Beer on a Plane

If you like beer and live in Utah, you've probably become pretty accomplished at the art of smuggling beer into the state. Whether it's by car, parcel or air. Remember the days of bringing a bottle or two of some of your favorite travel finds back with you in your carry-on? Well those days may be making a return in the fall of '09. Expect the TSA to lift the 3-ounce liquid restrictions and bring back the good 'ol days. Passengers will still have to remove liquids from carry-on bags at airport checkpoints and put them through X-ray machines; but who the hell cares. As long as I can get that Jeroboam of Stone Vertical Epic in the overhead bin, it's all good! Cheers.

Here's a link to the story in USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-10-27-tsa-liquids_N.htm

New from Wasatch: White Label

Wasatch Brewing is debuting a new label just in time for the holidays. Wasatch White Ale is a Belgian Style Wtibier made in the tradition of such favorites as Hoegaarden and Blue Moon.

Pours a white, cloudy corn color with a thin frothy cap. The nose is of sulphur, wheat, banana and a little coriander. The taste is very similar to the nose with that odd sulfur essence leading off. Next comes bready wheat, then a dry banana. The finish has a minor "zesty" orange peel twang.

The sulfur notes are huge and put me off a bit. So I grabbed a Hoegaarden to make a comparison to see if my palate was off. As it turns out the Hoegaarden was spot on. Wheaty, spicy, hints of orange, mellow citrus, good carbonation & balanced after taste. Everything I was hoping the Wasatch's Wit to be. Now, White Label isn't bad a bad wit even though it is on the stronger side of the style at 6.0% ABV. White Labels isn't due on DABC shelves for a few days. Still, I hope that they are able to correct the sulfur problem in future batches because it is a little offsetting. If your looking for other great local takes on this style try RedRock's Wit, Squatters' Witbier and Rype from Four+. Cheers!

Oh for Shame, Jasoh!

Apparently our interpretation of a Brewpub and Jasoh's Fine Dining is very different. Where as we consider a brewpub to be a place where beer is brewed, fermented and served on premises; Josoh apparently thinks all it has to do is, have a bar and sell other craft beer brands there. I'm sure it's a fine place to eat, but it doesn't qualify to be talked about here. So, in the immortal words of Steve Martin I say, "I break with thee, I break with thee, I break with thee. And then I throw dog poop on your shoes".

Note: I should point out that they have already removed any inference to having a brewpub on their website before this post was made. Cheers!

RedRock in Oktober

In celebration of the waning days of Oktoberfest Redrock Brewing Co is offering up some of their great, award winning German style lagers on tap. Besides the regular line up, look for their Munich Dunkle, Organic Zwickle, German Pils and Black Bier. These will only be available until the end of this week(oct 26) or until there gone. Also on tap is assistant brewer Matt Davis' recent GABF Silver Medal Winning Belgium style Wit Ale. This is probably the best witbier in the area and trust me you'll be sad if you don't get your hands on one before it's gone... And, RedRocks harvest Ale is in the tank and should be out in the coming weeks. Now, if that's not enough to spin you into a fall beer frenzy they are also offering up for purchase their signature 32 oz. steins for 10 bucks. Fill them som'bitches up, yo! With the Holidays fast approaching your gunna need 'em. Cheers!

Utah's 2008 GABF Medalists

Well we made it. After three sessions and hundreds of ounces of beer, our yearly pilgrimage to Beer Mecca has concluded. What did we learn?... Well, no matter how beered-out you may think you are; pouring another fine American craft beer down the ol' pipes brings you right back to square-one. Also, Utah's brewers still know how to represent. Below are this years winners at GABF. All should be available for purchase right now. I recommend getting out sampling these fine brews and congratulate our local brewers for the fine jobs they do. More to come....

2008 GABF

American-Style or Belgian-Style Ale

Bronze-Fifth Element-Squatters Brewing

Category 35: German-Style Schwarzbier

Silver-Cherny Bock-Bohemian Brewing

Category 56: German-Style Altbier

Bronze-All The Way Alt-Desert Edge Brewing

Category 58: German-Style Wheat Ale

Bronze-Wasatch Hefeweizen-Wasatch Brewing

Category 59: Belgian-Style Wit

Silver-Belgian Wit-Red Rock Brewing

Bronze-Squatters Wit-Utah Brewers Coop

How Swede it is!

