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

Barrel Aged Dubhe is Coming Your Way

If you missed out on drinking any Dubhe on 4/20, this news will make it all better. Uinta Brewing will be producing a special Barrel aged version of the hemp seed infused Imperial Black IPA. This barrels selection will feature Bourbon whiskey, which should make for a tasty brew. Keep checking back for it's release.

It looks like we had a tie in the last round of the Utah Beer Challenge. This has never happened before. It was apparently a pretty tough call for y'all to choose between these two fine ales. So, we're going to do a quick little tie breaker. Over the next 24 hours we will push one of these forward before continuing to the elite eight round. If there's another tie? I will break it.

Total	Answer
50%	Desert Edge Utah Pale Ale	40 (50%)
50%	Proper Foreign Gentleman Coffee Stout	40 (50%)

(80 Total Votes)

Cheers!

Image found at Shipcomplient.com

23rd Annual Mountain Brewers Festival

Listen up! One of our favorite "local" beer festivals, the Mountain Brewers Festival in Idaho Falls, Idaho is just around the corner and there are some big changes that you need to know about.

First off. The ticket sales ($40) are advance purchase only and are limited to 5,500 attendees – no ticket sales at the gate. Here is the link to get your tickets. There will be tickets available at some of our local SLC/Ogden breweries. When those go on sale, I'll give you the when and where. They're usually at Uinta, Roosters and Bohemian.

Hotels: They are aware that this is a big weekend in Idaho Falls and their pricing is starting to reflect this. Start shopping around and book your rooms soon!

The week prior to the beer fest is Idaho Craft Beer Week (May 28 - June 3). If you can go up early you'll find a shload of special events, special tappings and tap take-overs. If you want to get you beer geek on, there's plenty happening.

There will be free buses to get you to and from the festival on saturday. Locations in Idaho
Falls/Ammon:
Bowlero
Buffalo Wild Wings
Hilton Garden Inn
LaQuinta Inn
Firehouse Grill
The Frosty Gator
Sam’s Club
Shilo Inn
Snow Eagle Brewing
The Zone

This is still a 21+ event, so don't bring the papoose(s). I hope to see you there!

We're now in the Sweet 16 Round of the Low Point Utah Beer Challenge. This is when things start to tighten up in the voting. There are quite a few tough choice this round and there is a rainbow of styles represented. Voting for this round will last 48 hours as well and will end Saturday morning. As you can see, the ballots are in the column to the right.

Cheers!

Photo Credits: Crafty Beer Girls (top)  Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune (bottom)

2017 Utah Beer Challenge Winner

And the winning beer of the Utah Beer Challenges High Point Beer Competition is Tastes Like Citrus IPA from 2 Row Brewing Company. This juicy IPA has brilliant bitter citrus tones with a cloudy appearance. Big notes of peach, tangerine and tropical fruit, followed with a fluffy and full mouthfeel. This outstanding North East IPA is big on flavor and aroma.

The final scores are updated into the bracket above.

Brian, DeDe and Clay. I invite you take take this hastily made certificate of awesomeness and proudly display it over your shitter(s) or wherever you see fit.

And just in case you've been living under a rock, I invite you, the readers to get your collective asses to 2 Row and experience this hoppy dream for realsies.

The Utah Beer Beer Low Point Challenge begins tomorrow. All of you favorite session beers, right here in a battle to the death. Congrats again to 2 Row!

I'd appreciate some feedback on doing High ABV vs High and Low vs Low, or any comments you may have.

Prost!

Epic/Telluride Collaboration Beer: Blizzard Conditions

This Beer Will not be released on March 30th. It will instead be released on April 6th.

Tomorrow, Salt Lake City will get it's first taste of the new collaboration beer from Epic Brewing and Telluride Brewing. The birth of this beer began last January when Telluride’s brewmaster Chris Fish and Epic’s Kevin Crompton discovered neither of them had brewed a New England-Style IPA before and both were intrigued by the new hopping techniques many breweries were using to pack insane amounts of juicy hop flavor into the beer without a high level of bitterness.

