Iron Fist Beers Coming to Salt Lake

It's getting to the point where we're going to need a new weekly segment called New Brewery Monday or Tuesday or..... You get it. This week's new brewery is also part of the recent San Diego invasion that is currently underway, thanks to Utah Craft Beverages.

Located in Vista California, Iron Fist Brewing Company is a family owned brewery that currently has about twenty beers in their portfolio. Their emphasis seems be on Belgian style ales that tend to stretch the limits of the styles. Some of the description are quite interesting.

To start we will be getting three labels:

Uprising Belgian Style Tripel - Apples, apricot, plum , citrus. Lightly tart. 12% ABV 750ml

Velvet Glove Imperial Oatmeal Stout - Rich roasted chocolate and coffee flavors. 9.0% ABV 750ml

Nelson the ImPALEr - Single hop Nelson Pale. Tropical and Grapefruit with light malt character. 5.0% ABV

These beers will be popping up at local beer bars in the coming weeks, keep checking back for updates.

Also today, Epic's Lil' Brainless Raspberries is finally for sale in SLC. It's been available for a while outside of Utah but the DABC would sell it until Epic's Element 29 inventory had shrunk. Well, it has and now Lil' B-Razz is here. If you haven't had a chance to try some. It has that rich, estery and spicy, Belgian yeast funk backing up the base beer. The raspberry is subtle and tart with some dry and puckering tannin notes. You get some floral bitterness on the back of the tongue. With a finish that is semi tart and dry. The ABV is a pleasant 5.2%. It should be popping up in most stores around the state. As of this post you can find them at the following DABC stores.
Sandy
Cottonwood Heights
Holliday
Millcreek
SLC Downtown
North Temple

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 3/27/15

Remember the days when you could strap on some patent leathers, spark up a smoke and hang with your best chicken? Well those days are back my friends in this weeks New Beer Friday.

Shades of Pale - Cafe X Espresso Stout - Pours black as you'd expect. The nose has a huge roasted coffee aroma that is nice and inviting. The taste starts right-off with big coffee notes. Some slight roasted barley notes come next, but for the most part it's an all coffee beer. It basically tastes like cold presses coffee. It needs more malt to back up the coffee flavors which would help balance it out. It is a tad thin as well. If you love coffee, I think you'll find it to be right up your zip code. 4.0% ABV. This is a limited edition bottled brew, that is available at Shades of Pale's new brewery at 154 w. Utopia Ave in South Salt Lake. Open weekdays from 11-6pm. 

Wasatch Plum Wit - Pours a cloudy straw color with a finger of dense foam on top. The nose is mostly wheat and Belgian yeast. The taste starts like many witbiers with wheat and some grains of paradise flavors. I don't get plum flavors but there is some nice unripened tart fruit flavors that take over creating another dimension to the brew. Finishes somewhat dry and tart. Not your typical fruit ale. The tartness is clean and refreshing. 4.0% ABV. Available where Wasatch has seasonal taps.

Hive Apple Crumble Wine - Described as a delightfully sweet spiced apple wine. With a rich, warm cinnamon flavor perfectly complementing the mellow apple, this desert wine makes us think of warm baked apples on a cold autumn’s night. @ Hive Winery

Bonneville Second AnniversaRye - Described as a hoppy rye pale made with Chilean cara malts and Experimental 07270 hops all the way through. Lots of tangerine/orange rind flavor. Hoppiest beer Bonneville has done.

Annex Peppercorn Saison with Galaxy Hops - A collaborative beer made with input from from Flatbread Neapolitan Pizzeria. Have not had this one yet. 4.0% ABV @ Flatbread Neapolitan Pizzeria in Sugarhouse.

Avenues Proper Leisure Brau - A hybrid beer described as a combining the smooth malt body and cold aging of a Vienna Lager with the lust for hops of an American IPA. The rich Vienna and Munich malt base and long boil, create a slightly sweet body in this orange hued lager, which is a nice counterpoint to the bitterness derived from American Hopping techniques. They used Summit, Calypso, and Simcoe hops (all higher alpha acid hops) in the boil and dry hopping periods which have lent sharp notes of citrus pith and chive. We lagers the beer cold for over a month, and then quickly dry hopped for a fresh, smooth finish. 4.0% ABV @ Avenues Proper

Retuning Favorites

Bohemian Brewery Dunkelweizen. Brewed with yeast from the Bavarian monastery of Andechs. Dark wheat and Munich malts give this beer a rich, chocolate backbone while the yeast adds subtle flavors of banana and clove.

