{"id":4462,"date":"2014-11-19T07:30:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T14:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=4462"},"modified":"2014-11-19T07:40:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T14:40:03","slug":"beer-food-fun-make-for-big-draw-at-wibaux-brewery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2014\/11\/beer-food-fun-make-for-big-draw-at-wibaux-brewery\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer, food, fun make for big draw at Wibaux brewery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wibaux\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

The Beaver Creek Brewery in Wibaux had a good crowd all evening Saturday. It was cold outside, but the atmosphere was invitingly warm inside.<\/p><\/div>\n

WIBAUX \u2014 In the Gem Theatre attached to the Beaver Creek Brewery, Mighty Big Jim and the Tall Boys took the stage a little after 8 Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Their opening song was \u201cWibaux, MT,\u201d a defiant anthem written by bandleader Jim Devine. The chorus opens with \u201cWe\u2019re Wibaux, Montana\/Who the hell are you\/We like our sky big\/We like to throw down a few.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd, numbering about 35 on this cold, windy night on the prairie, was settling in, and there was some cheering when Devine started the second verse: \u201cWe brew our own beer\/On Beaver Creek\/Yeah it\u2019s strong\/It ain\u2019t made for the weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The use of \u201cwe\u201d is not just a figure of speech. Besides being a guitar player and bandleader, Devine is a brewer and co-owner of Beaver Creek Brewery and the Gem, as well as the master of ceremonies for this unexpected constellation of good food, good beer and high spirits on the eastern edge of Montana.<\/p>\n

One of Devine\u2019s partners, Sandon Stinnett, said the brewery and theater regularly draw in people from Glendive, his home town, as well as Baker and Ekalaka, and from Beach, Williston and Dickinson, N.D.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get big groups of people that drive in from Minot,\u201d he said, which is nearly a 500-mile round trip.<\/p>\n

\"Mascot\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

The mascot sits above the bar.<\/p><\/div>\n

When he was growing up in Glendive, Stinnett said, Wibaux had a reputation as a party town, the little burg where people from neighboring towns and ranches went to get rowdy, especially on Sunday dance night. It was also known for its steaks.<\/p>\n

As Devine put it, \u201cThey always say, the best steakhouse in Glendive is in Wibaux. The best steakhouse in Baker is in Wibaux.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still known for its steaks, at the Shamrock Club and the Rainbow Club, both a stone\u2019s throw from Beaver Creek Brewery on Wibaux\u2019s short but handsome main street. But what brings people to the brewery and theater is not just the prospect of a party, or even the good food and beer. It\u2019s also the ambience, something in the air.<\/p>\n

Steve Santini is one regular, though he lives in Bismarck, N.D., 170 miles to the east. He and his wife, Dana, and 2-year-old son, Christian, had some chores to do in Dickinson on Saturday, and Dana had never been to the brewery before. So Steve talked her into driving the extra 60 miles into Wibaux, where they had a couple of beers and filled a few growlers.<\/p>\n

Steve works for Allied Van Lines and often spends the night in Dickinson, he said, and \u201canytime I don\u2019t have anything to do at night, I make the extra 120-mile round trip.\u201d It\u2019s not for nothing that Beaver Creek Brewery bills itself as \u201ca microbrew oasis on the vast plains of Eastern Montana.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>A couple of other regulars on hand Saturday were Bill and Cassie Szudera, from Beach. They used to come to Wibaux to dance on Sundays at the Rainbow, Bill said, \u201cbut about the time this place opened, we were getting too old for Sunday dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n

They farm in the summer, when it\u2019s hard to get away, he said, but the rest of the year they drive over to the brewery pretty often. \u201cIn the winter, every weekend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Beaver Creek Brewery started with Devine and Stinnett\u2019s mutual passion for making beer at home. They were both social workers and met on the job at Home on the Range, a youth home in Sentinel Butte, N.D. They started brewing together in 1996 and soon formed a group in Glendive known as the Beaver Creek Brewers. (They don\u2019t remember how it was named; Beaver Creek runs through Wibaux.)<\/p>\n