Approaching the new style together, both brewmasters set out to find just the right hops. “The excitement is all about juicy hop goodness! Not bitterness!” says Chris Fish. “We’re looking to present super tropical fruitiness in both flavor and aroma. To achieve that we got our hands on a new hop variety, Cashmere.”

Cashmere hops are relative new on the market, having been released in 2013 by Washington State University, and is the product of a marriage between Cascade and Northern Brewer hops. Their resulting daughter, Cashmere, is unique, producing aromas full of lemon and lime citrus, sweet ripe-cantaloupe, and tropical fruits like guava and mango. Because of these qualities Cashmere excels as a cold-side dry hop and is perfectly suited for New England-Style IPAs, which pull as much hop character as possible from late boil additions and dry-hopping.

Blizzard Conditions is hazy gold color with just a hint of green highlights. Its huge aroma is bursting with orange blossom, ripe melon and guava. The spelt, a type of malted wheat, helps give good body to the beer, which supports the sticky hop character. Bitterness is low with just a moderate amount lingering on the palate. If you’re a hop lover and enjoy the newer American varieties emerging on the scene this beer won’t disappoint; and if you’re the type of drinker who shies away from the traditional, piney IPA, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how bright and juicy New England-Style IPAs can be.

Blizzard Conditions will debut in the SLC market April 6th tomorrow morning (3/30/17) at 11am. It will be packaged in Epic's Growlers. 22oz. bottles may appear in the future, but for your first taste, you get growlers. So don't forget to bring your empties to exchange.

Speaking of Epic. The Oak and Orchard Dark Sour with Plum and Apricot is now on sale. Only 74 left. Stay close for the other three releases.

The results for the Utah Beer Challenge's Elite Eight High Points are in and it looks like It's going to be a grudge match between RedRock and 2 Row. The Elite Eight Round saw mostly blow-outs, but the final scores that separated Dark Alley Barrel Aged and Paardebloem came down to just two votes. The ballots for the Final Four beers are up and in the column to the right. The voting on these beers will run for 48 hours and end at the time stamp on this post. These beers are all pretty different and it could go anyway.

Just a reminder that the Utah Beer Low Point Challenge will be starting immediately following the completion of this challenge. I'd love to hear some feedback on how you think things have gone so far.

Cheers!

Total	Answer
62.76%	2 Row Tastes Like Citrus IPA	123 (62.76%)
37.24%	Squatters 529	73 (37.24%)

(196 Total Votes)

Total	Answer
64.67%	RedRock Paardebloem	119 (64.67%)
35.33%	Shades Pale Salt City Citrus	65 (35.33%)

(184 Total Votes)

Total

	Answer
39.47%	2 Row Dangereux	75 (39.47%)
60.53%	2 Row Dark Alley	115 (60.53%)

(190 Total Votes)

Total

	Answer
49.5%	2 Row Dark Alley - Barrel Age	99 (49.5%)
50.5%	RedRock Elephino DIPA	101 (50.5%)

(200 Total Votes)

Sweet 16 Round Begins

I'm noticing a trend this year. The majority of you seems to really, really love IPAs and Imperial Stouts over practically everything else and 2 Row and RedRock seem to have the strongest followings.

The results for Round 3 have been updated in the bracket above. For the Sweet 16 Round things will get more intense for these two breweries. both of them have two of their own beers going against each other - there's nothing like sibling combat, eh?

There's also a powerhouse Imperial Stout match-up between Big Bad Baptist and Dark Alley. That should be a close one.

This round of voting will be 48 hours as well, and it will end Friday morning at the time stamp below. Please share the Utah Beer Challenge's High Point Competition on your social media, so we can increase the voting pool.

Prost! 

First Round Recap - Round Two Begins

Well, it looks like for the most part the randomly generated match-ups in Round One were for the most part complete blow outs in the Utah Beer Challenge High Point Competition. The closest race was between Squatters' Fifth Element Wild Saison (55) and 2 Row's Dark Alley Imperial Stout (56). Never thought I'd see Fifth Element go out in the first round - talk about an upset!

The decisions you have in Round Two are defiantly going to be more difficult. Christ, two of RedRock's powerhouse sours are going head to head. I guess we'll see which one you truly love more. Voting for the entire 2nd Round will run for 48 hours from the time stamp on this post.

