New Beer - Brewery Friday 2/28/20

Utah, you are getting your first brewery of 2020 this week, though the beers are in extremely limited availability. Grid City debuted three of their beers last night at a "Tap Takeover" over at the Commonwealth Room last night. Grid City's tap room and kitchen still has a couple of weeks to go before it's ready for customers, but I did get your first preview of what they have.

Grid City - Honey Cream Ale: This is loaded with local honey and you can definitely taste it. The hops are floral and light and the whole beer finishes quite dry. If you're a fan of honey ales, this one may go straight to the top of your list. 5.0%

Grid City - Pale Ale: A biscuity pale with caramel malts generating a filling malt profile and the hop profile that covers an equally profound bitterness. Flavors of pine resins, fruit and pepper. Finishes with a lingering fruity and spicy hop profile and moderate bitterness. 4.6%

Grid City - English Brown Ale: The taste here is pumpernickel, burnt malts: chocolate, caramel and molasses with roasted nuts and a touch of dark fruit. A floral hop smack rides in the back. Aftertaste is malty and toasty. This was probably my favorite. 4.2%

The Rest of your New Beer Friday is quite stellar. There's quite a few new local option and some very tasty out of market stuff.  

Epic - Super IPA Me: This big ass IPA is made with apricots, Citra and two of the hottest new hops on the market Grüngeist and Styrian Dragon. The  Grüngeist hops add flavors of Passion Fruit, Melon, Berries, Fleshy Fruit and Sweet Pepper. Styrian Dragon offer intense floral character and moderate herbal and citrus tones. All of this is wrapped up in a hearty 12.0% IPA. This one goes on sale Leap Day (2/29) and will available in 32 ounce crowlers. Very limited availability in SLC. So, don't wait too long to snag this one.

Hoppers - Burnout Brown: This is a German-style lager made with Utah grown Solstice barley malt, German Munich and dark caramelized malt. Well hopped at 24 IBUs, and late hopped with US Sterling hops and German Perle hops. A nice combination of spicy and floral hops with toasted and caramel malt. Dark but drinks light.

RoHa - Millennium Falcon: This is a red ale dry hopped with Falconers Flight hops. It has a slight tropical nose with malty notes. The flavor is toasted malt up front with a slight lemon finish. This is the first in series of dry hopped reds that will be available on draft at RoHa. 5.0%

Proper - Belgo-Blitz: Tropical flavors abound in this Belgian-esque NEIPA. You get some citrus peel as well with the slightest amount of clove from the yeast. Generally not my style, but I did enjoy this one. 5.0% - Available at Proper.

Proper- Plum Sour Ranger: The sourness of the version seems slightly tuned down to allow the tartness and sweetness from the plum to shine. It all comes off as nice balanced drinkable fruit sour.  5.0% - Available at Proper.

Proper - Guava Lamp: The guava is potent, but it’s not being a dick about it. There’s not a lot of wheat, but what is there is nice and biscuity. 🤘 5.0% - Available at Proper.

Bewilder Kellerbier: Missed out on this one, but I'll post an update later this afternoon. on Utah Beer's Instagram 5.0%    

Uinta - Blueberry Unicorn Glitter Ale: Missed out on this one, but I'll post an update later this afternoon. on Utah Beer's Instagram 5.0%  

Salt Flats -  Bombshell Belgian Red Sour: Missed out on this one, but I'll post an update later this afternoon. on Utah Beer's Instagram 5.0%  

Hopkins - Black Sesame Stout: Roasty stout profile with a toasted sesame finish. 5.0% -Available at Hopkins. 

Hopkins Small Batch Friday Beers:

Raspberry Wine Ale

Root amBeer

Autobahn Ale

Strawberry Peach Saison

WTF Jalapeño/Garlic ESB

House Roadhouse Rye

Horchata Cream Ale

Chocolate Peanu butter Stout

Revision/Shoe Tree - Disco Ninja: This collaboration beer between two of Northern Nevada's favorite breweries is a NEIPA. The nose is very mild with melon and citrus along with floral hops. The taste follows with more grassy hops, mango and peppery orange peel. Very little bitterness. 7.0% - Found at Slackwater (Sandy) and Angry Goat.

