God, Beer, Porn & Wheat Wine?

What do you get when when you mix Craft beer enthusiast - Women of Faith and the Porn Industry?
I don't know but I assume it would tend to look a little like this photo here.

Believe it or not that was all going on this past weekend in Denver. Less The Women in Faith conference I doubt you'd see such a sight in SLC.

Anyway Utah represented well at GABF this year, there were a lot of great discoveries and some promising deals being made. Nothing is set in stone mind you, but look at Jolly Pumpkin and Cascade Brewing as two big possible gets for the SLC market.

On the local front we did make one new discovery that I can't believe we missed. Apparently Wasatch Brewpub head brewer Matt Beamer has put together a tasty Wheat Wine and slipped it in compleatly under the radar. Simply named Wasatch Wheat Wine.

These are a somewhat new American concoction akin to Barleywines in strength, but they contain a large portion of wheat malt; upwards of 50%. The wheat provides a soft and fluffy mouthfeel. Color and bitterness varies. Matt's was a cloudy golden-amber color with a very small sized off white head. The nose wheaty and toasty with a hint of floral hops. The Tastes was the same starting with floral bitterness, wheat and toast, The end was light with citrus. The 8.5% ABV was well hidden.

No release date has been set for Wasatch Wheat Wine but it should be a couple of months away. Matt Said it may spend some time againg in oak before it's bottled. And as of now; when it is released it may only be available at the Wasatch Brewpub in Park City. Cheers!

Top Photo: Beer Missionaries - Jon, Heather, Dave, Matt(Beamer) & Adam From Utah Brewers Coop & Wasatch Brewpub.

Utah's 2009 GABF Winners

Sorry this has taken so long, but I'm still in vacation mode. Here is a list of the breweries that came home with medals at this years Great American beer Festival.

The showing was not as strong as past years, even though there's been some incredibly delicious stuff coming out of Utah these past few years.

More GABF news coming. Cheers!

Bronze Red Rock Organic Zwickel Bier
Bronze Red Rock Blonde Ale
Silver Cutthroat Pale Ale
Bronze Winterfest 2008

Photo: Chris and Kevin from RedRock Brewing "sport'n" their medals.

Hops and Hoppers

A lot of you were able to purchase hops from High Desert Hop Farms last week, but didn't know the specific Alpha Acid content of the hops that you bought. Well the alpha report on those hops is in from Univ. Oregon in Corvallis. Here you go.

Cascade 5.37
Columbus 12.12
Galena 8.19

The Alphas are slightly below average so adjust your recipes accordingly.

Also Donovan Steele, Secret Agent and Brewmaster at Hoppers has decided that his debut bottled beers are looking to be a Pils around 5.2% abv and a Black Lager at or a round 6% abv. Dono seens to be really geeked about the Black Lager at near bock strength... perhaps a Schwarzbock? Okay... now you've got my attention!

Posts will be sporadic for the rest of the week, I'm headed for Denver to attend The Great American Beer Festival for "research" purposes.... yeah, I almost chuckled myself. Anyone else going? I'd love to hook up.

Prost!

This Week at Desert Edge

Desert Edge is offering up some very yummy stuff right now. Chris has brewed up his English Mild. It is served on the nitro tap so it has that nice creaminess to it. The British Mild is an English beer, brown in color with a subtle roastiness.

Chris is also now serving the Backcountry Cream Ale. This is a light, malty beer with low, but defined hop character. Cream ales have lactose sugar added to give them a slight sweetness. Lactose sugars don't ferment, so they add sweetness without adding alcohol during fermentation.

Chris also has his Summertime Kristalweizen, Munich Lager, and the Road Rage Rye as well as his standards. Utah Pale Ale, Pub Pils, Happy Valley Hefe, and the Ladder Days Stout. That's nine beers! Chris is our friend...

Cheers!

Squatters Oktoberfest

I love this part of the beer year, autumn beers are amongst my favorites. The Märzen/Oktoberfest is at the top of my list.

Märzenbiers are full-bodied, rich, toasty, typically dark copper in color with a medium to high alcohol content. There are quite a few good options out there right now for Utah beer drinkers and all are outstanding examples of the style.
Samuel Adams Octoberfest - Paulaner Oktoberfest-Märzen - Spaten Oktoberfestbier Ur-Märzen - Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen & Hoppers Märzen are all available right now.

But the one I want to talk about is Squatters Oktoberfest. This is the beer Squatters created to help celebrate their 20th Annibrewsary and man did they nail it!

Pours a warm orange brown color with a firm, creamy white head. The nose is full of clean toasty malts with a bit of subtle nutty character. The taste starts with lots of crisp, smokey malts, biscuit tones and a good citrusy hop twang. Vanilla, orange peel and a spices lingering towards the finish. The bitter hops meld with a slight malt smokiness into the after taste. Very well balanced and highly drinkable with an ABV of 5.5%. This is a great example of what Oktoberfest biers are all about.

Squatters Oktoberfest is available in 18oz bottles at Park City and the Downtown SLC Squatters locations. It is also available in a beautiful 1 liter flip top jug (shown above) for out the door sales. They'll be releasing 50 a week until they are gone(about 4 weeks worth). Please grab one! You'll be sad if you don't.

If there's a Märzen out there that I missed, please tell us about it!

Prost!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Organic Hops For Sale

Last week I told you about High Desert, Utah's first certified organic Hop Farm. This week I get to tell you that they're open for business and they're ready to sell you their inaugural crop of Cascade - Galina and Columbus hops.

Co-owners Tim Begue and Joe Nangle are opening up the doors and the fields starting today 9/14 at 9am and going to 6pm. The Galena are down and half the Cascade is down and next are the Columbus CTZ's. You can buy fresh hops off the vine or dried and bagged ones. The prices are are based on weight so their will be a price adjustment for the wet weight vs. the dry.

If you can't make it during the week Tim & Joe will also be selling their hops on Saturday the 19th at the downtown SLC Farmers Market in a booth with big sign that reads ORGANIC GARLIC. It's on the 300 south side of Pioneer Park. And if that's not enough their currently making deals to sell them to local home brew shops.