There was a lot of enthusiasm at first, Devine said, \u201cbut after a few years it was me, Sandy and one other guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gem\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

Mighty Big Jim and the Tall Boys, as seen from the balcony of the Gem.<\/p><\/div>\n

Stinnett and Devine became good brewers, so good that friends and relatives were always asking them to brew up a batch for a wedding, a birthday party, a branding or some other occasion. They couldn\u2019t charge for their beer, but they did ask the recipients of their skills to pay for ingredients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt got to the point where Jim and I were brewing several times a week,\u201d Stinnett said.<\/p>\n

Late in 2006, they started talking about opening a brewery. They figured it would be in Glendive, but they ended up in the old Helvik’s Grocery store in Wibaux for two reasons: \u201cThe walk-in cooler was functional and the owner of the building became our partner,\u201d Devine said.<\/p>\n

That would be Russell Houck, a rancher, oilman and Wibaux native who also funded most of the renovation of the building. The building went up in 1914 and had also housed a butcher shop and a shoe store over the years. As usually happens with an old building, there were lots of surprises, and lots of work.<\/p>\n

\"Partners\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

Partners Sandon Stinnett, left, and Jim Devine have been brewing beer together for almost 20 years.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt took us 18 months from when we started tearing shit up in here to pouring our first beer,\u201d Devine said. The result, in the summer of 2008, was an inviting, surprisingly spacious building with 16-foot-high ceilings, full of antiques, lamp-lighting and the stuffed head of a longhorn steer next to the chalkboard with the beer menu.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife gets all the credit for the interior design,\u201d Devine said.<\/p>\n

During their first full year, they produced 279 barrels of beer. \u201cWe\u2019ll surpass 900 barrels this year,\u201d Stinnett said. That\u2019s almost 28,000 gallons, nearly a quarter million pints. They sell about 30 percent of their beer straight out of the tap. The other 70 percent is sold to bars, taverns and restaurants from Billings to Bismarck and as far north as Williston. Four different distributors take their beer on the road.<\/p>\n

Within two years, the partners had opened a patio on one side of the brewery, then added a raised deck to the patio. Even in those days they put on three live music shows a year, which meant clearing the brewery of tables and chairs and setting up a temporary stage in one corner.<\/p>\n

A few years ago they found out there was a beer-and-wine license available in Wibaux. The partners couldn\u2019t own it because they already had a brewery, so Devine\u2019s wife\u2019s brother \u201cagreed to own the paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

That paved the way for the expansion into the vacant building next door\u2014the old Gem Theatre, which opened in 1915. Another top-to-bottom renovation took place, this one resulting in a restaurant-music venue with a big stage at one end and at the other a tiny galley kitchen and a wine-and-beer bar.<\/p>\n

\"Welcome\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

The Gem Theatre and Beaver Creek Brewery can look awfully welcoming on a cold day on the Eastern Montana prairies.<\/p><\/div>\n

The brewery is open Thursday-Sunday from 4 to 8 p.m., and the Gem is open from 4 to 11. That means brewery patrons, by state law, can drink only three pints apiece \u2026 then move over to the Gem and drink what they please, as at any other bar.<\/p>\n

Upstairs, in the old theater projection room, they built an office out of which they run both businesses, plus a little three-table loge for VIP concert seating. Devine\u2019s wife, Sandra, started out serving $5 plates of pub specials. That didn\u2019t generate much business so she developed a larger menu, with specialty pizzas, fancy pub food and nightly specials.<\/p>\n

In the early years, Stinnett said, business went great guns until New Year\u2019s Eve and then dropped off steeply until spring. Now, with the Gem serving meals four nights a week, business is steady all year long.<\/p>\n

