Montana
Taking Shots And Talking Montana With Jason Momoa
Blaine Halvorson and Jason Momoa share laughs and a budding alcohol brand.
Meili Vodka
If you ever go out drinking with Jason Momoa, a word of advice — be careful. The burley actor you know from the Aquaman series and Fast X is even bigger in person, so he’s got the body mass to out-shot you. And then there are the actual drinks he’s handing you. We don’t know if it’s his piercing eyes or the flowy, Poseidon-like tresses, but he hypnotizes you into drinking almost anything.
“Can you grab me a Guinness,” Momoa asks a young lady working at the liquor store. Guinness? Wait, aren’t the megastar and his longtime buddy Blaine Halvorson on the road promoting their new single-distilled vodka, Meili? Sure are. So, what in the world does he want with an Irish beer? “I’ll show you how good it is with it,” Momoa says, as he begins to combine the two, creating the self-declared “Momoa Maker.” Maybe it’s the fermented grains talking, but the beer and the smooth Meili pair incredibly well. “To be able to do hard liquor with beer? This is about as clean as it gets. No hangover from this.”
But Momoa’s world is filled with contrasts. He stars in blockbuster action movies yet he pirouettes in funny TV commercials with Zach Braff. He plays bass guitar for the rock band Öof Tatatá, but he gets nervous every time he takes the stage. You’ll likely find him on the Hollywood red carpet promoting next year’s A Minecraft Movie, but he’d rather be lost somewhere in the Montana wilderness.
And as soon as they finish their drinks, Momoa and Halvorson will get into all of it with us.
Meili is meant to be enjoyed with friends.
Meili Vodka
How are things going with the vodka promotion?
Momoa: It’s been good, man. Good crazy. It’s fun going to every city and seeing [the reactions]. Just meeting people. Going to top restaurants and bars and seeing the turnout and people excited. It’s like promoting a movie that you actually love. Everyone’s showing up. They’re really happy with the product. They’re coming up and they’re experiencing it with us. We worked really hard for a long time to make this. It wasn’t like someone came to us and I signed my name onto it and then I just got paid.
So many celebrities have their names attached to alcohol brands. Tell me how Meili is different.
Momoa: If it’s something that I built from the ground up, I work at it. We built this as best friends. Heart and soul went into it. It definitely is different, but I personally like it that way. Now, in my life, it’s just very hard with movies and family and stuff like that, [determining what] you’re going to spend your time with. We’ve been together for 16 years and we’ve never fought once. He’s actually a huge inspiration. We both push each other, challenge each other and just enjoy being with each other. I’m pretty lucky.
Blaine, tell me a little bit about this journey.
Halvorson: It was seven years from the inception of us sitting down, having dinner with our families and going, “Let’s make something — just you and me.” We were both like, “Let’s get in the liquor business.” It was uncharted territory. Neither of us, obviously, came from that. But we enjoyed it. It just felt like something [the] vodka [industry] needed. It needed a new flame. It was kind of stale. There wasn’t much storytelling.
J and I weren’t vodka guys. Honestly, if you go out and line up 1,000 people, maybe one probably even knows what vodka tastes like. It’s been treated as an ingredient when it was brought over here. America didn’t really like it, even though it’s the biggest piece of the [alcohol sales] pie. Crazy enough, people are just used to it in a drink. It always seemed crazy to J and I that you would make something to cover it up. And this idea of vodka that’s odorless and tasteless. If that was really the case, then everybody failed horribly. Vodka just hasn’t been enjoyable to drink. Most of the brands are distilling it multiple times. The next time you go fill up your gas tank, take a hit of that. Who wants to drink that?
Meili’s distinct bottles are crafted from 100% recycled glass.
Meili Vodka
What’s a perfect meal to go with this vodka?
Momoa: Surprisingly, it kinda has a sake finish, right?
Halvorson: That’s the beauty of it. It’ll take on rum. It’ll take on sake. It’ll take on tequila in a margarita. Depending on the food pairing, it’ll [work]. And to Jason’s point, sake is all about water as well, so they have a very similar thing in that aspect. I only sip [Meili] neat, but I eat it with everything. I live predominantly on wild game, so bison and elk. But I also eat sushi.
