New Beer Friday 8/21/20

 It's another locals only New Beer Friday. Surprisingly, there's only one hop forward beer this week. That's refreshing. Check out this nicely rounded selection. 

UTOG - Huckleberry Sour: Smells great. Some lemon, lots of huckleberry, some yogurt. Flavor is huckleberry, medium tartness, some lemongrass grass and bicarb. Light bodied with medium carb and a slightly wet finish. Pretty decent. Available at UTOG. 5.0%

Toasted Barrel - Bier de Garde: Aroma immediately hits you with whiskey, wood, red currant, toffee and biscuit. Taste is exactly as the smell would indicate, with a hint of brett, and a smooth sour and vinegar like pucker on the finish. 7.0% - Available at Toasted Barrel.

Strap Tank - Kismet: Missed this raspberry and plum smoothie. Sounds tasty though. 4.4% Available at Strap Tank (Springville). Not vegan friendly. 

Fisher - Peach Plum Sour: Plum and peach in the nose with a hint of aspirin. Medium bodied with a crisp mouthfeel. Ripe plums and a peach undertone on the palate. Finishes dry, lightly tart, and with plenty of fruit.

Red Rock - Black is Beautiful: Organized by Weathered Souls Brewing Co, Black Is Beautiful is a collaborative effort among the brewing community and its supporters who believe in bringing awareness to the injustices that many people of color face. Red Rock is donating a portion of profits to the Utah YMCA and the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center. Roasted flavors with milk chocolate and some sweet blueberry character up front. A bigger finish of milk chocolate, roasted flavors, licorice, tobacco, as well as some light sourness from the blueberries. A bold and lingering finish with roasted chocolate, tobacco, some hop bitterness and some hints of sweet-sour blueberries as well. 7.0%

Avenues Proper - Transform and Roll Out: This hazy pale ale has low bitterness with with a bigger than normal yeast profile. It's not estery at all but it's noticeable. Hops are tropical and slightly herbal. The malt comes across with pleasant and muted powdered sugar sweetness. 5.0% Only at Avenues Proper.

Mountain West Cider - Colada Be Kidding Me: This new cider mimics the classic pina colada – and it does so brilliantly. The pineapple and coconut never get out of hand and manage to keep the apple base in check. It tough to identify when the pineapple starts and the apple ends. The coconut is subtle and pleasant. Very tasty. This doesn't go on sale Monday Aug 24th. Only at  Mountain West's Cidery.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 5/1/20

There will be a lot of releases in the coming days, so plan your brewery trips well this weekend. Happy New Beer Friday.

Shades - Cherry Pistachio Golden Sour: There's some sour stone fruit aromas with a good dose of nuttiness. That taste follows with tart pie cherries taking hold immediately, and just as fast as those  came in the pistachio enters. The nuttiness is medium and they play off the perceived nuttiness you can get from some cherries. Quite different and nice. 5.7% - available at Shades.

Fisher - Pink Boots Pale Ale: Aroma is a mix of grapefruit, orange, tropical, and citrus hops with some sweet caramel and biscuit malts. Taste starts off with a mix of grapefruit, tropical, and citrus hops with some bitterness and some sweet caramel malts. Through the middle, some light floral hops come through with a bit more bitterness and some biscuit malts. The finish is a mix of grapefruit and citrus hops with a hint of pine, some mild bitterness, and some sweet bready malts. 5.0% - Available at Fisher to-go in crowlers.

RoHa - High on the Hop Lazy IPA: The aroma is of tropical hops with notes of mango and papaya. I'm tasting more along the realm of piney to tropical hops and light malt and it's very well balanced, at that. The light malt is at the forefront and the tropical to piney hops appear at the back of the palate. The mouth is smooth and delicate. 5.0% - Available Saturday at Noon. Only at RoHa Brewing Project.

Talisman - Aerith: This sour ale is infused with mango and hibiscus and is a very limited release. This goes on sale today at noon. 5.0% - only at Talisman. 

Saltfire - A Series of Singularities Lemon Drop: Made with Lemon Drop hops, this hits today at 11am. 6.9% ABV. Only at Saltfire.

Toasted Barrel - Coffee Brown Ale: Some nutty coffee aromas. The taste is somewhat cola like with some sugary sweetness and percolated coffee. Some vanilla towards the end with a slightly tart finish. 5.0% - Available now at toasted barrel.

Toasted Barrel - Cranberry Cherry Sour: This was aged in red wine barrels. I have no real info on this one, but it is set to be released Saturday. I'll hopefully have more info by then.

Red Rock - Nuevo Leon: This is their Lime Gose aged in Tequila Barrels. This will be a limited release and will go on sale May 5th for Cinco de Mayo. I'll have notes on this before then for sure.

Upslope Experimental IPA: Made with orange blossom honey. Missed this one but it's popping up at select DABC stores. I know the Avenues liquor store has some. 6.5% 

Salude!

New Beer Friday the 13th - 3/13/20

No hoarding of the New Beer Friday! There's plenty to go around. If you choose to go out into the scary world on this Friday the 13th you'll be met with shloads of great beer. Not an unlucky day at all!

Red Rock - Don't Murder Me: Aroma is mostly roasted malts, with notes of toast, coffee, and slight hint of smoke. Taste is more roasted malts, creamy milk chocolate, mild coffee, and cocoa. 6.7% Available

Bewilder - Irish Stout: Aromas of mocha and coffee, with coffee bean and some chocolate milk.
Flavor is strong with coffee notes...smoked, dark roast coffee and a nuttiness. The finish is smokey with tastes of roasted coffee. Some lingering char as well. 5.0% - Available at Bewilder.