Sandra Devine doesn\u2019t fry anything. All her dishes are baked in the oven or cooked in a crock pot. She also bakes chocolate chip cookies, one of which is served for free with each pint of stout.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say all the time, \u2018the beer is good, but I really like the cookies,\u2019\u201d Sandra said. \u201cIt makes Jim grumpy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe, but he\u2019s also her biggest booster.<\/p>\n

\"Couple\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

Cassie and Bill Szudera come over from Beach, N.D., every weekend in the winter.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s doing a bacon-wrapped meatloaf that\u2019s getting kind of famous,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how the food comes in. She just sprinkles some Sandra dust on it and it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people might say the same about the beer. Devine mostly runs the businesses these days and Stinnett does all the brewing. There are six regular beers on tap, the most popular of which is the Rusty Beaver Wheat. Others include Paddlefish Stout and Wibaux Gold. There are usually a few special beers on tap, too. One of them Saturday was the Pipeliner Porter.<\/p>\n

The brewery was nearly full all Saturday evening, and 30 to 35 people paid $10 to hear Devine\u2019s band at 8. This was only their second gig as a band, but Devine has been playing music for decades. He went to Nashville twice a year for 12 years, starting in 1994, writing songs, doing some recordings, playing guitar in various bands.<\/p>\n

These days he\u2019s happy to be able to play music and still run a successful business. He clearly enjoys himself on stage, trading banter with the people in his band as much with the familiar crowd in the Gem. There were lots of references to beer-drinking, and possibly an overabundance of beaver jokes, but we\u2019ll let that go.<\/p>\n

Lately, Devine\u2019s been thinking he ought to be using his music more to promote the brewery. That\u2019s why, next Wednesday he and his lead guitar player, Casey Malkuch, will be playing the Montana Bar in Miles City and talking up Beaver Creek\u2019s beers.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re wondering about that band name, Mighty Big Jim and the Tall Boys, they came by it honestly. Devine stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 280 pounds. And on Saturday, Big Jim had some big news for his audience.<\/p>\n

The Wibaux Longhorns had won their playoff game against Ennis earlier in the day, which means they\u2019ll be playing Chinook for the Class C Eight-Man State Championship in Wibaux this Saturday. That\u2019s at 1 p.m., and the Cat-Grizzly game gets underway in Missoula at 3:10.<\/p>\n

Stockman Bank is sponsoring a tailgate party starting at 11 a.m. and the brewery will open an hour early, at 3, for the Cat-Grizzly game. And at 8, the Social Animals, an alternative country band from Minnesota, takes the stage at the Gem.<\/p>\n

It sounds like Wibaux, population 450, might be the hottest ticket in all of Montana this Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u2666 \u00a0\u2666 \u00a0\u2666 \u00a0\u2666 \u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n

And here are some more photos:<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Backup singer Catelynne Eslick and bandleader Jim Devine play for the Gem crowd Saturday night.<\/p><\/div>

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Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

After pouring beers for four hours, Beaver Creek bartenders Britta Berube, left, and Amber Lemoine enjoy a pint behind the bar.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Sandra Devine repurposed (and refinished) some old doors to line one of the brewery's walls.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Steve Santini, a regular at Beaver Creek, holds his son, Christian.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Dancers pack the floor during a performance by Mighty Big Jim and the Tall Boys.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

A ghost remnant of the Gem Theatre is still visible on one wall.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

And a sign over the door separating the brewery from the Gem gives a nod to Helvik's Grocery, which used to occupy the brewery building.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

The brewery is full of antiques.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Sandra Devine prepares all the food and did most of the interior design.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Jim Devine drinks one of his beers between songs at the Gem.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Mirrors reflect the crowd in the Gem Saturday night.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Posters in the balcony show some of the bands who've played the Gem.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

A longhorn steer (in honor of the the Wibaux High School Longhorns) watches over the beer menu. <\/p><\/div>

<\/a>
Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Toward the end of the evening, Mat Applegate, of Beach, said, \"How 'bout if I stand in front of the stage with a beer in each hand and you take my picture?\"<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>