New Brews Soon for You: Uinta, Squatters, Saltfire

Here it is, your preview of new stuff coming soon to beer glass near you. This edition of New Brews Soon for You, touches on three very different beers from Uinta, Squatters and SaltFire.

Starting with Uinta's preview, we have Nobel Nectar (pictured above). This brand new beer looks to be a Belgian style golden strong ale at its base with the addition of grains of paradise, spelt and honey. The target ABV will be around 8.5% - look for it in 12 ounce cans when it hits the market.

Squatters Meteor Shower is in the fermenter as we speak! This is a small batch release of a New England Style IPA made with a shload of Galaxy Hops. Squatters had huge success with the session version of this beer, this 7.0% version will likly be a hit as well. This beer is likely to hit at Squatters downtown pub in the next fourteen days - in 16 ounce cans. Stay close for the exact date. 

Saltfire's Saison De Trahison will be a rotating saison that will change with every batch. Hell, why

not? Brewers do it with IPAs and pale ales, why not saisons. This one is probably still a month or so away. The debut Saison De Trahison will feature lemon zest and ginger root and have an ABV of 6.3%. Saltfire is busy building up their stock of debut beers for an opening that is hopefully happening in the next couple of weeks. When they tell me, I'll tell you.

I have a feeling this will be a great summer for new local beers - what a great time to a craft beer lover in Utah.

Prost!

New Beer Friday 4/27/18

Happy New Beer Friday!

Wasatch Lime Kellerbier: Pours a light yellow, a bit cloudy, with a one finger, quickly dissipating head and some loose lacing. Smell is lime, citrus hops- orange, lemon, yeast, light malt, some dank hops as it warms. The taste also leads with lime, some citrus hops, lemon, a little yeast, it's tart when its more warmed. Decent bitterness throughout, some dank hops on the finish. Smooth, light bodied, dry, fairly refreshing. 4.0% - Available at Wasatch Park City and the UBC Tavern.

Desert Edge New England Pale Ale: Lots of citrus in the nose with some floral notes. I'm blown away by the amount of citrus happening here. The flavor is incredibly well-balanced. I get lots of citrus notes up front; orange, pineapple, and grapefruit. Then come the grassy notes to add some bitterness. The taste ends with more citrus and just the slightest hint of malt. Another wonderful pale ale from Desert Edge. 4.0% - Available at  Desert Edge

Shades of Pale Cerberus: Aromas of dark fruit (Plums, figs and raisins), some Belgian yeast, and candied sugar. Taste is more of the same, sweet malt, candy sugar, dark fruit and yeast. Mouthfeel is rich and strong. The alcohol provides a warming effect and the rich sweet malt helps this go down real easy. There are better, more complex Quads out there, but this one touches all the bases and is quite solid. 13.0% - Available at Shades of Pale starting at 11:30am today.

Tune in this afternoon at 3:30 for more New Beer Friday chat with Mick and Allen along with yours truly on KBER 101.

Cheers!

Party at Rob's House err..Idaho!

Believe it or not, June is less than 40 days away. Big deal, right? Yes! it is a big deal - June is the beginning of summer, and summer is beer festival season! To christen beer fest season we start with one of Utah's best beer festivals.... Now before you start lathering yourselves up into a frenzy, there's a slight problem with our beer festival; we have to hold it in Idaho. I know, I know it's a bit confusing but look at it this way.

Remember when you were younger, and you wanted to throw a huge 'rager' of a party? Sadly you couldn't because you lived with your parents. Of course mom and dad always said, "no". Then you'd go over to your buddies house (let's call him Rob) and ask him if it was cool if you could do it over at his dump. Of course good ol' Rob says, "fuck ya"! and the party would commence. Well, that's kinda our situation here. The state of Utah is "mom and dad", and "Rob" is Idaho.

Well, the Party at "Rob's House" is Saturday, June 2nd from 12-5pm at Sandy Downs in lovely Idaho Falls. To keep it formal we'll call it the Mountain Brewers Beer Festival. One of the great things about this event is that it's not just a beer fest, the preceding week will see dozens of judges, critiquing beers from all over the world, looking to praise the best suds out there.