High Desert Hops is located at 632 S. Gladiola St.(3400 W.) in Salt Lake City and will be selling hops 'till they're gone.

Cheers!

The World's First Ski-In Gastro-Distillery.

This isn't really beer related but it's close... and pretty damn cool.

David Perkins' dream of a destination whiskey distillery is almost a reality. The High West Distillery and Saloon is just weeks away from from opening the world's first ski-in gastro-distillery.

Located in the historic National Garage and the Watts property at 703 Park Ave. near Park City's Town Lift. Perkins and his partner James Dumas have spared no expense in bringing the Park City treasure into the 21st century, while retaining 80 percent of its original materials - enough to keep it on the National Historic Registry.

The house which is adjacent to the garage now features several dining rooms and a bar. The historic garage or livery is large enough to host business and social groups and of course the 18-foot-tall German-made brass still.

High West actually has been distilling whiskey in a Salt Lake City warehouse for four years. High West rye and vodka has been for sale at Utah State Liquor Stores for a number of years and High West's Rendezvous Rye came home with Top Ten honors at the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits competition.

The High West Distillery and Saloon will be open to the public for tours, dining and sipping. It also will cater to private parties.

I can't wait to check out David's new place.

Cheers!

Pick'n & Grin'n

It's harvest time! And with that comes harvest beers. And there's no better way to ensure the freshest possible taste in your harvest beers, then to pick your ingredients yourself.

That's what the RedRock crew got the opportunity to do this past weekend at Utah's newest hop farm High Desert Hops. Head brewer Kevin Templin his crew and some family members spent the afternoon picking High Desert's inaugural batch of hop cones for some of their yet undisclosed fall beers.
High Desert is growing three varieties right now. Cascade - Galina and Columbus. For a first year crop these hops are huge, fat and full of resiny goodness. The RedRock guys were picking the Galina, as you can see from the pics their damn near perfect.

At some point High Desert may open up their organic certified farm to the public and even "pick your own" sales. How cool would that be homebewers?

As soon as their ready, they'll let me know and I'll post all the details.
Cheers!

Another Oktoberfest

Yes that's right, another Oktoberfest. This one is a little bit different from the one at Snowbird. It's smaller and instead of mountain views you'll get canyons of buildings. But hey, there's still beer.

Del Vance from the Beerhive and Chef Frodie from the Vienna Bistro are teaming up to offer people a taste of Oktoberfest downtown. The two main street businesses will close down the wide sidewalks on Sept 25th to serve up beer food and authentic Alpine music.

Besides the Beerhive's great beer, Chef Frodie has made tons of his special recipe sausages. If you haven't tried his authentic Alpine Cuisine your really missing out. We're talking Veal Bratwurst - Swiss Bratwurst - Kielbasa Sausage - Jagdwurst - Leberkäse - Weinerschnitzel - Ham Hock - Schinken Speck & Currywurst, yes I said Currywurst. It's the shnitzel!!!

There's no charge except for the food and drink, not a bad way to spend the afternoon. More info as it comes my way. Prost!

The Place for Beer in Park City

Park City is a bit of an anomaly in Utah. With it's high number bars and restaurants it's a town built for adults who have a penchant for enjoying nightlife. For the most part Park City is a cocktail town; there's nothing wrong with that, it's a resort town. If you wanted a good beer you most likely went to the Wasatch brewpub. Why not? they make some of the best beer in the state.

But if you want a little more variety or something more familiar many bars in PC offered limited options. Until recently. Like most places Lindsay O Michaels is a cocktail place, with one exception. They want to also be know as PC's beer place.

Every month since opening LOM's Beer guy Scott Kirkwood has been working on expanding the bars beer selection to where it's now the the largest and most varied in Park City.

Here's LOM's new arrivals
Bards Tale Dragons Gold (Gluten Free)
Big Sky Moose Drool Brown Ale
Delirium Tremens
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Mendocino Red Tail Ale
Moab Brewery Dead Horse Amber Ale
Moab Brewery Scorpion Pale Ale
Rogue Dead Guy Ale
Rogue Mocha Porter
Uinta Anniversary Barley Wine
Wasatch Devastator Double Bock.

Cheers!

Abyss is On It's Way

On the heels of yesterdays Deschutes-gasm comes word from Del Vance over at the Beerhive that he has ordered 50 cases of Deschutes' Abyss Imperial Stout. This 11% a.b.v. impy stout is wood aged and pours roasty, woody and sweet.

It is without a doubt one of the most sought after craft beers in the nation. If you've had it you know why. Del isn't sure if his order is what's left of last Novembers '08 batch or this new batch that's due out in the next month or two.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Cheers!

A Deschutes-gasm

When the state decided to start carrying Descutes beer a couple of months ago they only planned on buying two of their labels. Mirror Pond Pale Ale and Black Butte Porter.

Well frankly that just wasn't good enough for those of us who wanted more from this outstanding northwest brewery. So bars like Bayou and the Beerhive started placing special orders for some of their seasonal and more in demand beers.

The Bayou recently got in a huge order of Deschutes that'll satisfy any range of taste and help you get your Deschutes-gasm on. Here's what they got.

Black Butte Porter
Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Inversion IPA
Green Lakes Organic
Obsidian Stout
Bachelor ESB
Cascade Ale
Twilight Ale
Jubelale
Red Chair
Black Butte XXI
Mirror Mirror

I was quite fond of the Twilight Ale. It's low in abv's, about 5.0%. But full bodied and nicely hopped with a combo of four hops. Most noticeably Amarillo. Many of these are only seasonals and won't be around long.

Also returning from back-order-limbo are Anchor Brewing's Liberty Ale, Anchor Porter and Old Foghorn Barleywine. As well as Boulevard's Double Wide IPA and Saison-Brett.
Cheers!

Hoppers is out of Midvale

Not too long ago if you wanted a craft beer from a specific brewpub you could only get it from that brewpub. Oh how the time they is a chang'n. RedRock & Bohemian are building/built new breweries, Roosters and Squatters have multiple locations, Epic Brewing is on deck and the list goes on.

