New Beer Friday - Blue Hair Edition

As I'm going to the grocery store to pick up some of these new Selkirk Abby beers, I noticed that an AARP bus must have broken or something because I was by far the freshest face on the block by at least fifty years. The entire parking lot is full of "blue hairs" driving only Cadillacs, Buicks and Oldsmobiles. I try to park in the first stall I come to but was denied - due to a lady unloading her shopping cart with the speed and movement of C-3PO with a low battery.

So, I move on to the next row. There I find a massive, primer red El Dorado and newer taupe Buick Regal doing some kind of automotive ballet - as one lady tries to fine-tune her massive Detroit made vessel into one tiny stall as another tries to back out of the opposing stall. After this "dance of dragons" has ended I pull in to the recently vacated stall to find an older gentleman with his door swung wide open blocking the stall. He can't hear me yell, "excuse me"! because he's blasting a tirade from Rush Limbaugh on the radio about how "Hillary is gunna take all your health care" and "make you gay marry". So I honk, he gives me a shitty look, shuts his door and I finally move on into the store.

Or so I thought. As I try to enter the store through the single automated door - I arrive right behind two more members of the greatest generation as they try to figure out how to unplug the complimentary scooter - that they are apparently going to share because there was only one left. Now I'm finally inside and I remember. Fucking Dick's Market doesn't sell beer!

I work hard for New Beer Friday...

Hopworks Galactic Imperial Red Ale - It has an earthy ruby color with a strong caramel nose along with some grassy pine and a bit of citrusy floral notes. The taste is quite earthy and dank with a lot of  cake, caramel and molasses. Next comes a strong pine component with tropical hops backing it up.  Somewhat boozy but not overpowering. There's a lot going on here. 9.3% ABV @Beer Bar

Bohemian Oaked Amber Lager - The nose is malty with dry wood components. The taste has notes of toffee and butterscotch overlapping with milder notes of apple and leafy hops. The oak start to dominate by the back end, imparting flavors of woody vanilla that last through the finish and into the aftertaste. 4.0% ABV @ Bohemian

Selkirk Abbey Chapel - Pale golden color with a nose of clove, florals and banana. The taste follows with bready wheat, clove and coriander. The end is rounded out with a bit grassy and lemony hops. Finishes clean and somewhat dry. 4.0% ABV @ Grocery C-Stores.

Selkirk Abby IV Patersbier - malty nose to this, along with spicy, Belgian yeast notes. The taste starts with sweet, bready malts, caramel and clove. Tea and apple flavors come next backing up a bit of spicy, fruity Belgian yeast flavors. Mildly dry in the finish. Believe it or not, at 4% this may be too "full bodied" for the style. Still, a nice drinking table beer. @Grocery C-Stores.

Don't forget New Beer Friday is on KBER 101 at 3:30pm with Mick and Allen. Tune in if you can.

Prost!

Upslope Brews Exclusive Beer for Utah

Upslope Brewing Co has created a new Belgian Style Blonde, an ale brewed with guava, specifically for Utah's craft beer drinkers. The beer meets the state’s requirement to be sold at any retail location that sells beer & wine. The soft tropical fruit character imparted from the guava puree offers a touch of complexity to the clean, bright, Belgian blonde experience.

I'm told this beer should be hitting grocery and convenience store shelves next week. It's nice to see our market get some specific attention from breweries outside of our market.

Cheers!

Image found at Shipcomplient.com

Wind River Brewing Plans New Brewery

If there's one thing you can count on here at the Utah Beer Blog, its that we only get into the suds that apply to Utahans. Let's face it we have our own unique issues and joys - when I say, "the problem with this beer is its 4.1%". You know what the problem is, some random guy from Tuskegee wont.

So, after all that well thought out, massaging of my ego - I'm going to piss all over that first paragraph by talking about Wyoming's Wind River Brewing Company.

Headquartered in Pinedale, Wyoming  - Wind River has built a reputation on making superior hand crafted beers for the last ten years. Recently the owners of Wind River looked to expand the brewery's operations in their home base of Pinedale, but the brewery could not come to terms with the mayor over zoning. So, they decided to look elsewhere. 

