New Beer Friday 11/9/18

What a weird week; though it was good to see everyone involved in the political process. No matter where you fall politically, I think we can all agree we all deserve a beer this weekend. Happy New Beer Friday! Desert Edge - Alpha Coffee Lager:  This kelllerbier has cold brewed coffee added from Alpha Coffee, a veteran owned roaster that sends coffee to deployed troops. For every Alpha Coffee Lager that Desert Edge sells, DE will donate money to send 100lbs of Coffee. The beer is toasty and slightly malty with a pleasant coffee flavor that works quite well with the base beer. Great beer, great cause. 4.0% - Available at Desert Edge. Anchor - Our Special Ale 2018: This is the the 44th year of this beer and every year has been different. This version has a nice caramelized chocolaty quality with vague spices, estery banana and a good dose of piney hops. 6.9%. Available at DABC Rogue - Yellow Snow Pilsner: The beer is malt forward with biscuit notes and caramel sweetness. Hints of lemongrass and spruce emerge next; the hop balance isn't quite up to the levels it should be at it tends to rely a bit too much on the spruce tips for bittering. Not a bad beer; I like the spruce but it needs balance. Rogue - Counter Currant: This beer is defiantly fruit driven with black currants dominating the flavor profile. The fruit is tart and pleasant with a small dose of malt. You do get a tiny smack of hops in the end. Not bad. 6.4% - Available at DABC Snake River - Alpha Prime: Assertive grapefruit and pine combines nicely with tropical flavors and medium bitterness. The malt profile id pleasant and balanced with the hops. Nice IPA. 7.5% - Available at Slackwater Caldera - Dry Hop Orange: Toffee malts are present, with a hint of butter. A big than I'd orange pith taste comes in next, stomping out some of the malt's flaws. The end has a good dose of bitterness. 5.6% - Available at DABC, Beer Bar Caldera - Hopportunity Knocks: Orange and grapefruit flavors with pith; balanced by an interesting toffee malt profile - very floral with some pine in addition to the citrus - moderately bitter, but mostly sweet. 6.8% - Available at DABC, Beer Bar Caldera - IPA: Malt forward; caramel and toffee followed by floral & citrus hops. Bitter finish & aftertaste. Mouthfeel is medium bodied moderate carbonation is creamy. 6.1% - Available at DABC, Beer Bar Caldera Mosaic IPA: Grapefruit peel is noticeable right off the bat. From there a good dose a buttery malt sweetness comes in. The end has a medium amount of hop bitterness. There a major diacetyl problem here (buttered popcorn). Not too good.   Caldera - Pale Ale: The aroma is citrusy with some pine hops and a good deal of bready malts. The taste is more bready malts and toffee upfront followed by some light citrus and pine. Bready finish. 5.5% - Available at DABC, Beer Bar Caldera - Ashland  Amber Ale: The nose was malty and sweet with caramel hints. Taste was malty with toffee and caramel notes with  grassy hops on the back of the tongue. Mouthfeel was full and creamy. 5.4% - Available at DABC, Beer Bar Samuel Smith - Yorkshire Stingo: Missed out on this one. 8.0% Available at Slackwater. On a side note: If you missed out on Squatters' Fifth Element release last weekend, well.... actually you didn't. There are still quite a few bottles left; so there ya go, get on that shit! Cheers!

New Beer Friday 1/19/18

Holly Hell it's been a slow January. I apologize for the Utah Beer news drought, but there's not a lot happening right now. Thankfully, we still have new suds hitting every week. Please enjoy this week's New Beer Friday offerings.

2 Row Raspberry Sour: Three new beers in three weeks! You've gotta love Brian Coleman's passion and tenacity when it comes to his beers. This week's new offering is a bit of a departure from Utah's IPA machine. This raspberry sour is just as it sounds. Think: Unripened raspberries with a bit of lemon.The alcohol is substantial for a fruit sour, dialing in at 8.1% ABV. You can get it at the brewery and at the better beer pubs, including Slackwater, Beerhive, Bayou .

The RoHa Brewing Project has added two new draft handles You can find the following on them.

RoHa Americano: This American ale is infused with coffee and is brewed with espresso and coffee. There's a nice blend of light malt flavor and subtle coffee. Mostly made with cold brew, so there's not a lot of coffee nose but full on coffee in it's flavor. 4.0% ABV. Available at RoHa starting today.

RoHa D Street Brown Ale: This is an American Brown. It's slightly hoppy with toasted malt and caramel. It finishes with notes of chocolate. A tasty session ale. 4.0% ABV. Available at RoHa starting today.

