Epic Beers are For Sale

Alert! Alert! Epic has begun selling their beer. Right now they are only at the Bayou & Beerhive. They will officially start selling out of the brewery on the 17th. Here are the available lables.

Epic: 825 Stout
Epic: Brainless Belgian
Epic: Captn Cromptons
Epic: Copper Cone Pale
Epic: Cross Fever Amber
Epic: Galloway Porter
Epic: Hopulent
Epic: Intermountain Wheat
Epic: Spiral Jetty IPA

Cheers!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

National Homebrew Day in Utah

In 1988, May 7th was announced before Congress as National Homebrew Day. Homebrewing has been practiced in America since the first colonies were established in North America. Today there are an estimated 750,000 homebrewers in the United States.

Homebrewers are passionate about brewing beer and love to share that passion with others. Tomorrow May 1st, homebrewers from around the nation will be observing National Homebrew Day.

Each year the American Homebrewers Association finds two or three recipes to highlight for Big Brew. Then hundreds of homebrewers register their Big Brew locations for a communal brew-in to celebrate National Homebrew Day.

Then on the first Saturday in May (May 1, 2010) everyone congregates at the brewing site early enough to join in a collective toast at noon Central time and get on with the brewing. There are only two registered sites as of this morning in Utah. If there isn't a site in your area, and you are a brewer, please consider signing up to host a site.

After the event, the Big Brew site directors return to report results for their Big Brew site. That way they can see how many participated and how many gallons of homebrew were made simultaneously around the world.

Here are the three brews and the local sites.

2010 Big Brew Recipes

American Craft Beer Wheat
Scottish Export 80 Shilling Ale
Rocktoberfest

site#:470 | 6th Street Brewery
Logan, UT USA
site type: residence
email: andrew.jensen@iconfitness.com
notes: Will be brewing at least three all grain batches. Come by and enjoy a few beers and we will have the grill going.

site#:596 | http://o-townhopheads.tripod.com/
Ogden, UT USA
site type: residence
email: gupdike1@yahoo.com
notes: Officially the first year we can brew legally in Utah!! This will be the O-Town Hop Heads second annual Big Brew Day fun food and brewing demonstrations.

Cheers & Happy Brewing!

Rooster's 15 - Deschutes 10

In 1890 a building was erected that has housed everything from Chinese laundries to a brothel. 119 years later that same building is home to Ogden's most popular Brewpub.

Roosters is celebrating 15 years in it's historic 25th street building with a special menu and three anniversary brews.

Along with the brews you can purchase a 15 year commemorative pint glasses and fill it
with one of our anniversary brews for only $2.50.

The specials are available at both the Ogden and Layton Brewpubs.
In other beer news, Deschutes' Jubel has arrived and is at the Bayou & Beerhive. 2010 marks only the second time they have ever bottled this rare libation. The first and only other time this special brew was bottled was to celebrate the new millennium as Jubel 2000.

Jubel is based on Deschutes' winter seasonal, Jubelale. This one is aged in Oregon Pinot wine barrels and has a much bigger alcohol content. Jubel 2010 is a once-a-decade experience that may not be made again until 2020. I don't know about you, but I can't wait that long.

Cheers!

DABC to Cut Hours?

Let's say you own a company with many different divisions. One of these division makes you a lot of money. Now you've just been informed that you need to start cutting costs. Where do you start?

I get it... cuts need to made. Every division needs cuts. But would you sacrifice your businesses income to save a little in your overall budget? I'm not the most business savvy guy around, but even I know this moronic.

Well just when you thought Utah's "book keepers" couldn't get any more moronic when it comes to cost cutting, there comes word that they're actually considering cutting the hours of Utah liquor stores by two hours a day.

Now while this cut in hours could save the DABC more than $400,000 dollars a year in labor costs, it could cost the state a shit load of income.

While these cuts would help balance DABC’S budget, it may suck even more money away from the state. It's estimated that for each dollar DABC cuts, it loses 4 to 5 dollars in revenue. So if the DABC cuts $400,000 dollars a year by opening later and closing earlier, that could mean lost revenue of 1.6 to 2 million dollars per year.

Makes perfect sense to me! Let's hope the DABC Commission has the smarts to shoot this down. Cutting store hours would require their approval.

Cheers

Name That Beer!

Shades of Pale Brewing Company wants you to name it's first beer. So get your ass of the couch, start firing-up some of those beer soaked neurons and help make some damn history!