[here's the part that will interest Utah beer lovers] 

After being courted by many cities within Wyoming, Wind River has decided to open their new brewing facility at the historic Roundhouse building in Evanston, Wy. Built in the early 1900s, the Roundhouse was originally owned by Union Pacific Railroad and was designed to be a repair facility for locomotive cars and engines. It will soon be transformed into a grand brewery that likely become the jewel of the Evanston.

Over to the column on the right side of this page, I provided a list of all the Utah breweries [operating, contracting and pending]. Due to it's proximity to the Wasatch Front and Back, I extended an "honorary Utah brewery status" to Evanston's Suds Brothers Brewery. Hell, it's only 70 minutes from my casa - I'd like to do the same for Wind River"s Roundhouse Brewery when it opens.

The remodel for the Roundhouse is expected to begin this summer. Who knows, maybe we'll see some of Wind River's beers in Utah soon.

There you see, I'm always able to make it about me... err you! - err Utah! Yeah, Utah Beer.

Cheers!

Selkirk Abby Enters the Utah Market

Selkirk Abby out of Post Falls Idaho has quietly popped into the capital city's grid. I was bumping around the Harmon's Grocery store at City Creek the other night and came across these two new beers.

The first is Chapel, the breweries Witbier. This is a special Utah version taken down to 4% from it's usual 4.9%. The other is a Belgian style single ale called IV. This beer is brand new and was designed especially for the our market.

I'll try to get some tasting notes up by New Beer Friday time.

Selkirk Abby is a Belgian themed brewery that is not limited to those particular styles. They have four year-round offerings, six seasonals and three special releases.

If you find these somewhere besides the City Creek Harmon's please share.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 4/22/16

I've been doing New Beer Friday for quite a few years now, it still blows me away that there are still so many new options hitting bars and store shelves on a weekly basis. I wish I could try them all before Friday, but I'm only one man. Here's your latest, New Beer Friday lineup. 

Bohemian Cottonwood Common (Brewers Stache Series) -Haven't tried this one yet. This beer is Boho's interpretation on a California Steam Beer. They are typically malty with some mild fruitiness and have an assertive hop bitterness. 4.0% ABV @ Bohemian

2 Row Bier De Garde - Dried fruit aromas in the nose with some light floral notes. The taste starts with big bubble gum flavors,  rich dark fruits and some dried apricot. Herbal bitterness and some phenols from the yeast round out the end balancing out the palate. Medium body. A great tasting Bier De Garde. 7.0% ABV. @ 2 Row, Beerhive, Bayou

Proper Brewing Hop vs Hop - Haven't tried this one yet. For the first version of this beer Brew master Rio Connolly decided to go with Crystal and Summit hop varieties. 7.1% ABV @ Proper Brewing, Beer Bar, 

Proper Brewing Halfway to Concord - (an old-timey phrase meaning you've had a few) is a Colonial-style porter brewed with molasses, corn, and rye. Session-strength with just the right amount of body, this is the perfect "warm weather porter" 4.0% ABV @ Proper Brewing

Lagunitas Waldo's Special Ale - Pours a orange-ish, with a nose of strong pine resin, dank hops, grapefruit and herbal notes. The taste starts with a blast of pine resin and dank hop bitterness. Grapefruit grass, pineapple, mango and vanilla, round out the back end. Finishes lemony and herbal.
Full bodied, alcohol is hidden well but will rear it's head as it warms. 11.5% ABV @ Beerhive, Beer Bar

Mother Earth Sweet Spot IPA - Graham cracker like maltiness with notes of passion fruit, melon, green berry and a light floral dankness. Finishes with a bit of peppery bitterness. Nice IPA. 6.7% ABV. @ Bayou, BeerHive  

Full Sail Bourbon Barrel Wheatwine Ale - Haven't tried this one yet. Thanks for the locator Brady! 12.0% ABV @ 300 w. Wine Store

Full Sail Classic IPA - Haven't tried this one yet. Not sure if this is just a re-branding of their regular IPA. @DABC

Upslope Oatmeal Stout - Haven't tried this one yet. 5.0% ABV. @ DABC

Blue Moon Belgian Table Pils - Haven't tried this one yet. 4.0% ABV. @ Grocery/Convenience Stores

Estrella Jalisco - This light-flavored Mexican pilsner from Guadalajara, Jalisco is very popular south of the boarder and is now available in the states. 4.0% ABV @ Grocery/Convenience Stores.