The bracket above has all of scores so far. I'd love to hear your comments on how things are going so far.

Cheers!

Beckerman's Brew Debuts Today

As promised, we have details on the release of Proper Brewing's new Beckerman's Brew. It's out today! The kids at Proper will be throwing a big party to celebrate. Starting at 5pm the beer hits the taps and goes on sale in the bottleshop. Kyle Beckerman will also be on hand. I imagine photo ops will be happening.

Most importantly, all pints of Beckerman's Brew will be $4 all night and since it's Proper's anniversary week, all draft pitchers are $10.

Here are the results for Part One of Round One. I'll get the second part of Rounf One up as soon as I can. My day job is sucking up all my attention. 

Hoppers Summerset Saison -  72

Bohemian Dortmunder

- 196

Moab Tripel Ale - 55
2 Row Tastes Like Citrus IPA - 246

Epic Elder Brett - 182
Vernal .50 Caliber IPA - 81

2 Row Random Mosaic - 230
Wasatch First One Down - 74

Squatters 529 - 177
Vernal Little Hole Lager - 74

Talisman Presents Trip IPA - 122
Proper Hop Vs Hop 3 - 137

Park City IPA - 65
Wasatch Ghostrider - 216

Roosters Iron Rooster Stout - 82
Bohemian Altbier - 168

Epic Big Bad Baptista - 206
Shades Pale HogsHead 2 - 67

Roosters Niner Bock - 68
Shades Pale Saint Blackout - 169

Uinta Dubhe - 115
RedRock Paardebloem - 165

Roosters Chanticleer - 39
RedRock Rêve - 213

Talisman Iron Age - 129
Proper Ostara IPA - 120

Epic Sour Brainless Peaches - 117
Uinta Labyrinth - 136

Shades Pale Salt City Citrus - 193
Park City Imp Pilsner - 64

Squatters Outer Darkness - 166
Talisman Dagda IPA - 97

Prost!

2017 Utah Beer Challenge

It's time to choose your favorite local beers again in the Utah Beer Challenge. This time we're doing things a bit differently. High Point vs. High Point - Low Point vs. Low Point. It seems somewhat unfair to place a session lager up against a barrel aged barleywine with brett. So, hopefully this evens things out. We're starting with the high point beers - round one of two begins now, so vote!

Another new thing this year, we're using Untappd's database to choose the beers. Many of you felt that Rate Beer's data (though more accurate) is too "pretentious". Okay, I'm game to give it a whirl. I finally got the bracket installed so that you can all follow along. It's at the top of the page.

Ballots are in the column to the right and the match-ups are randomly generated. This round will end Thursday morning. Any questions?

Cheers!

The Winner of the 2016 Utah Beer Challenge is....

It was a juggernaut throughout every round of the Utah Beer Challenge and is our returning champion as well. Of course I'm talking about RedRock Brewing Company's Elephino Double IPA.

In the three years that we've done this local beer brackets thing - Elephino has always made it to the end and this year's finals was a near copy of the 2014 Challenge.

Just in case you've been living under a rock, Elephino has a nice sharp aroma of citrus hops with a sweet blend of pine, mango, orange and fresh cut grass. The tastes follows with mango, pineapple, grass and orange flavors with touch of biscuity malt. Very little, boozy bite along with a long sweet but dry citrus finish. Grab 'em fresh at RedRock's bottle shop located at 443 n. 400 w. in Salt Lake City.

Once again, Congratulations to Elephino and to the staff at RedRock Brewing Company. Honor me by placing this electronically generated award in a high traffic place. The men's and lady's "shitter" is always a fitting spot.

If I decide to try the Utah Beer Challenge again, what kind of changes would you readers like to see?  I've considered doing away with the Ratebeer.com stats and replace them with some pre-polling of each participating brewery to find what Utah's beer drinkers prefer. Your input is greatly appriciated.

Cheers!
______________________________________________________

62.31%	REDROCK - ELEPHINO DOUBLE IPA	167 (62.31%)
37.69%	EPIC - BIG BAD BAPTIST BA IMPERIAL STOUT	101 (37.69%)

(268 Total Votes)

_________________________________________________________________

The Peak Series of Beers from Park City Brewing

The Park City Brewery will soon be adding a line of high gravity beers to their portfolio of beers. It was exactly one year ago today that the Summit County brewery opened it's taproom's doors to the public to start selling their mountain made suds.