Your schedule is crazy right now. What’s the toughest part about all the moving around?
Momoa: I own two companies. One is called On the Roam and the other one’s called Pride of Gypsies. I was born on the road. So, this is what I do. This is how I live.
Halvorson: I’ve been home four days in the last 70.
What’s the toughest thing about being on the road so much — diet, exercise, missing family?
Momoa: Well, not being with the families [is hard].
Halvorson: I try to bring the family with me. If I’m gone seven days, my family is with me half of that. Being away from them is definitely the hardest part. And food, too. When I’m home, I cook.
Momoa: But when you’re out, you know you’re gonna give up those luxuries. I mean, exercise is non-existent. When I’m playing gigs, we’re burning [calories] at a high level. We’re constantly go, go, go. I’m exhausted, but I’m not training. But when I have to train for something and dedicate to a movie, I can’t be [promoting vodka and performing] as much. I can do it wherever I’m living. Say I’m shooting a movie in London, I’ll spend time doing this. I won’t be traveling all around, you know? It’s just the balance of it all.
I wasn’t wanted [as an actor] when I was younger. When I was raising my kids, it was very hard to get jobs, so I was home for the great years, the important years. The kids are 16, 17 now, so they don’t want to hang out anyway. I’m not that missed. When I come to town, they come see me. We spend our summers together and stuff. But they’re full-on school right now. We talk every day and connect, but…
Hawaii is one of Momoa’s go-to destinations.
iStock-Randy Jay Braun
You’re performing music tonight and tomorrow. What kind of joy does that give you that movies don’t?
Momoa: I’m terrified of being on stage. I’m really scared and nervous. I don’t have that when I’m doing my [acting] profession because I’ve been doing it for so long. [But being on stage] is like going into an audition for your favorite director with your favorite actors and you have no business being in that movie. It’s like going and being in Dune and you’re like, “What the hell am I doing? Why am I here? Why did you pick me?” I didn’t have to audition for Dune, but it’s just weird. It’s like your first scene with them. I was nervous doing that. But [being in the rock band] is the same level.
I never wanted to be in a band. This is kind of us giving back so we can celebrate Meili [with fans] and all drink together. It’s hard to take pictures with thousands and thousands of people. I would rather be with the person that I wanted to be with and watch them do what they love and then receive that aloha and that energy over just taking a picture. We do that during the day — go to bottle signings and take pictures. But what would it be like hanging out with us? That’s why I was like, “Let’s do this.” And I’m doing it with my buddies, playing our favorite songs. It’s just an experience that I think people will enjoy.
Why do you love Montana?
Momoa: It’s the wilderness. It’s the West. It’s the mountains, wild animals.
Halvorson: It’s the fourth-largest state in the country. It’s about 800 miles across and has just over a million people. You still have untouched territory, which is nice. You have towns, but within five minutes, you’re in the mountains. You have that ability to sort of escape. I’m not the biggest city guy. I like to be as much as I can in nature. It’s good for you.
I’m going to Wyoming soon.
Halvorson: There you go! That’s my favorite place on earth. Dude, I spend a month in Jackson Hole every summer.
Momoa: It’s the mecca.
Halvorson: That’s the holy grail. The Tetons? Yeah.
Momoa and Halvorson can’t say enough about Montana’s beauty.
iStock-Lisa5201
When you have a chance to take trips with the family, where do you go?
Halvorson: I have a daughter and a son. We’ve gone to Jackson every single summer since she was born. That is actually our family getaway. Montana, even though I was born and raised there, has always been my mental escape. That’s the one place I can go to regenerate and recharge. Honestly, just for that comfort, that is my [choice]. It may not be as sexy, but I love the mountains. I can go tuck away. I’m cool with being away from everything.
Momoa: Hawaii and Montana are probably my spots. I love being there. And then, I love being on the road with my kids or loved ones and just being able to travel and go through small towns. I like being on the road.
Do you mean road trips?