Cheers!

Ballast Point Coming to Utah

Our local beer news lately seems to have at least one thing in common with our winter, it's been practically non-existent. After a long news drought we finally have something new to talk about and it's pretty damn big news. Yesterday via Facebook Ballast Point Brewing announced that they were bringing their beers to Utah and they will debut with their new IPA called Even Keel.

Even Keel is Session IPA that's described as having a silky malt backbone, with herbal and citrus hops. It has a whopping ABV of 3.8% and will be available in cans and on draft.

Don't worry, Ballast Point also announced that other beers in their portfolio will be en route as well. If your a fan their Grapefruit Sculpin IPA (and who isn't) you can begin to sqeeeeee now.

No exact date was given as to their arrival, but the next couple of months seems likely. We'll share the news as becomes available. Thanks Jim for bring this to our attention!

Cheers!

New Beer Friday - Friday the 13th Edition

Park City Brewery has released their first beer! As far I've found it's only being poured at Maxwell's in Park City. If anyone has found it elsewhere, please share. Desert Edge also has two new brews out as well.

Park City Brewery Breaking Trail Pale Ale - I've not tried this one yet. It's described as having a clear dark golden color with a medium sized off-white head. The nose has toasted toasted malts, bready and floral. The taste is floral, bisquity and citrus with an earthy presence. Crisp and clean finish. 4.0% ABV @ Maxwell's in Park City

Desert Edge #9 Saison - Described as having dry undertone with a tart sour character. Citrussy orange and fruity notes come through.  There is a spiciness from coriander and peppercorns. It finishes with a earthy hop note. 4.0% ABV @ Desert Edge 

Desert Edge UKPA (U.K. Pale Ale) - Light malt character with subtle floral hopiness. Slight metalic taste in the end. Served on Nitro. Good example of the style. 4.0% ABV @ Desert Edge

Roosters Gulliver's Irish Red - Not tried this one yet. First Nitro conditioned beer from Roosters 4.0% ABV @ Roosters locations

The Annex firkin today has their IPA cask conditioned with Sumatra Coffee. Sounds interesting.

Anything I missed? Please share!

Cheers!

Rêve and CTR Return

It's time for the 14th iteration of Red Rock's Rêve, Belgian style tripel. This beer is one of my favorite seasonal beers. Belgian style tripels don't tend to find their way into my tummy as often as they used to, because of their boozy candy-like sweetness. This one is a different story - through the magic of barrel aging with the addition Brettanomyces and Bruxellensis yeast strains this beer becaomes a whole different beast. 

Pours a light golden honey color with with a moderate fluffy white head that dissipated to a very thin froth. The nose is a little boozy with banana, cloves malt and ripe mango. The taste is very much the same starting with candied sugar and cloves that transitions into toasted malt and banana. Tart vinous fruit come next balancing out the sweetness creating dry and almost puckering finish. The alcohol is warming and welcomed, masked well by Rêve’s full body. It adds a whole new dimension to the beer. You really get a good sense of the oak in the finish. It’s 10.3% abv is more than enough to warm your inner beer geek. 

Rêve returns today (Wednesday, March 11th) at RedRock's Beer Store and it will be available at all Red Rock Brewpubs beginning Thursday March 12th. 

There are quite a few rye beers floating around the market right now but non have the explosive rye character of our next beer. Bohemian's spring seasonal  CTR "Choose the Rye" is a pale copper lager brewed with over 50% rye malts. Rye can be a somewhat difficult  grain to brew with. It has an oily porridge like stickiness that can make it a challenging mash to extract the wort from in high quantities. The resulting beer has a earthy and fruity nose with a taste starts with moderately sweet/musty rye and spicy european hops, the end has a touch of citrus to add balance to the spicy grain and hop bill.

For a 4% ABV beer this lager has a surprising amount of body you really get a sense of why rye beers are becoming so popular in the U.S. Available on tap at Bohemian Brewery and where BOHO has seasonal taps.

Cheers!