If you follow the dribble I spew, even somewhat infrequently you know I'm a big fan a Four+'s Wildfire Pale Ale. It's really is a great session beer and if your not drinking it, your bad!... Bad beer geeks!

Uinta/Four+ has as of late been expanding in to and experimenting in markets Utah's brewers have rarely tapped. Over the last couple of months I've been getting alot of feedback from people all over North America that say it's a nice surprise to find quaffable beers coming from all places Utah. Though it's no surprise to us, good beer is good beer no matter where it hails from. It's good to hear that our local brews do well in national competitions. The craft beer market in the U.S. is thick with fantastic beers of all styles and with so much great stuff out there, it's quite a complement to get high praise from your peers.

Overseas it can be a different story. While some enjoy the cutting-edge styles emerging from the U.S. others don't. One of the big criticisms about many "American" craft beers is that they're too "leafy", massively over-hopped, alcohol monsters. That's a fair critique, not entirely accurate but fair. So it's nice when the Utah stuff gets a nod.
This latest nod comes from one of the most unlikely places, Sweden. Where in an unusual move Uinta/Four+ entered four of it's labels in The Stockholm Beer and Whiskey Festival . Anglers Pale Ale, Anniversary Barley Wine, Wildfire Extra Pale Ale and the never before released Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine, 11.1%.

Of the four, one beer managed to get a nod from the judges. Wildfire. I think the boys and girls have really found a good balance of hop essence and astringents with this one, and it looks like it's starting to find international appeal. This was one of Wildfire's first times in competition it's next big challenge comes this week and The Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Co. Where a large informal Utah delegation will be cheering it and every other Utah entry on.

Two other quick notes on Uinta/Four+. Wildfire Pale Ale will be undergoing a name change soon. So, in the coming months start looking for "Wyld" Organic Pale Ale. New name, same beer. Also, when I was listing Uinta's entries above you may have noticed I mentioned "Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine". Yep that's right They took their award winning barley wine and aged it two years in Bourbon and Sherry barrels. If your wondering how it turned out your going to have to stay tuned. This 11.3% monster will never be released for purchase and will never again be entered into competition. Why? I'm not sure. It may just be an experimental brew. All I know is that if your lucky enough to get your grubby lil' paws on a bottle. You've scored big. Cheers!

GABF 2008 is officially sold out!

If your planning on attending the Great American Beer Festival starting Oct. 9th, I hope you've already grabbed your tickets. If not... you may be shit-out-of-luck. For the first time ever GABF has sold out every session a record two-weeks early! Your only options are to win them on local Denver radio stations, and if you don't live there that may make it, well.... I think you get it. If your thinking of getting from a scalper beware. Most online purchases are "print your own" tickets. Each with a specific bar-code to be scanned upon entry. This could lead to very easy counterfeiting. Just an FYI. Sorry to be such a bummer....

Help Make It A Cold Day in Hell

Consumption of liquor, wine and beer is up in way-up in Utah and to accommodate imbibers the states is building bigger and better outlets at a record pace. Two new state stores are among 10 remodeling or building projects along the Wasatch Front and southern Utah, adding 40 percent more retail space for wine, heavy beer and distilled spirits.

While these are great and long overdue, there is still one thing that will be missing from these shiny new facilities. Beer coolers. With all the taxes that are paid, it's still hard to believe that the concept of a simple refrigerator unit per store is beyond the scope of reason. Now I'm aware of the excuses spewed forth from our LDS overlords. They believe a cold beer bought from a liquor store will be so enticing that we'll be chugging 'em down before we can get our heathen asses in our death Yugo's. It's amazing that societies out side of Utah can function without such keen guidance.

And it's not just about cold beer to be consumed sooner than later. The people in charge seem to forget or just plain don't care that beer is a perishable product that is better when fresh. For Christ sake many breweries won't even sell beer to Utah because of this arcane policy.

Well if you really want to do something about it, grab your mouse(your other mouse Doug) and follow this link to to sign an online petition to get refrigeration units in Utah State liquor stores. It's really a no brainer. If you've bought a single beer from a state liquor store in the past 100 years you'll immediately benefit from it.

Credit and thanks goes to Ross Metzger from Tributetobeer.com for getting this rolling. Tell everyone you can think of to get on this and sign today! Cheers!!!

