Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream | Big Sky, Little Soda

If you were frantically looking for my father or myself sometime during the past week and a half, you would have had a tough time, as we were camping somewhere in the mountains of Montana. While there, my agenda included the task of finding as many unique sodas from the West to fill a suitcase. This job proved fruitless. The soda (or dare I say "pop"?) selection at all the tiny shops and service stations from Missoula to the Swan Valley displeased me. On trips prior, I had enjoyed bottles of Flathead Lake Monster Hand Crafted Gourmet Huckleberry Soda, but this time around, nothing of the sort could be found.

I did, however, find some Portland, OR vanilla cream soda while stopping in for some groceries. The gentleman on the label, who calls himself Henry, suggested I give his bottle a try. I took his advice because he had a beard that spoke honesty, and because I still haven't bought a can of Fanta since they started running those god-awful Spice Girl ads.

The Henry Weinhard people also brew beer, which my father and I partook of on a few evenings. This beer paled in comparison to MT's locally-brewed Moose Drool Brown Ale, and Colorado's Fat Tire (we drank both at a legendary hole-in-the-wall type of bar called Liquid Louie's).
To the state of Montana: you seem to support local businesses quite well. My hopes for shop owners is that you'll practice similar techniques and carry more alternative beverages in the future. That is all.

Henry Weinhard's drinks can be found at Beverages Direct.