Shades - Imperial Lager: Quite fragrant for a lager. Strong malt/grain smell. A bit of orange peel, grass and pear. The taste showcases a sharp bitterness from the hops. The pilsner malt is evident in a larger, strong quantity too. It's like a triple czech pils. Lots of flavor. 8.0% - Available at Shades.

RoHa - Zoltar: This pale ale features the Zythos hop blend. It has a big caramel base with citrus, and spicy pine bitterness. Slightly herbal in the finish. 5.0% Available at RoHa. 

T.F. Brewing - Corduroy:  Looks like Sunny Delight! The aroma is extremely pungent, with pineapple, mango, guava, grapefruit. You can catch a whiff from the glass from a few feet away. Taste is very juice forward - grapefruit, orange, pineapple, perhaps others, with the addition of a light grassiness before fading into a sweet juicy mild pith bitterness. Mouthfeel is smooth and fairly full with a light tingling from carbonation. Very Nice. 7.7% - Available Saturday 3/14 only at T.F. Brewing. (not vegan friendly)

Squatters - Rye Of The Tiger: This hazy IPA was made with Mosaic, Simcoe and of course some rye. Light in color, super cloudy and fruity AF. 5.0% - At Squatters Brewpub SLC. 

Heber Valley - Electric Avenue: I missed this new Double IPA. It's hopped with Mosaic, Citra and Centenial. 8.0% - Avaiable at Heber Valley.

Pipe Works - Blood of the Uincorn: Really fresh and aromatic. It opens with a surprisingly prominent malt body. Hints of citrus, grapefruit rind, cane sugar and grass. Big hop bite towards the end accents a brew that's mostly got great balance between citrus and resin. Real drinkable too. 6.5% - Found at Slackwater (Ogden)

Pipe Works - Select Schwartzbier: Missed this one. 6.3% - Found at Slackwater (Ogden)

Pipe Works Donut Soup:  This is an imperial stout. Lactose and vanilla are very evident on the nose, with periodic hits of coconut and coffee as it warms. Taste leans more on the lactose, coconut, vanilla, and coffee, with some supporting cocoa and bready malt, but again really sweet, cloying on some sips.   10.5%  - Found at Slackwater - Ogden (not vegan friendly)

Pipe Works - Infinite Citra: Huge Citra aroma of tropical fruit and citrus. The taste has a burst of tropical fruit with notes of pineapple, passion fruit, orange, and grapefruit. Some biscuity malts as well. 7.3% - Found at Slackwater (Ogden)

HaandBryggeriet - A Dashing Rogue: This is described as a nordic oud bruin sour macerated with raspberries and cherries. 6.8% - Found at the Bayou.

La Sirène Brewing - Paradoxe: This is described as having a classic grape characters and juicy yet tangy green fruits that dominate with the bracing acidity that delivers a dry, creamy and refreshing finish. 5.0% - Found at the Bayou

The following are part of Hopkins Brewing's Small Batch Series 

 #TRENDY: This New England style pale features a fruity blend of late
addition hops. Hearty hop aroma without heavy bitterness, and
topped with Kveik yeast, you could say it's as trendy as it gets.

BRUNCH ALE: Brewed with lactose, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and
maple. This blonde ale is inspired by french toast. (not vegan friendly)

MOSAIC HEFE: The German weiss style features mosaic hops.

GALENA PALE: This SMASH pale showcases both Solstice 2-row grain, as well
as Galena hops.

IRISH SODA BREAD: *may contain traces of nuts* This dry pale ale is brewed with
salt and raisins. Inspired by a St. Patrick's Day staple.

IRISH RED: This Irish Red is exactly that, lots of malt character with a touch
of hop bitterness.

IRISH COFFEE STOUT: Brewed with coffee and Irish whiskey, this robust stout is
inspired by the Irish Coffee cocktail.

CARBOMB STOUT: Brewed with lactose, cacao nibs, coffee, vanilla, and Irish
whiskey. This stout is inspired by the Irish Carbomb shot. (not vegan friendly)

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 

New Beer Friday 1/24/20

There's a nice round selection of styles this week. There may not be a lot, but the flavor factor here, more than makes up for it.

Red Rock - Juicy Pale Ale: Juicy hop aromas dominate this hazy pale ale. Oats and barley are used to create a big silky body that can hold up the round juicy, berry-citrus, white-pine hop profile. definitely more hop fruitiness than bitterness happening here. 5.0% - Available at Red Rock location and at Harmons.

Toasted Barrel - Barrel Aged Sour with Grapes: This beer was aged for 18 month in French oak. The beer/wine hybrid definitely has a vinous quality with doses of balsamic vinegar from the funkified barrel. 7.5% - Available at Toasted Barrel.

Toasted Barrel - Cranberry Sour: This lactobacillus sour has a moderate amount of sweet and sour going on. The tartness from the cranberry, really fights for your affections as it dukes-it-out for dominance over the base beer's sourness. 5.0% - Available at Toasted Barrel    

Shades - Kveik Cherry Pie: The newest incarnation of Shades' Kveik Series features cherries, vanilla, cinnamon, graham cracker and lactose for sweetness. Look for tart pie cherries with that signature graham cracker crust toastiness. It tastes like a desert beer but drinks like an everyday ale. Non-vegan friendly. 6.3% - Available at Shades and your better beer pubs.

