New Beer/Brewery Friday 1/4/19

It's a good thing when you can start off the new year with a New Beer/Brewery Friday. On the last day of 2018 Hopkins Brewing became Utah's newest brewery; debuting with seven new beers. Hopkins is an adult only brewpub and is open from 11am- midnight seven days a week. Welcome to the Utah Beer Family! 

Hopkins - Friendly Introduction Pale Ale: Nose of grapefruit, mild orange citrus, some sweet malt, and woody/floral grass. Tastes like grapefruit peel, sweet malt, some spice with floral pine and earthy grass. Light bodied, creamy with low carbonation. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing 

Hopkins - NAIPA: Aromas of biscuit, citrus fruit, and floral tickle the nostrils. The taste is much the same with biscuit, floral, citrus zest, and pine needle flavors on the finish. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing

Hopkins -  Bourbon Barrel Porter: The nose has notes of roasted malt and cocoa. Roasted malt and chocolate is present throughout the flavor profile with whiskey notes becoming more apparent after it warms. The finish is bitter with slight lingering bourbon notes. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing
 
Hopkins - Smoke Porter with Jalapeno: Aromas are driven by a refined leathery, roastiness; char, tobacco and chipotle brings clarity and roundness. The flavors follow the nose, with an added tickle from the chipotle creeping in. The smooth leatheriness from the chiles plays off the chocolate and malt of the base porter without dominating. Finishes with a rather bitter roast character. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing

Hopkins - Old Merchant Nitro Cream Ale: Very light aroam with some lemon citrus and cracker malt. Taste is more assertive but still light, like most cream ales. Earthy malt with a light citrus hoppy character that shows up in the finish. Definitely maltier than hoppy. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing.

Hopkins -Coffee Cream Ale: The smell of coffee hits you nicely; not overpowering, but not subtle either. The taste is where the subtlety of the coffee is, which is perfect as i didn't want to dominate. The La Barba coffee addition is very easy to drink; creating a nice representation of a coffee infused cream ale.

Hopkins - Winter Ale: Missed this one. This ale is made with orange peel and mulling spices, so it will definitely live up to it's name. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing 

Saltfire - Barrel Aged Baltic Porter:  Roasted brown malts and floral bitterness combines with wonderful rye whiskey to create a spicy, chocolate alcohol fueled bomb. Very limited. 8.0% - Available at Saltfire.

T.F. Brewing - Albion Belgian Tripel: This has a golden cantaloupe color with sweet spicy nose of yeast and candy. The taste starts with notes of stone fruit, then quickly transitions into bubblegum and peppery yeast. Dangerously drinkable for a Tripel. 10.2% - Available at T.F. Brewing. 

T.F. Brewing - Helles: This unfiltered lager pours a hazy golden yellow under a solid fluffy white head. Sweet grainy aroma with a little hoppy spice. Flavor is biscuity and sweet - not much from the hops other than some bitterness. Pretty light and crisp. 4.0% - Available at T.F. Brewing.

Avenues Proper - Breakfast Juice: Designed with the day's first meal in mind. Both malted and flaked oats were used to add chewiness and body with hints of vanilla that complimented the addition
of lactose. The ABV is kept deliberately lower and finally the addition of a special blend
of Coffee from La Barba adds rich complexity. 4.0% - Available only at Avenues Proper.

Toasted Barrel - Black Currant Sour: Pours a jammy purple color with a creamy white head. Smell is nice with an extremely sour taste and lots of black currant. A surprisngly estery start on the tongue, with a long-lasting sour black currant and raspberry-like finish. 6.5% - Available at Toasted Barrel.

Toasted Barrel - Belgian Blonde: Aroma has some hefty Belgian yeast imparting some citrus and astringency. Taste is decidedly yeasty as well. Minor amounts of clove, grapefruit, apple and pear from the yeast. Its actually pretty straight forward. 7.5%. - Available at Toasted Barrel.