Slaapmutske - (FLOSS) Kriek: The aroma is subtle with cherry, vinegar, lemon and oak. Some sweet malts up front in the taste, with sour fruit notes of blackberry, cherry and apple cider. Finishes quite dry with 'oaky tannins' (the name of of my bluegrass band). 5.0% - Exclusively on draft at the Bayou.

De la Senne Narrenvat: This is a brown ale, aged for 10 months in oak barrels with Brettanomyces. It is inspired by the English beers of the past. Look for flavors of red fruits (alcohol preserved cherries) and notes of malt (biscuit, brown candied sugar, caramel, and roasted hazelnuts). It's lightly bitter and sour, with wine accents. 5.8% - Exclusively at the Bayou.

Garden Path - The Curious Mix Methods: Missed this one. 6.9% found at the Bayou.

Cigar City - Margarita Gose: Missed this one. MAde with orange peel and lime essence. 4.2% Found at the Bayou.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 2/21/20

Every damn beer this week is an IPA, IPA variant or a hoppy pale ale. If these are not your jam, you have my apologies. If you dig the hoppier side of life, then please proceed. Happy New Beer Friday!

Roosters/Square State - Lime Rickey Milkshake IPA: This collaboration with Square State Brewing Company out of Rock Springs, Wyoming was made to help celebrate Roosters' 25th Anniversary. Look for a good dose of lime and lime zest with a medium amount of lactose sweetness. The hop profile should be lightly bitter. 5.0% - This is pouring Square State now, and is currently on draft at Roosters 25th Street location only for now. It will hit B-Street and Layton in the next week or two. Not vegan friendly

Templin Family - Who's Barry:  We have another 'milkshake' IPA. this one is a mixed berry sour. This one hits Saturday morning, hopefully we'll have some tasting notes this afternoon. 6.8%.  Not vegan friendly

Fisher - 3rd Anniversary IPA: Another anniversary beer is hitting this week as well. It may not be a quarter of a century - like our friends at Roosters, but well take a solid three years from our pals at the re-born A. Fisher Brewing Company. This anniversary IPA will be a New England style and it will be available Saturday morning as well in 32 ounce crowlers. 7.2%

Epic - Spiral Jetty:  Robert Smithson's iconic Spiral Jetty on the north shore of the Great Salt Lake turns 50 next month. to celebrate, Epic made a special, limited batch of their Spiral Jetty IPA. It has all of the great citrus peel and pine, with added notes of vanilla and berries from the yeast. 6.6% - Available now only at Epic SLC.

Policy Kings - Pekin Pale: This new beer was brewed with pomegranate  and mint green tea. Look for a sweet aroma from the tea and just a touch of Pomegranate on the front then the mint and citrus hops take over for slight bitterness on the back end. 5% - only at Policy Kings.

Flying Fish - Hopfish IPA: This New Jersey made beer is new to our market. Look for floral hops dominated by caramel malt and hints of dark fruit. Towards the finish there's a small dose of pine hops and biscuit. 6.2% - found at Slackwater

Ninkasi -- Galaxy Trippin': Missed this one. Look for citrus and passionfruit flavors to dominate this new IPA. 7.0% - Found at DABC

Rogue - Newport Daze: Missed this one too. This is so new only a handful of markets have revived it. Look for aromas of pineapple & stone fruit, features tangerine and peach flavors and finishes slightly sweet. 5.5% Found at DABC

Destihl- Touch of Haze: This is described as having big additions of Mosaic and Cascade hops harmonized with the smooth mouthfeel of flaked oats, for a mellow, juicy and hazy IPA. 7.3% - Found at DABC

Modern Times - Mythic Worlds: This is one of Modern Times' newer IPAs; stuffed with Galaxy, Motueka, Mosaic, and Experimental hop 06277. This makes notes of peach, passionfruit, and tropical fruits over a backbone of ripe citrus. 7.6% - Found at Beerhive

Revision Brewing - Alpha Point: I hear a lot of brewers say that Galaxy hops are hard to get, but there seems to be no shortage of Galaxy driven beers this week. This new session IPA also features Citra hops for a nice tangerine twang. I've only seen this one on draft so far. 5.0% - Found at Bayou and Angry Goat.