Don't forget, we do New Beer Friday reviews and discussions on KBER 101, every Friday afternoon at 3:30pm with Mick and Allen. Check it out if you can.

Cheers!

Salt Lake's Sour Saturday

You're going to have to plan your Saturday well if you want to acquire two of the state's more coveted sour ales this weekend.

RedRock's Paardebloem will be released for sale at the Beer Store on Saturday the 23rd at 11am. About 400 750mL bottles available to-go at $15 each (limit 2).

However, RedRock has set up special online purchase of 50 Paardebloem bottles to help raise funds for our friend Bad Brad Wheeler of KRCL Radio. If you're not aware, Brad was involved in a serious accident, that has him layed-up and unable to work. His medical bills are piling up fast.

For a $10 donation per bottle (plus the cost of the beer), you can help Brad out. This means “no waiting in line” for those willing cough up a $20 donation.You'll be able to snag your Paardebloems from the comfort of your own barcalounger. Brad has become a great advocate of Utah craft beer scene and RockRock just wants to throw a little love his way. All proceeds from the online purchases will go directly to Brad. Here's the link to reserve your bottles. The online portion also opens-up at 11am, Saturday.

Our other Saturday release has Epic's Sour Brainless Peaches going on sale an hour earlier at 10am. This is a very limited release. About 150 - 22oz. bottles. These bottles have a limit of ONE per person.

I've talked to both breweries, these releases weren't planned to coincide with each other, It's just one of those things to file under the beer shit happens tab.

Prost!

Coming Soon to Proper Brewing

Before we get into the beer, I'd like wish you all a happy 420. Sadly all of the dankness discussed here will be about all of the hops. Now on to the beer!

There are a couple of new IPAs coming to Proper Brewing Company in Salt Lake City. The First offering we're previewing is Hop vs Hop. This is a new IPA series that will feature an alternating pair of hops that will test how well the bittering flower play together. There's word yet on how often the rotations will occur - I'm sure it will be often enough to keep local hop heads on their toes.

The Next IPA is Ostara IPA. Ostara, is the old English name for the vernal equinox. This beer will be a Belgo-IPA. It will have the character of an Abby-style golden ale, combined with grapefruit and lemon peel all wrapped around a blanket tropical notes. The Alcohol scale will likely be on the higher end.

These beers will likely take advantage of the heat of summer to make them pop. We'll of course update you on their debuts.

Cheers!

Images found at shipcompliant.com

Epic's 2016 Sour Brainless on Peaches

Lovers of Epic's Sour Brainless on Peaches, rejoice! A very limited run on the fruity wild ale will be going on sale. This year's release is primarily a blend of sour wort from Epic's Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces foeders brewed in October of 2014 and cellared onto peaches last June. During the final blend, 5 casks from our original 2013 blend were added which is just over 20% of the total volume. The final blend is comprised of 80% 15 month casks and 20% 30 month casks. This release is very limited with less than 5000 bottles produced.

This spring Epic purchased 9 foeders from Napa Valley with a total capacity of 620 barrels, significantly increasing its cellar capacity to a total 12 foeders and just under 700 dedicated sour oak casks. Several new sour projects have already made their way into the wood and will be releasing in the coming months.

The beer will be release at the Denver Taproom on Thursday 4/21. The event is not ticketed and is free to attend. Participants will have the opportunity to sample the beer on draft and tour the cellar to learn more about the souring process. Guests can even wax dip their own bottles.

The Salt Lake City brewery will release a limited Hand Bottled run on Saturday, April 23rd of about 150 - 22oz. bottles. These Bottles will go on sale at 10:00 am with a limit of ONE per person.

Cheers!

Image: top - Found at Shipcomplient.com
Image : right - courtesy craftybeergirls.com

A New Look, Same Direction for Uinta

Uinta Brewing is updating it's look with a new company logo along with an evolved packaging scheme that brings greater brand recognition across their offerings. The "refreshed" logo further embraces use of a compass, Uinta’s company icon. “The compass symbolizes our adventurous spirit, sense of direction in brewing, and serves as a reminder to get out and get lost every once in awhile,” says Will Hamill, Uinta’s Founder.  While the new logo eliminates Uinta’s namesake East to West running mountain range illustration, the E-W running compass needle remains as a nod to the quirky, a-typical range that, like the brewery, runs in its own direction.