UTOG - Red Eye: This new imperial red ale is bright with fruity malts that take you into berry territory. the hops a a bit of citrus, but it's pine that drives the majority of the hop profile and bitterness. 8.3% - Available at UTOG.

Bewilder - Fresh Sesh IPA: The new IPA from Bewilder is hopped with Warrior, Citra and  Mosaic Hops. I havn't tried this one yet as it will be tapped later this afternoon. If you want to try this, call first to find out if it's on or not. 5.0% - Available at Bewilder. 

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 10/25/19

No need to hide Pierre, this week's beers are absolutely "Delcto".

TF Brewing - Jellyfish: This Hazy IPA features 3 different dry hops of Mosaic, Citra and Amarillo. All were added post boil, kepping the bitterness low and and the fruitiness high. Look for big tropical fruitiness with a huge explosive aroma. However when it warms that triple hop does begin to shows itself. 7.7% - Available at TF Brewing Saturday at Noon. 

Red Rock - Buffalo Point: There's another new hazy IPA out there for you weekend enjoyment. Red Rock first hazy starts with orange peel, tropical citrus and some dripping pine resins. Fresh peach sweetness, pineapple and some cantaloupe brings that tropical and berry-like fruitiness. Light bitterness of wet orange peels finishes it out. It's lighter ABV adds to the enjoyment. 6.2% - Available at Red Rock locations starting today at 11am.

SaltFire - Punk as F*ck: This beast of a Triple IPA is a collaboration beer brewed with SLC staple Raunch Records. One aspect of the brew that the Raunch crew wanted to showcase is the blood red color of this IPA; That on top of the huge ABV and the massive amount of hops that went into it. Punk as Fuck? could aldo be called "dank as fuck"! There’s also some berry notes and “herb” flavors as well. Finishes dry & bitter. 11.5% - Available at Saltfire.

SaltFire - Wet Hop Lupulin Dew-Idaho 7: This is the second version of Lupulin Dew - Saltfire's wet hop series. This version features over 70 lbs. of fresh and green Idaho 7 hops. The malt profile is a little subtle, it's missing some of the maltiness that you’d expect from a pale ale. The hop profile starts with a good dose of citrus peel adds in some berry notes and finishes with grassy/herbal bitters. It kinda takes this into IPA territory. 5.6% - Available starting today at Saltfire. 

Salt Flats - Lowrider:  This chocolate milk stout is brewed with cocoa nibs that combined with the  robust roasted malts creates a flavor that rich and dessert like with a velvety chocolate milk finish. 

 7.5% - Available at Salt Flats and the Garage Grill.

Salt Flats -  Tankslapper: This Double Rye Pale Ale features spicy rye caramel base with a great hop character that features notes citrus and stone fruit. Finishes with a medium amount of piney bitterness. 9.0% - Available at Salt Flats and the Garage Grill.

Salt Flats - Landspeed:  I missed this one. This is a Belgian style Witbier that is made with orange peel and Coriander. 5.5%  - Available at Salt Flats and the Garage Grill.

Toasted Barrel - Grodziskie: This is a polish style smoked wheat ale. I missed this one, but I'm geeked to try it as only a few local brewers have attempted to make this obscure beer style. Available at Toasted Barrel today.  

UTOG - Synergy Coffee Lager: Missed this one. Brewed with coffee from Wasatch Roasting Company. It's a lager which retains its color and relative clarity. These are kind of a mind fuk because of the intense coffee flavors coming from such a light beverage. 4.0% - Available at UTOG

Indeed Brewing - Lavender Sunflower and Honey Dates: New to our market - Very little bitterness with lavender and prominent honey flavors. Some dark fruits notes as well coming from the dates. An itersteding beer but the lack of bitterness brings the drinkabilty down a bit.7.2% Found at the Bayou.

Cheers!

New Brews Soon For You: Wasatch, UTOG, TF Brewing, and Red Rock

We haven't done a New Brews Soon for You feature in quite a while, and in that time a lot has come to pass; yet more seems to be steadily coming. This preview of beer seems to have a theme. See if you can figure it out.
 

Wasatch - Oktoberfest: This is another new beer that will be coming from Wasatch's Kick Back Series. These beers are all produced up in Park City at Wasatch's Original brewery. Oktoberfest lagers are mostly known to be Marzens - a generally malty beer with big caramel and vanilla undertones. The packaging on this doesn't state the the style so, we'll have to wait until I can ask Head Brewer, Nils (with out waking him up at 4am).

UTOG - Top Shelf: Now We Get into the IPA Portion of NBS4U. If you're not a fan of IPAs then this portion of the blog will bore you. Top Shelf looks to be a session IPA that is currently set to be 4.0% ABV. I'm guessing by the time it hits, it will likely be making the transition to 5.0% or at least close to that. This IPA will be packaged in 16 ounce cans.

TF - Jellyfish: When the Templin Family Brewing Co., debuted they're first Juicy IPA, called Squirrel a couple of months ago It was a huge hit; selling out in just over five hours. If Squirrel's popularity is any indication, TF's new Jellyfish "Hazy" should treat local beer nerds just fine. What is the difference between a Hazy and a Juicy IPA? Who the Hell knows! I'm guessing the Juicy IPAs are known for low/medium bitterness with a quality of hop derived juicy fruitiness. The Hazy IPAs are obviously dense and hazy in appearance with similar fruit-like profiles. So basically, Juicy IPAs don't necessarily have to be murky or turbid. Jellyfish with be in 16 ounce cans at dial in at 7.7% ABV.    