Returning

RoHa -  Americano: This American ale brewed with espresso and coffee returns, this time it's in cans. Now you can stuff your fridge until your heart is content. 5.0% - At RoHa, grocery and C-stores soon.

Cheers!

Provo City Clears the Way for Micro Breweries

The Provo City Council has had a love/hate relationship with craft beer for some time now. They would love the tax dollars the bring, but would hate the fact that someone was making beer in angelic Provo City.

Now it appears that restaurants in Provo will be allowed to expand their operations to include the on premise brewing of craft beer. After a city council vote on Tuesday night, the Provo council members voted 4-3 to approve the new ordinance.

"It includes a sunrise clause that would require the proper licensing to be in place before this goes into effect," according to a tweet from the Provo City Council announcing the vote.

This new ordinance doesn't mean that you can have brewpubs or breweries anywhere within the city, it only allows for restaurants in certain zones: regional shopping centers, the general downtown area and the downtown Provo core.

Provo City's booze regulations are also more restrict for restaurants serving alcohol, in addition to regulations that the state already has in place. 

There were plenty of concerns about the micro brewery ordinance during the public comment portion of the council meeting. However most of those concerns expressed by some of those in attendance were for issues that are already regulated by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

A survey of city residents conducted by Provo City found that there is broad support for the change among Provo residents and it now looks like craft beer will begin to flow in the heart of Happy Valley.

I'm curious to see who will be the first to take advantage of this new ordinance. Any guesses?

Cheers to all of you beer nerds in Provo!

Muddy Creek Brewery Needs a Hand

Normally, we here at Utah Beer try to keep the content focused only on local beer issues and events. However, when others in the craft beer community are met with unforeseen setbacks it's only right for good neighbors to show up, and help in anyway they can.

In the early hours of Thursday, January 23rd, the Muddy Creek Brewery of Butte Montana was destroyed by a devastating fire that consumed the brewery's landmark 100 year old building. It took firefighters 6 hours to get a handle on the blaze. The entire 2nd floor of the building was consumed. The taproom, the artwork, the awards, the photos of family and friends – all completely lost. Sadly Muddy Creek was about to celebrate their fifth year this month.

Currently the owners and staff are all attempting to sort through the aftermath, physically, mentally, and emotionally in order to move forward resurrecting the business and lives of the small 11 person staff. 

To help, a fundraiser page has been created by friends of the brewery to help offset the mounting expenses that are quickly piling up. Let's show our pals in Butte that Utah has their back and we wish Muddy Creek Brewing and their community a speedy and prosperous return.

Cheers!

Photo credits: Mtstandard.com, Krin Riedel (below)

New Beer Friday 2/14/20

It's going to be a beer filled Valentine for sure. Buy your sweetie one of the new brews and you'll be pitching woo fer sure. 

Bewilder Citra Pale Ale: Great tangerine aroma. The taste follows with juicy citrus and pith. the malt isn't too sweet and compliments the hops well. Nice and very drinkable. 5.0% Available at Bewilder.

Templin Family - Jesse Delmar: This Barrel Aged Imperial Stout is big on chocolate coffee notes and it hits with a big whiskey wallop. This the full barrel proof, no blending down of the aged beer; dialing in at a solid 12.0%. Very nice stuff. Available at TF.

Avenue Proper - Wolf Mountain: This has an aroma of citrus peel and heavy pine. Creamy malts at first sip then your met with a huge blast of dank pine, with some citrus and herbal hops. This one lights up the sides and bottom of the tongue. Its more of a pale ale with super hoppy bite. 5.0% - Only at Avenues Proper.

Squatters - Blonde Latte: Nice coffee aroma and flavor here. There is some higher than normal sweetness due to the addition of lactose. It all comes across as the latte the name implies. This is not a vegan friendly beer. 5.0% Available at Squatters Downtown.

Squatters - Dragon Slayer: This IPL starts off super dry. The hops are a blend of citrus peel and old world German hops and herbal spices. this is all IPL with little IPA character. Super crushable. 5.0% Available at Squatters downtown.

Desert Edge Cashmere in the Rye: Haven't had this one yet. By the name it appears to be a rye pale ale with Cashmere hops. 5.0% Available at Desert Edge and the Bayou.