You'll be able to sample hundreds of different unlimited beers from over 60 breweries! The ticket price is $40 and there are no 'day of' ticket sales. Tickets must be purchased online here, or in advance at select Utah breweries. As of this writing the breweries have not been named, but in the past they have been sold at Uinta, Bohemian and Roosters. More festival info can be found here - and please keep checking back for updated info. So, who's planning on going?

Cheers!

A 420 New Beer Friday!

It's a 420 New Beer Friday! There's not a lot of 'dank' offerings this week; actually there's none. However, there are two beers out there designed to be swilled today. Lagunitas' Waldo and Stone's Enjoy By 4/20/18. These are 'special order' beers and are only available at your better beer pubs. Now that we got that out of the way, let's move on to New Beer Friday.

Today's options couldn't be more different, both in style and in taste. I think you will all be quite happy with what available.

Kiitos American Pilsner: This pils was made with mosaic and cascade hops. A far cry from the usual saaz people are used to. Pine and citrus aromas with light grains and a touch of grapefruit. The flavors start with lightly sweet grains and then citrusy hops with a moderate grapefruit rind bitterness blossom. This beer is hop forward but it has enough bread crumb and light grain malt flavors to knock off the rough edges. This beer is universally pleasing - everyone from classic lager lovers to hoppy pale ale people will like this. 4.0% - Available at Kiitos.

Epic Big Bad Baptist Reserve: Take one beer, make three different variants out of it, then blend them back into one beer. That's what you getting with the BBB Reserve. There were 110 cases made in SLC and there's no a 3 bottle limit. 11.7% Available at Epic's brewery bottle shop.

Epic RiNo Juicy American Pale Ale: The nose on this one (get it?) has big tangerine, lemon, peach and mango with lightly toasted biscuit. The taste follows with grapefruit, pineapple and mango. Some honey-like malt inserts itself at this point making the hop flavors seem more genuine. Next the more bittering qualities of the hops begin to show with citrus peel, light pine and herbal grasses. The finish has zero lingering bitterness with a hint of berry peel. Alcohol is nearly present. This is a brilliant APA. If you don't love this as much as I do we're going to have to start seeing other people. 5.8% - Available at Epic's brewery bottle shop.

Wasatch Apricot Milkshake: I was hoping this would be on tap at the UBC's West Side Tavern yesterday, but it was not. If you have tried it, please share your thoughts. 4.0% - Available at Wasatch's Park City Brewpub and (maybe) the UBC's West Side Tavern.

Proper Black and Blue Skittlebrau:  A very nice looking fuchsia color. Lots of tart berries surround a nice saison base. If your not a huge fan of fruit beers I think you might dig this one. 4.0% - Available at Proper Brewing.

Ballast Point Aloha Sculpin: Some nice tropical fruit notes on the nose like lemon, grapefruit, tangerine, and peach. It starts with marmalade and dry crackers up front, then sharp lemon, grapefruit, and orange. Next there's a bit of berry - this sweetness transitions to pineapple, guava, and grapefruit to round round it out. It finishes somewhat dry with a clean bitterness. This is nice, but I'd probably take the Grapefruit Sculpin over this one. 7.0% - Available at DABC stores and better beer pubs.

Anchor San Franpsycho  IPA: This beer was just released last week and it's already on shelves which means it very fresh. Not tried it yet. 6.3% Available at DABC stores.

Stone/NOFX Punk in Drublic: The aroma is a little herbal, spicy florals with a touch of citrus. The taste is doughy and bitter with grassy German hops and orange peel. Some sulfur in the finish. A light and refreshing helles lager. 5.8% Available at the Bayou.

Stone Totalitarian: Have not tried this Imperial Stout. 10.6% Available at the Bayou

Coronado Stingray DIPA: Have not tried this. 10.6% Available at the Beer Bar

Coronado Orange Ave. Wit: The orange here is subtle allowing the wit part of the beer to still come through. Nice beer. 5.8% Available at Beer Bar, Beerhive.

Coronado Guava Islander: Again, this is a nice fruited IPA that has subtle fruitiness allow the base beer to still shine. 7.0% Available at the Beer Bar.