Now entering the off premises beer market comes Hoppers. Last week for the first time since opening their doors, the Midvale brewpub has it's beer in an outside establishment.

The Beerhive is Debuting Hoppers "This is the Pilsener". It's made with all German grains, hops, and and a Kloster yeast strain. This is a great German style Pils. It won it's third gold medal in a row last June at NABA in Idaho Falls.

Brewmaster Donovan Steele will be rotating his seasonals on this tap at the Beerhive. Once the Pils is gone the Double Black Lager will slide in followed by Hoppers Oktoberfest and McGee's Red Ale. Donovan said "I'm only going to put on tap the best beers I have to offer. Because Hoppers doesn't have a bulk base grain silo, all of our grain comes in bags, allowing me to bring in only premium malts for 100% of the grains used in every batch; more work for me but a great excuse to use only the best. This lack of convenience has become a blessing".

Besides getting his beer out of the brewpub Donovan got some other good news. Hoppers just purchased a brand new bottling and filler cap system. This means Dono will now have the ability to get Hoppers into the high gravity beer game.

Donovan is still undecided what his first bottle conditioned beer will be, but should have it figured out by next week. And if all goes well he'll likely be
bottling in a little over a month, maybe two. I know a lot of people will be looking forward to these beers.

Damn, this is turning out to be one helluva year for beer in Utah. Prost!

Beer School

Any opportunity to obtain a little more beer knowledge is a good thing in my book. I think that's one of the great things about being into craft beer now, the landscape is ever changing.

If your looking for a little more from your enjoyment of beer, I have a fun and very popular option for you.

For quite a few years now the Desert Edge Brewery has been putting on Beer School, an immersive evening into making beer and pairing it with food. For the first hour Brewmaster Chris Haas takes participants through the brewery and gives an inside look into the equipment, the process and the ingredients.

Then students head upstairs and drink all eight or nine beers that Desert Edge has on tap at that time and talk about the flavor components and styles. The chef then whips-up four dishes to pair with the beer. Every session is different every time, all dishes are off the menu.

If this sounds like it'll float your boat, then you'd better plan ahead. Beer School is booked until November and takes place the the first Thursday of the month from 7pm till about 10:30.

And if that wasn't enough, Desert Edge just created a brand new brewing space and bought a new brew system that just went on line a few weeks ago. Chris also has four specials back on tap, and some good ones too. Try the Road Rage Rye, it is on at the Beerhive as well. Also on tap are The Munich Lager, Summertime Kristalweizen, and the Augustus Amber Ale.

Desert Edge is located on the East side of Trolley Square. 801-521-8917.

Cheers!

Bringing SLC into the 20th Century

Believe it or not these two fine specimens are more up-to-date than most of Utah's liquor ordinances. We all know that "normal" in Utah is a relative term. What seems normal here is often considered byzantine everywhere else. Especially where alcohol is concerned.

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is preparing to bring the city's outdated city ordinances in to the 20th century. Over the past year Becker has been working on a booze ordinance task force. The focus is on making a place for pubs as a "conditional use" in neighborhood commercial centers, and eliminating the two-bar-per-block rule, effectively clearing the way for a downtown entertainment district that would bring the city to life after dark.

Normalizing Salt lake City's liquor laws would wash away our teetotaling reputation, give the burgeoning tourism and convention industry a boost and dispel the myth that the mere presence of bars turns children into raging, uncontrollable, demonic alcoholics and creates drunken drivers.

Don't cheer yet this is still Utah. Becker's proposed liquor revamp will be vetted and voted on by the Planning Commission and the City Council, as soon as this fall. And of course the Utah Legislature could still "pee in the punch bowl" and kill the whole plan.

Even though there has been a lot of progress in treating adults like adults we're still a long way off from being considered "normal" in the eyes of the world.
Cheers

New This Week

More new beer is available for you at your local liquor store. This weeks new arrivals are.

SAMUEL ADAMS BLACK LAGER
FULL SAIL GRANDSUN OF SPOT
SAMUEL SMITH ORGANIC RASPBERRY

Since this is becoming a regular thing, should I continue to update you guys through a semi regular post such as this, or provide a column over to the right that has a permanent list of the new beers to the area. Your thoughts...

Cheers!

Ahhhh, I got Nuth'n....

Well... there is absolutely nothing going on out there. Sometimes it surprises me how much Utah related beer stuff there is to discuss. But not today. So to fill the void I'm throwing a video at you that I shot a few years ago.

It's a profile piece on Uinta Brewing that I shot for a show called The Insiders List, that airs/aired on The Fine living Network.

If you've got something going on, send me some beer love at UtahBeer@gmail.com. Enjoy & Cheers!

The Book of Brew

A reading from the the Book of Brew. Chapter 11, verse 9 through 21. "And St. Arnold raised his barrel upon high saying 'Oh lord, bless this - thy Divine Keg, that I may shatter it's bung with thy heavy mallet in thy mercy'... And the lord didth grin. And the droves of people were showered with all manner of beer both dark and light". Well...it doesn't technically say that in the book... Something to think about for the second edition.

What the bloody hell am I talking about? Well The Book of Brew is RedRock Brewing Company's bible, per say. It chronicles most every one of the 40+ beers that Red Rock has brewed over the past 15 years.

Inside are descriptions of each beer, along with any awards they may have won. Short bios for each of their brewers, and a little bit about the brewing process. It has been available on all tables since the 4th of July and is also available for sale.

RedRock is hoping to be able to push ahead with a second edition when they run through the first. Amen!

Oktoberfest at Snowbird 2009

Time to break out your lederhosen and show off those hairy, pasty - white legs that you've been working on all summer. Snowbird’s 37th Annual Oktoberfest is underway starting this weekend(August 22 & 23).

Attracting over 70,000 visitors over the sixteen-day celebration, Oktoberfest has grown to become one of the largest festivals in the state of Utah. Oktoberfest includes Oktoberfest Halle featuring the tastes of Bavaria with entertainment from local and national German bands and yodelers. Kinderland fun for children, Der Marktplatz will allow shoppers to browse through a variety of crafters. And of course beer.

Uinta will be pouring their Black Bier and pouring Punk'n Ale even though it won't be available in Utah stores until the beginning of September.