Toasted Barrel - Juicy Double IPA: This just hit late yesterday afternoon. I missed it. All I know is that it's described as having five different types of hops. 5.0% Limited batch, available at Toasted Barrel.

Roosters - Winter Blues: This another hazy IPA except this one is made with blueberry purée, butterfly pea flower and Mosaic hops. I haven't had this yet, but its piqued my curiosity. 5.0% on Tap Now at Roosters locations and at Slackwater in Ogden as well. 

Silver Reef - Snowman Golden Bock: A mostly traditional crisp yet malty German Helles Bock finished with Mosaic hops. 6.8% - Only at Silver Reef

Silver Reef - White Dome: This is a Belgian white IPA brewed with wheat and candy sugar. Hopped with Nugget, citra, ekuanot and crystal. 6.75% - Only at Silver Reef

Coniston Brewing - Bluebird Bitter: Caramel malts are noticeable at first. Then spicy hops come in and add a surprisingly sharp punch of bitterness. The bitterness starts to fade quickly though, transitioning to a sweet malt finish. 4.2% - Exclusively on draft at the Bayou.

Libertine - Plumphry’s McGee: I missed this one. This is a tart Dunkle made with plum. 4.5% - Exclusively on draft at the Bayou.

To Øl - Fuck Art - This is Architecture: The taste starts out bready with Belgian yeast and a hearty malt character. Then a strong but not over-powering hops bitterness comes in. The finish is slightly bready and bitter. 5.0% - Exclusively on draft at the Bayou.

Founders - Mountain Brown: Missed this one. 9.0% Found at the Bayou

Founders - Canadian Breakfast Stout: Missed this one. 11.3% Found at the Bayou

Stone - Viking Space Probe: Missed this one. 8.5% Found at Beerhive

Great Basin - Bitch’n Beery: Missed this one. 5.6% Found at Slackwater (Sandy)

The following are limited small batches from Hopkins Brewing.

Hopkins - TROPKVEIK PALE ALE

Grain: Maris Otter, Munich, Wheat, Rye
Hops: Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic, Cascade, Cashmere
Yeast: Imperial Kveiking
Notes: Brewed with a tropical hop blend and kveik yeast

Hopkins - THE WOODSMAN
Grain: Maris Otter, Crystal 35L, Crystal 80L, Crystal 120L, Biscuit
Hops: Simcoe, Chinook
Yeast: Imperial Flagship
Notes: Brewed with vanilla and oak chips for a barrel-aged flavor.

Hopkins - HALLERTAU BLANC HEFE
Grain: Pilsner, Wheat
Hops: Hallertau Blanc
Yeast: Imperial Stefon
Notes: Traditional-style German Weissbier featuring Hallertau Blanc hops. These hops have fruity notes as well as grapes and lemongrass.

Hopkins - ROSEMARY: "LADY IN WHITE"
Grain: Maris Otter, Wheat, Munich, Flaked Corn
Hops: Cashmere, Saaz
Yeast: Imperial Napoleon
Notes: Brewed with coriander, orange peel and rosemary. This Belgian White is inspired by the alleged apparition that haunts our brewery after hours. We've only heard stories so far, mainly being a lady in a white dress.

Hopkins - HOPPED-UP BROWN
Grain: Maris Otter, Biscuit, Crystal 80L, Crystal 120L, Chocolate Malt
Hops: Simcoe, Mosaic, Cascade, Citra
Yeast: Imperial Darkness
Notes: India Brown Ale style featuring a complex chocolate and caramel body with a heavy hand of hops and dry-hopped with Citra.

Hopkins - MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP BLONDE
Grain: Maris Otter, Munich, Wheat
Hops: Cascade
Yeast: Imperial House
Notes: Blonde ale features a pleasant blend of fresh mint leaves and chocolate.

Hopkins - RED VELVET AMBER
Grain: Maris Otter, Munich, Wheat, Crystal 80L, Crystal 120L, Chocolate Malt
Hops: Simcoe, Mosaic
Yeast: Imperial Flagship
Notes: Brewed with lactose, chocolate, vanilla, and beets.  This red-hued amber is inspired by the decadent dessert, Red Velvet Cake.

