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Huckleberry sparkling water is canned at Badlander Spirits in Helena on March 19.
A “facility of its own” started production in Helena canning “Baddies” and water aiming to be a staple of the community, while hoping to expand its production around the country.
Badlander Spirits Co. started as an idea a couple of years ago by founder and Chief Executive Officer Scott MacIntyre, who resides in Missoula.
In 2007 he opened the Badlander Complex in Missoula, which houses four bars generating a revenue yearly in the millions, but MacIntyre said he wanted to do something different.
“I want to build an authentic Montana beverage company,” MacIntyre said. “There is nothing like this facility in Montana.”
Scott MacIntyre, CEO of Badlander Spirits, leads a tour of the new ready-to-drink cocktail and sparkling water business in Helena on March 19.
The complex is now owned by his mother, and he was freed up to brainstorm new ideas, eventually coming to the conclusion of making his own ready-to-drink cocktails, known as RTDs.
Before coming up with this idea he tried making a distillery, which he said did not end up working out, so he wanted to create a Montana-branded RTD.
The facility at 760 Florence St. in Helena is a 30,000-square-feet building filled with “highly sophisticated” machinery that works together even though it is created by different manufacturers.
Every piece of equipment is American made and MacIntyre said it makes the process smoother because in other distilleries some parts are harder to find because they are made outside of the country.
Scott MacIntyre, CEO of Badlander Spirits, leads a tour of the new ready-to-drink cocktail and sparkling water business in Helena on March 19.
The facility cans 55 cans per minute and uses a tunnel-pasteurizing process to sterilize and make the drinks have the optimum and regulated temperatures needed for production.
The drinks roll through a conveyor belt system where they are filled with the liquid and then a lid is placed on top, but a machine will X-ray each drink as they pass through to make sure they are filled properly.
If a drink is not filled properly, it will knock the can off the belt automatically. But it knocks off fewer cans once production has been running for a while.
The alcohol used is imported, but MacIntyre would like to make his own whiskey to use in his drinks because his facility has the capacity and capability to make it.
He said they could also make their own vodka, but “there’s no money in that.”
Badlander Spirits now offers three flavors of their “Baddie” ready-to-drink cocktails.
Flavors the company offers are Montana Mule, Huckleberry Crush and Margarita. The company does have plans of making more flavors in the future.
Some of the drinks are sold at Island Liquor Store at 1225 E. Custer Ave. in Helena and Zach Willert, manager, said he thought the drinks tasted good and had a fresh ginger flavor. The store received some of the products a week and a half ago and sold about a dozen four-packs since then.
Rocky Mountain Liquor at 1500 Cedar St. in Helena received a “bunch” about a week ago and sent it off to sell in bars and stores in Butte, Helena, Billings and Great Falls among others. Jason Sampson, the front-of-house manager, said he has heard great things about the company.
Huckleberry sparkling water is canned at Badlander Spirits on March 19.
He doesn’t drink alcohol, but tried the orange zest and huckleberry sparkling water and said they were fantastic because of their subtle natural flavors.
Sampson said they are perfectly balanced and his co-workers tried some of the alcoholic options and said they were great, so the store will begin selling them next week in four-packs and in singles.
MacIntyre said when the company buys its 250 gallons of vodka it has to run through a process in the facilities explosion-proof room because it comes in at roughly 190 proof, which is “fuel.”
The vodka is also run through static proof piping to reduce the risk of an explosion.
The facility holds four 2,000-gallon tanks for its drinks. MacIntyre said the company isn’t solely focused on making RTDs because he saw the canned water company Liquid Death doing well on the market.
Canning in aluminum rather than bottling in plastic makes MacIntyre feel better about the work his team and facility do for the environment. He said the company wanted to stay away from plastic bottles for its water because of micro-plastics and the environmental damage they cause in landfills.
Canning with aluminum is a more expensive process but it’s worth it, he said.
He said Liquid Death just received an evaluation saying the company is worth $1.4 billion, so Badlander Spirits Co. decided to can water.
Badlander Spirits offers four flavors of their canned sparkling water.
Canned water follows similar guidelines and regulations as the RTDs if it is carbonated, but if it is still water, it falls under bottled water regulations overseen by the Food and Drug Administration.
Canned water drops in pH levels when carbonation is added, removing FDA oversight, but still water must follow bottled water sterilization processes and canning processes.
MacIntyre said when the company cans still water, it uses Helena water and puts it through a filtration process, then purifies it through reverse osmosis and adds minerals for taste. The water then enters a holding tank fixed with an agitator to keep the it moving and a ultraviolet light for sterilization.
The final step the still water goes through after being canned is “ozone,” which is added before a lid is sealed on the can and kills everything in the water.
The founder said the company hired a representative from Dasani to make sure the facility was compliant with regulations when making the water.
Something MacIntyre said was interesting when the company was trying to make its Margarita RTD was to use the name or word “tequila” on or in a product the company has to get approval from the Mexican government because tequila is made with its own rules.
He said the company also wants to develop a spicy margarita flavor and, if the market allows, make bigger sizes.
Currently, the company sells 12- and 16-ounce sizes of its product in four-packs, with six four-packs to a case. The drinks are available across the state in various liquor stores and they’re in talks with stores in Idaho and California to hopefully start selling them in the summer.
The suggested retail price for a four-pack of the RTDs will be $11.99 or $12.99, which according to MacIntyre is right in the middle of the market for RTDs.
MacIntyre was looking for a building for his facility in Missoula with no luck and landed in Helena. The facility was built from the ground up and he said he could not be happier with the city.
He said the Helena community has been supportive and receptive to the product, and city officials have been easy to work with regarding permits to create his facility.
The building operates with four people working the line, but the company has plans of hiring more in the future since MacIntyre, a self-proclaimed optimist, wants to upgrade from canning 55 cans per minute to 300 per minute, but this wouldn’t happen until later, he said.
The company not only makes its own drinks and water but can co-pack for other companies that do not have the capabilities to operate like Badlander Spirits Co.
Cans ready to be filled with huckleberry sparkling water at Badlander Spirits on March 19.
Anyone can hire a specialist to curate a flavor they want in a drink, and they can bring it to MacIntyre’s company to have it made. They must buy a minimum of four pallets’ worth of the product and can pick from the two sizes.
He said the company has also received approval from Carroll College, Montana Technological University and the University of Montana for the first phase of licensing, which means the company will be able to sell themed cans with custom logos printed in-house for future events off campus property through vendors.
When working with the colleges, the licensing agreement allows for 15% of the sales of the drinks to go back to the schools, making name, image and likeness, NIL, deals another possibility.
MacIntyre said he is an entrepreneur and that title to him means taking chances on ideas that may not work because he could not think straight unless he tried, but he is excited that he is following through with this idea and can’t wait to see it grow.
Sonny Tapia is a criminal justice and education reporter for the Helena Independent Record.
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Huckleberry sparkling water is canned at Badlander Spirits in Helena on March 19.
Scott MacIntyre, CEO of Badlander Spirits, leads a tour of the new ready-to-drink cocktail and sparkling water business in Helena on March 19.
Huckleberry sparkling water is canned at Badlander Spirits on March 19.
Cans ready to be filled with huckleberry sparkling water at Badlander Spirits on March 19.
Scott MacIntyre, CEO of Badlander Spirits, leads a tour of the new ready-to-drink cocktail and sparkling water business in Helena on March 19.
Badlander Spirits offers four flavors of their canned sparkling water.
Badlander Spirits now offers three flavors of their “Baddie” ready-to-drink cocktails.
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