Future of Great Northern brewery uncertain, building already sold

The future of Great Northern Brewing Company in downtown Whitefish appears to be uncertain.

Jeanie Konopatzke, the brewery’s owner, says the building has been sold, but she’s still hoping a buyer comes forward in the next few weeks to purchase the business.

“We’re holding out hope that perhaps someone will take over the brewery,” she said Friday.

The Great Northern brewery opened here in 1995 and has since, as the brewery says, been “brewing fine lagers and ales.”

Currently, plans are to keep the brewery open through Presidents Day weekend.

“We’ve stopped production,” Konopatzke said. “We may have to liquidate the equipment, but right now we don’t know.”

Konopatzke says she’s still searching for a buyer, but plans to make a formal announcement on the brewery’s fate in the coming weeks.

“We really do want to thank the community for their support,” she said.

Though she declined to provide a name for the new owner of the building, Konopatzke did say the person also purchased the building that houses Marcus Foods and a number of other businesses on that same block facing Baker Avenue.

Great Northern brewery is known for crafting beer sold both locally and distributed regionally either on tap or in the can. The brewery’s flagship beers include the Big Mountain TPA, Going to the Sun IPA, Good Med Montana Red Ale, Wild Huckleberry Lager, Wheatfish and Bluebird Day Double IPA. The brewery also produced a number of seasonal beers.

The brewery has also had a strong presence in the community, routinely hosting Pints with a Purpose nights with donations going to dozens of nonprofit organizations. The brewery was a major participant in several community events including the annual Whitefish Chamber of Commerce Great Northwest Oktoberfest, and a sponsor of many other events.

Kevin Gartland, executive director of the Whitefish Chamber, said the brewery not only provided dozens of jobs, but also provided free publicity to Whitefish as its beer was distributed throughout the Pacific Northwest.

“Granted, I’ve only been in town for the last 10 years, but in that time I can honestly say that there have been few local businesses who’ve done more for our community than the Great Northern Brewing Company,” he wrote in the chamber’s newsletter.

For more than a decade each fall, the brewery accepted locally grown hops in exchange for beer credits at its Frog Hop Pale Ale Hop Swap. Hop growers received beer credit for every pound of hops they brought in to trade.

The brewery also for several years hosted the very popular Beer Barter following the Whitefish Winter Carnival parade. Hundreds of spectators would fill Central Avenue to watch the event, which asked participants to answer the question, “What would you do or trade for a year’s worth of beer?”

The Great Northern brewery was built in 1994 and started by Minott Wessinger, the great-great grandson of famous brewer Henry Weinhard. The brewery was opened to brew Black Star Double Hopped Golden Lager.

The brewery in 2002 discontinued production of Black Star when the brewery was sold to Dennis and Jeanie Konopatzke.

Black Star returned to the brewery’s lineup in February 2010 when the brewery entered an agreement with Wessinger to brew Black Star again.

In 2013, the brewery announced that to keep pace with booming demand it planned its first expansion in 19 years.

The brewery again in 2016 expanded its capacity by adding a new holding tank to its downtown facility. At the time it put the brewery’s capacity at more than 8,000 barrels of annual beer production.

The brewery in 2018 made the switch from bottling its beer to offer it in cans. It invested in new equipment that allowed for the increase in production and significantly reducing the brewery’s carbon footprint, the brewery said at the time.