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.