The debut beer is going to be a Belgian Style Witbier that is due to be released sometime in June.

The rules are simple. The Name should be consistent with the following ideals: Camaraderie, High Adventure, Vintage/Old World Romanticism and Mountain Culture.

Entries need to be submitted to alex@sopbeer.com no later than April 30, 2010 by 11:59 PM.

Should your name be chosen, you'll receive a Shades of Pale T-shirt, Award Certificate to winner, A meet and greet with the Brewmaster and a tour of Shades of Pale. As well as acknowledgment on the Shades of Pale website and in the brewery.

Submit as many names as you like. I have a few picked out and am planning on "sporting" that t-shirt this summer. I hope they have 'em in a XXXXXXXL.

Cheers and Good Luck!

2010 Beehive Brew-Off Announced

Get your recipes ready. The date for the 2010 Beehive Brew-Off has been announced. August 21-22 will be the judging days with awards being given out on the 22nd.

I don't have the exact dates for entries yet but as per last year's competition entries were accepted the first three weeks of July with final entries due a month before the competition. I'm giving you this vague info now so you can start planning.

One entry consists of three (3) bottles. To assure the anonymity of brewer, bottles must be standardized to the current AHA competition requirements: 10-14 oz bottles with no paper or inked labels, raised glass brand-name designs or any identifying or distinguishing marks on the bottle or cap identifying the brewer. Be sure that you enter your beer into the proper style category. Styles accepted include all styles listed in 2008 AHA Category Descriptions. Entries become property of The Beer Nut and will not be returned.

The Beehive Brew-Off is open to all recognized beer categories. The 2008 edition of the BJCP Style Guidelines will be used to judge entries. It is the brewer's responsibility to determine the correct category/subcategory to enter their beers, and to provide additional information where required. Depending on the number of entries and category distribution, categories and subcategories may be combined or separated for judging and awards purposes. These judging table breakdowns will
not be available prior to the competition and will be determined by the
competition committee once all the entries have been processed. Entries will be received at

The Beer Nut
1200 South State St.
Salt Lake City, Utah
84111

Please contact The Beer Nut for any questions at (801) 531-8182 or jamie@beernut.com.

Some of this info could change, so keep checking back here or check the Forum.

Cheers!

"Tour de Brewtah"

If You love you love your beer and your bike I have great news for you. The inaugural "Tour de Brewtah" charity ride, which will bring together bicycles and beer to raise money for Utah charities, will be held on May 8 in Salt Lake City.

From a starting point at the Live Green SLC! Festival in Library Square, bike riders will follow a downtown route marked by local breweries - Red Rock, Uinta, Desert Edge and Squatters, scene of an end-of-the-ride party. Participants also receive a commemorative pint glass. Gotta put that beer in sumthin'... right?

Up to 200 riders of all abilities are being invited. Registration forms are available at www.ridemybike.com/rides/view/id:346. The cost is $30 before May 6 and $50 the day of the race - if space remains.

A brilliant idea!

Cheers!

Redbridge Beer in Utah

A lot of Celiac sufferers have been asking "what the Hell Happened to Red Bridge Beer"?

I don't know why it's gone from store shelves, but I've been reassured by General Distributing that it will return. Hopefully within the next 60 days.

For those of you that don't know, people who have celiac (pronounced: see-lee-ak) disease have a disorder that make their bodies react to gluten.

When they eat gluten, an immune system reaction to the protein gradually damages the villi in the small intestine. When the villi are damaged, the body is unable to absorb the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

Red Bridge is gluten free and is one of the few option available in Utah. 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(as far as I know). And finally there's Bard's Tale Dragon Gold Beer. Bard's Tale is only at state liquor stores. Hang in there.

Cheers!

The Beer Yogi is At It Again.

Just days after the last last of the Rêve went away RedRock's Beer Yogi, Kevin Templin has already began laying down next years batch to bed, in oak. That's cool, but not this cool.

But what really made my ears perk up was mention of the Double IPA that he's working on. What's going to make this one different from the others currently floating around the market is that this one is made with a Belgian yeast strain and is currently vacationing in oak, until it "want's to be done". So, when it's ready he'll tell me and I'll tell you.

Also in the works, Kevin is putting together an "amped up" version of RedRock's popular Harvest Ale. I love this beer, can't wait to see what he does with a bigger version of it.


