Monday profile: Living life one beer at a time

John Campbell is a man who loves beer.

The master brewer at the Lang Creek Brewery just west of Marion, Campbell has a passion for malt, hops and yeast.

His foray into the world of microbrews began with a homebrewing operation and burgeoned into a business.

"It's basically a hobby I let get out of control," he said.

Campbell's desire for good beer - there were only six microbreweries in Montana when he began brewing - was born when he first tasted a German-style brew in Pennsylvania's Amish country.

"That changed my whole life on beer, at that point," he said.

A homebrewer for about 40 years now, Campbell has also worked as a building contractor and a log hauler. When he moved to Montana in 1973, he was a rancher.

Then some friends came out. They drank homebrew, talked, and an idea was born.

"After getting some of them out here, I decided to make a small business out of it," Campbell said.

But brewing beer is about more than just owning a business.

It's about love for the product and the process of producing it, Campbell said.

"The one's who got into it for the money got into it wrongly," he said, explaining why some of the microbreweries that sprang up during the microbrewery wave in the mid-'90s failed.

Microbrewing is more art than science. And like an artist standing before a canvas considering each and every brush stroke, Campbell considers the impact each ingredient, each tweaking of the recipe, will have on the finished product.

Most importantly, a good beer needs balance.

"A good beer that's out of balance isn't one that you can drink several of," he said.

Campbell also considers aroma, flavor and mouthfeel.

"Our Tri-Motor Amber, for example, has a lot of mouthfeel, heaviness, chewy almost," he said.

A dark beer that happens to be watery isn't properly formulated, and a beer should taste the way it smells, he said.

Chemistry does, however, have its place.

"The science comes in keeping it consistent," he said.

Campbell has personally designed the brewery's Tri-Motor Amber, Skydiver Blonde, Windsock Pale Ale, and Wingwalker IPA.

Some beers only take three or four subtle changes to the recipe to make it right.

Others take more. His Tri-Motor Amber, named after the tri-motor airplane that was a mainstay in early Montana aviation, has seen 64 evolutions.

"Sometimes you go in another direction just to make sure the direction you were in you like," he said.

Campbell started brewing beer commercially at Lang Creek in 1993. He installed a concrete floor and a drain system in a hanger on his property.

"I decided to combine the two passions in my life, beer and flying," said Campbell, explaining why many of his beers are aviation themed.

In the first few years, the brewery produced 1,000 to 1,300 barrels annually. Each barrel contains 31 gallons of beer.

He started out selling draft beer only, and it took more than a year to add a bottling operation.

Since then, the brewery has grown steadily under Campbell's stewardship. He expects the brewery to produce 3,500 barrels of beer this year.

"Our growth has been over a long time, though," he said.

But the brewery's expansion may soon begin to pick up. Equipment was recently installed to bring production capacity up to 10,000 barrels a year. And Campbell expects to add another 5,500 barrels of capacity during the next year, he said.

The brewery already has authorization to sell its product in Montana Albertson's stores, and Campbell is in talks with several other grocery store chains to expand into Washington, Oregon, and most of Idaho, he said.

"It's kind of a learning curve to deal with all these big chains," he said.

Campbell sold his brewery, to neighbor Gary Bultman, in June of this year to bring in more capital.

He is now in charge of sales and expanding the business.

"I don't have the day to day operational duties anymore," said Campbell, who now employs a general manager and head brewer. "It's kind of a lot of fun right now."

The Lang Creek Brewery, on Lang Creek Road just off of U.S. 2, is open for tastings and tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com