Montana Brewery Laws: Taproom Hours, 48-oz Limit, Distilleries

Montana is one of the easiest places in the US to find a brewery taproom: the Brewers Association counted 105 craft breweries in the state in 2025, third in the country per head with 12.2 for every 100,000 adults of drinking age. But taprooms here run under a law that surprises most visitors. Unless a brewery also holds a separate retail licence, it can pour beer only from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and each customer can buy no more than 48 ounces, about three pints, a day.

This guide explains those rules and the 2023 change that loosened them, how distilleries and wineries work, where liquor is sold, and the open-container and drink-driving rules for the drive home. It names no businesses.

How a Montana taproom works

Breweries in Montana are, by law, manufacturers rather than bars. A "small brewery", one making between 200 gallons and 60,000 barrels a year, may run a sample room under section 16-3-213 of the Montana Code:

• Hours: beer may be served from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Montana Brewers Association describes the practice as service ending at 8 p.m. and taprooms closing by 9 p.m.
• Limit: 48 ounces per customer per business day, for drinking on site or as prepared servings for curbside pickup.
• Own beer only: the beer must be brewed and fermented on the premises, apart from up to six collaboration beers a year.
• Volume cap: no more than 2,000 barrels a year may be served in the sample room.
• Beer to go is separate: breweries may sell packaged beer and growlers to the public from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., and the 48-ounce cap does not apply to those sales.

In practice, that means busy late afternoons and early evenings. If you want a fourth pint, buy a growler or a four-pack to take away.

The 2023 change: retail licences

The 1999 compromise behind these limits held for more than two decades. A 2019 bill to push closing time to 10 p.m. died in committee. Then House Bill 305, passed in April 2023 and in force since July 1, 2023, let a brewery own a full retail beer or beer-and-wine licence at the same premises. Beer brewed and sold there is then not subject to the 48-ounce or 8 p.m. limits.

Few breweries can use it. Retail licences come from Montana's quota system, and in the larger towns one can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. About 30 breweries already served past 8 p.m. before 2023 by pairing with a separately owned licence. So the rule of thumb still holds: assume a taproom stops pouring at 8 p.m. unless it says otherwise.

Montana beer by the numbers

The raw material is local too. Montana planted 31.5% of the US barley acreage in 2025, more than any other state, and much of it is malting barley. Taprooms cluster in Missoula, Bozeman, Billings, Kalispell, Whitefish and Great Falls, but small towns from Philipsburg to Red Lodge have them as well. Brewing history goes back to the gold camps: the 1866 Gilbert Brewery building still stands in the Virginia City Historic District.

Distilleries

Montana distilleries sell their spirits to the state, which lists them in liquor stores, but a microdistillery may also deal with visitors directly under section 16-4-312:

• Tasting room: up to 2 ounces of its own liquor per customer, during the same hours as brewery taprooms. That is roughly one cocktail.
• Bottles to go: sales at the distillery from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., no more than 4.5 litres per person per day, at the state's minimum retail price.

As with breweries, a distillery that fully owns a colocated retail licence is exempt from these limits for the liquor it makes and sells there.

Cider and wine in the Flathead

Grapes are a small crop in Montana: a few dozen acres statewide, much of it on the shores of Flathead Lake, where the water softens the winters. Growers plant cold-hardy hybrids such as Marquette, and many Montana wineries also use fruit from other states, so read the label if you want local grapes. Wineries and cideries around Kalispell, Bigfork and Missoula make wine, cider and fruit wines, some from local apples and cherries. Tasting-room hours are often seasonal; check before you drive out.

Buying alcohol and bar hours

• Age: 21, with photo ID. Visitors from abroad should carry a passport.
• Beer and wine are sold in grocery and convenience stores.
• Spirits are sold through state "agency liquor stores": privately run shops operating under a contract with the state, which is the only wholesaler of spirits in Montana.
• Bar hours: every licensed establishment must be closed between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. (section 16-3-304), and cities can set shorter hours.

Open containers and driving

• No open alcohol in the passenger area of a vehicle on a public road (section 61-8-1026). The fine is up to $100. The law does not apply to a locked glove box, the trunk, behind the last upright seat, or the living quarters of an RV or camper, or to passengers in a bus, taxi or limousine with a hired driver.
• Drink-driving: the limit is 0.08 blood alcohol. Montana's distances and dark, wildlife-filled roads make a designated driver the sensible plan.
• Public drinking on streets is set by each city, so check local rules before carrying a drink outside.

Our local laws guide has the full driving rules.

Before you go

• Plan taproom visits for the afternoon; most stop pouring at 8 p.m.
• Expect a 48-ounce cap and buy growlers or cans if you want more.
• Ask whether a brewery holds a retail licence if you want to stay later.
• Buy spirits at an agency liquor store, beer and wine at grocery stores.
• Keep open containers in the trunk or behind the last seat.
• Arrange a driver or a ride; rural distances are long.

Details checked October 2026.