, The Oasis is alive, well, and delicious as ever. Not much has changed, from the vinyl tablecloths, to the pickled vegetable tray served at the beginning of each meal. Their incredible prime rib still comes in a puddle of thick au jus with all the fixings. For such a modest atmosphere, their menu also boasts $55 Surf and Turf and $65 Caribbean Lobster tail. For the handful of times I've eaten a magnificent dinner at The Oasis, I've never seen either of these options served, in my party or otherwise. I wonder if these items "anchor" the menu, so-to-speak, to nudge patrons that spending $30 on a steak is not only rational, but moderate. Whatever the rational, go to Sir Scott's Oasis and order the prime rib.

As you're revived from your food coma, stop by The Broken Arrow a little ways East down the street. Try your luck at their six shake-a-day pots, many worth as much as $1000.

The Ascent of IPA

Week after week, we sell more Vigilante IPA than any other beer at Bridger Brewing Co. In the microbrewery world, IPA's are king. Bozeman Brewing Co. has Hopzone, Madison River has Hop Juice, Outlaw has their Passive Aggressive Pale Ale (P.A.P.A.), and national breweries are coming out with new and exciting extra pale ales, double IPA's, and experimental IPA's. According to Dan Conley, of Community Beer Works in Buffalo, NY, the popularity of IPA's is because, "they taste good, they're advanced, they have lots of flavor, and science!" Thinking about consumer behavior however, makes me wonder if the ascent of IPA is due to popularity, hype, and irrational fallacies. In any case, "Homer" sure does enjoy a pint of Deschute's Fresh Squeezed IPA and doesn't much care if it's rational or not.

Come Here Often?

So I work at The Crystal Bar and Bridger Brewing Co. I know gaggles of regulars-their names, preferences, place of work, significant others, and what they ate for dinner last night. One thing can be said for nearly all regulars: they're consistent with what they eat and drink. Consumers become overwhelmed with too many choices and default to what they already know, or in this case, what the bartender already knows about them. In a bar full of thousands of possibilities, why do we sell more PBR and well whiskey than anything else, when both options are relatively mediocre? In a restaurant with hundreds of pizza combinations, why do we sell more pepperoni and meat-lovers' pizza than any other style? When in doubt, we stick with what we know.

The Long Branch Saloon is For Sale, Ennis, MT

The Long Branch Saloon has been open since 1931 and is the archetypal Montana bar. If you happen to befriend the regulars, you may find yourself with a free drink chip in the form of a piece of antler bone and a story or two to take home. Willie's Distillery is also just a stone's throw down the street and the Honey Moonshine is worth the walk. However, with the fly-fishing and tourist seasons being so extreme compared to the off-season in Ennis, MT, the Long Branch Saloon is for sale because the mortgage is leeching the current owner's retirement. Liquor licenses in Montana are commodities, typically going for $500,000-$1,000,000, though we have more liquor licenses per capita than any other state in America, save North Dakota. This seems to exemplify the fallacy of supply and demand: giving a product or service a price based on a value or anchor that doesn't actually exist. There is legislation in place to make liquor licenses more accessible, but the Montana Tavern Association (MTA) won't have it. Members argue that increasing the number of liquor licenses in Montana and making them more accessible for new business owners essentially de-values the licenses that they've already purchased, in addition to their concern about competition. I see their point, but I also support new businesses and buying a Montana liquor license without a seven-figure bank account seems impossible. What's the answer here?

10 Friends You'll Make At The Crystal Bar

Do you want to know who you could be sharing a can of Olympia and a shot of Beam with at 11:00 on a Tuesday? Or who you'd be fighting for 30 vodka-crans during power hour on a friday? Let me tell you.

1. That One Homeless Guy

What he drinks: Coors Original and well whiskey on the rocks

2. Your Divorced Grandpa

What he drinks: Bud light and Blackberry Brandy

3. Crazy Christine

What she drinks: Jameson with a side of strange

4. Your weird uncle with the pony tail

What he drinks: Rainier bottles and Pendleton

5. 21st Birthday Parties

What they drink: "whatever's free" and/or "something good, strong, and cheap" (as if those aren't mutually exclusive).

6. Dirtbags

What they drink: IPA draft

7. The back of the house staff from your favorite restaurant 

What they drink: PBR. ALL of  the PBR.

8. College crowd 

What they drink: 30 rum and cokes and 15 shots of liquid cocaine

9. The owner

What he drinks: ketel one and soda

10. Bar employees

 What they drink: everything.

