New Beer Friday 8/31/18

Damn! August flew by fast. To help wrap it up, I came across bunch of great local options fine tuned for the coming autumn months. All of these are limited seasonal releases so don't wait to long before pulling the trigger on these.

 

Toasted Barrel American Farmhouse Ale: Nose consists of yeast, bread and slight fruit aromas.
For the flavor, I get yeast, a slight barnyard notes, lemon and apple. Some bready malt rounds out the back end. 6.2%. Available at Toasted Barrel.
 

Toasted Barrel Belgian Dubbel in Peach Bourbon Barrels: The aroma has familiar wild ale aroma that has a aromas of acetone peach and bourbon. Flavor begins sweet with notes of peach, toffee and light honey. Vinegar and moderate sour funk come next with a dose of lactic character. This moves into a middle with notes of oak, a faint acetone flavor, peach and honey-like sweetness. Finish is sweet, with sour peach and oak. Unfortunate acetone off-flavors. 8.5%. Available at Toasted Barrel.

RoHa Grapefruit Pale Ale: Tropical fruit, spicy pineapple and light tangerine twang overwhelm the palate. Round pale malts with hints of melon and lime following. These flavors are all wrapped up with a powerful dose of bittering grapefruit and pulp. Finishes with some chewy pith. 4.0%. Available at RoHa Brewing Project.

RoHa Wet Hop Pale Ale: Aromas of caramel and pine. The taste is immediately toasty with a subtle dose of caramel. The hop in with a dry pine character with some orange-ish notes. Finishes dry. 4.0%. Available at RoHa Brewing Project.

Proper SMaSH Pale Ale: This version of Proper's reoccurring SMaSH (Single Malt, Single Hop ) beer has an aroma of herbal grass and orange peel. The taste follows with the Wia-iti hops adding more herbal and lemon grass notes. Finishes dry. A nice pale ale made with local solstice malts. 4.0%. Available at Proper Brewing.

Strap Tank Roccozella Plum Saison: Missed out on this one. Jenni Curtis Shafer of Utah's Crafty Beer Girls says it has, "Great yeast character with subtle plum tartness and a dry, yet sweet finish". 4.0%. Available at Strap Tank. Thanks, Jenni!

Uinta Nobel Nectar: This Belgian style Golden Strom Ale is full of spicy phenolic yeast. The malt component is sweet and caramel-y with nice honey sweetness. The spelt adds a nice nuttiness giving it more dimensions. Finishes sweet and slightly boozy. 8.5%. Available at Uinta.

Squatters Arnold Palm Ale: Squatters recently did a draft version of this beer based on the Arnold Palmer drink. LOok for lemonade and tea to be major components. This goes on sale tomorrow morning (9/1) at Squatters downtown. 5.5% in 16oz cans.

Humperdoo!

Mad Fritz Hits Salt Lake

Mad Fritz Brewing out of California's Napa Valley region will be debuting their beers along the Wasatch Front and Back this week. Mad Fritz beers are made with their own house malt and ingredients found within the region of the brewery. All of the beers are barrel aged in various woods for unique flavor profiles and developmental features. The brewery touts their beers as being "not brewed to style" and all beers undergo secondary fermentation in the bottles and kegs.

I haven't had a chance to try any of these beers yet - here are some of the brewery's descriptions of what's available in Utah.

Mad Fritz The Wind and Sun - Golden Ale: Our rendition of a Belgian Strong Ale with Saison styling offers the spicy notes derived from the yeast without late hop additions. This beer is fermented in stainless steel and is aged in 3rd use French oak Chardonnay barrels for about 1 to 2 months which gives the beer a subtle vinous character and oak tones. Our Golden will age beautifully for months and potentially years to come due to its low terminal gravity that also makes it crisp, lean and deceivingly potent.

Mad Fritz The Eagle's Nest - DIPA: We opted not to dry hop as we feel there is adequate punch from the whirlpool/knock-out steep. After a warm fermentation we racked to a 3rd use Chardonnay barrel for aging for two to three weeks only.  This highly aromatic beer is bright with hops as well as subtle barrel tones and a rich yet dry texture terminating at 1.006 to 1.008 and alcohol at 8.4 to 8.8 % v/v and 85 IBUs.

Mad Fritz The Kite, Frog and Mouse Rye Ale: The generous spice and lift that Rye malt brings an aroma that is completely seductive as well as the synergy with the Ivanhoe heirloom hop this beer seems to get better and better with age. Aged in Bourbon barrels for about two weeks and is unmistakeably intense. We partnered up with The Bounty Hunter and their great source of Bourbon to make this happen. This batch will be available for a very short time although its possible a few bottles may leave the brewery and could end up in your glass.

