New Beer Friday The 13th (Valentine's Day Edition) 2/13/26

There are too many themes for this New Beer Friday The 13th (Valentine's Day Edition). We all know what your Beer Nerd Sweetheart desires, so keep it simple, stupid! The following beers will make your significant other squeal with delight. 

Should you need a special place to celebrate Valentine's Day (or not), might we recommend Cucina Wine Bar? They're the guest on today's (Friday) Beer Nerd Radio. You'll be surprised by the food and beverage offerings that this staple of SLC's Avenues Neighborhood provides. we'll get into starting at 2pm on 99.9fm KUAA. or stream us here at KUAAfm.org/  

Proper - Becker's American Lager: This is a resurrection (of a sort) of the Iconic Becker's Beer brand from Utah's beer past. Becker Beer and Malting Co. was founded in 1890 by German immigrants John S. Becker and his sons and became the longest-operating brewery in the state, surviving Prohibition, but ultimately closed in 1965 due to a "difficult regulatory environment" in Utah. In 2020, Ogden River Brewing featuring "Becker's Best" beers, which led to a trademark dispute with the Becker family descendants in 2022. This version was brewed in collaboration with the Becker descendants. We'll have full tasting notes on this beer on today's (Friday) Beer Nerd Radio. 5.0% - Only available at Snowbasin Resort currently.

Proper - Winter Heater: Spiced aroma–holidays specifically. Well hopped with some clove as well. Hard to tell where one starts and the other begins. Dry and herbal with a somewhat bitter finish. I don’t love it, but I really kinda dig it! 5.0% - Available at Proper

Talisman - Heartbreaker: This new ale is described as a white chocolate cherry stout. It was brewed with dark cherries, cocoa nibs and coffee beans. Just in time for Valentine's Day. Now in Co2 cans and on their Nitro tap. 5.0% - Only available at Talisman.

Bewilder - Is It Cake?: This ale is channeling Red Velvet Cake. It starts with a good dose of cocoa nibs, with a hint of nutmeg then to a hint of vanilla. The base is firm and malty with light balancing hops. Cocoa is a wee heavy. Love the name. 5.0% - Available at Bewilder.

Bewilder - POG Sour: Featuring Passion Fruit, Orange and Guava, this sour is lightly tart allowing all of the fruits to shine through respectively. Very easy drinking sour ale. 5.0% - Available at Bewilder. 

Park City - Beverly Pils 84098: This new West Coast Pils features a hop bill of Dolcita and Mosaic. A lightly crackery pils malt backbone providing structure. Dolcita shows up mid-palate with a rounded fruit sweetness, while Mosaic adds a juicy pop of berry and tropical notes. The hops are expressive but never heavy—allowing the lager yeast character and malt to remain center stage. 5.0% - Only at PC Brewing.

RoHa - Fools Gold: Toasty grains up front. There’s a cool fruity/estery yeast called Verdant that’s adding some nice notes of apricot, tropical fruits and citrus. The hops add pineapple and pear. The toasted malt is prominent and provides a dry finish. 5.0% - Only at RoHa.

TF Brewing- Stark Imperial Pilsner: Big cracker and toast from the malts. Good amount of sweetness that you wouldn’t normally expect from a TF lager. The hops show up to counter malt. Big grass and herbal hops - almost chewy and resiny. They have to be, to keep it all in check. Tasty pils. 7.5% - Available at TF starting today. 

Ciders

Second Summit - Marionberry Calamansi: Super fruity aroma! Smells great. From there it’s a solid grudge match between the marionberry and vague citrus zest. The berry is semi tart with a brash zesty quality that is soo damn fresh tasting. This tastes like spring in February. Which it kinda is. 6.5% - Only at Second Summit. 

Second Summit - Prickly Pear Habanero: Looks like pink grapefruit. YES! It’s like you always imagined a prickly pear would taste (before you had one). So much berry fruitiness. Then some scratchy peppers hit. Not annoying, just “prickly”. This works on many levels. Fruity with a peppery zap. Yum! 6.5% - Only at Second Summit. 

Here are this week's Small Batch Beers from Hopkins Brewing.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 2/6/26

New Beer Friday is just what the doctor ordered. This fine regiment of malted barley, lupulin with an added dose of road time is guaranteed to add vim and vigor to any beer weekend sessioneer's routine.