Freedom Isn't Free

In Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational, he analyzes consumer behavior in regard to services and products that have "zero cost" and/or are "free." Consumers are more likely to choose a "free" option, without considering the downside, such as the value of their time, the possible wear-and-tear on their bodies, vehicle, etc., or the consumption of other resources like water, gasoline, or supplementary and/or complementary goods.

The boiling river outside of Gardiner, MT is spectacular. The drive is beautiful and Yellowstone National Park is a mecca for wilderness and wildlife. I've been closer to Elk and Bison in this location than any other in Montana. If you go to the boiling river in the winter, you typically don't have to pay the fee to get into Yellowstone National Park, so it is essentially a "free" trip to The Park. Of course, that doesn't take into account the gas, the loss of valuable time, the wear on the vehicle, or the various beverages involved. However, there is added value unaccounted for in the lack of crowds and tourists. Paradise Valley should always be traveled often, especially in the winter.

Bridger Brewing Company: Pints With Purpose

Bridger Brewing Co. (BBC) has engaged in purpose-based marketing since it opened its doors in 2013. On Monday nights from 5pm-8pm, BBC donates a dollar from each pint sold to a selected non-profit organization. In 2014, BBC raised more than $15,000 for local and national non-profit organizations. Many other local breweries, such as Outlaw Brewing Co. and Katabatic Brewing Co., have implemented similar nightly benefits. This program is especially effective because it is purpose-based, rather than cause-based. Marketing communication is, "social, digital, and experiential," as Max Lenderman suggests in his "Cause vs. Purpose" article. Pints With Purpose is marketed only through the BBC website and its Facebook and patrons experience the cause in-house with informational materials provided by the non-profit. Supporting the community is at the core of BBC's mission, and this program helps communicate and reinforce those ideals. So come in on a Monday and have a pint of Vigilante IPA for a good "purpose."

Von Stomper at The Murray Bar, Livingston, MT

8 Reasons to Drink at The Murray Bar

1. It allow dogs.
2. It boasts an awesome array of homemade infusions. Try the vanilla blueberry vodka and soda or the horseradish vodka in a Bloody Mary. The Murray also does some in-house barrel aging with various whiskies.
3. The bartenders bring you varieties of chocolate chip cookies so that you can pick out "the best."
4. It offer $5 wood fired pizzas on Mondays from the 2nd Street Bistro next door.
5. It displays a photographic wall of "bar flies:" a combination of Murray Bar regulars and fly fishermen (and women) that patronage the watering hole from time to time.
6. Its draft list is excellent, with a wide variety of rotating local micro brews and all the usual suspects.
7. The Murray is one of the best (and only) places to see live music in the greater Gallatin Valley. It typically hosts a different band or artist every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. There's a great little dance floor and unless the rodeo is in town, it's never too crowded.
8. Von Stomper is playing there on Saturday, May 9th. From their website, "Inspired by the lonely, the downtrodden, and the insane-- the voices of Von Stomper, a Colorado based five piece, reach into the expansive lexicon of American roots music and make it howl. Their high energy live show has left boots tattered and dance floors torn time and time again." Von Stomper is a bewitching combination of americana, blues, folk, and rock 'n' roll, complete with a rollicking, barefoot harmonica/banjo player. They closed the show with, "Thanks everybody. Now who wants to buy us some shots of whiskey?" Jim Beam it is.





While you're eagerly searching for some of Von Stomper's songs and videos, check out their instagram. It's engaging, genuine, and reflective of their vintage feel and blues rock sound.

Floating in the Gallatin Valley: Madison or Jefferson

During my first two summers in Montana, I spent five days a week floating the Madison River. It's relatively close to town, traveled enough that you can get away with hitch-hiking in the summer, and it's a mecca for young people in Bozeman. But then I had a revelation: I floated the Jefferson at the end of the second summer. It was new, it was exciting, and it had a bridge to jump off of. Since that second summer, I've floated the Madison less than five times. The Jefferson made me a floating snob, a maximizer in regard to lazy rivers. I now happily wait to float the Jefferson, even though I float less, rather than float the Madison. Plus, there's the allure of the Sac Bar, the Three Forks rodeo, and bridge jumping, of course.

Red Lodge, Montana's Winter Carnival and the Cardboard Classic

Currently, I have five hundred pounds of cardboard sitting in my garage. No, I'm not anticipating some imminent rapture or apocalypse and the need for some versatile shelter materials. Some of my rather debaucherous friends and I entered a contest called the "Cardboard Classic": a sled-building competition where the only materials you may utilize in construction
are cardboard, duct tape, and glue. Red Lodge's Cardboard Classic is one of the main events at its annual Winter Carnival, a good timin', Music-On-Main style event. This years' theme was "Camelot," We entered the "unlimited category": our sled had to weigh more than 200 pounds and hold four adults. First prize was $200. The value of the duct tape, cardboard, cutting utensils, and our collective time far outweighed $200. So do incentives really matter? This makes me wonder at the value in monetary incentives versus incentives of other types. In this instance, the incentives were the thrill, the memories, and the glory. Priceless.

