How to open a brewery in Montana

The order of the paperwork, and why it is fixed

Open a Montana brewery in this order: entity, federal tax identity, federal permit, state license, then the room you pour in. Two of those steps cannot swap.

Montana will not take a brewery license application until you hold a Brewer's Notice from the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, usually called TTB. And TTB wants the business to exist, with a tax identity, before it issues that notice. So the entity and the EIN come before anything with a fee on it.

Each step has its own page here when it needs depth. This guide walks the whole order once, with the figures and the form numbers at each step.

To apply for a Montana brewery license, you must first have a Brewer's Notice issued by the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. — Montana Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29

Start the plan with one number: your production size

Pick the production band first, because nearly every rule that follows keys off it. Montana sorts breweries into micro, domestic small and large by barrels per year.

A micro brewery produces less than 200 gallons a year, which is hobby scale. A domestic small brewery produces between 200 gallons and 60,000 barrels, and that band is where a working microbrewery lives: sample room sales, take-home sales and self-delivery. A large brewery, over 60,000 barrels, may sell only to licensed wholesalers.

Write the plan around the size you will actually brew in year two, not year one. The sample room rights, the delivery rights and the renewal fee all move with that number. The three-tier page explains what each band may do with its beer.

60,000 barrelsA Montana domestic small brewery produces between 200 gallons and 60,000 barrels of beer a year, and a brewery over 60,000 barrels may only sell and deliver beer to licensed beer wholesalers. — Montana Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29

Form the business entity with the Secretary of State

Form the entity before the federal application, because the Brewer's Notice is issued to the business, not to you personally. Most microbreweries start as a limited liability company.

The filing is the Articles of Organization, and the Secretary of State charges $35 for a domestic LLC. File it online. There is no extra fee hiding behind the filing form.

You can type the articles yourself, or file through a platform such as Tailor Brands and let it handle the paperwork. Either way the state fee is the same $35. The LLC page covers what the entity choice means for a brewery, and the comparison page lists what each filing service publishes about its own prices.

$35Montana charges a $35 filing fee for domestic LLC Articles of Organization. — Montana Secretary of State, retrieved 2026-09-29

Get the EIN before the federal application

Every brewery needs an Employer Identification Number before TTB will take the application. Get it from the IRS before you sit down to file the Brewer's Notice.

The route is IRS Form SS-4, the Application for Employer Identification Number. TTB says so directly: an applicant without a tax identity number must obtain one from the IRS by completing that form.

The EIN is free from the IRS. It belongs to the entity, which is one more reason the entity comes first in the order.

Form SS-4A brewery applicant without a taxpayer identification number must obtain one from the IRS by completing Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number. — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, retrieved 2026-09-29

The federal Brewer's Notice

The Brewer's Notice is the federal permit to operate a brewery. You apply through TTB's Permits Online system, or on paper, and nothing gets brewed for sale until it is approved.

The form is TTB F 5130.10. A paper application must carry an original ink signature, which is one reason most applicants file online instead. TTB reviews the application and, when it approves, sends an issuance letter with your registry number and the compliance duties that follow.

The Brewer's Notice guide covers the application in detail: what goes in it, what arrives after approval, and what must be amended later.

TTB F 5130.10The Brewer's Notice is filed on TTB Form 5130.10, and a paper application must bear the original ink signature of the authorized person. — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, retrieved 2026-09-29

The bond question, answered before you file

The old rule made every new brewer post a bond with the notice. The current rule exempts most small breweries, and you should know which side you are on before you file.

Federal regulation 27 CFR 25.91 exempts a brewer who pays tax on a deferred basis and qualifies for an annual or quarterly return period from providing a bond. In practice, a brewery liable for $50,000 or less in federal beer excise tax a year files quarterly and qualifies for the exemption.

Brewers that do file a bond use TTB Form 5130.22, and every bond expires after four years. Calendar that even if you never expect to need one.

27 CFR 25.91(e)Under 27 CFR 25.91(e), a brewer paying tax on a deferred basis who is eligible for an annual or quarterly return period is not required to provide a bond. — Code of Federal Regulations via Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29

every 4 yearsBrewer's bonds expire every four years, and a brewer may not begin or continue business as a brewer until TTB has approved the bond or its continuation. — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, retrieved 2026-09-29

The Montana brewery license

With the Brewer's Notice in hand, apply to the Montana Department of Revenue. The new license fee is $500, and the original application carries a $200 processing fee that renewals do not.

