Bias Brewing — Restaurant in Kalispell

The space is great, and they seem to have a fun overall ethic and atmosphere. We didn't try Food For the Soul 2, which has a space inside, but the original Food For the Soul is some of the best food in the area. The beer, though, which it ultimately comes down to... I was really disappointed. *I'm reviewing from my experience a few months ago, which was my first and only so far, and I hope to go again and have a better experience.

We sprung for two flights without trying samples, and I was super excited for the sours. They had run out of a strawberry one, but the other was a simple raspberry or blackberry. We also had an IPA ("Cat"-something??), one flavored with coffee, a stout (I think a chocolate milk?), and the kombucha. I don't remember the other three particularly.

As a disclaimer, I favor IPAs and sours most for their sharp flavors, and I'm not typically as inclined toward brown/red ales or dubbels or the like.The kombucha was light, smooth, sweet, and refreshing, with pleasant, ultra tiny bubbles. As for beers, a few were "okay," but all of them missed the mark with varying margins. I made my spouse take at least one, because I couldn't choke it down. The sour wasn't very sour and not perky at all, more blandly juicy. I have yet to have an impressive sour in the Flathead valley, though, whether imported or brewed here. The coffee one... It was like beer had been poured through yesterday's used coffee grounds, and the flavors didn't work together at all. Maybe I'm not a fan of coffee beers, as this is the only I've had... But two (one the stout, and I've enjoyed chocolate milk stouts from other breweries) had a super unpleasant note I couldn't place at the time; I called it "antiseptic," and later realized I was most closely reminded of the flavor of Chloroseptic throat spray.

The experience left a very unfortunate impression, because I really wanted to like this place. Their mission has been proclaimed as anti-flagship with a focus on experimentation, which I appreciate because some other local breweries have good-but-stagnant beer selections. As a friendly suggestion, maybe they could perfect a few solid brews to rotate alongside a healthy number of new options (maybe they have since - I haven't checked).

I'm sorry for the bad review, and I promise to update after a...

Had my first and last experience yesterday evening. 1 star for food, 1 star for beer, and 1 star for ambience- 3 stars. No stars for service or earning my return. You either get a star for each detail or you don't. It was an experience, allbeit lackluster, but it was fine. I am all about supporting local businesses AND the work force with my own well earned dollars. Let me set the scene- you walk in and are greeted by a sign that says" Seat Yourself." You grab a menu off the stack and find a seat. Once you have perused the menu and look around, you notice another sign over the bar, "Order Here." You make your way to the bar to place your order. After placing said order and paying for said order, you receive your drinks. If you would like water, there is a warm pitcher next to some plastic cups, strategically placed on a cart or table- just outside the bathroom doors. This also just happens to be the same space that is occupied by any condiments, plates, silverware, and napkins, as well as To Go containers should you not be able to finish your meal. It's cozy, comfy, typical small town bar setting. We received our food order in a reasonable time, ate our food, which was good, cleared our table and prepared it for the next patron and left. Apparently, I opened a tab- even though I paid for my order when I ordered it. Everything was self serve- I sat myself, went to the bar and ordered, got my own water, plates, silverware, and napkins, got my own containers and bussed the table- however, the staff, felt they had done enough to warrant a 20% gratuity on my check after I left. When I called about it, they said did you sign a receipt to which I replied "No". I was then told, "Then you left a tab open and that's your fault. There's a sign above the bar." I didn't see that sign- my mistake. My second mistake of the day, my first mistake trying out Bias Brewing, if that is the way they...

Beer was good. We enjoyed the blueberry sour and the livewire blonde.

On to the bad stuff… The tables are made of wood with an epoxy surface but it isn’t leveled amounts of epoxy which allow the character of wood to show. The downside of this is that old food begins to fill those spots and it did all over the table. The table looked cool but was very unsanitary and promoted bacteria growth. The glasses for the beer had hard water spots on the outside, although the inside of the glasses were clean shown by trail of foam left as you were drinking them down. Cold glasses would’ve been nice and maybe that would have prevented the beer from getting warm so quickly. A blonde male bartender who had a blonde beard and earrings took our order. He seemed to have better things to do including playing on his phone, changing the music which I believe resulted in the fact that our food orders were incorrect. I ordered the chicken sando with optional toppings. Pickled jalapeños, guacamole and micro greens were the options. I requested all three and he informed me that they were out of micro greens. I told him it was fine and requested the other two. My sandwich did show up in a reasonable time but did not have guacamole. The person I dined with ordered an quesadilla with honey chicken. We completed our order and sat back down. While enjoying our beers, I noticed a sign near the front door that stated honey chicken was no longer an option and instead it was some other form of chicken. This wasn’t a problem but I felt if the bartender had been paying more attention, he would’ve caught this and mentioned it.

Long story short, we will not be coming back and I will not recommend...