To go along with their four standard beers - Hooker Blonde Ale, Breaking Trail Pale Ale, Last Pitch IPA and Boogie Water Brown Ale - Utah's beer lovers will now be able to enjoy Park City's Peak Series of beers: Park City - Imperial Pilsner, Park City - American Pale Ale and Park City - (high gravity) IPA. You'll probably be seeing these beers pop-up in the coming weeks. If you're good I tell you where and when.

Well, we have finally made it to the final round in the Utah Beer Challenge. After sixty-four beer beer it all comes down to two -. RedRock's Elephino Double IPA and Epic's Big Bad Baptist Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. The voting for the finals will end on Sunday morning and I'll announce the winner on Monday morning.

Taste and appearance wise, these two beers are night and day. Where your tongue resides of the flavor scale will likely impact your vote greatly. I know I'll definitely be drinking each of these beers at some point over the next two days. I encourage you to do the same. Good luck to both!

Cheers!

Images found at Shipcomplient.com

2 Row Brewing Announces New Beer

2 Row Brewing Company will be increasing their product selection soon with a new beer and one of their popular seasonal ales gets it's own label.

First off - Owner/Brewer, Brian Coleman is bringing an American Pale Ale into the mix. Nemesis Pale Ale will be on the higher end of the ABV scale coming in at 6.3% and will likely posses the bright and fresh hop qualities that have made 2 Row one of the go-to breweries for all manor of hoppy ales. Brian named this beer Nemesis because he's been battling with it for quite some time to get this one just right. As soon as it hits 2 Row's bottle shop we'll spread the word.

The Random Red Rye Double IPA debuted just a couple of months ago. It was an immediate hit. It looks like you'll be seeing more of it now that it has it's own special packaging. Look for citrus and pine in the nose. The taste follows with a semi dry malt sweetness and more citrus peel and pine. The rye comes through in the end adding a nice spiciness. However those tasting notes could all change for this beer is Random after all.

Okay, I told you the pace of things would start to pick-up in The Utah Beer Challenge. We're down to our final four beers - two hoppy ale against two Imperial Stouts. RedRock's Elephino and Drioma get to duke it out and Epic's Big Bad Baptist takes on 2 Row's 2K Golden Ale. Vote begin now and will end Wednesday morning. This should be good!

Cheers!

Labels found at Shipcomplient.com

Experimental IPA from Uinta Helps Homeless Pets

In collaboration with Love UT Give UT, Animal Services, Uinta Brewing is launching a new Pit Crew and Cat Cru logo. The new service encourages animal lovers to donate to Utah FACES - an animal support group that directly helps fund the animals served by Salt Lake County Animal Services. 

Utah FACES helps Animal Services provide low cost spay and neuter, free microchips, surgeries for injured animals and much more!


Uinta will be featuring an exclusive Experimental IPA straight from Research & Development and they'll also be kicking off their brand new dog friendly patio! The event runs tomorrow, March 31st from 4pm to 8pm. 1722 s. Fremont Drive, Salt Lake City

If you'd like to give directly to Utah FACES we have their link here.

The Sweet Sixteen Round of the Utah Beer Challenge has ended - if there's been one reoccurring theme this year, it's that RedRock and 2 Row have a definite following. Now it's time for these two top breweries to start banging heads in the Elite Eight round along with Squatters, Epic and Avenues Proper.

This is the round that will shape the finals - makes sure to support the beer you truly believe in. Round Four/Elite Eight will end Friday morning. And the Final Four Round will begin bright and early on Monday morning. Here is the voting breakdown of the Sweet Sixteen Round. Thanks for Voting!