Mad Fritz The Lion and Other Beasts - Grissette Ale: This Belgian Style ale called a Grisette that is somewhat of a lost beer style named for the coal miners wives that would serve this up after the long work day in the mines.  It is typically a low alcohol ale at 4 to 5% by volume with low bitterness and aromas of yeast-spice as well as subtle hop notes.  Our resulting beer is bright with light fruit tones, yeast spice, dry and clean. Clocks in at 5.7% v/v alcohol by volume and was aged in chardonnay barrels for one month. Our more recent bottlings have been aged in neutral French oak for 1 to 2 months with varying levels of ABV although typically landing at 5.5%.  We sometimes refer to this beer as a mini-Saison or even a Belgian Pale Ale in style.

Mad Fritz The Larks in the Corn - Blue Corn Pale Ale: The idea behind this beer is to single hop with our locally grown Cascade and have a grain bill with approximately 30% micro malted blue corn to craft a refreshing style while showcasing some of the color and flavor you get from the corn. The barrel age program is limited with another hop addition prior to racking for bottling. The result is a crowd-pleaser that parallels many milder IPAs yet offers aromatic beauty of one of the greatest hops currently cultivated.  The flavors of this beer are incredibly unique due to the layering of malted corn, cascade hops and yeast esters offering lots of stone fruit.  The color tends to be dictated by the blue corn and has a light red-blue hue to it.

Mad Fritz The Old Man and Death - Imperial Rye Stout: This Imperial Stout recipe pulls from our experience with past stouts with an added twist of rye that makes up about 14% of the grain bill. It has slightly more nutty/biscuit flavor and works well with the spicy notes from the rye and the roasted malts. We racked this beer into a French oak wine barrel for aging. This beer has it all from layered aroma profile to a fully textured palate even with a low terminal gravity of 2 Plato (1.008 SPG) and 8.1 to 8.4% v/v Alcohol

Mad Fritz The Fox and the Leopard - Dopplebock: This richly styled lager is perhaps far from a traditional Doppel Bock due to the use of  freshly emptied first use Petite Verdot French oak barrel from 2012 where it aged for another two months.  The aromas are very bold and bright showcasing the impacts of the barrel while the power of this 9.1% Alc. v/v lager pushes back both with flavor and palate texture.

Mad Fritz The Fox Grapes: We made two batches one with some variations and aged both in a combination of French Chestnut wood and a older Cabernet Sauvignon wine barrel.  After 7 months of aging we had a very dry beer (mostly due to the wild cultures of yeast and natural wine bacteria).  We did some light blending and the result is...well.. 'Wier'... The bright fruit aromas and flavors from the grapes are almost Rose' wine like yet the core of it is a beer rich smooth beer with light bitterness then dry crisp and carbonated with subtle chestnut and oak spice.  This beer continues to evolve and each year we push the amount of Petite Sirah we can get into the beer.

These beers are very "hands on" in the way their made and the price is going to reflect that. If you find them at your favorite beer nerd pub, plan on opening up a line-of-credit for them. You likely will not see them in DABC stores. If you've tried any of them, please share your experience.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 8/24/18

New Beer Friday is precious. One day to rule them all! 

2 Row Sour IPA:  Lemon, orange zest, and herbs in the aroma. The flavor starts with lemon, some grapefruit, and piney/herbal undertones. It's light and dry in the mouth with almost no bitterness, and balanced tartness. Finishes quick and dry 6.1%. Available at 2 Row and better beer pubs

Fisher IPA #3: This is Fisher's third high point limited IPA release. This version features Denali, Galaxy, Citra and Mosaic hops. The nose has good dose of citrus fruit, citrus zest, pineapple juice, and berry. The taste is much the same with candied citrus zest, tropical fruit, and grapefruit juice flavors in the end. the finish is bitter and lightly dry. A great west coast style IPA. 7.0%. This goes on sale tomorrow (8/25) at 10am. This probably won't last the day.  

Fisher Galaxy Kölsch: Aromas of bready malt and some fresh fruitiness - mostly grapefruit and melons. Starts off with some toasty malts and a bit of fresh fruitiness quickly giving way to the citrus peel hops. The finish is lingering and dry. The hops take this Kolsch and transform it into a session IPA. 4.0%. Available at Fisher.

