Badlander Spirits has opened a new complex in Helena. The new 28,000-foot complex includes a lab to continue developing drinks, a canning assembling line, both cold and dry storage and room to grow.
“This process has been several years in the making,” said Scott Macintyre, the CEO and founder of Badlander Spirits Company.
Originally, the company was looking for a place in Missoula but found Helena was a better fit.
“It just logically with shipping, it was just the perfect place,” Macintyre said.
Badlander currently cans purified water, three other varieties of flavored water and three ready-to-drink cocktails.
“We have a Sparkling Huckleberry, a Sparkling Prickly Pear and a Sparkling Orange Zest. Then on the other side, we do ready-to-drink cocktails in a can. We have a Huckleberry Crush, a Montana Mule and then the last one is the Margarita, which actually won’t hit the market for a couple weeks,” said Macintyre.
When visiting the new complex, I was given access to their canning process.
First water is collected and purified.
Next, they mix their flavor in, and if included alcohol, with the water in a large blending tank.
The oxygen is removed and carbonation is added.
After that, they are canned, sealed, and packaged awaiting pick-up.
Currently, you can find Badlander cocktails at MT Glass Liquors, Island Liquor and Rocky Mountain Liquor in Helena, but they also sell them in Missoula, Billings, Great Falls and are moving into Bozeman.
Badlander is currently working on getting their sparking waters into small chains around the state.
They aim to one day have their drinks completely Montana made with only Montana ingredients.
“That’s the number one goal. To be 100% made Montana spirits and cocktails in a can,” Macintyre said.
Other future plans include expanding into other states.
“We’ll be moving into California, Washington and Idaho in the next few months, which is exciting,” said Macintyre.