Oktoberfest will run every weekend and end on October 11th. Prost!

Squatters' 20th Annibrewsary Lager

It may still say August on the calendar but trust me, fall is in the air... or at least in the tanks. Most breweries around the world are starting to shift gears and slowly transition their taps to the fall styles. Utah is no exception.

In celebration of Squatters 20th Anniversary, Brewmaster Jennifer Talley is releasing a special lager that is synonymous with Autumn. A Märzen.

The Märzen or Oktoberfest style are the beers that have been served at the like named event in Munich since 1818. Traditionally Oktoberfestbiers were brewed in March and allowed to ferment slowly during the summer months.

The "20th Annibrewsary Lager" as they're calling it is being released September 1st and will be available in 18oz bottles at Park City and the downtown SLC Squatters locations. Squatters will also be releasing 1 liter flip top jugs for out the door sales. They'll be pre-filling the jugs and only releasing 50 a week until they are gone(about 4 weeks worth).

Jen describes the 20th Annibrewsary Lager as having Biscuit like character that softly blends with notes of light toffee to give this malt driven lager it's true Märzen character. German noble hops offer an eloquent balance to the malt complexity and make this medium bodied lager wonderful to enjoy by all. 20th Annibrewsary Lager is a traditional German Märzen. The ABV is at 5.5%.

The Märzen is one of my favorite lagers, I can't wait!

Also, Jen is releasing her Altbier "Alt and in the Way". It's due out at the end of August. Squatters won a gold medal for this at World Beer Cup in 2008. "Hop Riot" her classic American Pale Ale just went on tap, it's packed with Amarillo, Cascade and Chinook hops. Prost!

Gluten Free Utah Beers

I've had a chance to meet a few people over the last couple of days who suffer from Celiac Disease. These are people who suffer damage to the intestines due to an intolerance to gluten, a protein found in various grains: barley, wheat, rye, spelt, oats, kamut and triticale.

This means these poor folks can't enjoy beer of any kind, which frankly just breaks my heart. So out of curiosity I thought I'd look around and see what options are out there for Celiac suffers and get them to as close as I can to Beervana. I was surprised to find, quite a few gluten free option in Utah.

Red Bridge is found at most grocery stores and is made by Anheuser Busch.
Greens out of the U.K. makes eight gluten free styles. Three of which are available locally. Discovery Amber Ale, Endeavor Dubble & Quest Triple. The Green's are only available at the Bayou, Beerhive and Lindsay O Michaels. And finally there's Bard's Tale Dragon Gold Beer. Bard's Tale is only at state liquor stores.

And as a side note. If you prefer spirits Teton Glacier's Potato Vodka contains no glutens either. As most spiritus liquors are grain based. All that aside it's one damn tasty vodka.

Odds are if your gluten intolerant you don't spend much time here on Utah Beer. But if you know someone who is? Spread the beer love.

Updated beer link

Cheers!

Moab's Triple Released

On the heels of a successful debut Moab Brewing started selling the second beer in their Desert Selct Series Last week. If your not familiar, The D.S.S. is Moab's first attempt at a true high gravity series, served in handsome one liter bottles.

Moab's Tripel is a pale colored, Belgian style ale made with Pilsen malt and a traditional addition of Belgian candy sugar, then hopped with German Noble and Saaz
hops. This ale has a light malt nose and a subtle hop aroma. In traditional fashion, this Tripel has been conditioned in the bottle to create natural carbonation and long-term stability.

If you never got the oportunity to try Jeff's Black Imperial IPA there are about 80 bottles left - only at the brewpub in Moab. Trust me, it's worth your time to get your ass down there and get some.

Next in the series is a Scotch Ale that will be ready in a month or so. I'll get more info on that as it's release gets closer.

Also, later this month Brewmaster Jeff Van Horn and some of his crew will be heading to Montrose Co. to pick hops at the San Juan Hop farms. Last year they picked 25 lbs of Chinook and dried them for use in the B.I.IPA. This is a pretty cool concept for area home brewers and pros alike. They also have their very own strain of hop found at a mine in the Telluride area that's being cultivated also.

It's nice to know the Moab guys and gals still get out and do things a little old school. Cheers!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Give in to the Dark Side

If your a fan of Black Lagers the next couple of weeks will give you a chance to indulge your dark side.

Our first black bier comes to us courtesy of Hoppers and Brewmaster Donovan Steele. Dono's "Double Black Lager" went on tap yesterday. It pours a dark brown with garnet highlights just a hint of cocoa powder or dark chocolate in the finish, yet creamy smooth and dangerously easy to drink. All German except for the water and the brewer. It's tastes even better on Tuesdays, thanks to "$2.50 Tuesdays". Go figure.

Next is Mike's Pro/Am Black Lager from RedRock. The name says it all. Home Brewer extraordinaire Mike Johnson has teamed up with RedRock's Brewmaster Kevin Templin for this American Take on the style. I believe this beer will be entered in the Pro/Am competition at the Great American Beer Festival next month. I've tried Mike's Beer. They're chances a very good.

Finally there is Full Sail Brewing's Sessions Black Lager. An appealing medium bodied black beer with a nice amber malt base, light roastiness amid the caramel toast. An excellent example an American Dark Lager style, a cousin to the German Schwarz.

These are all available right now. The Session black lager is at state liquor stores.
Prost!

Hop Rising and Hell's Keep Released

When the Beer Store at the Utah Brewers Coop opens today you'll finally be able to buy Squatters new Hop Rising & Hells Keep Belgian Style Strong Ale.

If you haven't heard Hop Rising is a big beer (9% ABV) with big IBU's, 85 to be exact. This is a Thanks to copious amounts CTZ (Columbus, Tomahawk, Zeus) and Bravo hops. You may remember Hop Rising as a Pale Ale from Squatters Brewpub. The name was transferred over to the co-op to use for this 2IPA.

Also out is Squatters Hell's Keep, a Belgian Golden Strong Ale. Hell's Keep was originally released earlier this year at Squatters brewpub, Jenny Talley had created this beer as a seasonal/limited release. It was such a hit that they decided to move the production over to the Utah Brewers Cooperative facility so they could take care of the massive bottling project. Hell's Keep is 7.75 ABV and will come in a 750 ML bottle.

