Utah Brewery Map

Friday, February 26, 2021

New Beer Friday 2/26/21

Take a peek at this week's New Beer Friday selection. This is why I love craft beer; the wide array of flavors available along the Wasatch Front are guaranteed to satisfy any beer nerd palate.

Uinta - Caravan IIPA: This is a new Imperial IPA that has a mostly clear appearance with a nose full of berries and citrus. Flavor-wise this os full of berries and citrus. It's quite juicy and full of varied citrus fruit flavors. It comes off as a low bitterness IPA at first, but wait 10 seconds and you'll get a nice lingering bitter smack. 8.5% - Available at Uinta starting today.


Level Crossing - Eternal Pursuit: This is a Belgian style Dark Strong Ale.  Poured a darkish brown color with some red and purple highlights. The aroma is composed of dark fruits, candy sugar, chocolate, peppered cloves. The palate starts with candy covered dark fruits. Some chocolate and a little bit of spiciness comes out and some does a bubble gum like note with more chocolate. The finish is a bit sweet, plenty of heat but not overly sweet and tends to dry out a bit. 8.8% - Also on sale starting today.


SaltFire - Serafina: Offered in a clear bottle too showcase the beer's dark plum-like appearance. The nose is vinious with some balsamic vinegar notes. The taste follows with a light balsamic twang. Syrah grapes are prominent but there are also some vague dark fruits as well. There's some pepperiness as well towards the finish. This beer/wine hybrid underwent spontaneous fermentation, so it has a bit of that old-world funk factor. It's defiantly a unique beer for our market that has rarely (if ever) been done. 8.0% - Available now at Saltfire.  


Toasted Barrel - Blue Butterfly: This beer is brilliantly blue due to the addition of Butterfly Pea Flowers. Look for flavors that are a bit like green tea with subtle flavors of dried lemongrass. Some citrus as well. 5.0% - Only at Toasted Barrel.


Shades - Raspberry Cheesecake: This has a nice raspberry aroma with slight sweet cream cheese notes. I spent a lot of time searching for the cream cheese part of this beer, which was difficult to find. Then I realized I was ignoring some really nice flavors. There is lactose in here but it comes off slightly different than Shades' other "pie" beers. The cream cheese element, though not immediately identifiable really makes a tasty raspberry beer. 6.5% - At Shades. Not vegan friendly


2Row - ????:  As of this writing, no name has been given to this new NEIPA from 2 Row. It has deep golden peach color with notes of citrus and passion fruit and tropical happiness. Damn, this is one of the better 'hazys' I’ve had in awhile. Sweet citrus and tropical fruit shine upfront. Passion fruit, pineapple, tangerine pop in next. It's all quite balanced and delicious. A bit of resinous pine rounds out the back end. Keep an eye on 2 Row's social media the name of this new beer. It should be out later today.


Bewilder - Barley Joe Stout: The aroma has a slightly espresso-like, dark chocolate smell. The taste was mainly dry and roasty with a nice dry roasted cocoa flavor. the same aftertaste and finish. Light body with high drinkability. Overall, this was a pretty good Irish Dry Stout that I would have again. 5.0% - Only at Bewilder.


Talisman - Czechmate: This one gets the award this week for best name. Missed this one. It's an amber lager with that classic toasted cracker graininess balanced with herbal and floral Euro hops. 5.0% - Only at Talisman.


Squatters - Smooth Operator: This is an Imperial Cream Ale made with cocoa & cherry. This has a pale amber color with an unfiltered clarity. There's a light aroma of cocoa nibs are present in the nose along with hints of cherry. The taste follows the smell, but has stronger notes of cherry and nuttiness with hints of vanilla cocoa, the latter of which becomes a bit stronger as the beer begins to warm up. It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate with some smoothness from the cocoa nibs. This beer is a nice change from the typical chocolate/cherry stout and seems to hit all the right notes. 8.0% - A very limited, small batch series that only available at Squatters downtown.  


Epic - Super Epic Lager: Aromas of bread and grass clippings are evident, along with a subtler hint of lemon. This beer packs a lot of flavor - nice acidic notes balance out the noble hops and bread yeast. The taste lingers impressively after taking a sip. It’s a light feeling beer, maybe a touch thin, but at under 4.8%, how could it not be? A really nice lager, flavorful and easy drinking.


Here are this week's Small Batch beers, available only at Hopkins Brewing.



Cheers!

Friday, February 19, 2021

New Beer Friday 2/19/21

Apologies to everyone for last week's lack of content. It was a good beer week that really needed to be looked at properly, I just couldn't do it. This week is lighter, but not lacking in flavor that's for damn sure.

Hopkins - Solstice Lager: Brewed with locally grown and malted Solstice Malt pilsner, wheat, and flaked oats. Then dry-hopped with Pink Boots Hop Blend (Loral, Glacier, Mosaic, Simcoe, Sabro). Hazy, hoppy and soft on the palette with a glorious tropical bouquet. 5.0% - Only at Hopkins

Salt Flats - Luau Rider: This is Salt Flats Low Rider milk stout with toasted coconut added. You can tell that coconut is toasted right off the bat. It tastes fresh, not artificial. The base beer is sweet with lactose and the whole thing has a pastry stout feel. 7.5% - Available now at Salt Flats and the Garage Grill in Draper. 