New beers available to you this week are Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale from Boulevard Brewing's Smokestack series(Bayou).

Pike's Double IPA(Bayou,Beerhive).

The following beers should be available in liquor store within the next week or so.

PIKE NAUGHTY NELLIE GOLDEN ALE
DESCHUTES RESERVE SUPER JUBEL ALE'
MACTARNAHAN'S SUMMER GRIFTER IPA??? *NOT SURE*
SAMUEL ADAMS' COASTAL WHEAT

More discussion available on the Utah Beer Forum.

Cheers!

More Epic News

Here's some more EPIC Brewing news for y'all.

To coincide with American Craft Beer Week, Epic will open it's bottle shop at the new brewery on May 17.

On that date Epic will debut with 9 different artisan beers labels. Sold cold in 22 ounce bottles at the brewery and various bars and restaurants around the state.

EPIC's series will be broken down into three tiers: Classic, Elevated and Exponential.

The Classic Series is EPIC’s line of consistent American-style craft beers. These are the standard labels and will not change.

The Elevated Series consists of unique recipes that will vary from batch to batch and season to season. Limited in quantity, each release will be numbered. Detailed batch information and brewers notes will eventually be found the brewery’s website.

The top level of EPIC beer is the Exponential Series. These are the "wild card" beers. Expect beers that cutting edge, selective and highly creative.

I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating. All of EPIC's beers will exceed 4.0% ABV. A first in Utah since prior to prohibition.

Cheers!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Utah's 2010 World Beer Cup Winners

Congratulations are in order! Three of Utah's breweries brought home medals from the 2010 World beer cup. 3,330 beers from 44 countries enter the semi annual event. Nicely done!

Category 10: Session Beer (28 Entries)
Gold Polygamy Porter
Utah Brewers Co-Op
Salt Lake City, UT

Category 30: German-Style Schwarzbier (38 Entries)
Gold Black Forest Schwarzbier
Squatters Pub Brewery
Salt Lake City, UT

Category 54: Ordinary Bitter (12 Entries)
Bronze Cutthroat Pale Ale
Uinta Brewing Co.
Salt Lake City, UT

Please Welcome Shades of Pale Brewing Co.

It seems all the beer news is in Chicago this week with most of our brewers as they attend the Craft Brewers Conference.

The brewers that are left in town seem to be the start up Brewers. Kevin at Epic is churning out beer at a fast clip for an April launch. Now comes word that Sades of Pale passed their last city inspection and is scheduled to begin brewing two pilot batches tonight if all goes well.

Owner/brewer Trent Fargher says he's already confirmed The Canyons Ski resort will put their initial offering on their summer menu in June. It will likely be a nice light low point Belgian Saison with slight orange, coriander, and juniper under tones.

Trent is also experimenting with a Belgian Strong Dark and a Rye Pale Ale as well. Once those are perfected, the plan is to collaborate with Park City Coffee Roasters to do an espresso porter. The guys over at PC coffee are stoked to be putting something together to promote both products.

In addition they are in very - very preliminary talks with High West on some collaboration as well.

Please Congratulate to Trent & Alexandra on Utah's Newest Brewery!

Cheers!

Cache Brewing Society

Good news for our Cache County brothas & Sistas. Logan Utah and Cache Valley has a new brewing club called Cache Brewing Society.

Their goals are simple. Share knowledge and excitement about the brewing of beer, wine & mead. Introduce people to the art of home brewing, while helping members become better brewers of the 70+ different beers styles out there.

If you live up in that area and love to home brew, it really is to your advantage to surround yourself with like minded people to help improve and motivate your skills. Whether it's this club or another.

Here's a link to their website. I'll also be adding a link in the Home brew Clubs section.

Cheers!

The Utah Beer Forum

Starting today We've created a new forum to complement the Utah Beer Blog.

The Utah Beer Forum is designed to help everyone in Utah's craft beer community communicate more easily. The more input from you the better it will work.

The URL is http://utahbeer.forumotions.com or simply click on the "happy beer Man" to the right.

Feedback on how to make it better is much appreciated!

Enjoy & Cheers!

-Mikey

New Website for Uinta

Uinta Brewing has a new website. The updated site includes Four+ Brewing and has added a brewery blog, Uinta involved events and a section where the community can send in photos of patrons enjoying Uinta's beers. Check it out.