Cheers!
________________________________________________________

26.37%	RedRock - Imperial Red Ale	53 (26.37%)
73.63%	RedRock Elephino Double IPA	148 (73.63%)

(201 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

66.67%	Squatters - Fifth Elemant	124 (66.67%)
33.33%	Moab - Hopped Rye	62 (33.33%)

(186 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

64.09%	2 Row - Dangeraux	141 (64.09%)
35.91%	Epic - Elder Brett	79 (35.91%)

(220 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

76.96%	RedRock - Drioma Imperial Stout	147 (76.96%)
23.04%	Avenues Proper - Proper Beer	44 (23.04%)

(191 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

51.01%	Epic - Big Bad Baptist	101 (51.01%)
48.99%	RedRock - CoHOPoperation	97 (48.99%)

(198 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

15.84%	Bonneville - Sir Malcom's Stout	32 (15.84%)
84.16%	2 Row Random - Double IPA	170 (84.16%)

(202 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

42.51%	Bohemian - Cherny Bock	88 (42.51%)
57.49%	2 Row - 2K Golden Ale	119 (57.49%)

(207 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

41.21%	Squatters - Black Forest Schwartzbier	68 (41.21%)
58.79%	Avenues Proper Oatmeal Red	97 (58.79%)

(165 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

Epic's Los Locos to be Canned

Epic will soon be canning their Los Locos Mexican Lager. This beer is brewed with white corn, lime juice and sea salt. This beer was specially made as a house beer for the Los Chingones Mexican Restaurant located in Denver, CO. It is now no longer exclusive to that establishment and will soon be hitting Epic's distribution markets (I would assume) by late April/early may for Cinco De Mayo. It will have an ABV of 4.8%.

This isn't your typical Mexican lager. The corn, salt and lime give this cerveza a wholly unique fruity slant. Stay close for it's arrival date.

Also, today. Talisman Brewing Company's bottle shop is now open. Go get 'em!

Now on the Utah Beer Challenge

Epic handed 2 Row their first loss, pitting Accelerator against Big Bad Baptist. It was a tight race - only six votes separating them. A long time local favorite did well in another tough match-up. Bohemian's Cherny Bock went against the grain beating out Epic's Brainless IPA. And the final battle of note saw Avenues Proper's Oatmeal Red beat out their own Patersbier.

Now For the Sweet Sixteen match-ups. This round will see the big hoppy beers from RedRock going up against one another. As of Now all four RedRed beers are still in the race that will end soon with this battle - Two very different Farmhouse Ales with Epic and 2 Row respectively are ready to go at it as well. Those are the big battles to watch. I'm sure there will more interesting things to discuss pending the outcome of the Sweet Sixteen. Here are the results of the of the finals of Round Two.

Prost!
__________________________________________________________________

51.76%	Epic Big Bad Baptist	88 (51.76%)
48.24%	2 Row Accelerator IPA	82 (48.24%)

(170 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

5.59%	Roosters Argo ESB	8 (5.59%)
94.41%	RedRock CoHOPeration	135 (94.41%)

(143 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

62.04%	Bonneville Sir Malcom's Stout	67 (62.04%)
37.96%	Vernal Allosaurus Amber	41 (37.96%)

(108 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

15.03%	Park City - Boogie Water Brown Ale	23 (15.03%)
84.97%	2 Row Random Double IPA	130 (84.97%)

(153 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

57.33%	Bohemian Cherney Bock	86 (57.33%)
42.67%	Epic Brainless IPA	64 (42.67%)

(150 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

58.18%	2 Row - 24K Golden Ale	96 (58.18%)
41.82%	Epic Hopulent IPA	69 (41.82%)

(165 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

60.98%	Squatters - Schwartzbier	75 (60.98%)
39.02%	Hoppers - Madame X Stout	48 (39.02%)

(123 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

42.52%	Avenues Proper Patersbier	54 (42.52%)
57.48%	Avenues Proper Oatmeal Stout	73 (57.48%)

(127 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

New Beer Friday 3/25/16

When I came across this pic of Lauren Lerch - "squeeing" over her beer and weenie, I just had to co-opt it, twist it and mangle it for my own bizarre purposes. If you want to get to know our own local Crafty Beer Girls, checkout Lauren and "co-beer girl" Jenni Shafer at Crafty Beer Girls.com It's worth your bandwidth.