Red Rock Buffalo Point: (pictured above) If Hazy and Juicy IPAs are basically the same thing, then where the hell does the New England IPA thing fit in? Well, they all fall under the same umbrella of the NEIPA. People who don't nerd out on beers like we do are more likely to gravitate to descriptors like "hazy" and "juicy", versus "New England Style". Anyway, if the popularity of Red Rock's Elephino is any indication of  how their new Buffalo Point New England India Style Pale Ale will be received by beer lovers, it's destined for great things. Plus it has that NEIPA beer code that we nerds love to geek on. Look for it in 500 milliliter bottles and it will come in at  6.2%.

Stay close for more NBS4U in the coming days. And remember, these are previews, none of these beers are for sale as of yet. We'll fill you in when they hit.

Cheers!

All images found at Shipcompliant.com

New Brews Soon For You: Saltfire, Wasatch, Kiitos, Red Rock

We haven't had a New Brews Soon for You in a while, This edition has a pretty interesting lot of beers that soon will be on our beer horizons, sooner than later (we hope).

Pictured above is Saltfire's Mobius Trip. This is a golden ale that is currently relaxing in Chardonnay barrels in the South salt Lake brewery's beer spa. Local cherries were also added to add extra depth to what appears to be Salfire's first barrel aged sour. Damn! my mouth is watering just talking about it. That artwork is badass as well, I need that on a t-shirt. This beer will finish at a respectable 8.0%. Stay Tuned.

Second on our beer preview is Red Rock's Otto. This will be an American style Imperial Pilsner. It will dial in at 7.0% and feature a hop profile that will scream 'American Hops'. Look for a sweet malt character with tropical fruits and citrus in stead of the traditional grassy and herbal hop profile. Look for it down the road in Red Rock's 500 ml. bottles. Sounds tasty!

Wasatch is looking to fill the hoppy void creating an IPA that sits
between the West Coast style, New England style and the Session Style. I imagine that Treeline is the beer that Wasatch hopes will bring together all of the IPA factions into one shining 12 ounce can. My previous experiences with Wasatch's latest IPAs tell me that this will be a complex IPA for sure and I'm definitely on board with the lower 6.0% ABV.  Yes!

Finally on our preview tour is a farewell beer from Kiitos, dedicated to Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando. This is Rimando's final season in the MLS and Kiitos is sending him into his farewell season with this special Rimondo's pale ale. This will be a 5.0% beer and it will be packaged in Kiitos' 500 ml. cans. As Real's season is already underway, I imagine that it won't be too long before we start seeing this pale ale on the shelves at Kiitos. Rimndo previously made a witbier with Epic Brewing a few years back, I guess Rimando and craft beer is a timeless combination.

Remember these are previews of what's coming to Utah's beer market and are not on sale yet. When they are, we'll get you the info you'll need. Stay close for more new brews that will be coming soon for you.

Cheers!

Images found at shipcomplient.com

New Brews Soon For You Bohemian, Red Rock, T.F. Brewing and Uinta

On a dreary Monday morning, I thought a little sunshine in the form of new brews, coming soon for you would be a simple way to cut through this soggy weather spell spell that we've had to endure. All of these beers are NOT out yet, but are are their respective schedules for release in the coming weeks or months.

Red Rock - Biere De Mars: [Pictures Above] Literally meaning “March Beer”, This French/Belgian ale is a type of low-alcohol lambic beer that was made from the second and/or third runnings from the lauter tun during the production of lambic beer. This beer looks to be less tart and more malt driven. ThisSpringtime ale will hopefully be coming our way soon. Hell, were halfway through April already. Look for this in Red Rock's 16 ounce bottles.

T.F. Brewing - Squirrel Juicy IPA: This high point IPA will follow the the New England IPA style by being high in tropical fruitiness and low on bitterness. In will hit in 16 ounce cans and dial in alcohol wise at 6.5%. This should be a big hit for those who aren't exactly big on traditional IPAs.

Level Crossing Soul Rex: This Double IPA will likely be around, sooner than later. Look for an IPA

driven by hops that lean towards tropical fruits, melon and citrus. This one will also hit in 16 ounce cans and have a respectable 8.6% alcohol content. So far Level Crossing has just offered up low point beers to get themselves established. This will likely be one of the first of many high points to make you swoon.

Uinta - Tu Meke Tart: This new beer part of Uinta's "Limited Release Series" will a variety of (as of yet undisclosed) New Zealand hops. The base beer will be a kettle sour, so look for a nice lemony tartness with a fair amount dry-hopping. I'd guess it will be close to a sour IPA. This beer will pop up at 6.5% and will be in uinta's 12 ounce cans.

Keep checking back, when these are official the where and when will show up here as soon as I get the word. Any thoughts on these new beers?

Prost!

Images found at Shipcomplient.com and appear courtesy of Red Rock, T.F., Level Crossing and Uinta Brewing.

New Brews Soon For You! - 2 Row, Red Rock, Talisman, Uinta

This week's 'New Brews Soon for You' is more of a mixed bag than we've had in previous posts. Today we have previews 2 Row, Red Rock, Talisman and Uinta. Even though the government shutdown is temporarily over; the backlog of labels to be approved is likely a mile high, so there's no telling when we'll see these new beers. Rest assured we'll tell you all about them when they officially arrive. 

