Sacred Waters looks forward with new expansion

At the intersection of Montana’s hospitality and wild places, lies one of the Flathead Valley’s beloved breweries.

Sacred Waters Brewing Company was born out of Jordan Van Eimeren’s childhood memories of her family ranch in the Bob Marshall Wilderness which served as the base for people to experience world class fly fishing.

“My dad was the outfitter and my mom helped clean the cabins. At the end of the day, the guests would come in for cocktail hour and have a glass of wine or craft beer with my mom and dad,” said Van Eimeren. “Even if it was a bad day of fishing, everything got better around that table. It was just good company and comradery. Montana fly-fishing and hospitality is just in my DNA.”

Loyal patrons may recognize the brewery’s emblem of a silhouetted woman fly fishing. The logo, and the entire brewery, is a tribute to the memory of Van Eimeren’s mother who she said, “Loved life and loved people.”

After five years of business, Sacred Waters Brewing Company is expanding their space and reach within the community.

“We’re celebrating five years! How crazy is that? My mom would be so proud. I know she’s looking down on all of us,” said Van Eimeren. “It feels like yesterday that we opened our doors and there are some days we don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we do, and it’s because we have an amazing team.”

Sacred Waters’ success has led to the hiring of a new manager, Jackie Evans. With a heart for the Bob Marshall Wilderness and four years of experience in the craft brewing industry, Evans’ passion and expertise collided perfectly to land her the manager position.

Van Eimeren said at a certain point as a business owner she began to wonder what was next so bringing on a new manager was intended to keep moving the business forward.

“You can only do so much by yourself and you get to a point where you know you can grow more, but your mental capacity levels off,” she said. “We needed some new energy and excitement and Jackie is my saving grace. She is such a blessing. With her on board, we can grow so much more.”

The two women crossed paths while adventuring in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in the summer of 2022 and their chance encounter seemed meant to be.

“I was saddling a horse and Jordan was chasing her dog, Danaher. Later on, I came into Sacred Waters and Jordan came out and I was like ‘Oh, you’re Danaher’s mom!’ I didn’t even know that they were hiring,” said Evans.

In addition to her managerial duties, Evans has come alongside Van Eimeren to facilitate a new event space. Affectionately named “The Wild Side,” the space is an extension of the brewery and can hold up to 90 people. It will be the valley’s largest rentable restaurant space, according to Evans. For private events, customers can play their own music, get in house catering from Sacred Eats, and hook up kegs at a separate bar.

“Opening this new space was huge,” said Evans. “So many people have asked to have events and birthdays here and we weren’t always able to accommodate, but now we can. This space lets us answer that need.”

The Wild Side isn’t just for private events though. It provides overflow seating for busy nights and space for professional trainings and community events. Van Eimeren and Evans hope to host events that will center around access to education and preservation of Montana’s wild places such as the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

“A lot of people don’t get to go in the Bob or have the resources to, so we are partnering with a lot of groups who are coming in to share how to get into the Bob in a safe way and show people that they can do it and give them that guidance,” said Van Eimeren.

With the expansion, comes the opportunity for the Sacred Waters brewers to launch their barrel program. The team also hopes to distribute their beer beyond the Flathead Valley and reach as much of Montana as they can.

“A lot of our barrels come from Whistling Andy’s which are whiskey barrels,” said Evans. “The beer can take on flavors from what was in the barrels and the wood. You can also inoculate the barrels with different things to add flavors to the beers and change it. The barrel program is this amazing passion project that is about history and civilization and humans and food interacting. It's really cool.”

As the brewery has strong ties to the outdoors, one of their beers, the Bob IPA, helps fund the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation by donating 10 cents for every pint sold. According to Van Eimeren, Sacred Waters is one of the foundation’s core sponsors.

“People give to us so we can give back to this community and the state. We also source as much as we can from Montana for the beer and food and our malt is all in state,” said Van Eimeren. “We’re pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished. We work hard and play hard and we are so blessed to live in God’s Country.”

Over the last five years, Van Eimeren said she’s loved seeing the friendships that emerge from the building and are taken out into the world and said that Sacred Waters is a place for “fun and fellowship.”

“The bonds that come out of here are amazing. It could be two completely opposite people sitting at the bar but then they become best buddies,” said Van Eimeren. “When people come in here I want them to feel my moms’ warmth and love and a welcoming environment. Life’s hard but whether it's a good day or a bad day, you can come in here and know it's gonna be OK.”

Sacred Waters Brewing Company is located at 3250 U.S. 2 E in Kalispell and is open Monday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. For more information, visit their website sacredwatersbrewing.com, call 406-257-1992, or email info@sacredwatersbrewing.com.

Reporter Summer Zalesky may be reached at szalesky@dailyinterlake.com.