Squatters - Red Hop Redemption: Missed this New England style hopped red ale. It's described as having Ekuanot, Simcoe, and Idaho 7 hops with a strong supporting malty backbone. 4.0% - Available at Squatters brewpub.

Roosters - Blackberry Cream Ale: This is being canned as of 7am this morning. Goes on sale this afternoon at Roosters B Street Brewery in Ogden. 6.0%. 

Policy Kings Hefeweizen: Missed this one. 4.0% - Available at Policy Kings

Anchor - Brewer's Pale Ale Citra: Missed this one. 5.3% - Available at DABC

Sam Adams - Cold Snap: Missed this one. 5.3% - Available at DABC

Sierra Nevada - Brut IPA: Missed this one.6.2%  - Available at DABC

If you've tried any of those that I missed please share your thoughts with the rest of us, please.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 1/6/17

To start the year you get either IPAs or stouts. It's not my call, that's just the way it is. Luckily all of this week's New Beer Friday options are all damn tasty. Enjoy!

Blue Moon Cappuccino Oatmeal Stout - The nose has dark malts and coffee. The tastes has nice cappuccino flavors with raisin, roasty grains, chocolate malts, and a little bit of hop bitterness. Finishes nice and dry. This a pretty decent coffee stout.4.0% ABV @ Grocery/C-stores

New Belgium VooDoo Ranger IIPA - The nose is mostly pine with some orange peel. The taste starts with bready malts and papaya. Pine resins come next with a dose of mango. The end is all pine & grapefruit. Finishes dry piney and grapefruity. 9.0% ABV @ DABC


New Belgium Whizbang Hoppy Blonde - The nose has a nice bouquet hoppy tropical fruits. The flavor is much of the same with more tropical fruit, caramel malts and a bit of pine. Semi-dry finish. 5.7% ABV @ DABC, Bayou

Proper Grand Sláinte Imperial Stout - Not had this yet. This releases on Saturday in both the bottle shop and the brewery on Main Street. Avenues Proper has done a session-strength Sláinte in years past, but this is the first high-point version.

2Row Tastes Like Citrus IPA - This is a North East Style IPA. These are typically cloudy in appearance - like a hefeweizen. This beer looks a bit like Orange Juice, which is helpful because this a citrus bomb. The nose has a massive grapefruit, tangerine, orange, peach and pineapple thing going on. Smells incredible. The taste follows the nose. Grapefruit, orange, tangerine and lemon zest. Slight pineapple and stone fruit mix with a bit of grass. Bready/cracker malts balance out the fruit salad. minimal bitterness in the finish - nearing sweet. Crazy good! 2 Row is becoming Salt Lake's IPA House. 7.5% ABV @2 Row Brewing, Beerhive

Samuel Adams Hopscape - The nose has citrus/fruity hops and tropical fruit. The flavor has wheaty/cracker malts, tropical fruit and citrus. The end resiny and spicy. Finishes dry. Solid offering from Boston Beer Co. 5.5% ABV @DABC

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Golden IPA - The nose has citrus, pine, spice with a wheaty malts. The taste follows notes of orange and grapefruit along with pine and lesser spicy snap. Vague tropical fruits come next with wheat undertones. Some mild pith and pine in the finish. Another solid IPA
from Sierra Nevada. 6.5% ABV @ DABC, Bayou

Cheers!

New Beer Friday! 10/21/16

As I'm coming of a week of doctor ordered sobriety, I haven't had a chance to try many of this week's beers. That sucks because there is a shload of beers out there. The plus side? It should make for a great weekend. We have a full plate, so let's get to it!