Both of these are available at the Beer Store at 1763 South 300 West and at the the downtown Squatters Brew Pub. The Coop is shipping 1,000 cases of Hop Rising to the DABC today and it should hit the State Stores by next week. Hell's Keep will (for now) only be available for purchase(take home) at the Coop.

Also, next time your in Squatters be sure to give Asst. Brewer Jason Stock a little shit. That's his cute lil' mug shot on the label. Cheers!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Ruby River is Out of the Pub

The other day I mentioned that Ruby river had shut down a few of their locations. Some of the restaurants may be gone but the beer side of the business is still moving forward.

Like most breweries in Utah, Ruby River isn't content with just having their beers available only at their brewpub/restaurant they want it out, to as wide a customer base as possible.

Currently RR is serving their suds at all RR locations, Red Robin and select Sizzler locations. Rob Bunn, Brewmaster for RR tells me that he's got a deal with Wasatch Distributing to get his beer out to the masses. His Ruby Red Ale is currently at Teazers up in Ogden and is hoping to have more beers on tap soon including their delicious Rockwell Porter.

Ruby River doesn't get a lot of play, there's hardly any mention of their craft brews on their website(hint, hint to RR management). So, make the effort to get out and try their stuff. There's too much craft beer momentum in Utah to slow it down now. Cheers!

New Beer at the Beerhive

When Del Vance opened the Beerhive a couple weeks ago, he did so promising that he'd be delivering more unique beers for Utah's starved beer community.

It's a slow process getting the fridges stocked with new stuff, but they are starting to trickle in.
Yesterday the Beerhive sent me a list of some new and nearly new Deschutes labels.

Mirror Mirror
Black Butte XXI
Red Chair IPA
Obsidian Stout
Inversion IPA
Bachelor ESB

That's most of Deschutes' regular line-up, half of the Reserve Series and a third of their Bond Street Series. Not Bad considering Deschutes has only been in the market for a couple of months.

The only places you can get these beers are the Beerhive and the Bayou. Mark says he has Mirror Mirror and Black Butte XXI and says he's expecting the Red Chair IPA soon. Cheers!

One Less Option for St. George

It looks like your craft beer options in St. George just got a little more bleak. Sizzling Platter Incorporated, the parent company that owns Ruby River Steakhouse has closed it's St. George location as well as their Idaho Falls & Boise restaurants. Company officials cite the struggling economy for the necessary cuts.

Even though the St. George location never brewed on site; they had their beer shipped down from the main brewery in Ogden. It's still sad that beer lovers in southern Utah have one less option.

I recommend checking out Zion Canyon Brewing regardless. ZCBC is located in Springdale Utah, just outside of Zion National Park. It's about a 45 min drive outside of St. George and they're beer is available thought southern Utah. Cheers!

Beehive Brew-Off Winners

First off let me say that for a first attempt at a Homebrew competition Mark, Jamie, Mike and everyone else involved did an incredible job of putting on a well organized, detail oriented BJCP sanctioned competition.

Besides running smoothly, I gotta say the quality of the beers entered really blew the judges away. We're talking about professional brewers, industry professionals and certified judges. It really made me sink back in my chair and think to myself, "man... my homebrew really blows".

At one point Saturday afternoon I thought that we were going to "go to blows" over which IPA was the overall winner. Luckily the final result kept everyone happy. I hope.

Entries wern't limited to Utah homebrewers, entries came from as far away as California, Texas and Nebraska. Check out the Beernut's website for more details. Also, check out the news coverage from Fox13.

Cheers to all the winners. Nicely done!