Sierra Nevada Hop Bullet:  Using a new technique, the kids at Sierra Nevada hit this beer with a double-barreled blast of Magnum hops and lupulin dust—pure, concentrated hop flavor—directly into the tank to emphasize the intense pine and citrus flavors of classic West Coast hops. It comes in at 8.0% ABV and is available and many DABC stores and better beer pubs. 

Snake River Earned It - NEIPA:  This “hazy” IPA is brewed with Citra, Mosiac, El Dorado and Loral hops come together to make a citrusy and floral aroma. A low bitterness and light malt body make this beer very drinkable. 6.5% ABV. Available at Beerhive, Bayou, Pizza NoNo, Outpost Spirits and Slackwater.

Returning Favorite

Squatters Fifth Element: Utah's original wild ale makes its long awaited return. This wild saison pours a cloudy apricot/straw color with a fizzy white head that reduced to a thin froth. The nose has a bit a of barnyard funkiness to it with hints of lemon and yeast spices. The tastes starts with light citrus notes then transitions into funky tart notes that are somewhat fruity. Next comes a dry oakiness that compliments the tartness well. The finish is a combination a champagne like dryness and bitter florals.This goes on sale Saturday morning at 10am at Squatters Brew Pub. There's a two bottle limit on this one.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 8/4/17

New Beer Friday is chock-full of goodness this week. Now with twice the recommended dose of Conway Twitty!

Snake River's Eclipse Ale: This pale ale is citrusy and floral in the nose. The taste follows with a bit of tangerine and floral bitterness. There is some toasted grain sweetness rounding it out. Overall, it's a tasty pale, not bad for a one and done beer. 5.2% ABV @ Slackwater

Desert Edge's ALTernative Facts Alt: This is a light copper colored German Ale. Malty sweet aroma with a smooth bready malt flavor. Low hop flavor and dry finish 4.0% ABV. @ Desert Edge

Ballast Point's Sea Rose: Hints of pomegranate in the nose. The flavor has a creamy malts with some tart cherry flavor and pomegranate. The flavors as subtle and not in your face. Overall, the flavors are pleasant and it tastes surprisingly fresh. Highly drinkable. 4.0% ABV @ Harmon'sand othe grocery and C-stores.

Talisman Presents - North East Style IPA: Not tried this one yet. Described as juicy and tropical. 7.0% ABV @ Talisman

Melvin's Heyzues: Grassy lemon nose. The taste starts with crackers and dry malts. The bitterness is somewhat herbal with some lemongrass notes. The finish has some pine resins. This is a really great Mexican style lager. @ Slackwater, Bayou

Proper's Lei Effect: This Gose is enhanced with passion fruit. The nose is dry and tart with a slight hint of sulphides. The taste is lemony and slightly briny with tart passion fruit. Some dry cracker notes round out the tartness. 5.0% ABV. Debuts later this afternoon at Proper Brewing. 

Mother Earth's Primordial IIPA: Thus has a subdued nose of mostly citrus peel and flowery hops. The taste has pine, citrus and floral notes. The malts are somewhat muted. A bit of alcohol makes it slightly drying in the finish. A nice west coast style IPA, it's just a tad dry. 9.5% ABV @ Slackwater, Bayou, BeerHive 

Cheers!

Snake River Brewing Returns to Salt Lake

After an absence of about ten years, Snake River Brewing Company is returning to The Wasatch Front. Not really sure why Snake River packed it in, but it was most likely financial reasons. Anyway they're due back soon.

Look for five beers to start with from their base line-up of beers.

Monarch Pilsner - A floral and herbal pils with some light malts a touch of lemon zest. 

Jenny Lake Lager - an amber colored Vienna style lager. The rich, caramel flavor is balanced with the use of several hop varieties.

Snake River Pale Ale - an American pale brewed with plenty of Cascade hops. It has a citrusy hop flavor which is followed by a crisp, firmly bitter finish.

Pako's IPA - This IPA will have the hopheads rejoicing. 6.8% ABV and 60+ IBUs with explosive hop aroma from a pungent Simcoe/columbus blend.

Zonker Stout - A rich, well-balanced foreign style stout with a huge amount of roasted barley as well as chocolate, black, and caramel malts.

Utah Craft Beverages will be bringing these in. As soon as they pop up we'll spread the love.

Also, today is Growler Day at Epic Brewing. This week's offering is Hop Syndrome - A perfect beer for the Labor Day weekend. These growlers sell fast, don't wait too long. And as always - don't forget your exchange growler.

Cheers!