We'll start with the Red Rock's 'Peaches and Steam' that's pictured above. This beer is a California
Common at it's base with the addition of peach. Steam beers are typically toasty with mild malt fruitiness along with an herbal hop bitterness. I'm curious to see how the stone fruit addition will play

with American hybrid beer. This will be a 4.0% beer.

2 Row Brewing is barrel aging a new beer called Divine Lunacy. The name alone leads you to believe that this beer will be beast of a beer. 2 row already hold the state record for the highest ABV beer, coming in 15.1%. Divine Lunacy may not come in that big, but it does give you an idea of what owner/head brewer, Brian Coleman is capable of. This a Belgian style Quadruple Ale at it's base; They're rich and malty with subtle spicy yeast are definitely on the boozier side of the spectrum. This should be fun!

Talisman Brewing Co. has a new label for all of those higher ABV 'One Off' beers that may be coming from the Ogden brewery. This is a smart label; it gives you the liberty of having a variety without all of the federal B.S. that comes with the whole labels approval process. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what style of "one off" beer will be behind this label.


Finally Uinta Brewing will finally be putting out their take on the New England Style IPA. Uinta's Test Phaze IPA will feature a hop so new that it doesn't even have an official name yet. Simply
known as  'HCB-692, this hop exhibits grapefruit, floral, stone fruit, potpourri, woody, cream, pine, and resinous notes that apparently work well with many beer styles. This particular NEIPA will dial in at 6.5% and will be packaged in 12 ounce cans. This one has been in development for a while, this should make the droves of hazy IPA fans giddy.

Again, these are just previews of what's to come in Utah. There's no guarantee that these beers will make it to market as presented here, or at all.

Cheers!   

Images found at shipcomplient.com

New Beer Friday 9/28/18

Apparently today is National Drink a Beer Day. This being the case, I've found a nice round selection of local regional beers to help you accomplish this sacred national obligation.

It's also worth mentioning that Utah has two new breweries that have gone online and are now fermenting beer. Policy Kings Brewing located in Cedar City started brewing last week and will hopefully be selling their suds to our brothers and sisters in Southern Utah in the coming weeks. The Templin Family (TF) Brewery went online yesterday and hopes to be serving beer at their Granary neighborhood spot by the end of October. Congrats to Utah's newest beverage playgrounds!

Fisher Purple Power Sour: Black Currents were added to this new brew. They give it a deep purple color that is tinged towards the red. The taste is lemony tart as you'd expect, with a good amount of berry fruitiness. One of their better sours for sure. 4.0%. Only at Fisher

Fisher Best Fresh Citra Pale: The name says it all - whick means this probably won't be around very long. There's a good amount of citra hops in here, which gives it that nice tangerine zing. The malts are equally pronounced giving it an all around balance. Tasty! 4.0%. Only at Fisher 

Kiitos Barrel Aged Barley Wine: This new 13.0% Barley Wine is being released tomorrow to celebrate Kiitos' one year anniversary. Look for big toffee, tobacco and dark fruits combined with bourbon and oaky vanilla. Boom!

Kiitos Fruit Milkshake: A bright red fruit blast, mostly raspberries with some blueberries and plums as well. Kiitos used over 1.5 pounds of fruit per gallon of beer and it tastes like a smoothie. Available in cans and on draft. 4.0% Available 9/29

Kiitos Marzen: is an amber lager and is their take on an Oktoberfest style beer. The beer is malt forward and very crisp. Available on draft only. 4.0% Available 9/29

Kiitos Session Brut IPA: is very light and dry with high carbonation allowing the citrus hop flavors to shine with no bitterness. Available in cans and on draft. 4.0% Available 9/29

Red Rock Fallen: This non traditional Dunkle is dark brown in color with aromas of dark malts, some cacao notes, banana and a touch of resiny hops. Taste has a somewhat spicy quality due to the ginger. The malts are semi-sweet and bready with cacao, banana, clove and lemon. It finishes with some citrusy hops. Medium/light body and carbonation. A nice twist on the Dunkle style, I think you'll like it. 4.0%. This should be hitting Harmon's Grocery stores anytime. 

Zion Pecan Nut Brown: A medium amount of sweet malts combined with toasted grain and pecans make this brown ale the perfect autumn companion. I fell in love with beer on the first sip. Very  satisfying and appropriatly complex for it's 4.0% ABV. Available At Zion Canyon's Brewpub and at Beer Bar for a limited time.

Wasatch Clothing Hoptional: While this beer isn't technically new, the use of the wild Summit County hops keep it different every year; so let's call it new. The addition of local malt makes it a true local beer. This beer debuts Saturday, 29th. at Wasatch's original Park City brewery.   

Desert Edge Fresh Hop Ale. This is an unfiltered pale ale brewed with farm fresh Citra hops used within 24 hours of harvest. Using fresh undried hops bring out subtle floral qualities usually lost in the drying process. This beer has light malt character and low bitterness to let those fresh flavors of peachy, citrusy, goodness stand out. 4.0%. Available at Desert Edge.

Desert Edge CitraNali Pale Ale: This unfiltered pale ale is brewed with lots of Citra and Denali hops for a bold hoppy ale full of bright grapefruit and tropical fruit flavors. Light malty background with high bitterness and dry finish. 4.0%. Available at Desert Edge.