Bewilder - Dos Hazy Boi: This DNEIPA Pours with slight haze and is orange in color. On the nose I get orange, grapefruit pith, passionfruit flowers, honey and pine. On the palate a creamy orange, tangy, sweet and salty rounded malt hits first followed by a dry hoppy center. A tingly grapefruit, honey, floral and honey rides with it and adds a tang to the sides an tip of the tongue. Hops are more citrus pith and the malt holds it all together for a well balanced beer. 8.0% - Available today starting at noon. 

Kiitos - Light Lager: The beer pours a brilliantly clear pale yellow color with a thin white head that fades to spotty lacing. The aroma is decent. It has a sweet pale malt scent that quite close in style to a German bavarian lager. There is little in hop aroma. Taste is pleasant and refreshing with some fruit and honey notes found. As light lagers go this is much better than most. It has a refreshing taste and would be great to drink several of on a hot summer afternoon. 5.0% - Only at Kiitos.

What did I miss? I know there's something else out there.

Cheers!


Friday, February 12, 2021

New Beer Friday 2/12/21


I apologize for this half-assed New Beer Friday, but I'm under the weather and unable to deliver the goods to you in a proper way. Here's what I was able to track down.

TF Brewing - Haze Series (Batch 2): This is a single hop NEIPA featuring one of my favorite hops, Mosaic.

 TF Brewing - Kiss From a Gose: This German wheat sour wa made with coriander and sea salt and was co-fermented with Sangiovese grapes and Rose Hips

Talisman/UTOG - German Kiss: This collaboration Kolsch was brewed with cocoa nibs raspberries.

Kiitos - Peanut Butter Stout:

Red Rock - Baked Pastry Stout: 

RoHa - Transom: 

Uinta - Mango Golden Spike:

Hopkins - Aroma Therapy: This double dry hopped Blonde was made with Cascade and Citra 

Toasted Barrel - Carrot Cake: 

Fisher - Shooting Star Pale Ale:

Strap Tank - Giza Pils: 5.0% - Lehi location only.

Mountain West Hard Cider - For the Love of Cider: A chocolate and cherry infused cider.

Melvin - Sour Soul Vol 2:

*Ghostfish - Kick Step IPA:

Cascade - Gose Roselle:

Bavik - Super Pils:

Cheers?

Friday, February 05, 2021

New Beer Friday 02/05/21


Whoa! If you don't find something that you like this week your probably done with craft beer. This week's locals are all about the adjuncts (except for Wasatch's). Which tongue bending beer will you choose? Better try them all, just to be safe. 

RoHa - Pink Hibiscus IPA: It has a nice dark violet color with a floral nose. Flavor-wise it's not a hibiscus bomb. The flavors are pretty subtle with a mostly botanical feel. Some minor citrus from the hops. 5.0% - Only at RoHa.

Kiitos - Salt N' Pickle: I missed this one. This is a limited batch. 5.0% - Only at Kiitos.

TF - Imperial Schwartzbier: Made with red plum and black cherries this big-ass Schwartz is fruity with plum flavors and cocoa up front and nutty cherry rounding out he back end. The finish a slightly tart. 9.2% - Goes on sale today at TF Brewing.

Grid City - Double Dark Cherry Truffle: This brown ale is loaded with cocoa and cherry. It's meant to mimic a chocolate truffle that is provided with the beer. There's tons of cherry in the beer before having the truffle – after, the heavy sweetness from the truffle mutes those flavors quite a bit. The nitrogen makes in silky smooth. 5.0% - Only at Grid City.   

Toasted Barrel - Pink Dragon: This is a limited batch saison that features dragon fruit and watermelon. Sadly, I missed this one. 5.0% - Only at Toasted Barrel.

Strap Tank/Squatters - Lug Nut: Missed this collaboration as well. You can find it at both Strap Tank locations and UBC's West Side Tavern Squatters downtown. 5.0%

Wasatch - [Kickback Series] New England Double IPA: Sweet mango and some lime in the nose, like a sweet spiked tropical punch. The feel is creamy and glides down easy...top notch. A bit dryer than expected on the palate, I also get some peach and nectarine, with a dryer pithy finish. A solid interpretation on the style. Excellent stuff. 

Level Crossing - Backwoods Brown: This is a classic English style brown ale that features a good amount of toffee with complimenting toast. Finishes semi-dry with a hint of nuttiness. Good stuff. 5.0% - Only at Level Crossing.

Melvin - 2 x Thor: This is a new offering from Melvin. 2x Thor is basically their classic 2x4 DIPA with the addition of Kveik yeast instead of their standard yeast. The result is a cloyingly sweet DIPA that has plenty of hop presence but not a lot of balance and depth. 9.9% Found at Beehive and Angry Goat.

Ale Asylum/Brew Pipeline/Motörhead - Road Crew: This is an American pale ale packed full of hoppy citrus aromas delivering a crisp, refreshing, superior taste to celebrate the spirit of the song and those who inspired it. As COVID-19 puts concerts on pause, we want to extend a helping hand to the touring and venue crews who depend on shows to make a living. Live Nation has committed $10 million to Crew Nation – contributing an initial $5 million to the fund, then matching the next $5 million given by artists, fans and employees dollar for dollar. Found at Slackwater (Sandy).

Cheers!