Hopkins - "SHUCK IT" OYSTER STOUT
Grain: Maris Otter, Chocolate Malt, Crystal 120L, Biscuit, Flaked Oat, Black Barley
Hops: Chinook
Yeast: DCL/Fermentis US-05
Notes: Brewed with oysters, coffee and chocolate. This rich stout is salty up front with roasted dark chocolate notes and a slight hint of coffee at the end.

Cheers!

New Brews, Soon For You: Epic, Red Rock, Templin Family and Uinta

We haven't done a New Brews, Soon for You preview in a while. If you're not familiar with our little word salad phrase, It's a basic preview of beers that are coming to brewery near you, in the near future. These beers ARE NOT available as of the date of this publishing, and we promise to fill you in, when they do hit the streets.  Let's begin.

We'll start with Epic Brewing Company's Oak and Orchard: Ginger and Lemongrass. If you're not familiar with the Oak And Orchard Series, It's Epic's foeder aged sour program that offers up new blends of oak aged beers with common and uncommon fruits, spices and various types of produce. This upcoming version will obviously feature ginger and lemongrass. Epic really nails these sours and I can't wait to see what they come up with here.

Red Rock's "Don't Murder Me" (above) will be an Irish Style Export Stout. I don't have a lot of info on this beer's theme. I think it refers to the Grateful Dead's tune, Dire Wolf. Anyway, if you're not familiar with Export stouts, they're higher in alcohol (less than imperial stouts) with very pronounced roasted character with a soft bite. it will dial in at 6.7% and be packaged in 500ml bottles.

Corduroy from the Templin Family Brewing Company will be a Juicy India Pale Ale. What's the difference between a "juicy" IPA and a "hazy" IPA? Not much really. If you call it "juicy" it defiantly sounds more appealing, and it doesn't necessarily have to be hazy or turbid. All of that aside, T.F. does this style right and rest assured, this one will sell out when it eventually goes on sale. This will have an ABV of 7.7% and it will be available in 16 ounce cans.

Uinta Brewing finishes us off with their Piña Colada Milkshake IPA. These are mostly fruited IPAs with lactose added for sweetness and body. The result is a smoothie-like IPA that often blurs the line between beer and malted milk. These are terribly popular right now and they kill in the markets that are selling them, this will likely 'kill' as well. You'll probably see this 7.0% ale in 12 ounce bottles in the coming months.

I have more New Brews, Soon for You that we'll be publishing soon, so stay close.

Cheers!

Images found at shipcomplient.com 

Grid City Beer Works Preview

Utah's next brewery will be here sooner than you think. If all goes well, you'll see Grid City Beer Works in early March 2020. I was invited to check out the new South Salt Lake City brewery, and have some interesting things to report.

The brewery occupies the old, Tile for Less building located at 333 w. 2100 s., right across the street from Home Depot. The real estate has undergone a complete transformation from top to bottom. The building's lid was removed and a new one was constructed so that it could support a new roof top patio and an additional bar area.

The brewery is showcased behind a horseshoe shaped bar that is open - without glass barriers that allow for the full sensory overload from the brewing process. Adjacent to the brew house is a full kitchen that will deliver a full range house-designed, pub fare to pair with the house beers.

Speaking of beers: Grid City will be debuting with four beers. A pale ale, brown ale, a pilsner and acream ale. A fairly simple offering, however, what will make this presentation different from any other brewery anywhere, is that all four of these beers will be served three different ways – conventional carbon dioxide, nitrogen and on cask - via  four separate beer engines. Owners, Justin Belliveau, Drew Reynolds, and Brewer, Jeremy Gross believe that providing these time honored, age old formats; on top of everyday CO2 will educate and stimulate their customers palates and will keep them coming back. Right now the plan is to provide draft options but cans are in the works down the road.


There are a lot of secrets that I've been asked to withhold. Normally, I'd provide some more detailed photos of the bar and other interesting aspects of the brewery to help give you a better feel. However, the Grid City boys would prefer that you experience the brewery that they've worked so hard on with fresh eyes, for your first visit.

I can reveal that they've acquired some Czech made, side pour, Lukr faucets for their pilsners. You may be familiar with these if you've been to the Templin Family Brewing Co. These provide a quicker pour with better head retention. It's real nerdy shit, and we love real nerdy shit. 

