The popular West Broadway business Imagine Nation Brewing has found new owners.

This summer, Tim and Annie Graham will be purchasing the brewery from current owners, Fernanda Krum and Robert Rivers who founded Imagine Nation just seven years ago.

Imagine Nation is known for being more than just a brewery. When Krum and Rivers founded the brewery back in 2015, they envisioned it being a platform for community change. Since its opening Imagine Nation has hosted over 4,100 community events, supported over 500 organizations and given an average of 25% of their net profit back to the community.

Rivers says that over the past two years, He and Krum began feeling compelled back to the humanitarian work they were doing before opening Imagine Nation. They decided it was time for them to move on, but they didn’t want to leave the brewery in the hands of just anyone.

Rivers and Krum saw Tim and Annie Graham as the perfect people to take over in the hopes that they can get the beer in front of more people, enhance the quality of the product even further and carry on the social mission of the brewery.

Tim currently owns a brewery of his own called Cymatic, which he hopes to use to expand the production, packaging and distribution of Imagine Nation beers.

Imagine Nation currently distributes canned beer to taphouses around Montana and has recently been picked up in the metropolitan areas of Boise, Portland and Seattle. Rivers says distribution of Imagine Nation beer has helped to get their message of positive social change in front of more people.

Imagine Nation has often collaborated with local non-profits, allowing different organizations to design a label for their beer, and thus, spreading their message to a larger audience.   

“The beer is a vehicle for something bigger than itself,” said Rivers.

Annie has worked in an educational non-profit called Learning With Meaning for the past eight years and will serve as general manager of Imagine Nation. She is excited for the opportunity to work with non-profits in a completely new capacity now.

Annie says the decision to purchase Imagine Nation, “just felt right for us,” and their goal over the next couple months is to learn from Krum and Rivers and integrate into the Imagine Nation family.  

“This place is a pretty amazing family environment,” said Annie, “everybody that works here, doesn’t just work here. They really are a part of the mission, and they believe in it.”

Tim and Annie understand the importance of Imagine Nation to the community and don’t envision changing a whole lot in the near future. They are committed to continuing the mission of positive social change that Imagine Nation has strived for over the past seven years and even expanding it.  

So, What’s next for Krum and Rivers? They plan to relocate to Europe to pursue the type of work they were doing before opening Imagine Nation, international humanitarian work in places like the Middle East, Africa and South Asia

“I can’t underscore enough how confident I feel in Tim and Annie as the perfect people to take this over,” said Rivers, “It’s really, really exciting.”

More From Missoula Current