Proper  Idaho Pale Ale - Brewed with pale and Munich malts grown and malted in Idaho, as well as a brand new varietal Idaho 7 hops, this ale truly does justice to our northern neighbors. It's a perfect pale ale with notes of stone fruit and citrus over a crackery malt base. 4.0% ABV @ProperBrewing

Uinta  Bourbon Barrel Stout - A barrel blended American Stout fusing notes of roasted coffee and cacao nibs with an earthy bitterness provided by Willamette and Chinook hops that balance the finish.7.0% ABV

Uinta Croggy Brett Saison - This beer is described as being brewed with a hefty dose of mosaic hops, un-malted wheat, and rolled oats. Croggy possesses a tropical fruit character and snappy aroma that partners perfectly with the crisp, dry tartness of the Brettanomyces yeast. Available tomorrow at the Uintabrewpub and shipping out to Uinta's distribution footprint soon!

Talisman Session IPA - There's a very small batch of this new session IPA dry hopped with Mosaic available in the beer store for growler fills only until it runs out! 4.0% ABV @Talisman

Talisman Nut Brown - This beer was released yesterday under Talisman's seasonal label. Double check before buying as their Blood Orange is also still for sale under the same label. 4.0% ABV @Talisman 

Samuel Adams Nitro White Ale - This beer is described as being white capped and lively – the frothy white head of this distinctive nitro brew softly cascades into bright gold. The first sip reveals a smooth velvety taste with a light wheat character and hints of orange while an undercurrent of peppery spice adds a bright finish. 5.5% ABV @DABC,

Lagunitas 12th of Never - This isn't exactly new - it's a blend of Old and New School hops that play bright citrus, rich coconut, and papaya-esque flavors, all on a solid stage of English puffed wheat. Tropically hoppy. Light, yet full-bodied. Bright and citrusy. The 12th of Never Ale is everything we’ve learned about making hop-forward beer expressed in a moderate voice. Pale, cold, slightly alcoholic and bitter. 5.5% ABV @ DABC, Beer Bar, Bayou

Anderson Valley Barney Dry Stout - This a a new version of Anderson Valley's classic Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. This one dials-in at 4.0%. Tastes of freshly baked bread, espresso, and dried cherries meld seamlessly with rich toffee flavors and a creamy mouth feel. Beer Bar has this on draft right now and it's popping up in some grocery stores as we speak.

Payette Blood Orange Rustler IPA - haven't tried this one yet, hopefully this afternoon! Described as having pithy orange flavors with some vague floral hops in the end. 6.2% ABV @Bayou

Sockeye Fred's Raging Red  - Not tried this one. This lager is described as having aromas of caramel malts, some hops - taste is like a red IPA, or red hoppy pilsner. A nice blend of hops and sweet caramel malts.6.5% ABV @Bayou

Crabbie's Ginger Beer - Not tried this one yet. 4.8% ABV @Bayou

We'll try to get a little more in depth with some of these this afternoon with Mick and Allen on KBER 101 at 3:30pm. Please tune in. 

Cheers!

New Beer Friday - Independence Day Edition

It's likely that I'm the only one in the United States working right now. If you're like me your gunna need some refreshments after your long holiday work day, here are some Independence Day - New Beer Friday options.

Samuel Adams Double Agent IPL: Pours a dark hazy straw color with some golden highlights. The nose is light with citrus, grass and biscuit. tropical, over a bit of biscuit. The taste starts with a bit tropical with herbal pine notes. Next comes some sweet biscuit with spicy cereal notes. The end is full of rind bitterness. Finishes fairly dry. 5.0% ABV @ Beer Bar, DABC

Rogue Farms Marionberry Braggot: Haven't tried this one yet, but a friend described it as being dark red with purple highlights. A nose of berry/honey - Honey and berries are prominent in the taste with countering hop bitterness. 11.4% ABV @ Beer Bar, DABC

RedRock's 20th Anniversary Imperial Red Ale was such a hit that it's going into full time production and will have a new label soon. In case you haven't had it in a while, look for big ruby tones with a sturdy ruddy head. The nose pops with toasted caramel & pine. The tastes starts with toasted bread, tobacco and a hint of fudge. Big pine resin comes next with bitter citrus/chocolate and a hint of orange in the end. The finish is dry and bitter. This is a full flavored beer that crosses into barlewine territory. 9.5% ABV @ RedRock, Finer Beer Bars

Go Team 'Merica!