The Fifth Season

One thing that separates Utah from the rest of the world is our lack of seasons. The rest of the world gets the standard four, you know spring, summer etc. But here in the intermountain west, we get seven months of winter, four months of summer and two weeks each for spring and fall.

To help break up the months in between extremes I propose we create a new fifth season. Leann (lionn) would begin right about now, dedicated to the best time of the year for beer. So, now that we've got that bullshit out of the way. I'd like to throw some good seasonal options out there to help celebrate our new season.

Squatters has quite a few on tap now.
Alt and In the Way: a German style Altbier Copper-colored and aged 35 days. Won a gold in the 2008 World Beer Cup competition.

BlackForest Schwarzbier: Dark and not too heavy with a good amount of hops. Another medal winner.

Cheshire Cream Ale: Pale straw color. Low hop bittering and some hop aroma.

Hop Rising: A well-hopped, classic American pale ale.

Wasatch BrewPub is offering,
Hopalicious Pale Ale: A Pale Ale on cask made from wild Utah hops. Limited supply. Only at the Wasatch Brew Pub.

Pumpkin Ale: An unfiltered fall brew, made with real pumpkin and pie spices. This is one of the better Pumpkin beers available in the country.

RedRock has,
Bamberg Rauchbier: An amber-colored smoke ale with a mild beech wood-esque smokiness.

Harvest Ale: An unfiltered hop monster with a great citrus nose and taste.

Desert Edge.
Desert Hell: A Bavarian Helles Bier. A light and slightly malty German lager with spicy hop character, but a bit more subdued and balanced than regular Czech lagers.

Radius: Is a white, golden ale made with ingredients grown within 150 miles (give or take) from Salt Lake City. Available in mid-October.

Hoppers is offering their take on the Altbier. Out of Bounds Alt: Extended conditioning mellows out the ale's fruitiness and produces an exceptionally smooth and delicate brew. A great balance of malt and hops.

Four+(Uinta). Punk'n: spicier and dryer than Wasatch's with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and allspice.

Roosters. Oktoberfest: Dark copper in color, full-bodied, rich and toasty.

So get your slacker-asses out there and drink-up these seasonals before they're gone. Or you'll be sad lil' beer geeks. Cheers!

Local Beers, Grown Locally

I'm a big fan of supporting local small businesses. I try to spend my money with our local entrepreneurs rather than national chains as often as I can. If your like-minded, consider heading over to the Desert Edge Brewery this October, where Brew master Chris Haas has put together a special beer made from all local ingredients. Radius, will be made with ingredients grown within 150 miles of the Wasatch Front(yeast too???). Chris says he found the malt just over the state line in Idaho and personally picked the hops locally. I'm not sure of what style he's planning on brewing yet, but I'm sure it'll be unique. Radius will be available on draft beginning in mid-October at the brew pub in Salt Lake City. 602 E. 500 South. Cheers!

Prohibition is Back!

This is just another example of why it's a bad idea to have non-drinkers regulating what they don't understand. The state of Utah has inadvertently introduced a de facto ban on flavored malt beverages, beers and ales. On Oct. 1, flavored malt beverages, such as Smirnoff Ice, Jack Daniel's Original Hard Cola and Bacardi Silver, must be off grocery store shelves and moved to state-controlled liquor outlets. But it's unlikely any of the products will be available in state liquor outlets by the Oct. 1 deadline.

"All Anheuser-Busch flavored malt beverages will no longer be available in Utah," said Michael Brennan, president of General Distributing Co., the state's largest beer distributor. "I don't think the public understands that 3.2 flavored beverages will be gone." The new law also targets traditional beers and ales containing flavorings such as apricot or raspberry.

So basically, If you enjoy a lager or ale that is flavored with food extracts made with distilled alcohol. It's unlikely that Utah distributors will continue to carry them. Why? It's problematic for manufacturers to comply with a bevy of regulations from a single state, particularly when the product is part of a national distribution chain and a small niche in the beer industry. It leads one to suspect that many companies may have some reluctance to incur all these additional expenses that Utah regulators are levying on them. If this is what the Utah Legislature and the governor wanted to accomplish, they've done it.