Carlos Munoz of SnowmoBAR is our guest in KUAA's radio pub. WTF is a SnowmoBAR and what are its connections with zombies and and happiness? All will be answered this afternoon (Friday) with Mikey and Steph on 99.9fm KUAA. The home of Beer Nerd Radio. KUAAfm.org/

Desert Edge - Distortion: This Double IPA is a textbook looking WCIPA. Earthy, piney, some citrus. Nice mouthfeel! Creamy almost, then some orange peel slips in. It doesn’t last long until the more piney aspects come from the hops. It’s not as aggressive as the nose implies. It’s well balanced for the style. 9.0% - Available now at Desert Edge.

Wolfdog/Ogden Beer - Togo: This Vienna lager has a nice malt profile. Not overly sweet, just enough toasty Vienna malt goodness to make it a session machine. Hops are Nobel/grassy herbal. Fantastic lager. 5.0% - Available now at Wolfdog - Next week at Ogden Beer.

Home Range - Space Glacier: This hazy pale ale is bursting with citrus, stone fruit, and sweet tropical flavors. Incredibly crushable, light, and hoppy without being too bitter.

Kiitos - West Coast Pilsner: Brewed with Citra, Simcoe, Strata, and Moutere. This is a marriage between an adequately, handsome Yankee and a stunningly beautiful European. All of that German elegance, combined with a wee bit of American attitude - creates a marriage of citrus, melon, herbal and grass. 5.0% - Available this afternoon at Kiitos on draft.

Returning Favorites 

Level Crossing Black - The Black Album: This is part of Level Crossing's Black Feather Series. This is a black imperial rye IPA. The aroma is hugely dank, herbal and grainy with dense, bready malts. Flavor profile is less sticky, and a little more bold regarding the malts  – there's a good dose of roast and char swirling around throughout. Dank, herbal, floral, zesty hops open up playing off of the bready, nutty, roastier malts flavors. The bitterness is medium to high and pretty much rules the beer from the back-end to the finish. Overall: a great BIPA, with a big hop profile. 9.2% - Available at both Level Crossing locations.

2 Row - Timberline: This new version of 2 Row's WCIPA is made with El Dorado, Amarillo, Citra, and Simcoe hops. Oh yeah, that nose screams WCIPA. Yeah, solid swig too. Lil bit of caramel from the malt. Chewy grapefruit peel & pine round it out. Nice dry lingering finish. 7.1% - Available at 2 Row.

RoHa - Mango IPA: Nice fruity aroma. The taste follows with a medium amount of mango flavor that works very well with the malt bill. Hops for the most part add a little citrus but mostly grass and herbal notes. Finishes mostly dry. 5.0%

Here are this week's Small Batch Beers from Hopkins Brewing.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 1/23/26

 

If these inversion days are making you sad, New Beer Friday is the perfect tonic to blow the blues away. These fine new beers will make impervious to the thick air. 

Andrea Latimer of Utah's own Bitters Lab sets up shop in the Beer Nerd's Radio Pub. Bitters aren't just a cocktail thing, they encompass a wide scope of culinary uses. We'll get into all the flavors and uses at 2p today (Friday) on 99.9fm KUAA. KUAAfm.org/ 

If you missed this bit of news this week: The RoHa Brewing Project has new owners. Shawn, Steele and Jeni Smith of Draper, Utah recently acquitted the SLC brewery and have officially taken control of the daily operations. As of today, there are no plans to change the name. And as luck would have it, a brilliant new IPA is out today. Congrats to the Smiths for their new craft beer  passion project and welcome to Utah's Craft Beer Scene.

Epic - Tropical Chasing Ghost: Debuts today. No notes tune into Beer Nerd Radio for live reactions. 

RoHa - Salt Lake Whalefishers: This new IPA features a hop bill of Cascade, Citra, Simcoe. It has a pithy citrus nose. Taste follows with more citrus and pith with a hint of pine and strawberry. Hints of lemon peel toward the end with a lightly bitter finish. Other that that light hop bitterness, it’s basically a textbook NEIPA. 7.4% - Available today at RoHa. 

2 Row - Munich Dunkel: Smells quite dry. Once on the tongue it's much maltier. Flavor-wise it's dominated by notes of bread, nuts, and perhaps a touch of chocolate. An enjoyable lager. 6.6% - Available at 2 Row.

Park City - The Last Dance Lager: Brewed for the last Sundance Film Festival in Utah. 5.0% - Only at PC Brewing.

Fisher - Purple Mountains: American Wheat Ale with Loganberry and Grapefruit. This beer defiantly has a murky purple appearance.They definatly didn’t skimp on the fruit here. Tons of Loganberry (never had loganberry). So, not sure where the berry starts and where the grapefruit ends. Enjoyable. 5.0% - Available at Fisher.

Here are this week's Small Batch Beers from Hopkins Brewing.

Cheers!