Beehive Brew Off Results

August 1 2009
Sponsored by The Beer Nut/ZZHOPS

299 Entries

Richard Jensen	WVC,UT	Scottish 70	9B	Scottish 70/-	1
Craig Hardy	Springville,UT	My Red	9D	Irish Red Ale	2
Kevin Kroll	Lincoln,NE		9E	Strong Scotch Ale	3
Table 2 - Light Lagers (5 Entries)
Mike Johnson	SLC,UT	Helles	1D	Munich Helles	1
Tracy Johancsik	Murray,UT		1E	Dortmunder Export	2
Mike Johnson	SLC,UT	American Lager	1B	Standard American	3
Table 3 - IPA's (24 Entries)
Ryan Cathey	SLC,UT	Down pour IPA	14A	English IPA	1
MIke Wilder	SLC,UT	Double IPA	14C	Imperial IPA	1
Rob Kent	SLC,UT	Doobious	14C	Imperial IPA	3
Table 4 - Pilsners (8 Entries)
Ryan Cathey	SLC,UT	Sunnyside Pilsner	2B	Bohemian Pilsner	1
Mike Horner	SLC,UT	Bit O' Pils	2A	German Pilsner	2
Tracy Johancsik	Murray,UT		2B	Bohemian Pilsner	3
Table 5 - Euro Lagers (8 Entries)
Kevin Kroll	Lincoln,NE		3B	Oktoberfest	1
Bryan Van Winkle	SLC,UT	Maternity Marzen	3B	Oktoberfest	2
Mike Horner	SLC,UT	Augustfest	3B	Oktoberfest	3
Table 6 - Bocks and Dark Lagers (10 Entries)
Troy Faircloth	Tooele,UT	Schwarzbier	4C	Schwarzbier	1
Shawn Scott	McAlester,OK	Doubravka Dunkel	4B	Munich Dunkel	2
Davo Mahaffey	SLC,UT	Mahaffinator	5C	Doppelbock	3
Table 7 - Hybrids (20 Entries)
Vince Stuart	South Jordan,UT	Just Beer	6B	Blond Ale	1
Vince Stuart	South Jordan,UT	Cal Common?	7B	California Common Beer	2
Vince Stuart	South Jordan,UT	Rye Not	6D	American Wheat or Rye Beer	3
Table 8 - English Pale Ale (15 Entries)
Ray Madsen	Heber City,Ut	Standard/Ordinary Bitter	8A	Ordinary Bitter	1
Brian Michel	SLC,UT	Summer Rain	8C	Extra Special/Strong Bitter (EPA)	2
Tracy Johancsik	Murray,UT	Sorachi ESB	8C	Extra Special/Strong Bitter (EPA)	3
Table 9 - American Ale (21 Entries)
Chico Lusby	Lompoc,CA	Fogtown Pale Ale	10A	American Pale	1
Zach Gildersleeve	SLC,UT	Madison Brown	10C	American Brown	2
Vince Stuart	South Jordan,UT	Tasty	10A	American Pale	3
Table 10 - English Brown Ale (7 Entries)
Vince Stuart	South Jordan,UT	Oh Ya	11C	Northern English Brown	1
Kevin Kroll	Lincoln,NE		11C	Northern English Brown	2
Shawn Scott	McAlester,OK	Blackfriar's Brown	11A	Mild	3
Table 11 - Porter (16 Entries)
Mike Johnson	SLC,UT	Brown Porter	12A	Brown Porter	1
Carlos Aguirre	SLC,UT	Robust Porter	12B	Robust Porter	2
Jim Lauscher	Sandy,UT	Samuel Smith Taddy Porter Clone	12A	Brown Porter	3
Table 12 - Stout (16 Entries)
RICKY/QUINN HANSING/ESKELSEN	SLC,UT	Sven the spartan imperial resistance stout	13F	Russian Imperial Stout	1
Harley Hoskins	Slc,UT	Espresso Oatmeal Stout	13C	Oatmeal Stout	2
x Connelly Brothers	SLC,UT	Grand Slainte Stout	13F	Russian Imperial Stout	3
Table 13 - German Wheat and Rye (10 Entries)
Ray Madsen	Heber City,Ut	Weizenbock	15C	Weizenbock	1
Chris Detrick	SLC,UT	Sorachiweizen	15A	Weizen	2
Kevin Kroll	Lincoln,NE		15B	Dunkelweizen	3
Table 15 - Belgian Saison, Wit and Biere de Garde (19 Entries)
Mike Hahn	SLC,UT	Saison I	16C	Saison	1
Troy Faircloth	Tooele,UT	Saison	16C	Saison	2
Jeremy Juedeman	Ogden,UT	Saison	16C	Saison	3
Table 16 - Belgian Pale and Specialty (16 Entries)
Alex Lemieux	Salt Lake City,UT	Biere de Mars	16E	Belgian Specialty	1
Brent Winlker	SLC,UT	Belgian IPA	16E	Belgian Specialty	2
Brent Winlker	SLC,UT	Belgian Dark Ale	16E	Belgian Specialty	3
Table 17 - Sour Ales (11 Entries)
TROY JASKOWSKI	SLC,UT	FLANDERS RED ALE	17B	Flanders Red	1
TROY JASKOWSKI	SLC,UT	DEEP KRIEK	17F	Fruit Lambic	2
TROY JASKOWSKI	SLC,UT	LAMBIC DE POMME	17F	Fruit Lambic	3
Table 18 - Belgian Strong (19 Entries)
Carlos Aguirre	SLC,UT	Mexo-Peruvian Oro	18D	Belgian Golden Strong Ale	1
Tyler Makmell	SLC,UT	Belgian Strong Ale	18E	Belgian Dark Strong Ale	2
Kris Olsen	SLC,UT	Double Dubbel	18E	Belgian Dark Strong Ale	3
Table 19 - Strong Ale (8 Entries)
Mike Johnson	SLC,UT	BARLEY WINE	19B	Barleywine	1
SCOTT ENDICOTT	SLC,UT	BARLEY WINE 2007	19B	English Barleywine	3
Matt Lewis	Logan,Ut	Harvest Ale	19C	American Barleywine	3
Table 20 - Fruit Beer (9 Entries)
Rob Kent	SLC,UT	Old Limey	20A	Fruit Beer	1
Doug Kirchner	Park City,UT	Apricot Ale	20A	Fruit Beer	2
J. Daren Wightman	Murray,UT	Black & Blue Berry Ale	20A	Fruit Beer	3
Table 21 - Spice, Herb and Vegi..Yummmm (16 Entries)
TROY JASKOWSKI	SLC,UT	APPLECARMEL LAGER	21B	Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer	1
Matthew Walker	SLC,	Von-Pumpkin	21A	Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer	2
BRANDON CUNNINGHAM	SLC,UT	TOUR DE SUDS	21A	Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer	3
Table 22 - Smoke & Specialty (21 Entries)
Walt Minkel	Bountiful,UT	Hickory Smoke Ale	22B	Other Smoked Beer	1
Rob Kent	SLC,UT	The Good Ol' Days	23A	Specialty Beer	2
Kevin Kruse	Murray,UT	Smokin' IPA	23A	Specialty Beer	3
Table 23 - Meads (8 Entries)
Robert Cady	SLC,UT	Sage Honey Mead	24A	Dry Mead	1
RICKY/QUINN HANSING/ESKELSEN	SLC,UT	Your Peach Braggot is in another castle	26B	Braggot	2
TYLER MAUGHAN	SLC,UT	GREEN TEA BRAGGOT	26C	Open Category Mead	3
Table 24 - Ciders (5 Entries)
Jeff/Ayllyn Nolte	Plano,TX	Governor Perry	28D	Other Spec. Cider/Perry	1
Jeff/Ayllyn Nolte	Plano,TX	Cranberry Cider	28B	Fruit Cider	2
Rand Babcock	Riverton,Ut	Cider	27A	Common Cider	3
BEST OF SHOW
Troy Faircloth	Tooele,UT	Schwarzbier	4C	Schwarzbier	1
Mike Johnson	SLC,UT	Megan's Barleywine	19C	American Barleywine	2
TROY JASKOWSKI	SLC,UT	FLANDERS RED ALE	17B	Flanders Red	3

Three Sheets is Back!

Yup that show that I've been pimping to ya'll for years is back from it's near demise and is now airing on the Fine Living Network.

If you've missed my past posts on Three sheets or have never heard of it. The show aired on MOJO a now defunct HD only channel that ran on Comcast in Utah until earlier this year.