Note: this only applies to beverages that contain extracts. Malt beverages and beers that are made with "real fruit" do not fall under this this new fucked-up regulation. Thank God for small favors...

Obama Beer

Well these photos say it all. And that's good enough for me. And I'm pretty certain they're not one of Cindy McCain's Budweiser's.

2008 Utah Brewers Festival

CLICK HERE FOR FESTIVAL UPDATE It's been a tough couple years for the Utah Brewers Festival. After trying to convert back from the previous Blues and Brew fest and last years bad weather, this years fest met it's demise due to Salt Lake City's new 20% take on ticket sales and concessions. So, organizers have opted to concentrate on an all new '09 beer fest rather than a hurried half-assed beer fest for this year. So mark the dates in your beer calendar for the 2009 Utah Brewers Festival. August 21-23. Yup, three days!

It's like Disney Land... with Beer!

If your planning on attending this years Great American Beer Festival you'd better get on it. Its only a short seven weeks away! It's kinda-like the Disney Land of beer... except for the rides... and the kids. Other than that it's truly a "magical kingdom" for three days. People don their festive head-gear,(aka mouse ears) are greeted by colorful characters(just don't hug 'em) and just have kid-like fun... only with beer.

There will also be many opportunities to learn more about your favorite brews and styles as well as book signings, food & beer pairing seminars featuring an A-list of America's brewers and national celebrity chefs and of course the world's largest and most prestigious beer tasting competition featuring 400+ breweries, sampling nearly 1900 beers.

GABF runs from Oct 9-11 with a total of four public tastings. Get your tickets soon. Or you'll be shit-out-of-luck. Trust me.

The Second Coming

No it's not Jebus! It's that other guy with the God complex, Del Vance(kidding Del). After a very successful first printing Utah's second best beer scribe(after me) has decided to spew forth more detailed info about Utah's Beer; past present and future. Some of the new topics in the book include Zion Canyon Brewing and updated beer legislation. Available at most craft beer establishments and bookstores.

Also, if your wondering about the status of Del's new beer bar the "Beerhive House" don't worry, it's still in the works. The plans are at city hall, waiting to be approved. Apparently there's a huge back-log of plans waiting for approval. But Del assures me that once approved it should come together rather quickly.

Squatters: Fifth Element

If you live in or have ever visited Utah, you know that we have to do things a little different than most states when it comes to the making and enjoyment our suds. What may seem usual and mundane elsewhere can be a big deal here.

Seasonal beers are nothing new to Utah's brewers, they crank them out all the time. But when it comes to special edition brews, things become a little tricky. Especially if those special editions want to venture above the hollowed 4.0% ceiling. Things are getting better. The recent creation of the of the states new Type 5 package license gives brewers the ability to create, bottle and sell, right from the brewery or brewpub. Eliminating the tedious and needless Sell, buy-back, then sell again, crap that brewers have had to deal with for decades.

The first beneficiary of this new law is Squatters Brew Pub. Over the past few years Jenny Talley has been seeking inspiration and advice from all over the world to come up with a way of putting a new spin on old-world staples. Seeking input from some of America's best brewers; including(but not limited to) Firestone Walker's Matt Brynildson, Vinny Cilurzo of Russian River and Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. Jenny told me that the the support she had from these folks including many, many others gave her the inspiration to start creating more daring beers as well as a name for her first bottle conditioned, oak aged ale.

Fifth Element like most beers are made up from the four primaries. Malted barley, hops, water and yeast. The "fifth element" according to Jenny is the brewing community for which she credits a great deal of her inspiration. Fifth Element is a Belgian style Saison ale. These are traditionally brewed in the winter, to be consumed throughout the summer months. Fifth Element was brewed December 2007 and laid down to age in oak barrels January 2008.

Poures a cloudy apricot/straw color with a fizzy white head that reduced to a thin froth. The nose has a bit a of barnyard funkiness to it, with hints of lemon. The tastes starts with light citrus notes then transitions into tart green apples and peach. Next comes a dry oakiness that compliments the tartness well. The finish is a combination a champagne like dryness and bitter florals. Light and dry but highly drinkable. It's 6.75% ABV is well hidden. A great effort, well worth trying. Available only at Squatters. Cheers!