Coronado Islander IPA: This West Coast Pale Ale blends Centennial, Chinook and Columbus hops for a potent burst of piney bitterness ans lush notes of apricot, grapefruit and mango.7.0% Available at the Beer Bar.

Sláinte!

New Brews, Soon for You: Uinta, Saltfire, 2 Row and Salt Flats

Today in New Brews Soon for You we have a diverse crowd of options coming from many different breweries. Some are coming quite soon while others are still a little ways down the road.

Pictured above is a collaboration beer from Saltfire Brewing and SLC's bad-ass ladies home brew club, the Hop Bombshells. The beer was brewed last weekend and will be one of Saltfire's initial offerings. It's nice to see Saltfire hitting the ground early with a collaboration beer. The beer will be a 6.0% Kolsch called 'Fury' and a portion of the proceeds will go towards the Pink Boots Society.

Uinta Brewing has a new 25th anniversary beer headed our way as well. In the past, Uinta has been releasing a series of fruited sour ales under their 'Birthday Suit' label. This beer will be an Imperial Pilsner that will clock in at 7.5% ABV. You may recall that Uinta made a 9.0% imperial pilsner a few years back called Tilted Smile. I doubt this is the same beer. Look for it in 22 ounce bottles.

2 Row Brewing will soon be releasing a barrel aged version of their Dangereux Farmhouse Ale. This incarnation will be brett soured and aged in white wine barrels. Luckily for you, this beer will be coming sooner than later, with release scheduled in the next 30 days. This will be a very limited release. 10.4% ABV.   

Finally we have a new Belgian style ale from Salt Flats Brewing. Midnight Run will be a Belgian Dubble Ale. Look for a rich malty beer with some spicy / phenolic yeast notes and mild alcoholic characteristics. This beer will have a wholly appropriate ABV of  9.0%.

All of these beers are still in their development phases and like all beers will be ready - when they're ready. As always I'll give you a heads up on when they'll hit.

Speaking of  a 'heads-up" I promised release dates for previous New Brews Soon for You beers. Today, Epic Brewing will be releasing their RiNo Pale Ale in SLC. This beer will debut here in 22 ounce bottle at first then transition into 12 cans by the end of May.

Also from Epic: Big Bad Baptist Reserve will go on sale this Friday. This beer is a special blend of the previous releases of Big Bad Baptist, Big Bad Baptista and Triple Barrel Big Bad Baptist. This will be a very limited release. I'll have tasting notes on both beers in this week's New Beer Friday.

Prost!

New Beer Friday the 13th

I guess today is supposed to be unlucky for some. However this New Beer Friday the 13th is about to change that with these all new brews.
 
Fisher Hop Strawpa: The aroma is complex with hops, citrus and yeast. The taste is heavy with malt and has a grapefruit peel finish. Overall, a really good session IPA. 4.0% ABV available at Fisher.

Fisher Pale #8: Smells faintly of biscuit, bread and malt, with a certain graininess coming through as well and the merest hint of citrus and pine. Taste is a good balance of biscuity malt and citrus hops, with just a hint of pine coming through and an underlying grainy and slightly flowery note. Finishes with crisp floral smack. 4.0% ABV available at Fisher.

Fisher Prime Juice: The aroma is full of earthy, herbal hops with grassy with tropical fruit and citrus zest. Clean and crisp flavor, light, refreshing, easy going brew. Citrus zest, herbal, resinous earth, some pine and a light doughy malt in the background. 4.0% ABV available at Fisher.

Fisher Piney Brown: The nose is very toasty with a good dose of piney and floral hops. The taste follows with toasted bread and crackers. The malt profile is subtle and provides a nice base for the impending pine bitterness that follows. A nice change of pace for a brown ale. 4.0% ABV available at Fisher.

Lagunitas The Waldos: The nose is dank with pine and citrus, with fruity and floral notes.
The tasty is chewy and resinous with layers Mango and grapefruit, a hint of pineapple. Sweet undertones round it out with a big smack of bitterness in the end. Alcohol is fairly well hidden. 11.5% ABV. Available at Beerhive, Bayou, Beer Bar and Slackwater.

Cheers!

Templin Family Brewing

You may have notice that there's been some buzz about a piece of property located 396 936s. 300 w. People have been speculating that it's going to be a brewery - those people would be absolutely correct, it is a brewery.