As you can see the new artwork has familiar look we've grown accustom to, but it's cleaner now and less busy. Uinta’s new company logo will begin to appear as early as this week. By June of this year, the updated packaging scheme is anticipated to hit shelves in all 35 of Uinta’s distribution states.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Uinta plans a shload of new beers to accompany this new look in the coming year.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday - Mother, May I??? Edition

I swear on my mother's coveted dolma recipe that the following New Beer Friday meme is purely coincidental and was not planned to coincide with the release of Not Your Mama's Imperial Milk Stout from Vernal Brewing Company. That being said, it is pretty fucking brilliant. Enjoy.

Vernal Brewing Not Your Mama's Imperial Milk Stout - The nose is sweet with light chocolate and coffee notes - like a rich coffee drink. The taste with huge sweet lactose and chocolate followed by some balancing roasted malts. After you get past the lactic sweetness the coffee notes become more assertive. The end has some bitter cocoa and hint of black malts. Damn! I was really taken aback by how damn drinkable this 8.5% beer is. It's so drinkable and smooth on the palate, you'd swear it was in the 6% range. Highly recommended. @ Vernal Brewing

Uinta Cucumber Farmhouse Ale - The nose has noticeable cucumber with the typical peppery  saison spiciness. The taste starts with light cucumber. The base beer itself is light and simple with some light peppery saison yeast character. The sasion base of the beer never gets lost. The end has a slight juniper berry tartness. Sadly the gin barrel this beer was aged in was blended-out a bit too much, would have liked to have tasted more of that aspect of the beer. It has some refreshing qualities that could make it work well as a summertime beer. 6.2% ABV @ Uinta Brewing and better beer bars

2 Row Nemesis Pale Ale - Has a juicy nose of orange peel and pine. The taste starts with tangerine and ruby red grapefruit - tropical notes, with some juicy melon, as well as some mango. Next comes pale malts and light bread - very clean. One of the best aspects of this beer and and most of 2 Row's beers is the lack of filtration. This stuff is like hop juice, dangerously easy to drink. Perfect balance and a wonderful showcase of how good Brian Coleman is at creating American pale ale styles that we all crave. A must for both IPA and PAle ale lovers alike. 6.3% ABV @ 2 Row Brewing, Beer Bar, BeerHive.

If you're a fan a Danish beers, The Bayou just replenished their stock of hard to find ales including:

Amager Batch One
Amager/Goose Island RyeKing
To Ol Jule Maelk
To Ol Black Malts and Body Salts Black Coffee IIPA
Nogne-O/Terrapin Imperial Rye Porte
Beer Here Ryehopper IPA

Cheers!

Maple Mountain to Partner with Station 22 Cafe

We first became aware Maple Mountain Brewing Company back in 2014. The news of a brewery in the ultra-conservative heart of Utah County was just too much joy for happy beer geeks to handle. Apparently it was also too much for some city officials to handle, as some city leaders kept the realities of a Provo brewery just out of reach.

After years of seeking zoning changes and investors Brewers, Andrew Fullmer and Scott Brady had the fortune to cross paths with Richard Gregory from Station 22 Cafe, located on Center Street in Downtown Provo. After listening to their vision, Gregory decided to come on board and invest in Maple Mountain, hoping that together they could make the dream of craft beer in Provo a reality.

Right now things are still taking shape, but Gregory says that they're taking the fight to Provo City and that they feel pretty positive that they will be supportive. "At Provo Town Square, we host some of the most successful business in downtown, as well as having extensive relationships with other progressive business owners." Gregory adds, "If needed, we'll be able to rally massive business community support for this venture and individuals in the community won't be far behind".

The Brewpub plans to produce such beers as Red Dev'Ale (named for the Springville Red Devils), Sarsaparilla Stout. Chocolate Coffee Porter, Jalapeno Blonde Ale, and Our IPA.

As this project progresses we'll keep you updated.

Prost!

The Winner of the 2016 Utah Beer Challenge is....

