Black Star Beer is a double hopped golden

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...

made with two-row malting

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

and a combination of Mittelfruh and Czech Saaz

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

. The Great Northern Brewing Company located in Whitefish,

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

is the original producer of Black Star Beer.

Beer

Black Star Double Hopped Golden Lager is an American "double hopped" (dry hopped) golden

based on traditional European

Pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (german: Pilsen), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewe ...

s. It is made with two-row malted

. The

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

contains 4.5%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

(alcohol by volume), and has 13 to 15

IBUs When drinking beer, there are many factors to be considered. Principal among them are bitterness, the variety of flavours present in the beverage and their intensity, alcohol content, and colour. Standards for those characteristics allow a more o ...

(International Bittering Units). Brewed with two different

, Black Star contains 20% Bavarian Mittelfruh and 80% Czech Saaz hops.

History

Minott Wessinger, 5th generation brewer and great-great-grandson of

Henry Weinhard Henry Weinhard (February 18, 1830 – September 20, 1904) was a German-American brewer in Portland, Oregon. After immigrating to the United States in 1851, he lived in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Sacramento before settling in th ...

, started the

McKenzie River Corporation McKenzie River Corporation is a beverage marketing firm based in San Francisco, CA. Founded in 1987 by Joseph Wessinger with the help of his father, Fred Wessinger, the McKenzie River Corporation has launched a number of successful beverage produc ...

, a beverage marketing company, in 1987. Wessinger grew up learning about beer from his father Fred Wessinger at the Blitz-Weinhard Brewery in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. In 1995, Minott Wessinger built the Great Northern Brewing Company in Whitefish,

and began brewing Black Star beer. Other products introduced by the McKenzie River Corporation include: * St. Ides Premium Malt Liquor *

Sparks Sparks may refer to: Places *Sparks, Georgia * Sparks, Kansas *Sparks, Kentucky *Sparks, Maryland * Sparks, Nebraska *Sparks, Nevada *Sparks, Oklahoma *Sparks, Texas * Sparks, Bell County, Texas * Sparks, West Virginia Books * ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...

* Steel Reserve High Gravity Lager * Howling Monkey Energizing Elixir * Le Tourment Vert Absinthe Francaise

Great Northern Brewing

The Great Northern Brewing Company was designed by Joe Esherick and built in a traditional gravity flow arrangement. The mostly automated brew house is one of the most complex for its size in the country. The fermenting and packaging area, known as the Cellar is open and roomy, allowing for many brewery operations to occur simultaneously. After 7 years of brewing Black Star, Wessinger decided to stop brewing in order to pursue other projects. Wessinger and Great Northern Brewing Company (GNBC) started production again in January 2010 and Black Star was officially reintroduced on February 6, 2010. Black Star is being brewed at the same facility in which it was originally brewed in 1995. In addition to Black Star, the Great Northern Brewing Company produces other lagers, ales and seasonal brews.

Advertising campaigns

Black Star was introduced to a Pacific Northwest test market in the early nineties, which was supported by an acclaimed advertising campaign by Wieden & Kennedy. The campaign depicted a make-believe history of Black Star Beer through a series of six commercials hosted by

John Corbett John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on '' Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003 ...

. The commercials were released in 1992 and received “Best of Show” honors in Advertising Age’s Best Awards competition. Wieden & Kennedy’s Black Star campaign also won the Cannes Lions 1993 Film Bronze award. In 1994,

Hal Riney Hal Patrick Riney (July 17, 1932 – March 24, 2008) was an American advertising executive. Biography Founder of the advertising agency Hal Riney & Partners (now Publicis & Hal Riney), Riney was named #30 on the ''Advertising Age'' 100 people o ...

& Partners developed a Ken Burns style advertising campaign that chronicled the history of Black Star Beer from the building of the brewery in Whitefish, Montana to its projected future success. Hal Riney personally spearheaded the TV, print and radio campaign for Black Star Beer. The campaign highlighted the natural beauty of

and the unique personalities of the

Flathead Valley The Flathead Valley is a region of the U.S. state located in the Northwestern Montana. It includes parts of Flathead County and Lake County. Notable communities include Kalispell, Bigfork, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Polson, Ronan, and St. ...

Awards

* Silver Medal, 1999 North American Beer Awards * Gold Medal, Best of the West 1997, North American Beer Awards * Bronze Medal, Excellence in Brewing 2000 North American Beer Awards * Consumer Product Award 2000, Award of Excellence by the American Tasting Institute

References

{{reflist

External links

blackstarbeer.com

greatnorthernbrewing.com
Beer brewing companies based in Montana