If you've ever had a chance to chat with Kevin Templin about beer, you know that his enthusiasm for beer is damn contagious. Just in case you're not familiar with Templin, he had been the brew master at Red Rock brewing for most of this century and had guided the brewery to become one of the most respected beer makers in the country - including being named large brewpub of the year in 2007.

Templin has since left Red Rock to chase his own dream of running his own brewhouse. His passion for beer Stretches from wild and funky to classic and German. It's the latter that will be a big influence in his newest project. Templin Family Brewing will be based on the centuries old German concept of family run neighborhood breweries that are just big enough to welcome eager traditional beer enthusiasts while being small enough to foster creativity.

A few days ago, Kevin gave me a tour of his new beer campus. There are three building that make up TF Brewing. The South Building will be the barrel house/event space and offices. Look for dozens of oak barrels of all types, stacked to the ceiling with new all manner of new brews.

The Central Building will be the brew house. It will feature a 15 barrel brew system with plenty of tanks for lagering Templin's award winning spin on beers.

The North Building will house the tap room. look for a larger L-shaped bar with a dozen or so taps
along with long family style tables for communal seating.

Kevin tells me that they're brew system should be delivered in early May, with an opening date sometime this autumn. Look for select high and low point beers in 12 ounce cans as well.

This will be the third brewery to open in Salt Lake City's Grainery Neighborhood - along with Fisher and Kiitos breweries. It's looking to be another great beer year in SLC.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 4/6/18

It's pretty much an all local New Beer Friday, less a couple of Firestone Walker beers. Have a great weekend.

2 Row Hop Dust Ekuanot - Pours a hazy, medium golden amber with an aroma of citrus and pine, lemon and mixed tropical fruit. The flavor is caramel, citrus hops, light mixed tropical fruit, lemon and grapefruit. The hop flavor tapers off into a slightly astringent citrus rind finish. 8.1% ABV. Available at 2 Row, Beer Bar, Bayou - soon to most better beer pubs.

Squatters Hop Rising Tropical - The nose is fruity with lots of citrus peel and tropical fruits. The taste has pineapple right out of the gate with a good dose of tangerine and mango backing it up. The malt is subtly balanced with a bit of melon in the finish. 9.0% ABV. I had it at the UBC's West Side Tavern. It should be popping up at most Squatters/Wasatch locations anytime. 

Kiitos Grapefruit Pale Ale - The nose here has grapefruit peel and pine with a bit of malt sweetness. The taste is your tyical pale with addition of grapefruit juice. You can tell it's real juice because it's puckering on the sides of the tongue. Nice and refreshing. 4.0% ABV. Available at Kiitos.

Epic Beach Bash - This is a collaboration with Beachwood Brewing out of California. It's made with  passion fruit, pineapple and pink guava. It's in Epic's limited release growlers. A very limited supply. Not sure about the ABV here. Available at Epic Brewing

Firestone Walker Nitro Merlin - Nice looking ebony color with that great dense creamy tan head. The aroma is chocolaty with light coffee. The taste has chocolate, dark caramel, cocoa, and coffee with little bitterness. Very nice. 5.5% ABV. I found it at Beerhive, the Bayou also has some.

Stone Enjoy by 4/20/18 - You can always rely on Utah to bring in these beers at the last minute. Oh well, better late than never. The aroma is an intense tropical resin, backed by sweet malt.
The flavor is intense intense tropical fruit, citrus, bitter orange, tangerine, peach, papaya, lime and  dank pine with solid bitterness lingering at the end. Not for the timid. 9.4% ABV. Avaiable at the Bayou.

Uinta Berliner with Guava -  This one goes on tap around 11am today. I will let you know my impressions at 3:30 PM with Mick and Allen on the New Beer Friday segment on KBER 101.

Cheers!

2018 Tour de Brewtah

Keep April 28th open kids, because that's when the 9th annual Tour De Brewtah happens. Utah's best biking brew tour is back with more routes for cyclists of all abilities. Not only are there new routes but there are new breweries to added into those routes.