In-state breweries apply through the TransAction Portal, called TAP, or on the paper Form DBLA. Renewal comes every year by June 30, and the renewal fee depends on volume: $200 for a brewery producing 20,000 barrels or less.

The Montana license guide walks the application and the location requirements, including the sample room rules that decide whether you can pour on site.

$500 + $200A new Montana brewery license costs $500 with a $200 application processing fee on original applications only, and the license must be renewed every year by June 30. — Montana Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29

Where you may brew, and where you may pour

The state has opinions about the building. The premises must be recognizable as a brewery and physically separated from any other alcoholic beverage business.

To sell beer directly to the public, you need a designated sample room or an approved on-premises retail license stacked at the brewery. A domestic small brewery may give away or sell up to 48 ounces of samples per customer from 10 AM to 8 PM, and take-home sales run from 8 AM to 2 AM.

No concession agreements, no vending machines, and no customers wandering the manufacturing area. The taproom page covers the ounce limits, the patio rules and the closing-hour details.

48 ouncesA domestic small brewery may give away or sell up to 48 ounces in samples per customer from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM in its designated sample room, and take-home sales run from 8:00 AM to 2:00 AM. — Montana Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29

Labels: two approvals can attach to one can

Get label approvals before the beer leaves the building, and note that the federal and state approvals answer different questions.

The federal Certificate of Label Approval is required prior to bottling if you ship beer out of state. You apply through COLAs Online, and TTB charges no fee to apply. On the state side, all beer labels must be approved by the Montana Department of Revenue before selling and shipping into Montana.

One Montana wrinkle catches new brewers: a domestic brewery's beer at 8.75 percent alcohol and over, up to under 14 percent, must be approved by the department's Cannabis and Alcohol Regulation Division even if it never leaves your own sample room. The label page covers the details.

A brewer must obtain federal label approval prior to bottling if shipping out of state, and there is no fee to apply through COLAs Online. — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, retrieved 2026-09-29

8.75% ABVBeer labels must be approved by the Montana Department of Revenue before selling and shipping into Montana, and beer at 8.75 percent ABV or over, under 14, needs approval even in the sample room. — Montana Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29

Register the facility, then open

One registration that is easy to miss: a facility that manufactures, processes, packs or holds food for consumption in the United States must register with the Food and Drug Administration, and registrations renew every other year.

A brewery is a food facility in this framework. Add the renewal to the compliance calendar with the rest, because nothing about it is optional.

When the licenses, the room and the labels are ready, work through the opening checklist once, in order, before the first customer. It collects the items from every page of this site into one list.

every other yearFacilities engaged in manufacturing, processing, packing or holding food for consumption in the United States must register with the FDA and renew the registration every other year. — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, retrieved 2026-09-29

The taxes start with the first barrel sold

Two taxes attach to the same barrel, one federal and one state, and they run on different calendars. Budget for both from day one.

The federal excise tax on beer from a brewery producing 2,000,000 barrels or less is $3.50 a barrel on the first 60,000 barrels a year. Montana adds its own graduated tax on beer sold directly to retailers and consumers, starting at $1.30 a barrel.

The taxes page covers the rates, the return periods and the filing systems, including the quarterly deadlines Montana sets on its own fiscal calendar.

$3.50 a barrelA domestic brewer producing 2,000,000 barrels or less per calendar year pays $3.50 per barrel in federal excise tax on the first 60,000 barrels. — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, retrieved 2026-09-29

$1.30 a barrelMontana breweries pay a graduated tax on beer sold directly to retailers and consumers, at $1.30 a barrel on the first 5,000 barrels produced in a year. — Montana Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29

Open with the calendar already written

Do not open first and calendar later. The first year of a Montana brewery runs on four separate clocks, and each one has a penalty attached.

The brewery license renews by June 30. The LLC annual report is due April 15, and the Secretary of State waives the fee if you file on time. Federal operations reports start the moment the Brewer's Notice is approved, not the day you open. The yearly page collects every date in one place.

Write those four dates on the wall of the office before the doors open. They are the cheapest compliance there is.

June 30A Montana brewery license must be renewed every year by June 30. — Montana Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29

April 15Montana LLC annual reports are due April 15, with the filing fee waived prior to April 15 and $35 after. — Montana Secretary of State, retrieved 2026-09-29

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