 

Fisher Bright Lights Pale Ale: This pale ale goes a little old school with Cascade & Simcoe hops. The aroma is malty, with caramel and toasted bread, plus some piney hops. The taste is the same. Sweet malt honey-like flavors, some toasty bread, and some tangerine flavors. There is some grassy bitterness in the finish. 4.0%. Available at Fisher.

 

Fisher Glacial Pace IPL: A very pleasant tasting hoppy beer - a hint of citrus/fruity hops, but the  resinous/piney/grassy hops drive the show for the most part. Sticky, dry aftertaste. Very nice! 4.0%. Available at Fisher.

Lagunitas Passion Grass: Citrus, passion fruit, in the nose. The taste follows with the addition of lemongrass up front along with light grapefruit and passion fruit. The end a bit drying with heavy lemongrass. Finishes dry and puckering. 4.6%. I found it a Beerhive. 

Innes & Gunn Bourbon Barrel Scotch: The nose has mostly sweet malt and vanilla and bourbon. The taste follows with sweet burnt toffee, wood and light bourbon flavors. metallic notes come next providing that typical old world ale flavor. The finish is sweet with roasted notes. 6.6%. Found at Beerhive.

Ommegang Fruittanomyces: I missed out on this one. It's described as having tropical and orchard fruits along with citrus and a tart bretty base. 5.3% Available at the Bayou.

Rogue Dead 'n' Dead: It's that classic malty and toasted dead guys with the addition of oak and whiskey flavors. A very nice ale. 8.2%. Available at the Bayou.

 

Stone Idolatrous IPA: Just came across this one. it's described as being piney and bitter with resiny hops that dominate the palate along with notes of lemon, grassy notes. 7.0%. Available at the Bayou.

 

What did I miss? Please share!

 

Prost!

New Beer Friday 8/17/18

I guess the big news this week was the debut of Dogfish Head in our liquor stores and bars. If this was concert bootleg? I'd say, they're playing many of their hits along with a few deep cuts. Also A reminder that the Utah Beer Festival is going on this weekend. Hope to see you there. Have an excellent New Beer Friday!

Desert Edge Azacca Pale Ale: Starts with light pineapple, mango, grapefruit and tangerine. finishes with a nice dose of pine and floral bitterness. Great body for 4.0%. Available at Deseret Edge

Kiitos Barrel Aged Coconut Stout:  The nose has a good amount of bourbon. The taste starts again with bourbon and a little bit of roasted barley. You lose the coconut behind the whiskey, which is fine because the flavors are complementary. It’s thin for a barrel aged beer, but as you get into it the body starts to feel a little more round. 4.0%. Available at Kiitos Brewing 

 

Mother Earth Primordial IPA:  The aroma has a medium amount of tropical notes. As it hits the tongue it’s full of citrus floral and Pine. This one is pretty damn dank  with a ample amount of malts. Finishes slightly boozy and bitter.  9.5%. I found it at beerhive.

Dogfish Head Sea Quench Sour Ale: This has your basic lemon/lime tartness with a fair amount of malt sweetness for balance. Brine pops in next with barley a hint of coriander beneath. It's a fine Gose. 4.9%. Available at DABC/better beer pubs.

Dogfish Head Flesh and Blood IPA: Fresh hops with tropical fruit, blood orange, lemon, grapefruit and herbal notes, nicely balanced with a dry cracker backbone, fresh bitter orange/grapefruit finish. 7.5%. Available at DABC/better beer pubs.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA: Starts off with sweet juicy malt and a good dose citrus hops. Tangerine, lemon and grapefruits are all there. The finish is lightly bitter, but it leaves nice biscuit notes as an afterthought. Probably one of their better beers. 6.0%. Available at DABC/better beer pubs.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA:  The nose has a good dose of fruity hops. The taste begins with citrus and floral hops with a little bit of carmel.  It’s similar to the 60 minute but it doesn’t have the balance. The hops seem a bit muted with a fair amount of bitterness.  Finishes semi dry. 9.0%. Available at most better beer pubs and DABC.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA:  The nose is full of candied sugar, malt, pear and pungent booze.  The taste starts with big barley wine sweetness that Tries to hide a big explosion of alcohol. Next comes a healthy dose of fruity, citrusy and piney hops.  Overall: it’s an interesting beer. It’s not really my thing, but it’s a good example of what can be done with super yeast strains.  18.0%. Available at better beer pubs.

Dogfish Head Lupu Luau:  The aroma is full of citrus and coconut. This taste starts with citrus than the coconut comes in, it plays off of the malts pretty well. Next comes the citrus peel and pine from the hop selection. It all fits together pretty well. If you’re a fan of coconut and IPAs you will like this.  7.3%. Available at better beer pubs and DABC.

