Quarry Brewing

By Story and photo by Paula J. Mc Garvey - 09/13/2008

Chuck and Lyza Schnabel stand behind the bar in the tap room of Quarry Brewing on Galena Street in Butte recently. The business is celebrating its first anniversary at the end of September.

Quarry Brewing 45 W. Galena St.

in Uptown Butte Phone: 723-0245 E-mail: QUARRYBREWING@bresnan.net Business history: It was an interest in home brewing that ultimately led Chuck and Lyza Schnabel to open Quarry Brewing on Galena Street in Butte last fall.

"I started home brewing about 15 years ago," Chuck Schnabel, an Anaconda native, said.

The new hobby made good economic sense at the time.

"I really enjoyed good beer, but couldn't afford good beer," he said with a grin.

Chuck began crafting his own, more affordable brew in his Washington home. He ended up taking a job as a professional brewer for a sports bar chain in the area.

While in Washington, he met and married his wife, Lyza. By 1999, the couple was tired of the hectic urban lifestyle — making the decision to move back to Montana to raise their family.

Upon arrival, Chuck took a job working as a clerk for the Anaconda Post Office and Lyza, a nurse, worked for several private medical practices and area hospitals. In 2004, they bought a house and moved to Butte — bringing with them a dream to open their own brewery.

They found a location, did extensive renovations and by September 2007, the couple opened Quarry Brewery LLC.

"Being a brewer isn't like most jobs," Chuck said, adding that the couple modeled their business after European family breweries, where family traditions are forged around the craft.

With state alcohol laws concerning breweries different from bars, the tap room at Quarry Brewery has a unique feel.

"We're not a bar," Lyza said, explaining that the tap room is limited to serving 48 ounces of beer or ale in house to each patron per day.

Products, services and specialties: Quarry Brewing is unique in that it manages to successfully combine a microbrewery and a cosmopolitan style tap room that would fare well in Portland or Seattle, while simultaneously creating the atmosphere of a family pub. The brewery has a children's play area. Quarry also offers its own nonalcoholic root beer brew for the kids and stocks a variety of board games for families to play together, she said.

The brewery routinely offers a variety of beer and ale with names honoring the history of the Mining City such as Galena Gold, Head Frame Hefeweizen, Open Cab Copper, Open Pit Porter and Shale Pale Ale. The brewery also features one seasonal specialty, and will be debuting its new India Pale Ale just in time for its anniversary celebration at the end of the month.

The microbrews are packaged for more than 20 restaurants and drinking establishments throughout southwest Montana. Beer can be purchased in 7.75-gallon quarter- barrels, 5-gallon sixth-barrels, 2.25 gallon "Party Pigs" and half-gallon "growlers." "We focus on smaller containers. We like to keep the beer fresh," Chuck said.

Quarry Brewing also offers some unique services. You can purchase, "adopt" and name your party pig or just rent or "foster" one for a special occasion.

The brewery has a Mug Club, which has 156 members with numbered mugs hanging on the tap room wall. Members pay an annual fee to "rent" a mug and are eligible for a variety of Mug Club member benefits, Lyza said.

Patrons can purchase hats and shirts with the brewery logo, to advertise their preference for the company's microbrews. Brewery hours are 1 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Business philosophy: The Schnabels said customer service and quality were priorities.

"We want the beer to speak for itself. I don't want to make a beer unless I can make it the way it should be," Chuck said.

He also shared the Quarry company motto: "We dig beer." Advice for others wanting to start a business: "Follow your dream and your passion. You may work twice as many hours, but you will enjoy it," Chuck said. Lyza added that producing a good product is good advertising.

"We didn't do a lot of advertising at first. We relied on word of mouth," she said.

The Schnabels also believe businesses should support other local businesses and give back to the community. "We would not be here without our customers," Chuck said.

What makes doing business in southwest Montana unique? "It's a community atmosphere, as it should be. When something happens in Butte, there's a ripple effect," he said.

Rewards and challenge of being in business: Chuck said working for himself was more rewarding than working for a brewer and following a standard recipe.

"When you run your own business you can do what you want and provide what the customers ask for," he said.

Challenges include the rising cost of fuel and the cost of commodities.

"Hops went up 1,000 percent in the spring. Barley prices have escalated because of gas prices and shipping costs," he said.

Future plans: Quarry Brewing will be hosting a party to celebrate its anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 27, from 1 to 8 p.m. with live music and appetizers and samples of their new India Pale Ale.

"We want to bring a lot of new things to the brewery," Chuck added.

The Schnabels will be adding Saturday afternoon jam sessions and plan to expand their market.

"We've been talking to a distributing company in Bozeman, and they want to start carrying our product," he said.