I know that you're all excited to get another brewery/brewpub to add to your weekly brewery crawls; this will be South Salt Lake City's fourth brewery and its location actually begins to bridge a gap between the South Salt Lake beer district and the downtown Salt Lake City district.

As soon as they nail down their opening date, you'll see it here. I promise. Again, thanks for bothering to waste your bandwidth here at Utah Beer.

Prost!

Photo (right): Grid City -  Jeremy Gross, Drew Reynolds, Justin Belliveau

Utah's Winners at 2020 Best of Craft Beer Awards

Last weekend (Feb 7-9) 96 beer judges gathered in Bend, Oregon for the 2020 Best of Craft Beer Awards. 170 winning breweries from 33 states took home medals for their exceptional beer that covered 95 categories.

Utah's brewers managed to snag a handful of medals from the international competition. If you get a chance, stop in to one of these fine breweries and try (or get re-acquainted with) one of these fine medal winners.

Uinta Brewing Company - Golden Spike [Bronze] - American-Style Wheat Beer Category

Uinta Brewing Company - Yard Sale  [Silver] - German-Style Maerzen or Oktoberfest/Wiesn

Templin Family Brewing - Leichte Weiss Bier [Gold] - Other German-Style Wheat Beers

A complete list of winners can be found here.

Congrats to Uinta and T.F.!


Credit: Original Gravity Events

New Beer Friday 2/7/20

I think you'll find these New Beer Friday options agreeable to most beer nerds. If you're into stouts and porters this will be a good weekend for you.

Wasatch - Cerveza Molé (Mexican Red): Mexico was the inspiration for this beer. Brewed with corn, dried chilies, peanuts, cocoa, cinnamon, allspice, cumin and coriander. for such a busy beer it comes together quite nicely with mole flavors that take advantage of the caramel malt base. Quite nice. 5.0% On tap now, only at Wasatch Brewpub Sugar House, and only for a limited time!

2 Row - Smoked  Jalapeño Porter: The aroma has a faint hint of chilies and roasted malt. In the mouth you get a nice dose of cocoa and dark roast coffee. The jalapeño heat is pretty subtle and is mostly limited to a scratchiness on the back of the throat, with little fire. A solid chile beer. 7.5% Available at 2 Row, I also found it a Beer Bar.     

Policy Kings- Imperial Stout: Missed this one. Look for flavors and aromas of dried fruit, coffee, and dark chocolate in this new offering from the Cedar City brewery. ABV N/A. Only available at the brewery.

Policy Kings - Juiced Up: Missed this one.This a citrus forward pale ale featuring notes of grapfruit. ABV N/A. Only available at the brewery.

Roosters - Untamed Juicy IPA: This new IPA is very cirtus forward along with big tropical notes. It only has about 20 IBUs, so the bitterness is pretty low. This just went on sale and shout be at all Roosters locations soon (if it isn't already) 7.0%

Squatters - Strawberry Kolsch: This new 5% version has in-house made strawberry puree. It punches up the fruitiness, but not in an obnoxious way. It's clean, fruity and highly drinkable. Very nice. Available at Squatters Downtown.

RoHa - Barrel Aged Porter: This is RoHa's project porter aged on oak. Look for vanilla undertones with robust malts and a slight bourbon aroma. 5.0% - This is very limited and only available at RoHa.

Kiitos - Oatmeal Stout: This is a straight-up oatmeal stout. Lots of cocoa and chocolate notes here with a slight bit of coffee. It's silky smooth and perfect for a rainy day. 5.0% - On Draft now at Kiitos.

Deschutes - Planéte Rouge:This is a somewhat vinegary take on the oud bruin style. Notes of dark malts, cherry and apple. The 10.2% ABV is a bit overwhelming; combine that with the acidic vinegar and you get an overly aggressive sour that's just average. Available at Slackwater Sandy and select DABC stores.


Returning 

Shades - Kveik Thai Tom Kah: Shades' 2019 gold medal winning herb and spice beer is back in limited release. The coconut is strong enough to be noticed, Ginger is pretty subtle and the lemon grass gets a little lost. All n’ all it’s damn delish. 6.5% At Shades.

Salúd!