The concept is very simple: Tour riders will pick up their route booklets at Downtown Library Square and visit various breweries (depending on their route selection), and will finish up in the back courtyard of Beer Bar/Bar X for an after party with live music and food (from 3-7pm).

Every year the Tour de Brewtah goes with a theme and riders are encouraged to implement the theme into their attire and or bicycles. This year they are going with a 90’s TV Theme - that's pretty broad range of costumes to choose from, I'm sure it'll be amusing. A portion of the proceeds will be going to various charities and non-profits, including: the National Ability Center, Utah Brewers Guild, Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective, and KUAA RADIO.

Registration is now open. Don't wait too long, there is a cap on the number of attendees.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

Prost!

New Beer Friday 3/30/18

Congratulations, We're having a New Beer Friday!

Shades of Pale - Mojito:  The aroma here is full of citrus-like tartness and mint. The taste is slightly tart, with oaky white rum adding a little bite. Fresh mint then carries the beer's flavor profile to the end with a bit of rind bitterness in the finish. The beer's natural carbonation provides a nice spritz in the mouth, adding to its cocktail authenticity. Although the base is more lemon than lime, the rum and mint help sell its mock-abilty. 4% ABV. Available today at Shades of Pale - 11am.

Utah Pink Boots Society - Mash the Patriarchy: The Pink Boots Society is a beer industry group that is designed to inspire and educate women who work in the U.S. beer industry. On International Women's Day women from many of Utah's breweries gathered at Roosters in Ogden to collaborate on a new beer that will be served at participating and non participating breweries and brew pubs around the Wasatch Front, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Pink Boots scholarship fund. That beer is finally done and hitting brewery guest taps as speak. This Cascadian Dark Ale has a nose that is very roasty and somewhat fruity. The taste follows, but, here I'm getting dark cocoa and grapefruit grapefruit. There is also sweetness, brown bread crust, and mild bitterness, but the overriding flavors are of the cocoa and fruit. Mouthfeel is slick and medium. Finishes semi-dry and refreshing. Easily crushable. 4.0% ABV. Available at Kiitos, Fisher, Proper, RoHa, UBC Store, Uinta, Zion Canyon, Roosters, Beer Bar, Slackwater and Angry Goat.

RoHa Brewing Project - Nights Out:  This Belgian style stout has aromas with lots of dark chocolate and espresso with clove dark fruits coming through. The taste opens up with some dark candi sugar giving off notes of dark fruits. a dry and dark bakers chocolate comes in before being nudged by a breath of cloves. The phenols don't completely take over but they do help push that taste away from any usual stout flavors. It finishes with faint notes of espresso. Available at the RoHa Brewing Project. Soon to better beer pubs.

Epic/Odell - Double D’s Double IPA: This special beer was made for Colorado's Collaboration Beer Festival. It's only being served at the festival this Saturday (tomorrow). All of those tropical notes are present including pineapple, papaya and a shload of citrus notes. It's 9.5% ABV but drinks like 7%, so be careful. It's highly drinkable. Epic released a very limited amount of this beer yesterday, in growlers at the SLC brewery. Don't wait.

Roosters - Limited Release Amber Ale: This is a new high point amber ale. I havn't tried it yet as it is being bottled as I write this. It will be available this afternoon at both Roosters locations in Ogden and Layton. 7% ABV.

Hoppers - The Jenny: A hibiscus flower, rose hip and strawberry flavored ale. Lightly hopped with Hull Melon. Maris Otter and Vienna base malt. Tart and crisp with a fruity finish. Pours a hazy strawberry color. 4% ABV.  Just tapped at noon. Only at Hoppers. 

Melvin - Chuck Morris: Tropical fruit aromas hit the nose first, mainly pineapple and alcohol soaked mango. There is also citrus fruit, grapefruit, orange and a good amount of pine. The taste pretty much follows. A good dose of resiny and oily hops give the juice its run for the money. Dry finish with a long bitter linger. 9.5% ABV. Available at Beerhive, Bayou, Dick n Dixie's, Slackwater

Cheers!

SLUG Mag's Brewstillery

On May 12 at the Gallivan Center, SLUG Mag's Brewstillery: A Local Beer and Spirits Festival will be SLUG's second all-local beer festival and first-ever all-local spirits festival—all in one. Two awards will be given for exclusive brews that will be at Brewstillery. 

