Not in Steve Lozar's museum of Montana brewing history. Hundreds upon hundreds of bottles - and cans - of beer line the walls, and countless more memorabilia is on display, which is interesting enough in and of itself.
But get Lozar talking about his impressive collection - which he will Saturday, as one part of the inaugural Flathead Fest-of-All here - and the history of beer in Montana quickly weaves itself into the history of the state.
Take, for instance, the line of bottles from Great Falls Breweries and its two predecessors, where you can watch the name of the merged company's primary product gradually change from Bohemian Style Lager to Great Falls Select during the 1930s.
The reason?
“Hitler was coming to power in Europe,” Lozar explains, “and breweries here moved to divest themselves of anything with a German tone.”
Lozar bounces around the room, grabbing empty beer bottles to illustrate more stories. The Olympia Brewing Co. of Tumwater, Wash., had its origins in Montana, he says, holding up a bottle of Centennial Beer with a familiar horseshoe logo.
Leopold Schmidt, a German immigrant who once built homes and custom-made coffins in Butte, eventually came to own the Centennial Brewery there. He was a Silver Bow County commissioner, was elected to the first Montana Constitutional Convention and was an original member of the Montana House of Representatives.
Because of his experience in the building trades, Schmidt was appointed to the Montana Capitol Building Commission as the state prepared to construct the State Capitol in Helena. The job required him to travel to California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington in 1895 to view other capitol buildings.
While visiting Olympia, Wash., Schmidt stumbled on the artesian wells in nearby Tumwater, decided the water was perfect for brewing beer, and sold his Butte brewery in order to start the Capital Brewing Co. in Tumwater, forerunner to the Olympia Brewing Co.
The horseshoe logo still emblazoned on a can or bottle of Oly, Lozar says, went with him. It was part of the Schmidt family crest.
So, possibly, did the slogan of Montana's Red Lodge Brewing Co.
Lozar can show you a bottle of its beer from around the turn of the century, where Red Lodge proudly proclaims, “It's the water.”
There's a lot more to the museum, located across Montana Highway 35 from Safeway on the second story of the Lozar family business, Total Screen Design, than just empty beer bottles.
Lozar, who also teaches anthropology at Salish-Kootenai College and serves on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council, comes by his interest in Montana breweries naturally.
His great-grandfather Joseph Lozar, a Slovenian immigrant, opened a saloon in East Helena in the 1800s (and lost it in a card game, only to gain it back when the new owner failed to pay his taxes). The bar, mostly intact, and back bar, all but demolished, were recovered by Lozar from the rubble after the building was torn down, and painstakingly restored by his cousin, Greg Funke.
They're part of the museum, as are countless oddities. Three of Lozar's favorites are old promotional giveaways: a piece of cardboard from 1910 that, when folded together, forms the outline of a beer bottle and - when blown into - whistles for a bartender's attention; a matchbook from Butte Special Beer where every match inside the cover is a tiny replicate of a bottle of Butte Special Beer; and a forerunner to the rebus-style bottle cap puzzles. On a piece of cardboard, it shows a fish with two holes in it, staring at a donkey standing on a tomato.
This being a family newspaper, we can't tell you the complete answer to the puzzle, but we can tell you how it begins.
“Holy mackerel,” Lozar deciphers, “look at Š”
Lozar, 58, started collecting beer-related items as a teenager, and began to focus on Montana breweries in the 1960s.
The pieces in his collection now number in the thousands. There are beer clocks, beer mugs, beer signs, beer calendars, bottle cap earrings and dozens of beer promotional items, from knives to pencils to sewing kits to tie tacks - even a 45-record from Highlander Beer featuring “My Montana” by the Johnny Mann Singers.
With so much to look at, you might not make it to the folders of brewery paperwork and advertisements Lozar has collected, but you'll miss out if you don't.
Page after page of old beer ads present a fascinating look into another era.
“Some of them are just a crack-up,” Lozar says. “Beer ads today are all young people smiling and having fun, but look at these.”
He points to a couple of ads for American Beer, which was bottled in Great Falls.
“WOMAN OF THE HOUSE,” one is headlined.
“Upon her often falls a heavy burden,” the ad goes on, “the daily routine of housework, the care of children, the shopping, the social duties. Small wonder that she often sustains a ‘breakdown' and must receive medical assistance. Such a result may be avoided by moderate use of AMERICAN BEER.”
Another American Beer ad promises men that a “tete-a-tete” with a female will go much better if they're drinking the American brand, because it “furnishes animation, sharpens the wit and makes conversation flow.”
Then there's the ad in a 1913 Whitefish Pilot for Best Beer of Kalispell.
“Typhoid lurks in impure waters,” it warns. “Best Beer: The water used in it has been boiled for hours.”
Even in the endless bills of sale, brewer journals, brewery stock certificates and other items Lozar has collected, you can find the unusual. For instance, there's the receipt for a $10 reward given to Miles City brewer Tom Irwin, who was also Custer County sheriff, for capturing a criminal named Harry Longabaugh.
“Harry Longabaugh was the Sundance Kid,” Lozar says. “A Miles City brewer once captured the Sundance Kid.”
Lozar will pass on these and other stories on Saturday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. during the first Fest-of-All, described as a celebration of arts, architecture, music and food on the south shore of Flathead Lake.
The weekend is crammed with activities, most of them - such as the Montana Brewing Heritage Museum tours - free, but several requiring a pass that costs $25, $55 for families (see accompanying schedule).
There's everything from a farmers market, to outdoor concerts, to a Wild West film festival, to free airplane rides for children ages 8-17 this weekend.
Indeed, if you attend another Fest-of-All event - the “Montana Monologs” by Wendy Woollett, the stories of three Montana ranch women - Saturday, you can sample Lozar's favorite beer. Polson's Glacier Brewery, site of the “Monologs” performance, brews Slurry Bomber Stout.