It was a juggernaut throughout every round of the Utah Beer Challenge and is our returning champion as well. Of course I'm talking about RedRock Brewing Company's Elephino Double IPA.

In the three years that we've done this local beer brackets thing - Elephino has always made it to the end and this year's finals was a near copy of the 2014 Challenge.

Just in case you've been living under a rock, Elephino has a nice sharp aroma of citrus hops with a sweet blend of pine, mango, orange and fresh cut grass. The tastes follows with mango, pineapple, grass and orange flavors with touch of biscuity malt. Very little, boozy bite along with a long sweet but dry citrus finish. Grab 'em fresh at RedRock's bottle shop located at 443 n. 400 w. in Salt Lake City.

Once again, Congratulations to Elephino and to the staff at RedRock Brewing Company. Honor me by placing this electronically generated award in a high traffic place. The men's and lady's "shitter" is always a fitting spot.

If I decide to try the Utah Beer Challenge again, what kind of changes would you readers like to see?  I've considered doing away with the Ratebeer.com stats and replace them with some pre-polling of each participating brewery to find what Utah's beer drinkers prefer. Your input is greatly appriciated.

Cheers!
______________________________________________________

62.31%	REDROCK - ELEPHINO DOUBLE IPA	167 (62.31%)
37.69%	EPIC - BIG BAD BAPTIST BA IMPERIAL STOUT	101 (37.69%)

(268 Total Votes)

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New Beer Friday - Locals Only Edition

It's a locals only edition of New Beer Friday this week. There's a full spectrum of flavors out there from six different breweries. No matter what your preferences are you're likely to find something that'll work for you.

Uinta Hop Nosh Tangerine IPA -  It has a bright orange color, combined with a big, fluffy white head that is extremely sturdy and hardly vanishes. The nose is juicy with notes of lemon and orange meat. These aromas pretty much dominate. The taste starts with malt cake but transitions quickly into dry hop territory. The beer turns out to be much more diverse than it had been on the nose, offering a nice blend of citrus hop bitterness and subtle fruitiness from the tangerine puree. You get all of the fruitiness with it being at all sweet like a German Radler.  The end has a bit of pine and it finishes semi dry with tangerine peel bitterness. This isn't bitter hop water with citrus juice mixed in. It's all IPA with tangerine accents. I'm amazed by how well the whole package works. 7.3% ABV. Right now it's just at the brewery - it may start popping up at some of the area bars this afternoon.

Bohemian Oaken Amber Lager - Not tried this one yet. It's part of BoHo's Brewer's Stache Series. It's available now at the brewery. 4.0% ABV

Proper Brewing Grow Wild Gruit - Not tried this one yet. Gruits are basically old world style, European beers that use various herbs, roots and berries for bittering instead of hops. They range in ABV from 4% - 6%. This one dials in at 4.0%. @ Proper Brewing

Epic Tart n' Juicy Sour IPA - This is a slightly bigger vewrsion of Epic's Sour IPA.  Look for more sour peachy qualities along with some citrus peel from the hops. 4.5% ABV. @ Epic, The Annex and better beer bars.

RedRock Spring Ale - This is a White IPA. The Cascade and Citra hops provide a nice citrus twang with a touch of spiciness from the Belgian yeast. 4.0% ABV @ Harmon's Grocery Stores

Bonneville Ton Up Nut Brown Ale - This is a Northern English Brown Ale. It is made with caramelized brown malt and a small amount of chocolate malt for a lovely reddish-brown color and touch of roast in the finish. Hints of toasted malt, graham cracker and nuttiness define the flavor profile, which is accented by a slight hint of earthy English hops. 4.0% ABV @ Bonneville

Also returning from Bonneville today - The Third AnniversaRye. This is third year with this hoppy pale ale, featuring malted rye and German Polaris hops. The rye in the grist contributes an earthy, spicy flavor, round mouthfeel and exceptionally dry finish and is augmented by a medley of caramel and other specialty malts. The Polaris hops give a punchy bitterness and a very distinctive flavor and aroma, calling to mind citrus peel, herbal notes, even hints of licorice and cool mint. 4.0% ABV @ Bonneville, All Star Lanes & where you see a Bonneville seasonal tap handle.