Brewery Ommegang ~ Game of Thrones Seven Kingdoms - This one is described as a hoppy wheat ale. It's described as having a hazy pale yellow with a thick cap of pure white foam. The aroma is floral, citrusy with a touch of passion fruit and a slightly herbal hop aroma underpinned with yeast notes of banana, ripe fruit, and spicy phenols. The taste is a full, round hop flavor with tart orange and lemon with a substantial wheat maltiness and the finish has slightly lingering hop notes without being harshly bitter. The mouthfeel is smooth and silken owing to the wheat and oats. 6.9% ABV @ DABC

Anderson Valley ~ Spring Hornin' - The nose has some spicy citrus notes with some honey malts as well. The taste is definitely hop forward with orange and other vague citrus flavors up front with a bit of pine in the back. There good malty backbone present as well that fades to a semi dry finish after mingling with the hops. 6.8% ABV @ DABC

Green Flash ~ Passion Fruit Kicker - Haven't tried this yet. It's a Wheat Beer made with passion fruit tea and passion fruit juice with a bit of  2-row malted barley. Described as tart and fruity. 5.5% ABV @ Slackwater - DABC

As predicted, the race between Squatters 529 and Epic's Elder Brett was a close one with the Elder pulling out the win. One of our previous finalists - Desert Edge's UPA, sadly falls against the powerhouse from Squatters, Fifth Element.

This second part of Round Two will have Avenues Proper going up against themselves (explain that one to your therapist, Rio)  and 2 Row's 2K Golden Ale may get a good fight going up against Epic's Hopulent IPA. Remember Hopulent replaced Corruption from Epic. Sadly I cannot edit the bracket once the competition has begun. Please keep that in mind when voting.

Here's the voting breakdown from the previous Utah Beer Challenge votes. Voting for Round Two will end Sunday morning - Round Three will begin Monday Morning. Any comments on how the match-ups have been so far?

Prost!
__________________________________________________________________

20.86%	Bohemian Bavarian Weiss	39 (20.86%)
79.14%	RedRock Imperial Red Ale	148 (79.14%)

(187 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

14.51%	Shades of Pale - Saint Blackout Triple	28 (14.51%)
85.49%	RedRock Elephino Double IPA	165 (85.49%)

(193 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

35.23%	Desert Edge - UPA	62 (35.23%)
64.77%	Squatters - Fifth Element	114 (64.77%)

(176 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

60%	Moab - Hopped Rye	102 (60%)
40%	Wasatch - Black O' Lantern	68 (40%)

(170 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

36.17%	Avenues Proper Gose the Gozerian	68 (36.17%)
63.83%	2 Row Dangeraux	120 (63.83%)

(188 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

47.98%	Squatters - 529 Oud Bruin	83 (47.98%)
52.02%	Epic - Elder Brett	90 (52.02%)

(173 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

11.48%	Roosters - Junction City Chocolate Stout	21 (11.48%)
88.52%	RedRock - Drioma Imperial Stout	162 (88.52%)

(183 Total Votes)

__________________________________________________________________

38.51%	Bonneville - Redline Irish Red	62 (38.51%)
61.49%	Avenues Proper - Proper Beer	99 (61.49%)

(161 Total Votes)

_________________________________________________________________ 

New Look for 2 Row's 24K Golden Ale

Today we have a preview of the the new label of 2 Row Brewing Company's 24K Golden Ale. This new labels plays off a pirate theme and is a more playful departure from the previous artwork. It goes without saying that the beer will remain same. You'll start seeing these new labels in the coming weeks.

The end of Round One in the Utah Beer Challenge is nigh. Are your favorite beers prevailing in their match-ups? Hammer your friends and colleagues to get the word out. Round Two begins immediately following Round One - which begins tomorrow morning. You'll start to notice the pace will begin to pick up as the numbers start to dwindle, so keep checking back.

Cheers!

Label found at Shipcomplient.com

Utah Beer Challenge: Round One - Final Match-ups

The third part of the first round saw many beers that were in much closer races. Many of the beers representing in these match-ups had less than ten vote separating them, with the narrowest victory going to Park City's Boogie Water Brown - winning with just two points. 2 Row proved to be a strong contender, having their IPAs winning handily.

We are finally getting through the final 16 beer in Round One. More tough choices are to come. Voting for these beer will end on Wednesday morning - Round Two will begin immediately after.

