Utah Homebrew Clubs

Please check the column to the right for an updated list of Utah's Home Brewing Clubs.

"Enjoying beer is best when shared" The lord said to St. Arnold. I'm paraphrasing... or full of shit. Most likely the latter of the two, but the statement is true non-the-less. The same is also true for making it. If you enjoy homebrewing consider getting together with some fun, like-minded individuals and brew-up a little barley love. Here's some info on some homebrew clubs from around the state. If there are more clubs than I have listed let me know and I'll gladly post them up. Slainte!

New Website for Zion Canyon Brewery

Zion Canyon Brewery has finally got a new website up. Now if we could just get them to start sending their suds north to Salt Lake...

Home Brew & You Too

(When this post was originally written Homebrewing was illegal. It was made legal in 2009)In Utah home brewing beer is technically against the law. Even though home brewing has been recognized as a legal activity by the Federal Government since 1978. Yesterday Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, carves out an exemption in Utah law which currently requires any person who manufactures an alcoholic beverage to obtain a license to do so from the state, including a requisite $10,000 bond.
Johnson's bill will allow the home manufacture of "fermented beverages" up to a limit of 100 gallons a year per person, with a 200 gallons a year limit, per household.

Mark Alston, owner of the Salt Lake City home brewing store, The Beer Nut, testified on behalf of HB425.
"People who are doing it are an amazing cross-section of Utah culture," Alston said.
Alston also noted that home brewed beer is not a "binge drinking product" since brewers devote too much time, energy and care to brewing a batch, which is typically about five gallons.
HB425 was passed out favorably by the committee and now moves to the House for further action.

Contact your local representative and let him or her know it time to join the 20th Century.

Hopefully, socially bigoted, State Senator Chris Butters (R) will be busy drowning kittens when the vote goes to the floor. For the record... I like kittens.

Hey Baby, Nice Stems!

I'm a push-over for glassware. In fact I love them so much they're starting to over-run my kitchen cabenets at home. If your like me you know there's nothing better than enjoying your favorite beer in a great piece of glass or ceramic. Here are some links to some smart and affordable glassware to enhance your beer enjoyment. Cheers!

https://store.merchantduvin.com/e/mdv/scan/MM=d08e83a9dd99be1f0e8e3de5f466aaca:0:4:5?mv_session_id=pR4EYtUB&mv_more_ip=1&mv_nextpage=itemlist

http://www.pubglasses.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=SP

http://www.straubs.net/

A Ruby in St. George

*******************Ruby River Steakhouse has Closed in St. George***********************
There's a new option for craft beer fans in Utah's Dixie. Ruby River Steakhouse added it's sixth location a few months ago giving the beer parched area of the state a long needed craft beer boost. Ruby River is one of the more quite craft brewers in the state. In fact, I've talked to many that aren't even aware that they serve they're own brews.


As far as I know the St. George location doesn't brew on site. If your looking for an on-site brew pub in southern Utah you'll need to venture to the Zion Canyon Canyon Brewery in Springdale. Ruby River offers an American & English Pale Ale, Amber Ale, Porter, a Blonde, Hef and a Mexican Style Lager.

Cask Beer

It's a great time to be a beer lover in the U.S. Breweries and brew pubs through-out the states are producing incredible representations of new and traditional beer styles for every taste imaginable. Brewers are making great efforts to make sure that the patrons experience the favorite beers of cultures that they may, or may-not be very familiar with.

Advocates of one tradition style are trying to bring back awarness to a beloved cultural standard that has fallen by way-side as of late.

There's a movement underway in the U.K. and North America to expant the beer consumers awareness of real (or cask conditioned) ales. Fans of the cask have an up hill battle to fight because of the notion that cask ales are naturally "warm and flat". Wrong! cask ales ideally, are served between 54-56 degrees - cool, but not cold like keg beers. They should have a noticeably softer carbonation from the secondary fermentation in the cask. This process creates a gentle, natural CO2 carbonation and allows malt and hop flavours to develop, resulting in a richer tasting drink with more character than standard keg ('brewery-conditioned') beers. Cask ales are always served without any extraneous gas, usually by manually pulling it up from the cellar with a handpump (also known as a 'beer engine').

Beer engines are poping up at steady rate through out the Wasatch Front. I urge you to check out somthing different the next time your out enjoying a pint.

Here's a list of places that serve cask ales.

Squatters Pub Brewery

147 West Broadway

Salt Lake City, Utah 84101-1914

Phone: 1 801 363 2739

Squatters Roadhouse Grill

1900 Park Avenue

Park City, Utah 84060

Phone: 1 435 649 9868

Desert Edge Brewery

273 Trolley Square

Salt Lake City, Utah 84100

Phone: 1 801 521 8917

The Bayou

645 South State Street

Salt Lake City, Utah 84111-3819

Phone: 1 801 961 8400

Wasatch Brew Pub

250 Main Street

Park City, Utah 84060-5113

Phone: 1 435 649 0900

MacCool's Public House

1400 South Foothill Drive

Salt Lake City, Utah, 84108-2327

Phone: 1 801 582 3111

MacCool's Public House

855 Heritage Park Boulevard, Suite #3

Layton, Utah, 84041-5633

Phone: 1 801 728 9111

MacCool's Public House

11610 South. District Main Drive

South Jordan, Utah

Note: McCools in South Jordan, Utah, has become the 500th establishment in the US for selling cask ales. This is the 3rd McCools in Utah, and all sell cask.

Reform or P.R.???

I honestly try to avoid the topic of f'd-up Utah liquor laws on this blog. But recently it's just unavoidable. Were it not for the absolute shitheadedness of some state lawmakers/leaders I'd be a much happier and much more well adjusted individual.

Over the past month or so Utahns and the world have been learning the "Utah Way" when it comes to liquor monopolies. Back in November we learned that malternative beverages need to be removed from store shelves because their deliciousness is too irresistible and impossible to keep out of the hands of babes.

We also learned recently that state liquor cops will go to any extreme to coerce restaurants and bar employees to violate state law. And the cherry on top, cold beer needs to be banned.

These three examples have become topics of extensive debate over that past few weeks. So much so, that the growns from within and from without are finally being heard in the states highest office.

When Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. took office in 2005, one of the issues he identified in his campaign was to normalize Utah's liquor laws, as compared to the rest of the nation. The three previous hot topics have apparently struck a nerve. To combat the negative press the governor has proposed a change to Utah's liquor laws. To do away with the need for the meddlesome "sidecar" and bring the state's liquor pours more in line with the rest of the country.

Input from the gov regarding liquor reform has been long awaited.

Huntsman said that when he came into office, his transition team identified the liquor laws as an area that should be changed. It suggested allowing wine sales in grocery stores, easing private club requirements and increasing the 1-ounce limit - long deemed inadequate by out-of-staters and others used to the standard pour. But, he said, the proposals fell flat with legislators three years ago and haven't been advanced since. The new initiative sends a message, Huntsman said, to those from outside the state who think you can't get a drink in Utah and goes toward "proving the point that we aren't out of sync with the rest of the nation."

This seem to be more P.R. than real reform but I think it helps combat the insanity that the in-state neo-cons have been proliferating.