Deschutes Hopzeit Autumn IPA: It starts off with toasted/bready malts and light caramel. The citrus and tropical flavors from the from the hops blend nicely with malts making it very drinkable. The finish has a nice dose of spicy/herbal bitterness. 7.0%. Available at DABC and better beer pubs.

Silver Moon Mango Daze: This is a new brewery to hit our market, it quietly slipped in from Bend, Oregon. It opens orange zest and mango. Tropical and citrusy hops dominate though, creating a nice fruit salad effect. The mango adds to the hop character in a way that seems natural and purposeful.   Mid way through you get mild toast/caramel notes with a finish that is mildly dry and acidic. Nice beer. 6.0%. Available at DABC and better beer pubs.

Dogfish Head Fruitful Fort: This beastly fruit beer dials in at whopping 18%. I don't want to over describe this beer's complexities because there's a lot going on here and it's not going to be everyone's jam. Look for chewy molasses along with concord grape, blueberry and raspberry. Calling it full bodied would be an understatement. It finishes super boozy and astringent. I'd grab some of these and cellar them for a few years. A little time in the bottle will hopefully mellow this fucker out. I found this at Beer Bar.

I'll be discussing these beers and other random beer topics this afternoon with Mick and Allen on KBER101 at 3:30pm. Please tune in.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 6/15/18

You have beer in your life, but do you have new beer in your life? If not; we'll fix that today.

Red Rock Mango Berliner: This lemony tart beer offers a medium amount of lemony tartness with a fairly subtle amount of mango. It's there, but not super fruity. I liked it, super crushable. 4.0%. Available at Red Rock downtown.

Rogue Cold Brew 2.0: This blonde ale with coffee has a moderate java aroma. The taste is mostly coffee with some sweet malt, biscuit and a smidge of hazelnut. 5.6%. Available at DABC.

Four Sons Brewing - The Great One IIPA: This brewery just snuck into the market the other day from Huntington Beach, Ca. This IIPA is named after Wayne Gretzky and is described as being full bodied with  Chinook, El Dorado, Cascade, Fuggle, Nugget and Saaz hops. 9.9%. Available at DABC.

Four Sons Brewing Sour K: I've not tried this one yet. This beer is listed as being a 7.9% Wild Ale but some people are reporting that they've bought it locally in C-stores; putting it at a max 4.0%. Can anyone confirm this?

Sierra Nevada Otra Vez (Lime & Blue Agave): big lightly tart limes, lemon, citrus zest, grapefruit, orange, peach, pear, red/green apple, melon, white wine, sea salt, 4.9%

Stone Vituale IPA: Missed out on this one. It's described as having big citrus notes of tropical fruit while upping the dank, resin qualities of Citra & Mosaic. 7.7% 

Deschutes The Ages: Just came across this at 4am, so I have no tasting notes on this one. This is a one and done American Wild Ale that is described as being a Gueuze-Inspired, multi-year wild brew brimming with hints of savory, fruity esters, and spicy, tangy pear and white pepper flavors. Be warned: there may be some sticker-shock involved here. 8.0%. Available at Bayou.

Cheers!

New Brews Soon for You: Red Rock and Epic

I found some new entries for this week's New Brews Soon for You feature. In this is edition well examine  two new beers that will finding their way into your fridges in the coming months.

Fist we have Big Bad Baptist Reserve from Epic Brewing. What makes this one "Reserve"? Apparently it's because this version is a blend of the best, of all three barrels from all three 2017 Big Bad Baptist variants. It's said that crazy flavors were not the focus here, simply the smoothest blends  that Epic has to offer. This will be a pretty limited batch when it hits. Only 600 cases will be produced. Big Bad Baptist season is still a ways away; maybe this will arrive sooner because of it's reserve status. At least now you can start planning your attack strategies sooner than later.

Our other beer comes from Red Rock Brewing Company. This is their Lime Gose. If you frequent Red Rock's pubs you're probably very familiar with this beer. It's been a popuar staple on draft over the last year, now it's making it's way into bottles and Harmons' grocery stores. This is a killer warm weather beer, I imagine it will hit late April or May. 4.0% ABV

Stay close for their releases and other New Brews Soon for You beers.

Cheers!

Utah's Pink Boots Collaboration Beer

Last Thursday on International Women's Day a group of Utah ladies got together to brew a special collaboration beer. The Ladies belong to Utah's newly formed chapter of the Pink Boots Society: a group that aims to raise awareness of women working in the brewing industry. Pink Boots also brings opportunities for women interested in brewing to network with one another.

Officially the event was called International Women's Collaboration Brew Day. For this special collaboration women from local breweries including: Kiitos, Epic, Uinta, RedRock, RoHa, Wasatch/Squatters, Proper, Talisman, Roosters and the in-planning Branagan's Brewery gathered at Roosters Brewing in Ogden and brewed a 7 bbl batch of a Cascadian Dark ale using hops that YCHHops made available for the event. This special hop blend included Palisade®, Simcoe®, Mosaic®, Citra® and Loral® hops. 

When finished this beer will be served at participating and non participating breweries and brew pubs around the Wasatch Front, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Pink Boots scholarship fund. As soon as Rooster's gives me the word, I'll pass it along to you and where you can find it.   



The ladies were kind enough to share some photos with me. It looks like it was quite a party.

Cheers!