I need to make one correction. I was informed that Epic's Brainless Corruption is not currently in production, so it's been replaced by Epic's Hopulent IPA. I'll try to make that correction on the bracket after the votes are in.

Here's the voting breakdown of the last voting round.
________________________________________________________________

26.35%	Park City Hooker Blonde	44 (26.35%)
73.65%	Epic Big Bad Baptist	123 (73.65%)

(167 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________________

79.87%	2 Row Accelerator IPA	119 (79.87%)
20.13%	Desert Edge Krystalweizen	30 (20.13%)

(149 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________________

53.39%	Roosters ESB 5.8%	63 (53.39%)
46.61%	Hoppers Lil Pip's Mild	55 (46.61%)

(118 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________________

82.05%	RedRock CoHOPeration	128 (82.05%)
17.95%	Shades of Pale 4 Play Porter	28 (17.95%)

(156 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________________

48.76%	Desert Edge British Mild	59 (48.76%)
51.24%	Bonneville Sir Malcom's Stout	62 (51.24%)

(121 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________________

46.51%	Wasatch Pumpkin Ale	60 (46.51%)
53.49%	Vernal Allosaurus Amber Ale	69 (53.49%)

(129 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________________

50.77%	Park City Boogie Water Brown Ale	66 (50.77%)
49.23%	Roosters Iron Rooster Imperial Stout	64 (49.23%)

(130 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________________

76.6%	2 Row Random DIPA #1	108 (76.6%)
23.4%	Shades of Pale Ready to Fly Amber	33 (23.4%)

(141 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________________

 Cheers!

New Beer Friday: Spring Weekend Edition

Spring will be sprung this weekend and with it comes brand new beers that are as fresh and innocent as two kittens having a snuggle fight on a pile of Pink Power Ranger posters. If you're looking for a little spring freshness in a glass, I invite you to check out these new local offerings.

Talisman Promontory Pale Ale - A nice Cascade hop driven pale ale. Pine and citrus work well with the subtle caramel malts. 5.5% ABV @ Talisman

Talisman The Dagda IPA - The nose has malt sweetness detected balanced by grapefruit and pine.
Nice malt and hop balance with flavors of rich earthiness coupled with malt and citrus flavors. Nice IPA 6.6% ABV @ Talisman

Talisman Iron Age Oatmeal Stout - Nose has coffee, roasted malts. Taste is coffee up front, some oats are present, a touch of chocolate. There's a slight sourness in the finish which is typical for the style. 5.6% ABV @ Talisman

Talisman Bel's Fury Red Ale - The nose is malty with some piney and herbal hops. The taste is mostly fruity malts with some herbal bitternss underneath. A little too sweet on this first batch could use more hops for balance. 6.2% ABV @ Talisman

Talisman The Kreation Krystalweizen Bready and toasty nose. The taste follows with bread and crackers. There is a bit of raw grain in back as well. Light and refreshing. 4.5% ABV @ Talisman

Talisman Uplifted Scottish Style Ale Toasted malt and caramel in the nose. The taste is mostly toast and roasted malt. Caramel sweetness could be more assertive. Drinks well for a session version of the style. 4.0% ABV @ Talisman

Proper Instigator Helles Bock - Sadly, I've not tried this yet. @ Proper Brewing

Bohemian Zito Rye Lager - Not had this one yet. 4.0% ABV @ Bohemian

Snake River Pakito Session IPA - Havnt had this one yet, it different than the regular Pako and it comes in at 4.9% ABV @Slackwater

RedRock Sunshine for Dark Times - Not sure what to classify this as. It's got dark malts with some cocoa notes. A bit of spicy Belgian yeast - wrapped up with subtle, tart pie cherries. It's damn tasty! Try this one asap and let me know what you think. 4.0% ABV @ RedRock

Wasatch Apple Gose - Not tried this one yet. Sounds interesting. If you have? please share. 4.0% ABV @ Wasatch, Squatters

Shades of Pale Nitro Oatmeal Stout - Not tried this one yet. 4.0% ABV @ Shades of Pale

Part 2 of Round One has ended - no real surprises in most of these match ups. I personally was a little sad to see some of  those great beers exit in the first round. Part 3 of Round One begins now. I've decided to start the Part 4 of Round One on Monday instead of Sunday, just because it's an odd day for people.

