Tim O’Leary and his crew have racked up scores of awards, hosted weekly nonprofit fundraising nights, even had taproom mainstay Cold Smoke immortalized in ice cream form. Honestly, with beer this good, the world was bound to catch on eventually. Kettlehouse Brewing Company: 602 Myrtle St and 313 N. 1st St. W, 728-1660, kettlehouse.com Finalists, Best Brewery 2. Draught Works Brewery: 915 Toole Ave, 541-1592, draughtworksbrewery 3. Bayern Brewing: 1507 Montana St, 721-1482, bayernbrewery.com
Best Pool Table Palace It’s a cold winter night in Missoula and the Palace Lounge is hopping. Locals have flocked to a free show, and as the first band wraps its set, the crowd moves onto the sidewalk upstairs as a single mass, sucking down smokes in the chill wind. You’re smarter. You hand the bartender your license, he hands you a tray of pool balls. The game is on. Eight-ball, nine-ball, cutthroat—the cavernous bar echoes with the clack of cues. Suddenly the bar fills up again. The next band starts. You hardly notice, laughing with your friends and challenging them to rematches. It’s a cold winter night in Missoula, and the Palace is yours. The Palace Lounge: 147 W. Broadway, facebook. com/pages/The-Palace-Lounge
Finalists, Best Brew 2. Double Haul, Kettlehouse 3. Summer Honey, Big Sky Brewing
Finalists, Best Pool Table 2. Union Club: 208 E. Main St, 728-7980 3. Al’s & Vic’s: 119 W. Alder St, 728-4804
Best Casino
Best Karaoke Bar
Flipper’s Locals catch on pretty quickly that the best hours at Flipper’s are the mellow ones, when a few friends, a handful of keno players and a decent ballgame on the TV are the day’s only distractions. There’s a cozy, homey vibe that prevails at those times, amplified by the fact that, with no one else around, the odds of winning the free pitcher drawing greatly increase. Maybe it’s Wine Wednesday, that special time when glasses of wine are 50 cents off, or maybe it’s Micro Monday, when a pint of Kettlehouse’s specialty Rosco’s Amber is just $3. Regardless, one smile from Donny and a basket of cheese fries are all it takes to realize: Once you walk into Flip’s, it’s darn hard to leave. Flipper’s: 125 S. Third St. W, 721-4895 Finalists, Best Casino 2. Silver Slipper Lounge & Casino: 4063 Highway 93 S, 251-5402 3. Diamond Jim’s: 1605 S. Russell St, 541-6711
James Bar
Lucky Strike Casino Bartender Adam Hocking stands under the pink neon lightning bolts that adorn the Lucky Strike’s wall and surmises that the establishment is Missoula’s favorite karaoke bar because it hosts amateur singing seven nights a week. In this case, he says, more is definitely better. Such frequency offers aspiring karaoke stars the chance to hone their chops, which is important if they want to hit the big leagues. The Lucky Strike also holds Talent Quest competitions, a national karaoke contest that leads to a series of singoffs. Winners in Missoula advance to more competitive rounds, vying for bragging rights and a cash prize. That means one talented Lucky Strike regular might just become the next karaoke superstar. Lucky Strike: 1515 Dearborn Ave, 549-4152 Finalists, Best Karaoke Bar 2. Bowl Dog Lounge, Westside Lanes: 1615 Wyoming St, 721-5263, missoulabowling.com 3. The Badlander: 208 Ryman St, facebook.com/pages/The-Badlander
photo by Cathrine L. Walters
missoulanews.com • Best of Missoula 2014 [53]