Attendees will vote for their favorite exclusive brew for the People's Choice award, and SLUG "Beer of the Month" columnists Chris and Sylvia Hollands will be the judges for the Best New Brew award. There will also be awards, given to distilleries, to be determined. Visit SLUGMag.com for more information about Brewstillery, and read up on the exclusive offerings at the festival below! 

Proceeds benefit the Utah Brewers Guild
 
Ticket Information
Drinking Adults - $20 in advance, $25 day of (Includes a commemorative mug and 5 beverage tokens)
Non-Drinking - $5
Kids 12 & Under - FREE 

Participating Breweries
Bohemian Brewery & Grill
Bonneville Brewery
Desert Edge Pub and Brewery
Epic Brewing Company
Fisher Brewing Company
Hoppers Grill & Brewing Co.
Kiitos Brewing
Moab Brewery
Mountain West Hard Cider
Proper Brewing Co
Red Rock Brewing
RoHa Brewing Project
Roosters Brewing Co.
SaltFire Brewing Co
Squatters Craft Beer
Strap Tank Brewing Co.
Talisman Brewing Company
Uinta Brewing
UTOG Brewing Company

Vernal Brewing Company
Wasatch Brewery
Zion Brewery

Participating Distilleries
Alpine Distilling
Beehive Distilling
Black Feather Whiskey
Dented Brick Distillery
Distillery 36
Hammer Spring Distillers
Holystone Distilling
Kid Curry Spirits
Ogdens Own Distillery
Outlaw Distillery
Sugar House Distillery
Waterpocket Distillery

What a cool event! I'm really looking forward to checking this one out. This ain't the SLC of old - that's for sure.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 3/23/18

Epic Brainless Passion Fruit: Passion fruit shines here with a somewhat fruity nose with a hint of Belgian yeast. The taste follows with more pleasantly tart fruit and a base beer that doesn't get lost behind the fruit. In fact the spicy yeast adds to the fruit making it more complex. 8.8% ABV. Available today at Epic brewing 

Bonneville 5th Anniversarye:  A blend of special malts give a rich malty character while malted rye lends its distinctive earthy/spicy snap. Experimental #06297 hops contribute bursts of citrus, berries and even a hint of vanilla. 4.0% ABV. On tap at the pub Tooele.

Cheers!

New Brews Soon for You: Red Rock and Epic

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 3/16/18

All I can say about this New Beer Friday batch of beers is that they are all full flavored beasts. If you like your beer subtle and light, these will not make you happy. Let's proceed.

Bohemian SIMPL (Session India Munich Pale Lager) - This very hoppy lager has a huge grassy and spicy nose. The taste has a huge blast of herbal, grassy and spicy hops that play off the mildly sweet toasted grains. I love lagers like this, the Mandarina Bavaria and Hallertauer Blanc hops create a incredibly complex flavor profile. If you like hoppy lagers, you love this. 4.0% ABV. Available at Bohemian

Squatters Chasing Tail Orange - I hope you like orange, because that's what you're going to get with this new brew from Squatters. It starts with a orange soda like flavor. Not as cloying as orange soda but it has that syrupy feel. As you get through to the end more orange peel comes through with a bit of pith. 5.2%  ABV. Available at Squatters/Wasatch locations now - soon to DABC stores.

Rogue Paradise Pucker - Sour and tart dominate both the aroma and flavor. The addition of passion fruit, orange peels, and guava work well with the lacto tartness. The result is a nicely tart and fruity concoction. 6.0% ABV. Available at select DABC stores

Mother Earth/Melvin Four Seasons Collaboration - This beer is massively hoppy and dank as shit. From the aroma to the palate you're senses will be assaulted with big chewy citrus and tropical fruits. The bitterness is high as well, countering the moderate amount of malt sweetness. There are six different hop editions here, featuring Citra and Mosaic and Lupulin Powder. 8.5% ABV. Available at Slackwater, Beerhive and The Bayou.

Proper's Mr. Wolf - This is a pale ale that features Styrian Wolf hops. These have subtle floral flavors like rose, orange blossom, and geranium, and also has a pleasing amount of earthy dankness. 4.0% ABV. Available at Proper Brewing.

