Lewis and Clark Brewing wins gold at World Beer Cup for Backcountry ale

Lewis and Clark County has another reason to brag: Lewis & Clark Brewing Company in Helena won gold for Backcountry at the World Beer Cup, putting a local brewery back on an international stage and adding to a medal record that now includes seven World Beer Cup honors and two golds.

The award was announced April 22 in Philadelphia at the Brewers Association’s 30th World Beer Cup, where judges handed out 353 medals to 273 producers worldwide. The competition drew 8,166 entries from 1,644 breweries and covered 113 beer and five cider categories, a reminder of how crowded the field is for any brewery hoping to break through.

Backcountry is listed by the Helena brewery as a Scottish ale crafted with black barley. It comes in at 5.8% ABV and 17 IBUs, and the brewery says it is meant to evoke a campsite along a steep mountain ridge. For a local operation with its taproom at 1535 Dodge Ave. and administration at 1517 Dodge Ave., the win strengthens a brand that already reaches far beyond Helena city limits.

The gold also extends a pattern of repeat success. In 2024, Lewis & Clark Brewing won gold for Miner’s Gold Hefeweizen in American Wheat Beer, and a Helena television report quoted owner and president Max Pigman saying there were “some tears shed” after that victory. The brewery also picked up medals in 2023 for Prickly Pear Pale Ale and Miner’s Gold Hefeweizen, and its website calls Miner’s Gold its “most award-winning wheat beer of the century.”

That kind of record matters in a city that sells itself on independent businesses, Montana ingredients and a sense of place. A World Beer Cup gold does more than add to a trophy case. It gives Helena another reason for beer travelers to stop on Dodge Avenue, spend time in the taproom and associate Lewis and Clark County with products that can compete with breweries from around the world.