Squatters Debuted Fifth Element on August 13th

Uinta Represents at The Great British Beer Festival

If you love beer and have never attended North America's largest beer fest, the Great American Beer festival... well... damn it, you should! Three days of all things beer, in city (Denver) that loves it's suds. Like GABF, The Great British Beer Festival is Britain's largest beer festival and brings together a wide range of real British ales, including a large contingent of American and international craft beers. There are at least 450 beers available throughout the festival. Golden ales, fruit beers, stouts, bitters etc. This fest is mostly about proper British ales, but this year brings a slew of some of the most popular and well respected labels of some of America's craft breweries.

Utah's Uinta Brewery is one of the few breweries chosen to represent this year. They're sampling a limited amount of Anglers Pale Ale, King's Peak Porter and Uinta 14th Anniversary Barleywine. Uinta is in good company, I'm sure they'll represent Utah well. Congrats to the Uinta crew!

Am I Dreaming?

Good news is a round the corner for breweries, distillers and consumers. Wednesday the Utah Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission approved a rule change that would no longer require brewers and distillers to ship their on premises made heavy beer and spirits to the D.A.B.C. warehouse for tags and taxes. This means that patrons can buy strait from the source in stead of having to travel to a state liquor store. The so-called Type 5 package license affects Salt Lake Brewing Co., Utah Brewers Cooperative, Uinta Brewing Co. and High West Distillery, all located in Salt Lake City.

This will really help with quality control. Before breweries would have to ship their products in unrefrigerated trucks to the unrefrigerated DABC warehouse. Now beers will stay cold from bottling to purchase.

Remember this has to do with stuff made on premises. For instance a six packs of Squatters India Ale, may only be purchased at the Salt Lake coop where it is brewed - but not at Squatters Pub Brewery in Salt Lake City, Squatters Airport Pub at the Salt Lake City International Airport or Squatters Roadhouse Grill in Park City. The license allows for heavy beer to be sold in bottles as take-out only where it's brewed although the beverages may be sold on tap in pubs. At this point, Squatter's Pub Brewery in Salt Lake City has no plans to sell take-out heavy beer - unless there's a high demand for it. Still, for those anxious to buy the soon-to-be released Fifth Element, a rustic, wood barrel aged sour beer. I guess we can try and ask our servers for a take-home bottle.... couldn't hurt.

Suds Brothers Brewery

My wife and I went to Evenston, Wyoming last Saturday for a long overdue change of pace. We decided to to meet up with friends and attend, A Taste of Evenston. It's a little"get acquainted with Evenston" Street festival put on by the local chamber(plus it was a good excuse to pick up some out-of-state beers)

We had heard that Evenston had it's own brew pub, and of course we had to check it out.Suds Brothers looks small on the outside but is actually quite large. It occupies an old, unassuming retail space on towns old main street. If your not paying attention you might miss it. The inside has an "old west saloon" feel with a small five tank brewery in the back. With a little inspiration this could be quite an attractive place.Their tap selection wasn't too bad, on my visit they had an Amber Ale, Koelsch,Hefeweizen, IPA, smoked porter and an Alt.

The Amber, ironically poured an amber color with a creamy off-white head that stayed 'till the bottom of the cup. The nose was of light pale malts with a slight hop perfume. The taste started with caramel & moderate piney hops up front. A little nuttiness sneaks in as it warms. Finishes with malt sweetness & moderate piney hops.

The Altbier poured a clear amber/brown with thin foam cap. The nose mainly consisted of dry malts. The flavor has some nice roasted overtones and carries a bit of hop bite to bitter the malt base. Good drinkability.

The food was... okay my nachos weren't the best but my wife's patty melt was very good. The place seems to do a brisk local business, and apparently fills up in the evening. I probably won't make many special trips up there for just to visit, but I'll defiantly stop in when I'm in the area.

Due to it's proximity to Salt Lake(a mere 1 hr 15 min. from mi casa) I'm adding it to the brewpub links even though it's not a Utah brewery... Why the hell not, it's closer than some places, the beer is not too bad and it's not restricted to Utah's 4.0% draft cap. Please check 'em out. Cheers!

Mr. Liquor

There's a great article in the current issue of City Weekly called Mr. Liquor. It's a well done profile on former DABC Chairman Kenneth Wynn, that gives a "behind the scenes" look into the the highs and lows of the last 30 years in the creation of Utah's crazy liquor laws and the people who oversee them.