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Have an account? LOG IN News & Features SunRift Beer Company to Add a Restaurant The draught house will offer food and no drink limits in addition to the tasting room BY MAGGIE DRESSER OCT 17, 2019 Within the next year, microbrew drinkers at SunRift Beer Company will have additional seating, a restaurant, extended hours and no drink limit in downtown Kalispell. SunRift Beer Company is currently revamping a 100-year old building, which sits adjacent to the already operating tasting room, and transforming it into an industrial-style draught house restaurant. The draught house will serve smoked meat, tacos and nachos and offer unlimited brews, even past 8 p.m. SunRift beer will come from the tasting room right next door. KALISPELL 46°F 7°C LIGHT SNOW The Hazy Future of Vaping VIEW STORY PUMPKIN PATCH PHOTO GALLERY EDITOR'S PICK SHOW CAPTION ---PAGE BREAK--- With the new restaurant, owner and head brewer Craig Koontz says the draught house will be able to stay open later without drink limits because it won’t be considered a “tasting room.” The existing tasting room and new restaurant will have separate licenses, as required under state law, with the brewery technically selling its beer to the restaurant. “If you can’t beat them, you join them,” Koontz said. While Koontz says the opening date for SunRift Draught House is uncertain at this point, it should be up and running within the next year. Koontz tentatively plans on having kitchen hours from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and switching to a late-night menu at 9 p.m. “We’d like to create an urban environment and have a little nightlife,” he said. “It’d be nice to have some of the nightlife come back to Kalispell and not all of it go to Whitefish.” While SunRift currently hosts live music on Monday nights, Koontz plans to build a stage across the parking lot, and a front porch patio with a 100-person capacity will overlook the stage. The sun-lit back patio on the south side of the building will sit alongside the future pedestrian and bike path established through the Kalispell core and rail development project. Kalispell is scheduled to tear out the railroad tracks in September 2020 and replace them with a recreational path through town. Embed View on Twitter Flathead Beacon staff A Twitter list by @FlatheadBeacon Follow our journalists for breaking news & other reports 4h One person is dead and two people have been detained after a “welfare check turned into a homicide investigation” in Kalispell over the weekend flatheadbeacon.com/2019/10/21/kal… #MTnews #MTcrime Justin Franz @jfranz88 Kalispell Police Investi… One person is dead and … flatheadbeacon.com Flathead Living @Flatheadliving MORE ---PAGE BREAK--- Koontz’s decision to establish SunRift in this location wasn’t coincidental. In the future, locals will be able to walk or bike to the brewery and overlook the path while sitting on the back patio. The back patio will be the final phase of the project, and Koontz will complete the south side of the building once the tracks are torn out. In addition to the back patio, the south side will also have windows connecting the patio to the indoor, 40-foot-long bar, allowing customers to order from outside. As Tamarack Brewery’s former head brewer, Koontz is no stranger to creating craft beer. Following his departure from Tamarack in 2012, he brewed in Alaska, Arizona and Seattle until he returned to the Flathead in 2017 with his wife, Megan, who co-owns SunRift. Koontz has incorporated themes from other breweries while focusing on space utilization with a functional railing, which surrounds the patios. “It’s not just a fence; it’s a space to set a mug,” Koontz said. Total capacity in the 2,500-square-foot draught house will be 260, and Koontz uses every inch of space for customers to sit, stand next to a railing or dance in the parking lot during live shows. The current SunRift brewery won’t see any changes with the new draught house and will remain the same size with the same hours. While SunRift expands on the property, Koontz says he has no intentions of canning or distributing SunRift beer in the future. “This is the only place you’re going to get SunRift beer,” he said. “We’re one of the smallest breweries in the valley and we intend to stay that way.” [EMAIL REDACTED] ---PAGE BREAK--- NEWS & FEATURES SPORTS OUTDOORS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT OPINION PHOTOS EVENTS ABOUT US MARKETPLACE Advertise Subscribe Advertiser Tear Sheets Email & RSS Feeds Contact Us © 2019 Flathead Beacon, All Rights Reserved. Use of this site is subject to the Flathead Beacon's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Flathead Beacon JOIN NOW If you enjoy stories like this one, please consider joining the Flathead Beacon Editor’s Club. For as little as $5 per month, Editor’s Club members support independent local journalism and earn a pipeline to Beacon journalists. Members also gain access to www.beaconeditorsclub.com, where they will find exclusive content like deep dives into our biggest stories and a behind-the- scenes look at our newsroom. MORE FROM THE BEACON Keeping Timber Funds in the Forest The Seeds of Scientology Kalispell, MDT to Host Open House on Woodland Avenue Intersection 17 Main Street • Kalispell • Montana • 59901 • USA • (406) 257-9220 •