Momoa: Yeah, I love it. I love traveling in the truck and living very whimsically.
Halvorson: Yeah, that’s cool thing — when we were building Meili during COVID, we lived in our vans. We’d do like 17, 18 days in the mountains, cooking out on the open fire. It was insane for three years of COVID. We’d shower in the lake once every 15 days. It was incredible.
You took a shower every two weeks?
Momoa: Me? No, I like to hit it every day.
MORE FROM FORBES
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Clark Fork River has long been a defining feature of Missoula, shaping the city’s culture, economy and outdoor lifestyle.
The river is so closely tied to the area that it helped inspire the well-known book and film “A River Runs Through It.” But local conservation advocates say its importance goes far beyond scenery.
“Without the Clark Fork River, Missoula would just be another town,” said Lisa Ronald, Northern Rockies associate conservation director for American Rivers. “We wouldn’t be the River City. I think we’re known in Montana as Missoula the River City, and it’s really because of the Clark Fork River and its central role in business, in economics, in recreation, that really makes Missoula the town that it is.”
Carmen Murill, a field organizer with Wild Montana, said the river is deeply woven into daily life for people who live in Missoula.
“A lot of us would wonder what to do on a beautiful or a rainy summer day,” Murill said. “I mean, it’s really a lifeforce of town. And I think it’s pretty unique that Missoula, as a community is living and breathing on both sides of the river. It’s really like two downtowns but connected by the Clark Fork.”
Conservation groups say protecting the river begins with community involvement.
Advocates encourage residents and visitors to spend time outdoors, whether on a trail, in the woods or along the river, and to learn how they can become better stewards of the environment.
MISSOULA — Sam Forstag edged out Ryan Busse to secure the Democratic nomination in Montana’s 1st Congressional District.
Busse conceded the race to Forstag on Wednesday morning. Forstag had trailed behind Busse Tuesday evening, but he made up ground as the votes were counted into the early hours of Wednesday morning. The other two candidates in the race, Russl Cleveland and Matt Rains, are sitting at third and fourth, respectively.
Forstag leads in close race for Montana’s 1st Congressional District
Forstag spent eight years as a wildland firefighter, including four as a smokejumper, and he’s been vice president of the local National Federation of Federal Employees union. Last week, U.S. House of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, held a rally in Missoula to support Forstag’s campaign.
He told MTN on Tuesday that his campaign has been for the working class.
“We got a whole lot of people here that have been working their tail off to finally get some working-class representation in Washington,” Forstag noted. “So proud of everything we’ve done and so grateful.”
Forstag further noted he wants Montanans to be able to afford groceries, have universal free childcare and restore and expand Affordable Health Care Act subsidies.
“Hearing people’s stories and struggles and commonalities in the ways that we’re all fighting in the system that does not serve us so often, and the government serves corporations and the richest people in this country more than working people. It has been frustrating and saddening, but it has also inspired so much hope in me, like the fixes we can actually make,” he told MTN.
The 1st Congressional District covers much of western Montana, including Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman. It is currently held by Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, who chose not to seek reelection.
By securing the nomination, Forstag is slated tol face off against Libertarian candidate Nick Sheedy and Republican candidate Aaron Flint in November.
Brian Miller won the Democratic primary Tuesday for the U.S. House seat in Montana’s eastern district.
The Associated Press called the race for Miller, an attorney in Helena, who fended off a challenge from state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, a longtime legislator from Box Elder, and Sam Lux, a farrier from Great Falls.
In the Republican and rural eastern district, any Democrat will be an underdog, and Miller will face off against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Downing, who was unopposed Tuesday.
Libertarian Patrick McCracken is also running.
In the primary, Miller took 58% of the vote. Lux took 27% and Windy Boy took 16%, according to the Montana Secretary of State’s website.
In April, Windy Boy paused his campaign amid “serious sexual abuse” allegations raised by the Montana Democratic Party — but Windy Boy restarted his campaign and later called the allegations “political attacks.”
Miller is representing the victim of the alleged abuse and her mother, although he said he didn’t take on the role until after Windy Boy initially suspended his campaign.
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