By the way, New Beer Friday now has it's own segment on KBER 101 every Friday afternoon at 3:30pm. Join Mick and Allen - and myself as we discuss the new beers that hit the market every week.

If you haven't voted yet in The Utah Beer Challenge - get on it! Voting ends Sunday.

Prost!

The Peak Series of Beers from Park City Brewing

The Park City Brewery will soon be adding a line of high gravity beers to their portfolio of beers. It was exactly one year ago today that the Summit County brewery opened it's taproom's doors to the public to start selling their mountain made suds.

To go along with their four standard beers - Hooker Blonde Ale, Breaking Trail Pale Ale, Last Pitch IPA and Boogie Water Brown Ale - Utah's beer lovers will now be able to enjoy Park City's Peak Series of beers: Park City - Imperial Pilsner, Park City - American Pale Ale and Park City - (high gravity) IPA. You'll probably be seeing these beers pop-up in the coming weeks. If you're good I tell you where and when.

Well, we have finally made it to the final round in the Utah Beer Challenge. After sixty-four beer beer it all comes down to two -. RedRock's Elephino Double IPA and Epic's Big Bad Baptist Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. The voting for the finals will end on Sunday morning and I'll announce the winner on Monday morning.

Taste and appearance wise, these two beers are night and day. Where your tongue resides of the flavor scale will likely impact your vote greatly. I know I'll definitely be drinking each of these beers at some point over the next two days. I encourage you to do the same. Good luck to both!

Cheers!

Images found at Shipcomplient.com

Tart n' Juicy From Epic Brewing

Many of you have been enjoying Epic's Session Series Sour IPA for the past few months - sour beers are big locally and this one has proven to be one of the best sellers for Epic's session line.

However I know that many of you need a little extra "umph" in your beer to make your mouth and brain happy. So I'm happy to announce that Epic's Tart n' Juicy Sour IPA is now available to provide the extra gusto you need.

This one tastes a little different from the session sour IPA. Look for more sour peachy qualities along with some citrus peel from the hops. You can find it at Epic's bottle shop and I assume The Annex and better beer bars around the Wasatch Front. 4.5% ABV - 22oz bottles

Also, there is a special version of Big Bad Baptist available in SLC that was created for the Virginia market. It's made with Virginia based Misha's Coffee. If you want those unique ticks, you'll want some.

Speaking of Big Bad Baptist - it has prevailed in it's battle against 2 Row's 2K Golden Ale and it now moves to the finals of the Utah Beer Challenge. RedRock's Elephino double IPA came out on top of their own Drioma Imperial Stout as well. So those are your final two beers.

Voting on the Finals will begin tomorrow and go through the weekend. These are two of the state's most beloved beers it should be extremely tight.

Here is your breakdown of the final four beers. Thanks for voting!

Cheers!
___________________________________________________________________

72.66%	RedRock Elephino Double IPA	101 (72.66%)
27.34%	RedRock Drioma Imperial Stout	38 (27.34%)

(139 Total Votes)

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61.43%	Epic - Big Bad Baptist Imperial Coffee Stout	86 (61.43%)
38.57%	2 Row - 2k Golden Ale	54 (38.57%)

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Image found at Shipcomlient.com

Hop Nosh Tangerine IPA Released Today

It's finally here! The long awaited Hop Nosh Tangerine IPA from Uinta Brewing will hit the shelves at the brewery's beer store when it opens up at 11am today. This IPA builds on a trend that combines citrus fruit that complement the citrus-esque hops that already round out the beer.

As far as I know this is the only citrus enhanced IPA made locally. It has a bright orange color, combined with a big, fluffy white head that is extremely sturdy and hardly vanishes. The nose is juicy with notes of lemon and orange meat. These aromas pretty much dominate. The taste starts with malt cake but transitions quickly into dry hop territory. The beer turns out to be much more diverse than it had been on the nose, offering a nice blend of citrus hop bitterness and subtle fruitiness from the tangerine puree. You get all of the fruitiness with it being at all sweet like a German Radler.  The end has a bit of pine and it finishes semi dry with tangerine peel bitterness. This isn't bitter hop water with citrus juice mixed in. It's all IPA with tangerine accents. I'm amazed by how well the whole package works.

