Seven Patently Missoula Things You Can Find Anywhere

Everyone knows the show Yellowstone made Montana popular (for better or worse). But Missoula was getting national attention long before the drama showed up. I’m always impressed when I’m visiting other states that it seems I can find Big Sky Brewing’s Moose Drool in the beer cooler there. Or that my friends in Texas called me when they watched the Minimalism documentary to tell me they saw a glimpse of my little town on their screens. For a town of roughly 75,000 people, Missoula stands out as a place that attracts creatives, art, and innovation. Here’s just some of the products, performances, and personalities that put Missoula on the map.

Moose Drool: Big Sky Brewing
For those of you who don’t know, Moose Drool is a brown ale manufactured by Big Sky Brewing, which is located near the airport. Big Sky Brewing has a taproom, but you can have a sip from practically anywhere. No wonder it’s so popular. According to Taphunter.com Moose Drool is “far and away the best-selling beer brewed in Montana.”

A River Runs Through It
The Normal Maclean autobiography A River Runs Through It that was turned into a movie that stars Brad Pitt was based on Missoula in the early 1900s. The movie centers around fishing the Blackfoot River, attending church, and the family life of the author, whose father was a pastor and brother was rebellious. Hilariously, Lolo, which is now a quant suburb of Missoula, attracted illicit behavior like gambling, drinking, and prostitution at the time the book was set. Hollywood’s creative licensing aside, it’s a pretty close look at what life was like in Missoula a century ago.

Anne Helen Petersen
When Buzzfeed writer and editor Anne Helen Petersen wanted to move from the bustle of New York City to a slower-pace place, she chose Missoula. From here, Petersen has become somewhat of a household name in the sociopolitical realm, analyzing and writing about the economic and social effects of legislation on middle-class Americans. In 2020 she published, Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. Petersen has since moved on from our little mountain town, but you can still catch her on Substack.

Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things
In 2012, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus left their corporate jobs, rented a cabin in Philipsburg, and wrote for four months. What developed was an attraction to the minimalist lifestyle (owning as few physical possessions as possible) and a love for Montana, Missoula specifically. Millburn and Nicodemus’ passion for minimalist living developed into a documentary called “Minimalism” that featured the streets of Missoula almost as a third character. Stream Minimalism on Netflix or Amazon Prime and see if any of your favorite sites are featured.

Plant Perks
Those who are vegan have surely heard of Plant Perks. Created by Missoula mom Tiffany Perkins in her kitchen and distributed through a warehouse on the North Side, Plant Perks offers creamy-tasting delicious cheeses without any cream. Click on their interactive map to see where you can get your non-dairy, non-nut cheese fix outside of Missoula.

Colin Meloy, the Decemberists
I first saw The Decemberists in concert at Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2005, and their lively performance cemented my love for them for the rest of eternity. Who knew a few years later I would find myself living in the university town where Meloy took creative writing classes and honed his skills as an expert storyteller. Every time The Decemberists tour, they make sure to make a stop at Meloy’s old stomping grounds, and have even planned music festivals here.

Stephanie Land, Maid
Stephanie Land’s memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother's Will to Survive, made her a household name, showing up on the New York Times Bestseller List and Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List. This meteoric rise was a surprise to the writer, who based her story on her struggles as a working, single mother who fled an abusive relationship and an unstable parent in order to survive and pursue her dreams of becoming a professional writer. It details her journey from Washington state to Missoula, but, really the memoir is “one woman’s story of inching out of the dirt and how the middle class turns a blind eye to the poverty lurking just a few rungs below.”

Maid was such an instant success that it even became a Netflix show, starring Margaret Qualley and her mother Andi MacDowell (who, ironically, also used to live in Missoula) and Season 2 is being released soon. As for Land, her second book, Class was published earlier this year.