Drive for 20 minutes down a dusty dirt road lined with forest and you’ll come to the Northern Lights Saloon, a bar and grill in Polebridge, Montana. Just 22 miles from Canada, Polebridge is an off-grid community where there is no phone service and just a handful of people living there in the winter.
But in the summer, when I visit, it’s a thriving spot for Montanans and tourists from further afield, thanks to its picturesque views, cute monthly flea market and regular live music, which is hosted on a tiny log-built stage behind the saloon.
Named for the phenomenon often visible in the skies above, the Northern Lights Saloon was originally a cabin built in 1916 and was only recently reopened as a bar by its new owners, who prove incredibly welcoming and warm. Inside, there’s cosy wood-panelling and a bar dotted with drinks and Coca-Cola bottles with the word “dude” on the side.
There are some excellent options to try besides Coke, though. Such as cocktails named after local mountains and delicacies, gin from Spotted Bear Spirits – a women-led distillery not far away in Whitefish – and Bearproof, a huckleberry-flavoured whiskey (made with handpicked berries, no less) from another local company Glacier Distilling, which makes its drinks close to Glacier National Park, where the saloon is located.
The place is small and very popular, so expect food to take a little while, but who’s complaining when the mountain views are this good? I try the bison burger (because, what else?), which arrives in a diner-style plastic basket, but don’t let that fool you – this is one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten, and well worth the dirt-road trip.
255 Polebridge Loop, Polebridge, MT 59928, USA; thenorthernlightssaloon.com
Amy Miles is a London-based writer and editor