Be careful this is am extremely crushable beer. It's 7.3% ABV will sneak up on you, so don't loose yourself in the fruitiness. If your a fan of Grapefruit Sculpin, I think you'll find this to be a much more natural interpretation. An excellent new offering from Uinta.


Prost!

2 Row Brewing Announces New Beer

2 Row Brewing Company will be increasing their product selection soon with a new beer and one of their popular seasonal ales gets it's own label.

First off - Owner/Brewer, Brian Coleman is bringing an American Pale Ale into the mix. Nemesis Pale Ale will be on the higher end of the ABV scale coming in at 6.3% and will likely posses the bright and fresh hop qualities that have made 2 Row one of the go-to breweries for all manor of hoppy ales. Brian named this beer Nemesis because he's been battling with it for quite some time to get this one just right. As soon as it hits 2 Row's bottle shop we'll spread the word.

The Random Red Rye Double IPA debuted just a couple of months ago. It was an immediate hit. It looks like you'll be seeing more of it now that it has it's own special packaging. Look for citrus and pine in the nose. The taste follows with a semi dry malt sweetness and more citrus peel and pine. The rye comes through in the end adding a nice spiciness. However those tasting notes could all change for this beer is Random after all.

Okay, I told you the pace of things would start to pick-up in The Utah Beer Challenge. We're down to our final four beers - two hoppy ale against two Imperial Stouts. RedRock's Elephino and Drioma get to duke it out and Epic's Big Bad Baptist takes on 2 Row's 2K Golden Ale. Vote begin now and will end Wednesday morning. This should be good!

Cheers!

Labels found at Shipcomplient.com

New Beer Friday - April Fools Edition

I had a whole April Fools thing planned, but it was so close to reality that some of the more disenfranchised members of our community (I include myself as a member) would have risen up and sparked a rebellion. So I went with bad ass Wonder Woman instead.

Another non joke for you is the arrival of Boise's Edge Brewing Company into the market. Edge Brewing was born from a home brew shop and their commitment and quality is evident. All of these are at The Bayou right now. The Amber, IPA, Imperial Red & Double IPA are available at The BeerHive

Edge Brewing Blackwater Imperial Stout - Not Tried yet. 9.5% ABV

Edge Brewing Amber - Not Tried yet. 5.7% ABV

Edge Brewing Obligatory IPA - Subtle nose of floral and citrus notes. The taste starts with sturdy malts and a bit of citrus peel. Piney hops round round out the back end, slightly boozy as well. It's a nice drinking IPA - a little boozy for me though. 9.2% ABV

Edge Brewing Imperial Red Ale - Caramel and toast in the nose with some citrus hoppiness. The taste follows with piney hops, grapefruit zest and a bit of roastiness. Fairly bitter finish. I generally like my red ales with fruitier malts, but this is still pretty good. 8.5% ABV
Edge Brewing Obligatory Double IPA

Edge Brewing Odelay! Vienna Lager - Not Tried yet. 5.5% ABV

Edge Brewing Onomato Pale Ale - Not Tried yet. 5.7% ABV

Uinta experimental IPAs - Not Tried yet. These are very limited and only at the brewery. May not be a round for long. 4.0% ABV  All tapped out.

We now have our Final Four beer in the Utah Beer Challenge. RedRock gets to beat up on themselves for a change and Epic and 2 Row will likely be going to blows over Big Bad Baptist and 2k Golden Ale. I was a little shocked to see Fifth Element go out with only 72 votes though. Voting for these final four beers begins on Monday Morning. Here's the voting break down from last round. Thanks for all the votes!

Cheers!
________________________________________________________

71.43%	RedRock - Elephino Double IPA	180 (71.43%)
28.57%	Squatters - Fifth Element	72 (28.57%)

(252 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

44.27%	2 Row Dangeraux Farmhouse Ale	116 (44.27%)
55.73%	RedRock Drioma Imperial Stout	146 (55.73%)

(262 Total Votes)

________________________________________________________

58.7%	Epic - Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout	145 (58.7%)
41.3%	2 Row - Random Double IPA #1	102 (41.3%)

(247 Total Votes)
________________________________________________________

53.85%	2 Row - 2K Golden Ale	126 (53.85%)
46.15%	Avenues Proper - Oatmeal Red Ale	108 (46.15%)

(234 Total Votes)

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