2009 Utah Beer Year in Review - Part 2

Welcome back!

May: The Hb51 Beer became reality. All of the brewpubs that participated in the brewing of the HB51 beer, kegged their individual interpretations on the collaboration amber ale. And as promised they were all very different. Four+
released a new beer Sum'r; made with lemony Sorachi Ace hops. Park City got a boost in the beer dept with the opening of Lindzee O' Michaels Park city's new place for top tier beers. Bohemian brewery's recreation of the original 1842 Czech Pilsner came to fruition and the boys nailed it with an incredible effort.

June: Utah Brewers received a shload of awards at the North American Brewers Association's - Mountain Brewers Festival In Idaho Falls, Idaho. Including six gold medals. Slug Magazine released it's second annual Beer Issue as the Logan Municipal Council repealed a law that restricted the sale of beer at city retail stores on Sundays. We also had a small beer festival in Snowbird. The Grill on the Hill featured a variety of locally made suds along with some killer BBQ. Local beer lover/craftsman Bryan Perkins, customized a Randalizer for the Bayou. It's basically a organoleptic hop transducer module (a hop cone filter) that grabs the oils off the hops in the Randall on the way from the keg to the tap/faucet transferring all the hoppy goodness into the beer, providing a pungent and fresh hop boost to the selected beer.

July: The Private Club system finally went the way of the Dodo and gave Utah citizens their dignity back. The Beerhive made it's long awaited debut after months and months of bureaucratic delays. Moab debuted and scored with it's Black IPA, the first in a trio of high ABV releases known as the Desert Select Series. Another new beer, Hop Rising came to liquor store shelves becoming Utah best selling high ABV beer. And frenzy and confusion surrounded the release of Uinta Brewing's first batch of their experimental Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine.

August: Thanks to the legalization of homebrewing in Utah, we were able to have our first ever BJC sanctioned home brew competition. Entries came from as far away as California, Texas and Nebraska. Craft beer options in St. George got thinner. Ruby River Steakhouse had closed it's St. George location as well as their Idaho Falls & Boise restaurants. On the heels of it's successful Black IPA debut Moab Brewing started selling the second beer in their Desert Select Series - The Moab Triple. Snowbird’s 37th Annual Oktoberfest returned, Attracting over 70,000 visitors over the sixteen-day celebration. August ended with The Book of Brew. RedRock Brewing Company's bible, per say. It chronicles most every one of the 40+ beers that Red Rock has brewed over the past 15 years.

We're in the home stretch. Hang in there with me!

Cheers