ANACONDA — It's customary to receive some form of salutation when you enter a place of business, but at a brewery in Anaconda you’re not going to get a hello from the main greeter—and you might even get ignored. But the people that come here love him anyway, and that’s because he’s a cat.
"He’s our Walmart greeter, that’s what I call him, but we also call him Mr. Manager," says Luke Carlson, the owner of Smelter City Brewery.
"Taps" is also known as head mouser, but it doesn’t really matter what he’s called. His role is to be an ambassador for the brewery.
"He’s pretty laid back. He gets along with little kids. He’s inquisitive about dogs, like, he likes to go up and say hi to them. It’s pretty rare that he’s afraid of anybody or anything, which is good for this establishment," says Carlson.
Around late March about three years ago, Taps the cat adopted Smelter City Brewery as his new home.
"He showed up underneath these taps back here on our patio. So they made him a bed because it was spring and summer was approaching so he was just an outdoor cat for a while. Winter came and we started letting him in," says Molly Huber, a bartender at the local brewery.
Last week, brewery patrons got to celebrate Taps and share stories. One woman says she helped Taps get neutered and get vital vaccines after he adopted the brewery as home.
She wears a sweatshirt bearing his name as she orders a beer.
"I love all cats, yes, and especially Taps," says Phyllis Hargrave.
But what about Luke Carlson, is he a cat person?
"I am not. But I like him and that’s what I get from a lot of people. They say, 'I’m not a cat person, but I really like Taps,'" says Carlson.