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron: This brown ale has a nice malty and woody aroma.  The test starts with molasses, vanilla, malt and oak.  Dark cocoa and currents round out the end.   I love the barrel notes and the toasty feel of the grains in this. 12.0%. Available at better beer pubs.

Dogfish Head Wood Aged Bitches Brew:  I missed out on this one. It is described as a fusion of a Russian Imperial Stout aged in American oak and an Ethiopian Tej Honey Beer Aged in Palo Santo wood. 9.0%. Available at better beer pubs.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton: This oak aged Imperial IPA  has aromas of vanilla, caramel, oak and pine.  The taste starts toasty with subtle caramel, grapefruit and plum. Next comes oak and vanilla with a piny finish. If you are into more traditional IPAs I think you will enjoy this one  if you are into more traditional IPAs I think you will enjoy this one.  10.0%. Available at better beer pubs.

Dogfish Head Liquid Truth Serum: Aromas of tangerine pine and grapefruit. The taste follows with more tropical fruits along with guava and pine.  Overall: this is a fine IPA a lot of tasty fruity flavors, would try again. 6.8%. Available at better beer bars.

Dogfish Head Mixed Media: This mix of grape and grain has a little bit of Brett, apple, grape and cereal in the nose.  The Tatian reminds me of a farmhouse ale with serial white grapes and spicy yeast. Some bread rounds out the back end. Finishes medium dry. 7.5%. Available at better beer pubs.

New Belgium Hemperor:  Missed out on this one. It’s described as having a lot of hemp like qualities that play off of the citrusy hop selection. 7.0%. Available at the DABC and better beer pubs.

Rogue Hot Tub Scholarship Lager: Starts with grainy malt, soda crackers with hints of honey, a touch of apple peel. It ends with grassy and floral noble bitterness. A nice but unremarkable Helles. 5.4%. Available at DABC/better beer pubs.

Cheers!

Keep Dogfish Head and Kiitos on Your Mind Today

As promised, I have info regarding the initial releases of Dogfish Head's foray into the SLC market. As of today you will begin seeing DFH beers hitting DABC shelves and specialty beer pubs. Just in case you're wonder what's available, I have that too.

General Listed:
Sea Quench Sour Ale
Flesh and Blood IPA
60 Minute IPA
90 Minute IPA

Special Order:
Lupu Luau
120 Minute IPA
Palo Santo Marron
Wood Aged Bitches Brew
Burton Baton
Liquid Truth Serum
Mixed Media

Basically, the general listed stuff will be in the DABC stores and the special order stuff will be in the bars. Of course all of this is subject to change. Happy hunting!

Also today, Kiitos is releasing their new Barrel Aged Coconut Stout. This version of the popular coconut stout was aged in Sugar House Distillery's bourbon barrels. This 4% beer is packaged in 16 ounce cans and should be available when Kiitos opens today. There will be release party/pinball tournament at the brewery starting at 5:30pm.

On a side note: The barrels the Kiitos used for this beer have gone back to Sugar House Distilling and have been refilled with bourbon to become part of SHD's Boilermaker Series: a special offering that features whiskey aged in barrels that previously featured local beers. Boilermaker #1 was aged in Uinta's Cockeyed Cooper barrels and Boilermaker #2 was aged in Epic's Smoked and Oaked barrels. These are great whiskies that are definitely worth picking up when their released.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 8/10/18

All of this week's offerings feature a bit of tart and funk. I hope you guys like tart and funk!

Shades Kveik #2: This beer pours a purplish red color topped with a little to no head. The aroma has a fragrant sour cherry smell. Taste was tart and pleasantly fruity. Some warm spice notes in the end. The finish is very dry. Another winner from Shades' Kveik Series. 6.3%. Available at Shades Brewing.

Avenues Proper Brett Pale Ale 2:  Look for funky, earthy and tropical-fruit-like flavors in this dry and subtly tart take on the American pale ale. This beer is only available at Avenues Proper. 4.0%.

Rogue Combat Wombat: This sour Northeast-style IPA is brewed with blood orange and grapefruit. The taste has an ample amount of musty yeast tart tropical fruits, orange and grapefruit pith. It finishes with a good dose of piney bitterness. 7.2%. Available at select DABC.