Proper is also re-releasing  Czech Your Head - Only difference this year is that Proper is introducing some Mountain Malt along with the pilsener and adding some Tettnanger along with the Saaz hops. This will be a year-round beer, and it will be in Proper's bottle shop shelves today. 5.6% ABV

Remember, If your out and about this St. Patrick's Day, please avoid the green beer and embrace something craft.

Cheers!

Utah's Pink Boots Collaboration Beer

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

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

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



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

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 3/9/18

 Have you heard about our Lord and Savior, New Beer Friday?

Talisman Adventures in IPA - A nice aroma of citrus peel and tropical fruit. The taste follows with more citrus like juices along with notes of mango and and a hint of pineapple. A damn tasty offering from Talisman. 6.0% ABV. Available at Talisman and Slackwater

Epic Club Lounge -  You only need one word to describe this one, Manhattan. It has flavors that are reminiscent of all of the ingredients in the cocktail right down to the whiskey, vermouth and bitters. Very tasty. On sale Saturday 3/10 at Epic’s Brewery, 10am.

Shades of Pale Aphrodite -  This Belgian style Blonde ale Has a nose of spicy caramel and apple peel. The taste is more akin to cookie dough with the added spiced caramel and herbal hops. This Belgian is less phenolic then some you may have tried, this has the added benefit of making it super drinkable. To me it’s more of an abbey ale, which I’m rather fond of. 6.5% ABV. Available at Shades of Pale.

Cigar City Guayabera -  This pale ale has a very nice citrus peel aroma, with a tiny bit of pine. The taste starts with more citrus peel that transitions into some tangerine sweetness. The end is massively better, which completely dries out the finish. This is a nice IPA, but it’s not a very good pale ale. The can does warn that it is “massively hopped up with citra hops”,  so at least you’ve been warned. 5.5% ABV. I had it at Beer Bar, It's also at the Bayou.

Cheers!

Grid City Brewing Poised to Reinvigorate SLC's West Side

Utah's beer scene has been blowing up as of late. Not only are Saltfire and Toasted Barrel breweries weeks away from going online, but there are breweries scheduled to open in Ogden (UTOG Brewing) and St. George (St. George Brewing) by this summer as well. Those four breweries, plus the quartet of new 2017 breweries (RoHa, Kiitos, Salt Flats and Fisher) will see our local craft beer option multiply in factors that haven't been seen since pre-prohibition days.

If eight new breweries in two years isn't enough of a boom for you, what about a possible ninth brewery? Grid City Brewing Company is a new production brewery planned to be built on the southwest corner of 800 w. and S.Temple. The multi level brewery will have a tap room and kitchen that will serve a small menu, with a catwalk that wraps around the perimeter of the brewing operations to accommodate brewery tours and allow a birds eye view of the operations. A beer garden will offer patrons a view of Folsom trail in the Euclid neighborhood of SLC.

Grid City will be helmed by Justin Belliveau and partner Drew Reynolds with Head Brewer, Jeremy Gross running the beer operations. Gross has been a staple in the Utah scene, hwving worked at Uinta Brewing, Bohemian Brewing and the High West Distillery.

As the brewery takes shape, I'll feed you all the updates. Congrats, boys and thanks for helping to make Utah a more livable place. 

Cheers!

Source: Buildingsaltlake.com
Images courtesy: Grid City/Buildingsaltlake.com

Latitude 33 Brewing Debuting soon in Utah

It looks like Latitude 33 Brewing Company out of San Diego has inked a deal to bring their suds to Utah. The brewery opened in 2012 in Green Flash Brewing’s former facility in the city of Vista. It has one of larger production brewhouses in the county and plans on leveraging that capacity to grow its distribution footprint.  Latitude 33 Brewing Company is dedicated to producing American and European-style craft ales and lagers.

Utah Craft Beverages is their distributor for our region, the beers are just awaiting DABC approval before hitting bars and shelves. As soon As that happens, I'll spread the word. Here is what you can look forward to.