"Three Sheets" is a humorous trip through different drinks and drinking cultures around the
world, features comedian Zane Lamprey who travels worldwide and engages in local
alcohol-related customs.

In each episode, Lamprey eats the local food, which is followed by learning about the customs and libations of that area and then experiences the local hangover cure.

Zane will introduce different local alcoholic beverages and frequently spend some time with either a bar tender or alcohol-maker to learn more about the drink. Many times when a new term or idea is introduced a note will pop on the screen to provide further information or help with pronunciation.

This is Three Sheet's 4th season and I believe 17 episodes were produced. Season four started
on July 20th and new episodes air on Monday nights.

If you don't have Have FLN on cable or satellite all episodes can be found on HULU.

Cheers!

We Got Some!

I'm writing this from the parking lot of the wine store on 300e. 255s. They have 50 bottles of Uinta BBB. I just ran into four Utah Beer Blog peeps and we all got of our three bottles. So if you want 'em this is the place. They don't seem to be ringing up at the register so prepare to wait a few minutes. But they are here and going fast.

Cheers!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Hop Rising Released

Hop Rising the new Double IPA from Squatters is out today and should be at local liquor stores and at the Utah Brewers Co-op. If you can't find it at the stores the beer store at the Co-op will defiantly have it.

I haven't tried it yet, but hope to today. If you have tell us about it!

And on the Uinta BBB front here's what I have.

Not all stores are getting it, only three state stores are. Some stores that weren't supposed to get any at all were mistakenly shipped some, and those were returned to the central warehouse to go out to the 3 stores where they were "forced shipped"; meaning those stores didn't have a choice but to take them.

So The stores that are supposed to carry it are the two wine stores downtown and the third store is the 90th south store off of I-15. I don't know if they're there for sure, but those are the stores you need to go to to get them.

Some of you have asked about the awards for the Beehive Brew-off. The awards will be given out Sunday afternoon or evening a couple hours after judging ends at the Bayou.

Because there were more entries than expected it's hard to pin down an exact time because we don't how long judging will take. Have I given you enough to talk about!!!
Cheers!

More Beer for You

Here are some new beers available at your local liquor store. Most of the Sam Adams beers should be available now(I've had them). It's a short list, better than no list at all I guess.

I'm still working on the big Uinta BBB mystery/scandal.

Cheers!

SAMUEL SMITH's ORGANIC RASPBERRY
FULL SAIL's SESSION BLACK LAGER
SAMUEL ADAMS' IMPERIAL DBL BOCK
SAMUEL ADAMS' IMPERIAL WHITE

Detente with Beer

Three guys go into the White House and get a beer... Have you heard this Joke??? Well my friends it's no Joke. This is how detente works in the Obama administration. And I like it!

A couple weeks ago a Harvard professor was arrested for "being black while at home". The President commented on it, feelings were hurt, panties became "all bunched up " nation-wide and now the healing begins.

The president is now taking time away from more important things like war and health care to heal boo-boo's over a beer or two in the White House.

My question to you is this. What beer do you serve?

Cheers!

The Green Pig

I love this photo! What you are looking at is the old bar from "Anchors Away", Remember???
It was the old tavern/coffee bar/restaurant that used to be next to Port o' Call on 400 s.

Anyway it's a nice bar, and instead of trashing it with the rest of the now defunct bar it was saved and stored for just such an emergency.

My pal Bridget Gordon, former beer goddess from Port o' Call is opening a new Pub in Salt Lake
with her hubby and it looks like "Anchor's" old bar is a perfect fit.

The Green Pig Pub is located at 31 E. 400 S. at the old Cabana Club location and looks like they've taken that old lounge space and remodeled it into their own.

The Green Pig is Scheduled to open sometime next month. Looks like it's gunna be a great place.
Cheers!

RedRock Expands

RedRock Brewing will be expanding their operations soon. No, not another restaurant. This time the "2007 Large Brewpub of the Year" will be opening it's first ever large-scale production brewery.

That'll be two new breweries in SLC this year. Outstanding!

The new brewhouse will be located in SLC and will be responsible for getting out Brewmaster Kevin Templin's quality suds out to more more bars and stores around the state and beyond.

I don't know if any of you remember, but RedRock did (once upon a time) bottle their amber ale through a contract brewery a few years back. I'm glad that we'll start seeing them again in stores.

RedRock is currently available in better beer establishments around town. Including - but not limited to the the Bayou, The Beerhive The Porcupine & Fiddlers Elbow.

If you've never visited RedRock check out their two locations, Red Rock in SLC is located at
254 S. 200 W. and in Park City at 1640 W. Redstone Center Drive.

Also, Uinta's Bourbon Barrel Barleywine is at the two downtown wine stores and is available behind the counter. Remember three per customers. Cheers!

Moab's Black Imperial India Pale Ale

This post may be a little late, but damn this beer is worth talking about. A few months ago Moab Brewery announced that they were producing a new line of beers, The Desert Select Series. This series is Moab's first attempt at producing big, flavorful beer for a market that's increasingly demanding them.

Last June I finally got my hands on a bottle of their first release, a The Black Imperial India Pale
Ale (thanks to brewmaster Jeff Van Horn) and man is it tasty!

Pours a very dark chestnut color with a large frothy two fingers of off white head. The nose is a fresh bouquet of grapefruit, pine and roasted malts. The taste starts same as the nose with a healthy does of pine and citrus with roasted malt. Toffee and vanilla come next with slightly dry oak and piny resins rounding out the finish. The 8.59% alcohol is noticeable, but for the most part is well hidden. The balance between resiny hops and the roasted malts works nicely. I guess that's the toughest part about this style. Getting these two competing flavors to play together well, without becoming too astringent. A great example of the style. Available only in Moab at the Brewpub.

Next to be released in the Desert Select Series Moab's Belgian Style Triple. Also check out
this write up from the Salt Lake Tribune on Brewmaster Jeff Van Horn.

Beerhive Opens Today

************UPDATE***************
I just stopped by the Beerhive and one of those unforeseen issues has arisen. So if you want to stop-on-by today, I'd call first. (801) 364-4268.