The Fest-of-All is sponsored by the Polson Chamber of Commerce, which secured a $8,995 grant from the Montana Department of Commerce's Special Events Grant Program to kick off what the Chamber hopes is an annual event. The goal is to lure people back to the summer resort town one more time while the weather is still nice, but the traditional summer season has ended.
For anyone who has a soft spot in their heart for beers such as Kessler, Highlander and Great Falls Select, it's a golden opportunity. While this is Lozar's private collection, people are welcome to tour the museum during Total Screen Design's normal business hours the rest of the year.
But what they won't get then, that they can on Saturday, is the owner's vast knowledge of the stories behind all the pieces.
Lozar has amassed his collection from the usual places: second-hand stores, the Internet, beer-collector trade shows and dumps. Even if a run to the dump doesn't turn into a beer memorabilia find, it can lead to it.
Lozar once found a complete set of old Log Cabin Syrup tins at the dump, each decorated to resemble a different type of structure in a small village, and was able to swap that with a fellow who had a case of empty pre-Prohibition beer bottles.
His mentor, Lozar says, is “the godfather” of Montana brewery memorabilia collecting, 88-year-old Ole Olsen of Helena, who is one of about 50 serious collectors in the state by Lozar's estimate.
Lozar now knows enough about the history of Montana breweries to write a book, which - with another collector, Jim Peter of Billings - he is.
Does Lozar have any idea what his own collection is worth?
“I do,” he says, “and choose not to say. It has an intrinsic value to me rather than a monetary one. I just like how the history of our state is mirrored by the history of the brewing industry here.”
Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com
Flathead Fest-of-All
Here is the schedule of events for the Flathead Fest-of-All. Most are free, but those designated “FP” require a three-day Fest Pass that costs $25 per person, or $55 per family, and are available at the Polson Chamber of Commerce, 418 Main St., or at the Polson Fairgrounds. The schedule is subject to change, according to the Chamber.
SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY
5-7 p.m.: Gluten Free Mama's cooking demonstration and book signing, Page by Page Books, 220 Main St.
5-8 p.m. (FP plus $5): Wine tasting, Fairgrounds tent.
5-9 p.m. (FP): Dance to Southern Comfort, Fairgrounds stage.
9:30 p.m.: Big Daddy and the Blue Notes, Raleigh's Bar and Grill, 820 Shoreline Dr.
SATURDAY
All day: Arts and crafts show, quilt-a-thon, temporary sculpture garden, all at Polson High School; farmers market/bake sale, Fairgrounds; historic walking tour, downtown (pick up self-guided tour book at the Chamber or the Polson Flathead Historical Museum, 708 Main St.). Also, every hour on the hour from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Kids' “Make and Take” art programs, Polson Library meeting room (each session limited to 20 participants).
8 a.m.: Breakfast for Young Eagle Flight participants (see below), Polson Airport.
9 a.m.: Chili cook-off, Fairgrounds.
9-10 a.m. (FP): Band or family entertainment, Fairgrounds stage.
9-11 a.m.: Young Eagle Flights, free flights in private aircraft for youths age 8-17 with parent or guardian signature, Polson Airport.
9 a.m.-3 p.m. (FP): Wild West Film Festival (“The Cowboys,” “Cahill, U.S. Marshal,” “Two Mules for Sister Sarah”), Showboat Cinema, 416 Main St.
10 a.m.-noon (FP): Native drummers and dancers, Fairgrounds stage.
10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Sidewalk Chalk Drawing, Mountain Waters Recreation, 305 Main St.
11 a.m.-3 p.m.: Montana Brewing Heritage Museum tours, Total Screen Design, 40735 Highway 35.
11 a.m.: Rotary Silent Auction, Fairgrounds tent.
Noon-12:30 p.m. (FP): Music by Jaymie Leigh and friends, Fairgrounds stage.
Noon-1 p.m.: Food trivia contest, Fairgrounds tent.
12:30-2:30 p.m. (FP): Great Scots Pipe and Drum Band, Fairgrounds stage.
1 p.m.: Chili cook-off tasters determine “People's Choice” winner, Fairgrounds.
1-3 p.m. ($5): Make and Take mini-album workshop, County Cottage Scrapbook Store, 214 Main St.
1-3 p.m.: Meet the authors of “Loss of Innocence” (Ron and Carren Clem), Page by Page Books, 220 Main St.
1:30 p.m.: Pet Parade, starts at Cherry Valley School, north on Main Street to Third Avenue, then to First Street West and south to Seventh Avenue.
2:30 p.m.: Rotary Live Auction, Fairgrounds tent.
2:45-4:45 p.m. (FP): Music by Blue Onion, Fairgrounds stage.
4-6:30 p.m. (FP): Montana Monologs by Wendy Woollett, Glacier Brewery, 6 10th Ave. E.
5-9 p.m. (FP): Music by Xtra Sauce, Fairgrounds stage.
9:30 p.m.: Music by Pedactor Project, Raleigh's Bar and Grill, 820 Shoreline Dr.
SUNDAY
All day: Arts and crafts show and temporary sculpture garden, Polson High School; Farmers market/bake sale, Fairgrounds; historic walking tour, downtown.
9-11 a.m.: Community worship service, Fairgrounds stage.
9 a.m.-3 p.m. (FP): Wild West Film Festival (same movies as Saturday), Showboat Cinema, 416 Main St.
11 a.m.-3 p.m.: Community picnic (bring your own or buy from a vendor), Fairgrounds.
1 p.m.: Ice cream social, Fairgrounds.
2:30 p.m.: Kazoo band, Fairgrounds.
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