HONEY HIPS

ALE BREWED WITH HONEY & SPICES

She may be sweet as honey, but this daring brew packs a punch. Honey Hips conjures aromas of making her seductively drinkable.
This lady has a fierce passion for unparalleled craft and is bold enough to make your head turn.clover honey and refreshing citrus with a touch of sweetness,


BLONDE CARTEL

GOLDEN BLONDE ALE

Like the perfect crew, Blonde Cartel has a perfectly balanced cast of characters. It’s a flavorful blonde ale with the right amount of bitterness.
At first you’ll experience a floral hop character then a slightly biscuit-like malt flavor. Taste for yourself how this blonde is pulling off unparalleled refreshment.

MANGOVEZA

TROPICAL MANGO IPA

In tribute to our southern neighbors, we crafted an unparalleled contrast of sweet and heat with Mangoveza. Fruity bitterness upfront followed by a burst of habanero warmth provides a well-balanced IPA—unlike any other spicy ale.
Come explore the uncharted territories of this invigorating IPA.

BLOOD ORANGE IPA

AMERICAN IPA

On our relentless pursuit to bring the world unparalleled craft, we discovered a hidden treasure with our Blood Orange IPA.
As blood orange stands above everyday citrus, it is not your typical citrus infused IPA. With a crisp entry and slightly sweet finish, Blood Orange IPA has fans raving.


Cheers!

New Brews, Soon for You: Shades of Pale

In this edition of New Brews, Soon for You, we're featuring new stuff from Shades of Pale Brewing Company. Owner/Head Brewer, Trent Farger and Cellerman/Biologist/ Brewer, Marcio Buffolo want you to know they're serious about their commitment to bring high end craft suds to Utah's beer nerds. Beginning this week, the South Salt Lake City brewery will be introducing four new beers that will range from cocktail-like to barrel aged.    

Aphrodite: Belgian Style Blonde Ale - Low but present bitterness, light to medium body, spice and fruit esters. Easy drinking beer. 6.5% ABV.

Cerberus: Belgian Style Quadrupel Ale - The base beer here has appeared before in SOP's Bourbon Barrel Quad. This an opportunity to get to know the solo act. This beer is amber in color, with caramel, raisin, plum and stone fruit flavors. Smooth but boozy with 13% ABV.

Mojito: A Mojito inspired barrel aged beer - This beer is inspired by the traditional Cuban cocktail of  the same name. It's a slightly tart beer, aged in rum barrels with mint and lemon peel added. Refreshing and intense. Like a mojito. 4% ABV.

Brett Saison Gin barrel Aged - French saison barrel aged in Gin barrels with Brettaromyces for 14 months. Smooth, slightly tart, dry but with a lot of spices, fruits aroma. This new barrels aged beer is said to have many wine like qualities with sourness you can only get from long months of barrel time. This one is highly anticipated by sour beer fans. 6.5% ABV.

All indications are that Aphrodite will be the first to be released (sometime this week). The other three will gradually hit the market throughout March and April of 2018. I'm really looking forward trying these. What are your thoughts on these new additions?

Cheers!

Labels provided by Shades of Pale

New Beer Friday 3/2/18

2 Row Apricot Sour - There's a medium dose of lemony tartness with some noticeable apricot. Apricot is a little subtle for the level of tartness here, but if you like 'em tart this, you'll love this. 7.9%. At 2 Row and better beer pubs.

Full Sail: Session EZ IPA -  This session NE style IPA has a great fruity profile with a nice dose of citrus. Can’t go wrong here. 4.8%. Had it at Beer Bar.

Kiitos NEIPA - This new addition to Kiitos’ lineup is super tropical and fruity as well. It’s super fresh and it has Kiitos’ pop top can. 7.3% at Kiitos.

Deschutes Swivel Head Red IPA - I have not tried this one yet. 6.5%. At select DABC stores.

Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA - Again, Another solid NE style IPA. This one has a slightly more better finish than the previous IPAs mentioned. Very nice. 6.7%  I had it at Beer Bar.

RoHa Brewing Project Belgian Pale Ale - This has the typical farmhouse nose, but is easy on the pallet. Not overly fruity and drinks like a pale ale.  If you want to introduce your taste buds to a mellow Belgian beer, this is the ticket. 4.0%. Available at RoHa.

Cheers!