Your 2017 Great American Beer Festival Winners

It's not that I've been neglecting you, it's just that I've been on vacation and we all know how important a little time off can be. But now it's back to reality and Utah's beer microverse.

Over my vacation I spent some time in Denver at the Great American Beer Festival, where two Utah breweries managed to bring home gold medals from the competition. Winners were chosen out of 7,923 competition entries from 2,217 breweries in 50 states plus Washington, D.C. (a 15 percent and 24 percent increase respectively from the 7,301 entries and 1,783 breweries in 2016).

The competition took place in six sessions over a period of three days and was judged by 276 beer experts from 13 countries, including the U.S. In addition to commercial brewery entries, the judging panel also evaluated 118 Pro-Am entries. Red Rock and Squatters both earned gold in this; the mother of all competitions.

Red Rock's Zwickelbier: Basically Zwickles are unfiltered lagers. The Zwickel is that spigot that comes off the bright tank that brewers can sample from. Get it? This fantastic lager is full of toasty grain, just a hint of malt sweetness and a generous dose of balancing herbal and floral hop spices. Brewmaster, Kevin Templin has a knack for lagers and you can tell from this offering. At 4.0% ABV this is a textbook example of this great German style. This seasonal is on tap now at all Red Rock locations.

Squatters Hell's Keep: This beer was originally created back in 2009 by then head brewer Jennifer
Talley. It was originally designed to be a seasonal/limited release. It was such a hit that they decided to move the production over to the Utah Brewers Cooperative for wider distribution. The beer has been in good hands as you can see; UBC Head Brewer, Jon Lee and his team have managed to keep the small brewpub flavor on a much larger scale. Look for bubblegum, banana and clove with clean caramel and a balancing herbal bite. 7.7% ABV. Available year-round.

You should put your device down right now and git sum of deez!

Cheers!

Top Photo only © Brewers Association 
Pictured Above: Kevin Templin, Laren Lerch and Jon Lee  

New Beer Friday 9/1/17

Welcome to September. You can officially start drink those autumn beers with out feeling guilty. Our New Beer Friday selections today cover a wide range of flavors. Please enjoy.

New Belgium - VooDoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin: Caramel, pumpkin and cinnamon dominate the nose here. Peppers are also present. The tastes follows suit with sweet pumpkin and caramel. Cinnamon and peppers round out the end. I don't think the spices are too overpowering, it's a nice change of pace for a pumpkin ale. 6.4% ABV. @ DABC

Prost Brewing - Marzen: The nose here has nutty toffee with light grassy aromas. The flavor has toffee, nutty cake and toasty biscuit. Mild grassy/floral hops round out the end. A solid example of an Oktoberfest. 5.8% ABV. @ DABC

Shades of Pale - Slick City Citrus IPA (Nelson Savin, Mosaic): The nose has tropical aromas accentuated with pine and berries. The taste has passion fruit, papaya and dank citrus. Finishes sharply with pine and bready malts. Great IPA, should be a new regular recipe. 7.0% ABV. @ SOP, Soon to DABC

Shades of Pale - Berliner Weisse: The nose is basically sour wheat. The taste is medium to high lemon tartness. Very nice and puckering. 4.0% ABV. @ SOP

Proper Revenge Double IPA: I'm not 100% sure when this beer goes on sale. It could be today or tomorrow. I'll update you when it hits. This is on sale now @ Proper

Red Rock - Juice Almighty Session NEIPA: I haven't had this yet. My pals that have had it say it's nice, tropical and juicy. @ Red Rock

Mother Earth - Bourbon Barrel Aged Strong Scotch Ale: Big Toffee sweetness infused with medium to lite bourbon flavors. Finishes sweet and oak-y. 11% ABV @ Beerhive

What did I miss? Please share.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 7/07/2017

When the heat hits hard, people chase the beers that are on the light and crushable side of the spectrum. Thankfully, that's exactly what we have in this week's New Beer Friday - a hand full of quenchers that have arrived just in the nick of time.

Desert Edge Vienna Lager - This is a light copper colored German lager with a rich, smooth malt character. The flavor is full of bready malt with a very light, floral hop character in the end. Medium body with a dry finish. 4.0% ABV

Fisher Blondowski - This somewhat malty brew has some subdued fruitiness from the grains along with herbal and grassy bitterness. The body is light. If you're into Kolsch Biers you dig this. 4.0% ABV

Fisher Strawhoppa - This is a clean wheat ale. You'll get mostly toasted crackers and floral hops. The yeast here is mostly neutral, so the typical esters are barely present. 4.0% ABV

Red Rock West Coast Pale Ale - This American pale ale has notes of brown sugar, bready malts, lemony-pine notes and a touch of grapefruit. It's on the light side of medium-bodied, with moderate CO2. Fairly refreshing, with a reasonably hoppy kick. 4.0% ABV

Red Rock Lime Gose - The lime flavors here play well with the tart lemony base, creating a pleasant citrus smack. Some dough and sodium lingers in the back. Quite nice. 4.0% ABV

Prost!

New beer Coming from Uinta and Proper Brewing

Some tasty, locally made treats will be headed your way in the coming weeks. First, from Uinta Brewing we have their new West Coast Style IPA. I got the opportunity to sample some of this - it emulates the style perfectly. Look for this sometime mid May.

Also coming to beer glass near you, Lei Effect. Akin to Proper's Lake Effect, this Gose style ale made with ancient Utah salt and Hawaiian Passion fruit should make this tart beer sing, and hopefully get those hips moving. Stay close for the release dates on both of these.

