The Great Northern Brewery was designed by world renowned architect Joe Escherick in 1994 as a traditional "Gravity Flow" arrangement. The mostly automated 20 barrel brew house was custom designed and installed by JVNorthwest, allowing for an annual capacity of 8,000 barrels.

Started by Minott Wessinger, the great-great grandson of Henry Weinhard, the Great Northern Brewery was built in 1994 to brew Black Star Golden Lager. After 7 years of brewing Black Star, Wessinger decided to stop brewing the beer in order to pursue other projects. Black Star was unavailable for nearly eight years until Wessinger and the Great Northern Brewing Company (GNBC) started production again on February 6th, 2010. Black Star is being brewed at the same facility in which it was originally brewed in 1995. Everyone at GNBC is very excited to be brewing Black Star once again.

Whitefish, Montana was chosen as the home for the Great Northern Brewery because of its rugged and beautiful surroundings, the excellent water, and the unique history of the Flathead Valley.

In January of 2009, the brewery welcomed the Black Star Draught House as the on-premise retailer of Great Northern Brewing beers. Taste all of the brewery's beers, have a glass of wine and/or a bite to eat while enjoying the best views in town. Summer tours of the brewery are Monday thru Friday, at 1 pm and 3 pm.