Columbia Falls brewery to set up on U.S. 2 strip

A new home has been found in Columbia Falls for Backslope Brewing, a craft beer brewery that Darin and Carla Fisher plan to have running in time for next year’s summer tourist season.

Demolition has begun on the recently emptied retail building next to Lyle Mitchell’s State Farm insurance office.

Mitchell, who moved his 20-year old insurance business to a new building on U.S. 2 at 12th Avenue West about four years ago, said he had his eyes on the properties next door for some time. After closing on their purchase, he began making plans for the 2,500-square-foot wood-framed building that last housed Pawn Plus.

The acquisition was good timing for the Fishers, who had bought kettles, fermenters, kegs and other equipment from the former Desert Mountain Brewing Co. last year and were looking for a good location to set up business.

Mitchell is a strong supporter of the Fishers’ microbrewery plans. So is Don Bennett, president of Freedom Bank, which had backed Desert Mountain Brewing last year.

Plans for Backslope Brewing at this stage call for setting up the brewing equipment along the west wall and storing kegged beer in a walk-in cooler in the spacious basement.

“The basement stays about 55 degrees, which will really help,” Darin said.

Some structural work needs to be done — shoring up the floor for the brewing equipment and removing a supporting wall to open up the main room. Plans call for more windows, infrastructure for a complete commercial kitchen and a big deck on the east side next to the expansive parking area.

One preliminary drawing includes a Western-style false front, but the Fishers haven’t made any firm decisions on ambiance, let alone names for their specialty brews.

How soon before Backslope Brewing’s kettles start firing up depends on how long it takes for the Montana Department of Revenue to process the Fishers’ application — and whether the Fishers have everything set up just the way they want it to be.

“Everything has to be done right,” Darin said. “We’re not going to hurry this.”

The Fishers plan to seek some financial assistance online from kickstarter.com later this fall.

“We can operate fine with the equipment we have, but we want to make the operation a little more efficient,” Darin said.

The Kickstarter funding platform has raised more than $1 billion since it began in April 2009. More than 5 million people have made pledges toward more than 60,000 projects.

No money is collected from pledges until a project has reached its funding goal. Kickstarter reports that 44 percent of projects have reached their funding goals.

The idea behind an all-or-nothing pledge system is that it’s less risky for donors and project creators, and it motivates donors to spread the word. Backers are typically friends of a project’s creators or people who are inspired by a project.

Graham Hart used Kickstarter in 2013 for his Bonsai Brewing Project microbrewery in the Mountain Mall in Whitefish. He raised $17,803 from 68 backers who pledged on a scale from $10 to $10,000 or more.

One motivation for backers is a reward system based on how much money is pledged. For Hart, that meant decals, T-shirts, hoodies, baseball caps, pub glasses, beer discounts, private parties, a snowboard and, for $10,000 or more, the “Time Machine” — Hart’s custom-built 10 gallon all-electric home brewing system.