Diamond X Beer Co. near Grand Avenue and 54th Street West is close to some homes, and that's the idea: to be close to a neighborhood.
The new restaurant and brewery celebrated its grand opening on Friday.
It's in an area that gives people a chance to walk and take their families.
"Basically what we want to do is build a project on the West End," said Sean Graves, co-owner of Diamond X. "We recognize this is a big growing neighborhood. In the 70s you know 60s, 50s, things like that, there was a lot of like neighborhood bars and breweries around so people could go and just walk to where they wanted to go have dinner. And so we just wanted to get back into that style."
Graves said the name came from the neighborhood itself.
"A folf course out there, it's called Diamond X," he said about the course at Phipps Park. "And so we kind of took that and then we got the brand Diamond X, the cattle brand, so we just figured that that was just a great way to recognize Billings, a little piece of history here."
Plans were in place to open much earlier, but then COVID hit and challenges came pouring in.
"We were supposed to start breaking ground right when COVID broke out, so that pushed us back to about October," Graves said. "It put things behind about six months."
"We're in a good spot now," said Kris Krause, Diamond X general manager. "And we're definitely starting to see it come back around on the hiring side of things."
Krause said the pictures on the walls, and rural and outdoor decor add to the neighborhood atmosphere,
"We got the games outside," Krause said. "We have an awesome menu. We want people to come out here and enjoy talking about what they're going to do with their kids over the summer."
The shipping of the brewing equipment was delayed and when the brew master had the beer ready, it was time to toast and celebrate with a ribbon cutting.
"Just always fun to build something from the bottom up," said Connor Cranston, Diamond X brewmaster. "Probably going to name my Pilsner, Phipps Park Pils. And you know, we're just looking for bringing Billings more into this place."
"Can't wait to see this place grow the next few years," Krause said.
"Montanans love the outdoors," Graves said. "They love sports. They love craft beer, so we tried to hit all of those."
Graves also owns the Montana Brewing Company and Hooligan's Sports Bar.
