The lobby bar of the Pollard Hotel, the brick pile on the corner of Broadway and 8th, has been pouring drinks more or less continuously since 1893. The fittings are restored rather than original — a 1980s renovation took out the worst of the post-war damage — but the room still feels right: pressed-tin ceiling, mahogany bar, a wood fireplace that is lit most winter evenings.
The drink to order is a Montana whiskey neat from the surprisingly long shelf of regional distillers (Montgomery, Headframe, Spotted Bear). Food is the hotel restaurant's menu, simpler at the bar — French dip sandwich, elk burger. Quieter than Snow Creek across the street; the Pollard is where you go when you want to read a book.