MISSOULA - It's only taken two years for Oddpitch Brewing on Kent Avenue to grow a community of customers and employees.
Oddpitch celebrated their two-year anniversary the weekend of Aug. 12, inviting the community to join in on the celebration.
The people behind the brewery are feeling sentimental and grateful about turning two years old.
Gabe Stinchfield thought of the idea for Oddpitch 12 years ago, when he first started home brewing.
“After several beers and several hours, I was like, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done, and I want to do this,” he says.
After falling in love with home brewing, he dedicated his time to the craft.
Then in 2021, he finally realized his dream of owning a brewery in Missoula.
“Oddpitch was, this is my dream,” Stinchfield says. “We all have a dream, dream — a big one, and this is my big one. And I get to walk into my dream every day. And I get to see people who I love and people who I don't know enjoying it equally.”
He started the brewery with his best friend, Kendra Bell, who is still the general manager today, and Bell’s brother-in-law, Jacob Principe, who is now Stinchfield’s good friend and head brewer.
Stinchfield says he’s lucky to work with his best friends every day.
“We love each other. We're really close friends and the people that we hired are, we wanted them to be reflections of what we want Oddpitch to be,” he says.
The same crew of employees that started Oddpitch still runs it today as a tight-knit family.
“I feel very lucky to still be here and be with all the same coworkers that we've had from the beginning,” Principe says. “Really, really happy with where we're at and two years from now, I don't know, I can just expect my heart to just be exploding even more, you know, with everything.”
Bell says they strive to make Oddpitch a welcoming environment for everyone, including families.
They have several pinball machines for people 16 and older, trivia on Mondays and food trucks almost every night.
“It's also like, like a midtown watering hole that we've kind of created,” she says. “It's more on the community side of things where you can go with your family and hang out and get good food and it's not a bar, bar per se.”
Principe and Stinchfield brew all the beers together, in-house, and are often rotating brews and trying new recipes.
“I guess that is part of the challenge, just you know, we're continuing to try something new,” Principe says. “I feel like people, the customers are happy about that too, you know, it's like, they can always try different things, different combos and yeah, it's really fun.”
Despite being only two years old, they’re already winning awards. They won best Kolsch at the 2022 Garden City Brewfest and best hazy IPA at the 2023 Bitterroot Brewfest.
“Which is really cool, that we are being recognized for the amazing beers the boys are putting out,” Bell says.
The anniversary celebration lasted all weekend and they brewed two, limited-time beers for the festivities.
On Friday, M-80 Chicken served food and Saturday they had a buffet from Rice Thai.
Bell hosted a special Oddpitch-edition trivia Saturday night as well.
“You know, I mean, we wouldn't be here without them and the people who sit at this bar and come into this brewery,” Stinchfield says. “So we want to provide something fun and entertaining back for them.”
All day Sunday there was free pinball for ages 16 and over. DJ “The Comissioner” played a vinyl set at 5 p.m. during a cake-cutting ceremony. At 7:30 p.m. the bar made an Underberg toast to finish off the weekend.
They also held a blind auction for their “brewtality card,” which gives the owner $1 growler refills forever.
Overall, the crew is overjoyed to have two successful years under their belt.
“Our dream has come true and we get to live it every day, and it's pretty cool to watch that grow and just be part of this community in all the ways that we can,” Bell says. “I can't believe that we're here, but it's also unreal. It seems like it's been like lifetimes yet also two minutes.”