Aztec Brewing - Coming to Utah

Welcome to Monday. Right about now your body is is probably pitching a fit in regards to the loss of precious sleep. While nothing can adequately compensate you for that hour, I'll try and soften the blow with some new beer news.

Originally the Aztec Brewery was started in Mexico during Prohibition. When Prohibition ended, the brewery was moved to San Diego and became known as ABC - Aztec Brewing Company. In 1953 the brewery was purchased by a competitor from the Midwest. The brand was later retired and disappeared from San Diego. In 2008 the brand was resurrected and located in Vista, California where it has thrived in San Diego's competitive craft beer scene.

Utah Craft Beverages now has Aztec Brewing Co.'s craft beers available for special order through the UDABC in 22oz bombers! here are the beers Utah Craft will have available.

Noche de los Muertos Imperial Stout - An intense Imperial Stout with a hint of cinnamon spice. Big, rich and black as night. Dark roasted malts add complex character to the flavors, with a balanced
bitterness and mouth feel.

Chipotle India Pale Ale - Smoked jalapeño peppers known as chipotles add a smokey kick without excessive heat, giving this beer a complex, lingering lightly spicy finish. Cascade hops provide a clean, firm bitterness, to balance the sweet malt character. Hoppy but clean
citrus/grapefruit nose.

The Hop Serpent Imperial IPA - is a deliciously drinkable IIPA with plenty of hop aroma and flavor.

Aztec Sacrifice® Red IPA - Big, bold malty red India Pale Ale with a wallop of citrus hops and specialty malts. Rich toffee and caramel notes with a hint of roasted barley and firm hop bitterness. This is how red ales are done on the west coast!

Hibiscus Wheat Beer - An unfiltered wheat beer inspired by the Mexican Hibiscus tea “Jamaica.” Brewed with Hibiscus petals, ginger and allspice. This refreshing hefeweizen has a light slightly spicy floral citrus flavor with fruity tones. Pairs well with fish - especially

Aztec's beers will be available in the coming weeks at popular beer bars and restaurants.

Salud!

New Beer Friday 3/6/15

It was obviously a really slow beer week here in Utah, we really had to dig to find some some new morsels for this morning. While they may not be new to some they did catch my eye. You'll notice that we're starting off with a Goose Island beer. This one actually snuck in to the Beer Bar late last Friday. It won't be long before you start seeing other Goose Island beers on shelves soon. Yeeeah...

Goose Island Goose IPA - Pours a clear golden color. The nose is of grapefruit and sweet malts. The taste starts with a light malty backbone with a grassy/citrucy hop flavor in the end. Finishes dry. This is yet another session IPA to enter the Salt Lake market. Not to be confused with Goose Island's "Goose Island IPA" this is "Goose IPA". 4.0% ABV @ Beer Bar

Sockeye Maibock - Not tried this one yet. 6.5% ABV @ Bayou

Vernal Brewing - Brewers Handle Black Lager. Not tried this one. 4.0% ABV @ Vernal Brewing

Guinness Blonde - Deep golden in color with a nose of bready caramel and grassy hops. The taste starts bready with thin caramel and light grassy hops notes and pretty much remains that way throughout. Bitterness from the hops pick up gaining intensity to the end. The finish is crisp and lingering. A pretty standard lager. 5.0% ABV @DABC

Newcastle Bombshell - Pours bright gold. The nose has toffee and noble hops. The flavor starts malty and bready with a bit of mineral bite. Notes of honey and lemon come next with an herbal tea smack rounding out the the end. Lingering spicey hops in the finish. I'm not a big Newcastle fan, so this came as a pleasant surprise. Light and refreshing. 4.4% ABV @ DABC

The Hive Winery Elder Jack Wine - This came out yesterday, did not get a chance to try it. It's described as having a delightful berry nose and slight hints of black currant. As the wine opens and warms, the nose subtly changes allowing more of the black currant aroma to come forward to blend with the raspberry. A smooth well balanced wine, with a delightful flavor shifting from dominant raspberry with black currant undertones to black currant with soft raspberry highlights.

The Annex firkin today features Golden with Citra Hops and Lychee. If your not familiar with the Lychee it tastes like a combo of grapes, strawberries and watermelon. Should be delicious! Tapping is at 4:30 - $3 pints. Now that's the way to start the weekend!

Prost!