Baring any unforeseen problems or issues The Beerhive Utah's newest craft beer bar will open it's doors today, expanding the options for a community that is starved for quality craft beer. This will be a "soft" opening, so don't expect anything rare or new... for now anyway.

Del has a pretty ambitious list of beers for his new place, I guarantee this will create a lot of extremely happy campers along the Wasatch Front. Besides an outstanding selection of local, national & international fare, the coming months may bring Stone Brewing, Dogfish Head, Ninkasi and Pelican Brewing just to name a few. I don't know how he's doing it, but he's very confident about these "gets".

The Beerhive is at 128 s Main St. in SLC. Hope to see you there.

Also, while I've got you. Has anyone seen AYINGER'S WEIZEN BOCK??? The state has it listed, and I desperately want to try it. If anyone has seen it, post it up!
Cheers!

New Beers for SLC

I was talking to Mark over at the Bayou the other day and he's says he's got some new stuff coming to Utah that's never been sold here before .

First off, since Deschutes came into the market people have been clambering for other labels from those guys. Mark says he's got orders in for Inversion IPA - Obsidian Stout - Mirror Mirror - Black Butte XX - The Abyss & The Dissident. These are all subject to availability, so nothing is set in stone.

New on the list is Bear Republic Brewing out of California. Racer 5 IPA - Red Rocket Ale & Big Bear Stout should be arriving..... well ..... soon. That's the best I can do for now.

Also, Keep checking on the Epic Poll that was listed yesterday. Due to server issues it went down premature. Should be up again soon.

Also, also Uinta Bourbon Barrel Barleywine should be in stores tomorrow.
Cheers!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

An Epic Survey

The guys at Epic Brewing need your help with a survey. If your a Northern Utah beer drinker please participate, it will only take a few minutes. Help them help you damnit! Here's the link. Cheers!

A Quick Update....

It looks like Uinta's Bourbon Barrel Barleywine will be available starting Monday or Tuesday. only 320 bottles will be available for the entire state. Stash some away for a rainy day, but not for too long. Uinta says that this ale is perfect for drinking right now.

Thanks to Douglas for doing the legwork on this.

Cheers!

Utah Brewers Festival 2010

Click Here for the 2010 Utah Beer Festival Info Page.
A lot of people have been asking me "what the hell is up with the Utah Brewers Festival". Sadly I've had no news 'till now.

Organizers have been busy trying to get a festival put together for this year, but due to the current economic climate it has been extremely difficult to secure sponsorship funding. They are interested... but not in '09.

So now organizers have now adjusted business plans for 2010 with the event moniker "Utah on Tap". It will likely not be at the Gallivan Center and no date is specified.

This is a good thing. Imagine a huge beer festival that coincides with a statewide Homebrew competition like the upcoming Beehive Brew-off. All in one weekend. I think that would be well worth waiting another year for. More news as I get it. Cheers!

Uinta's BBB

Last May Uinta announced that it would be releasing their experimental Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine. Ever since then people have been giddy with anticipation about a beer that was just a ghost to most.

Well we're in the home stretch. You should start seeing the limited edition beer within the next week or so. Expect to shell out $13.99 per 651 ml bottle. Cheers!

The Year of the Squasatch

Squasatch: -noun (skwos- ach)
A joint Ventures of Squatters and Wasatch breweries. Produced by the Utah Brewers Co-op.

In the next few weeks your gunna be seeing some new stuff from Squatters. The return of soon to be classic and a new label from the Utah Brewers Co-op.

The first to be released will be Squatters Hell's Keep, a Belgian Golden Strong Ale. Hell's Keep was originally released earlier this year at Squatters brewpub, Jenny Talley had created this beer as a seasonal/limited release. It was such a hit that they decided to move the production over to the Utah Brewers Cooperative facility so they could take care of the massive bottling project. Hell's Keep is 7.75 ABV and will come in a 750 ML bottle.

Next comes the highly anticipated Hop Rising Double IPA. At 9% ABV this is a big beer with big IBU's, 85 to be exact. Thanks to copious amounts CTZ (Columbus, Tomahawk, Zeus) and Bravo hops. You may remember Hop Rising as a Pale Ale from Squatters Brewpub. The name was transferred over to the co-op to use for this 2IPA. The new Hop Rising should be out around the first week of August under the Squatters brand.

The Summer of the Beers just keeps-on-keep'n-on. Cheers!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Salt Lake Bar Crawl 2: Revenge of the Wusses

Okay... for those of you who were brave enough to participate in the mid-week-say-adios-to-private-clubs-bar-crawl, congrats for making it this far. My dainty, beer swilling Constitution (and my real job) require me to get my butt up at the ass-crack of dawn. So I opted not to participate. But if you happen to be a wuss like me, there is another option if you determined to blister your feet while getting your drink on.

To celebrate IN Utah This Week is hosting a bar crawl July 3rd, the first Friday of July. The 1st Annual SLC Bar Crawl will cover 14 bars. Bar Crawlers will pay no cover and wait in no lines. Some bars have offered discounted drinks as well.

The goal of the crawl is to walk, pedal, and ride Trax to all 14 bars (NO DRIVING) and have a beer and/or a shot at each bar! When you have a drink at a bar that bartender will sign the back of your shirt. The objective is to get all 14 bartenders signatures throughout the course of the night!

Registration will be held July 3rd in the North East corner of Trolley Square Mall starting at 3:00pm. Registration is $10 and includes a SLC BAR CRAWL T-Shirt, free entry into all 16 bars and clubs on the night of the crawl, and drink and food specials at many of the bars.

Here's a list of the bars for the July 3rd bar crawl (tomorrow). Cheers!

Green Street
Trolley Wing Company
Desert Edge
Urban Lounge
Cheers to You
Keys on Main
Tavernacle
Johnny's on Second
Juniors Tavern
Bar X
Lumpy's Downtown
Poplar Street Pub
Murphy's Bar and Grill
O'Shucks
Radio City
Jackalope

R.I.P. Private Clubs

Suddenly you were gone. From all the lives you left your mark upon. - Neil Peart

Goodbye Private Clubs. Rest in Peace...