We've made it to the finals of the Utah Beer Challenge's Low Point Competition and it looks like session IPAs reign supreme. Shades of Pale's citrus bomb, Grapefruit Revolution goes up against RedRock's West Coast inspired IPA Junior.

Voting for the finals will end Thursday Morning and the winner will be announced on Friday.

Total	Answer
53.4%	Shades of Pale Grapefruit Revolution	55 (53.4%)
46.6%	Uinta Baba Organic Black Lager	48 (46.6%)

(103 Total Votes)

Total

	Answer
40.22%	Epic Utah Session Sour IPA	37 (40.22%)
59.78%	RedRock IPA Junior	55 (59.78%)

(92 Total Votes)

Cheers!

Images found at Shipcomplient.com

Valentine's Day Sours for the Sweet!

Valentine's Day is generally reserved for the sweet. Not this year, if you're a beer geek and and really want to impress your significant other then today is all about those sour of heart. Today, we have two beer releases; and trust me, even if you don't have anyone to cause your lips to pucker today, these beers will fill the bill, nicely.

Epic's Oak and Orchard Sour - This brand new beer is a dark sour with plum is aged in whiskey barrels and blended with party of souring critters to create a fruity and puckering ale that will get your lips smacking in more ways that one. Epic has about 1000 bottle available in Utah, so there's no need to stampede the bottle shop, but if I know you guys, you're already lining up. Epic opens today at 11am.

The 2017 Rêve is also being released today at all Red Rock Brewpubs (Downtown, Fashion Place and Park City Junction). However, RedRock's Beer Store release will be delayed this year, and is currently scheduled for Saturday, February 25th at .11:00am. In case your're not familiar, Rêve is a Belgian Style Tripel aged in Oak and is inoculated with Brettanomyces and Bruxellensis yeast strains add a snappy tartness to this beer. The 2017 Rêve is available in 750ml and 500ml bottles. 10.3%ABV.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 2/3/17

My self imposed beer exile is finally over - And just in time, because there a shload of new stuff covering the board this week.

RedRock India Red Lager - Haven't tried this one yet. Look for Fruity caramel malts with big citrus hops. 4.0% ABV @ RedRock Downtown

RedRock Lady Ga Gose - Lemon tartness with a moderate amount of sodium bite. A nice Gose. 4.0% ABV @ RedRock

Ballast Point Red Velvet Nitro - Not tried this one yet. The deep red color comes from beets, which add a rich, earthy character that complements the chocolate flavor and aroma. The foamy head of the nitro pour is the “icing”, adding a creamy smoothness to the mouthfeel. But this liquid dessert still finishes like a beer – not sweet, but just as satisfying. 5.5% ABV @ Beer Bar, Slackwater

Ballast Point Manta Ray - The nose has lots of tropical fruits. Mango, papaya, passion fruit, and some citrus. The taste is more citrusy with some tropical fruit notes. Bitterness at the end with some pine. A bit boozey. Some toasted malts. 8.5% ABV @ Beer Bar

Deschutes Black Butte XXVIII - The nose is a blend of coffee, raisins, chocolate, bourbon, prune and alcohol. The taste is a complex blend of chocolate, coffee, bourbon, oak, raisins, apricots, pine and vanilla. Very nice addition to the series. 11.5% ABV  @ DABC, BeerHive

Desert Edge Waimea IPA - This is a session IPA brewed with Waimea hops from New Zealand and a bit of citra in the dry hop. The aroma is mango and citrus. The flavor is the same with underlying grassy and botanical flavors with a hint of ripe melon. The malt flavor has just enough bready malt and light caramel to balance the hops. A firm bitterness keeps all the fruity flavors in check for highly drinkable session IPA. 4.0% ABV @ Desert Edge

Melvin Lambda3 - Brewed with 4+ lbs of Simcoe and Mosaic hops per barrel, then double dry-hopped. Flavors of peach, stone fruit, and herbal forest. 11.0% ABV @ Beer Bar, BeerHive, Slackwater

Melvin Drunken Master - The nose has pine resin with peach, melon and mango. The taste is slightly sweet with mild hints of toffee/caramel, heavy tropical fruits, hernal hops finishing with a moderate hop bitterness. @ Beer Bar, BeerHive, Slackwater

Melvin Citradamus - A lot of tangerine and grapefruit happening here with a good deal of tropical fruits as well. Malts subtle and caramely  9.0% @ Beer Bar, BeerHive, Slackwater

Great Divide Barrel Aged Yeti -  The Nose has chocolate, roasted malt, toffee, raisins, plums and figs. The taste is similar with the addition of a very sweet base. It tends to take away from the barrel that is already a bit subtle. Needs more of those bourbon/vanilla/coconut flavors that you want in a BBS. 12.5% ABV @ Beer Bar

Sierra Nevada Sidecar - This beer has a pop of bright orange flavor that emphasizes the natural citrus-heavy character of Cascade, Equinox and Mandarina hops. Brewed with orange peel added directly to the kettle, and all the classic hop flavor you'd come to expect from our all-new take on the hop-forward fruit beer. @ Beer Bar 

Sierra Nevada Tropical Torpedo - Mmango, papaya, and passion fruit dominate this version of Torpedo. 6.7% ABV @ Beer Bar

Squatters Outer Darkness Cans  Not new, but it is in new packaging. Handy-dandy 12 oz. cans!

Cheers!