Brewing a plan for the future

Wildwood Brewery - a dream being realized

By Michael Howell

Jim and Pannha Lueders have been quietly working on some ground along Highway 93 north of Stevensville for about the last year and a half. They are slowly, ever so slowly, and carefully trying to realize a dream and a vision that has been steadily working itself out at its own pace for about a decade now. The dream, in its short-term version, involves creating a craft beer brewing facility. In its long-term version, it involves a brewery connected to satellite operations that range from microculture, to agriculture, to aquaculture, yes even to vermiculture - all based upon the “by-products” of operating a brewery. More...

The Wildwood Brewery located just off Highway 93 north of Stevensville hasn’t opened its doors yet to the public but has drawn quite a bit of local interest as neighbors watched the large structure being erected and are wondering what is going on inside. What’s going on is a labor of love as Jim and Pannha Lueders painstakingly put together the brewery of their dreams. Michael Howell photo.

“We call it the Giant’s House,” said Jim Lueders, standing in front of the eleven-foot-tall door to his new brewing facility. Except for the concrete slab on which it sits, the entire building was constructed using materials recycled mostly from a 1901 dairy barn. The tall doors were made from the dairy barn rafters. The brewery’s beams came from the Bonner Mill. Its walls are insulated with locally grown straw bales. Michael Howell photo.

Jim Lueders is proud of the brass and copper Lauter tuns that he is currently installing at the Wildwood Brewery. They were manufactured in Germany in 1989. Michael Howell photo.

Political Practices complaint update

By Michael Howell

WAL-MART PAYS SETTLEMENT COSTS

Following a year-and-a-half of failed negotiations to settle his charges against the Ravalli County Citizens for Economic Development for failing to properly record donations, the state filed charges against the group and its founder, Dallas Erickson. Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth said that within a week of actually filing the charges in District Court last February, the attorney representing the group agreed to a settlement of the case. More...

Recycling dilemma

By Michael Howell

In the wake of the closing of Ravalli Services’ Recycling Center both the City of Hamilton and the County are considering stepping in to do something about it. The question is, what? More...

Alleged attempted abduction case resolved

On April 26, Stevensville Police Chief James Marble arrested 18-year-old Justin Stockdale of Stevensville for Disorderly Conduct stemming from the April 15 complaint of an alleged attempted abduction of a 7-year-old Stevensville girl. More...

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