Chico Hot Springs and The Old Sal, Emigrant, MT

As romantic as it is to be sitting in hot springs with snow on the ground and stars in the sky, go to Chico in the afternoon, in the summertime. Take the Trail Creek exit if you're heading there from Bozeman, for its winding dirt roads and mountain expanses, and it'll spit you out at the Old Saloon in Emigrant, MT. The Old Sal has everything I want in a bar: it's unpretentious, classic, and serves beer in mason jars; it has a great jukebox, the regulars will tolerate you, and there's a horse shoe pit out back.

I can't think of many better activities than yard games at the Old Sal on a sunny afternoon in Paradise Valley with a Fresh-Squeezed IPA in one hand and a horse shoe in the other. Unless your partner is exceptionally good at horse shoes. To perpetuate the representative heuristic, once he lands one ringer, ten more will follow. I'd like to say, "It's as certain as death and taxes," but I'd hate to admit to believing a known fallacy.

After imbibing at the Old Sal, head over to Chico for some soaking and some dancing, hopefully to Ten Foot Tall and 80 Proof or The Red Elvises.

Willow Creek Cafe and Saloon and the Sac Bar, Willow Creek, MT and Three Forks, MT

I am in a perpetual state of craving for the Willow Creek Cafe and Saloon pork ribs. They're tender and slathered in the most incredible mustard barbecue sauce. Located in a building that is more than 100 years old, the Willow Creek Cafe is a small-town gem that opened in 1977. In addition to the draw of incredible food, patrons observe little pieces of history and the story of the town of Willow Creek. Vintage portraits, floral wallpaper, pressed tin ceilings, vinyl tablecloths, and legendary bullet holes all help to narrate the past of this near-forgotten place.

The Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks has a different success story. From 2001-2009, this historic hotel was boarded up and closed. It has since experienced an incredible 8-month long renovation and now offers 29 rooms, two full-service bars, a fine-dining restaurant, and several other amenities. The Sacajawea Hotel has re-branded itself for the modern age, while simultaneously maintaining its historical integrity. A similar challenge is faced by Cannabrand: re-branding marijuana in a respectful, socially acceptable way whilst trying to positively communicate and preserve marijuana's cultural identity. On your way home from Willow Creek, stop at the Sac Bar, the more casual of the two, located in the basement of the Sacajawea Hotel. Its got great wood floors for dancing, live music on the weekends, shake-a-day, and local spirits from Willie's Distillery in Ennis.

Renova Hot Springs and The Two Bit Saloon, Whitehall, Montana

Renova Hot Springs is one of my favorite places in Montana. Renova Hot Springs is located about 20 minutes south of Whitehall, MT. The springs themselves are glorious and allow you to adjust the temperature to your preference. There are two pools located off of the Jefferson River, one shown here enclosed by a man-made rock wall, in addition to a more natural pool downstream. Whitehall is just far enough to feel like you're getting out of town, but not so far that only going for the evening is a chore.

Renova Hot Springs is also very intimate. On a Wednesday night, we were the only soakers and saw just one other vehicle on the dirt road. At night, bring candles to set around the rock wall for light or some wood to build a fire in the pit aside the pool.

The last time I went to Renova Hot Springs was a divine experience, as always, but I did find myself in an argument with another patron. My companion and I brought a six-pack of beer to share and were very careful not to accidentally leave a bottle cap or any trash behind, as we're conscious of trying to leave such an incredible space as pristine as we found it. As we were finishing up, a man tossed his bottle cap into the Jefferson nearby.

I asked him, "Did you just throw your cap into the river?"

"No, I flicked it."

"Why are you littering in such an amazing place? Don't you want to leave it as beautiful as you found it?"

"Well have you seen this place in the daytime?"

"No, we usually come at dusk."

"If you saw it in daytime, you wouldn't care about littering either."

We departed after this exchange, but this conversation has stuck with me. His argument is a logical fallacy and a status-quo bias. It makes no more sense to litter just because other people have than it does to drive drunk because other people have or buy something because other people do.

If you're hungry on your way out of town, stop at the Two Bit Saloon and get the Montana ribeye. It's cooked on the grill right in front of you and they've got a decent draft beer offering. Their chicken tenders are "world famous," but the ribeye is a much better choice.

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