Here's your breakdown of the previous bouts. Any questions?

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72.33%	Avenues Proper - Gose	149 (72.33%)
27.67%	Bonneville Amber	57 (27.67%)

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80.35%	2 Row Dangeraux	184 (80.35%)
19.65%	Moab Triple	45 (19.65%)

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32.67%	Uinta Oaked Jacked Pumpkin	66 (32.67%)
67.33%	Squatters 529	136 (67.33%)

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42.6%	Uinta Anniversay Barley Wine	95 (42.6%)
57.4%	Epic Elder Brett	128 (57.4%)

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55.06%	Roosters Chocolate Stout	98 (55.06%)
44.94%	Vernal Porter	80 (44.94%)

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25.45%	Bohemian Dortmunder	56 (25.45%)
74.55%	RedRock Drioma	164 (74.55%)

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66.1%	Bonneville Irish Red	117 (66.1%)
33.9%	Shades of Pale Wheat	60 (33.9%)

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64.65%	Avenues Proper - Proper Beer	128 (64.65%)
35.35%	Squatters Big Cottonwood Amber	70 (35.35%)

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Cheers!

Shades of Pale - Blackout Belgian Style Triple

This offering from Shades of Pale originally debuted under SOP's Beer X label last May. It proved to be so popular that it earned it's way out of the special/limited release packaging and has received it's own name.

Blackout Belgian Style Triple is one of SOP's biggest beers to date at coming in at 8.6% ABV - down a little from last years inaugural release which was 9.2%. It has a wonderfully peachy fruitiness with banana and clove backing it up. It will only be available at the SOP's bottleshop and comes in easy drinking 12oz. bottles. This beer will be available starting tomorrow (3/17/16).

Also at Shades of Pale tomorrow - A special Nitro Stout will be on tap for the first time and Chow Truck will be there serving tasty treats. Jake Skeen one man band music will also be playing.

Now on to the Utah Beer Challenge

Results are in for Part 1 of Round One. RedRock pulled-off two big wins with Elephino and Imperial Red being two of the most popular. In the battle of the rye beers, Moab's Hopped Rye came out on top, narrowly beating Desert Edge's Road Rage Rye. Shades of Pale's Triple - Squatters Fifth Element - Desert Edge's UPA and Black o' Lantern from Wasatch also prevailed and will move on to the next round. 

Speaking of the next round - Part 2 of Round One ballots are up right now and will be up until Friday morning. There are more tough choices to make, seeing many beloved beers going head to head early. 

Here's a breakdown of the voting.

Cheers! 

Total	Answer
61.24%	Bohemian Baverian Weiss	128 (61.24%)
38.76%	Bonneville Pale Ale	81 (38.76%)

(209 Total Votes)

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Total	Answer
37.39%	Uinta Labyrinth Black Ale	89 (37.39%)
62.61%	RedRock Imperial Red Ale	149 (62.61%)

(238 Total Votes)

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Total	Answer
41.58%	Hoppers - Pale Morning Ale	79 (41.58%)
58.42%	Shades of Pale - Triple	111 (58.42%)

(190 Total Votes)

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Total	Answer
21.19%	Uinta - Cockeyed Cooper	50 (21.19%)
78.81%	RedRock Elephino	186 (78.81%)

(236 Total Votes)

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Total	Answer
57.97%	Desert Edge - UPA	120 (57.97%)
42.03%	Wasatch - First One Down	87 (42.03%)

(207 Total Votes)

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Total	Answer
61.54%	Squatters Fifth Element	136 (61.54%)
38.46%	Wasatch Ghost Rider	85 (38.46%)

(221 Total Votes)

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Total	Answer
47.26%	Desert Edge - Road Rage Rye	95 (47.26%)
52.74%	Moab - Hopped Rye	106 (52.74%)

(201 Total Votes)

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Total	Answer
36.95%	Roosters - Polygamy Pale Ale	75 (36.95%)
63.05%	Wasatch - Black o' Lantern	128 (63.05%)

(203 Total Votes)

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Label found at Shipcomplient.com