Brewery Ommegang Queen of the Seven Kingdoms: Ommegang's latest beer in their Game of Thrones series features a base beer full of Belgian yeast, lemon tartness, apple and melon. The sourness is pretty light, it much more prevalent in the nose than on the tongue. A pretty smooth ale. 6.7%. Available at select DABC.   

In other beer news: Roosters Brewing Company will begin to unveil their new look and branding this Saturday at the Ogden Farmers Market from 9-2pm. There will be give-aways every half hour, from stickers and merch to gift cards and a private brewery tour of Roosters new B Street Brewery that is set to open this fall. The new brewery will feature a dining and tap room space along with an additional 6,000 sf of available space for retail and manufacturing, as well as an outdoor amphitheater and dining area.

From what I've seen the new B Street Brewery will be a beautiful addition to Ogden's craft beer scene. Stay close for further updates.

Cheers!

Oops. I Made a Mistake.

Last New Beer Friday I reviewed Salfire's new Summer Camp Crush. I believe I said that, "it missed the mark" and was out of style. A few of you contacted me and wondered what I had been smoking in regards to this review (including Saltfire). After thinking about it, I couldn't recall ever seeing the bottle with the beer that ordered so I poured a new verified bottle and found that my review was way off the mark.

Summer Camp Crush has a nice aroma of tropical and citrus hops. The taste started with bright oranges and tropical fruit is highlighted by lightly tart citrus pulp. It ended with light tart citrus hop smack with pith and pine. The finish was tropical and lingering.

There's no excuse for not verifying that I had the right beer before giving a review. Especially when I found it to be so far off the mark. My oligopolies to Saltfire and to those of you that choose to spend your precious time and bandwidth on the Utah Beer Blog.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 8/3/18

I love a nice round selection of beers for New Beer Friday; that is exactly what you're getting this week. Nearly all of this week's beers are local. Enjoy!

Strap Tank Utah Valley Foraged Ale #1: Also known as "Treebeard" this version of Strap Tank's locally sourced ale has willow, spruce, juniper, local wheat, solstice_malt barley, and Bagley Honey. 8.0%. Available at Strap Tank.

Saltfire Summer Camp Crush: This pours a  straw color with soapy white head. The aroma is citrusy and herbal with some honey. The taste is light and grainy; like a pilsner but more hoppy. The hops are floral herbal and citrusy. Aftertaste is slightly bitter. Medium body with a good amount of carbonation. As a NEIPA this really missed the mark. As a very hoppy kolsch I give it high marks.7.1%. Available at Saltfire, Dick n' Dixie's, Beerhive.

Uinta Alpenglow: This was supposed to hit last week, however shit happens and now we have this week. This Wild Golden Ale is a blend of Uinta's soured wild ale with a brett dosed golden ale that been ageing for two years in oak. The result is a beer with a medium fruit like sour/tart profile combined with a small dose of funky Brett with perceived pineapple flavors & malt. Finishes with oak and a brut champagne dryness . It’s a winner! 7.0%. Available at Uinta

Toasted Barrel Blueberry Summer Wheat: Missed out on this one. The name says it all. 4.0%. Available at Toasted Barrel.

Squatters Umbrella Ella-Ella Nitro IPA: Fruity and herbal hops with light malt & toast. The nitro enhances the sweetness from the malt. You can't really appreciate how much bitterness CO2 gas adds to a beer until it's removed. Very light and tasty. 4.0%. Available at Squatters Brewpub.

Squatters Long Boat Red Lager: The aroma has a light floral hop presence with some toasted cereal. The taste is full and smooth with a well concocted malt presence. The hop profile is medium in strength with a spicy/herbal bite and flavor.This is a wonderful malty lager, I wish I had found this weeks ago. 4.0%. Available at Squatters Brewpub.

Hitachino Nest Anbai Ale - Ume Plum Gose: Missed out on this one. This is described as being infused with grown green sour plum (ume), and finished up with a pinch of Japanese sea salt (moshio). The balance of sourness, bitterness, comes from the plum and subtle saltiness. 7.0%. It's available at Takashi in downtown SLC. Takashi actually does a great job of getting great craft beers imported from Japan, that are exclusive to their restaurant. Check them out.  

 Cheers!

Two New Breweries on the Horizon

Just when you thought the pack was at capacity, I bring word of two new players in the craft beer world that are vying for your hard earned beer dollars.

The first brewery is another addition to Ogden's beer scene. Cerveza Zólupez Beer Company will be a small batch craft brewery: Dedicated to Mexican-style artisan cervezas. Very small handmade batches will be the focus with limited beer selection and pequeño inventory. The brewery is owned by Javier Chavez Jr. an Ogden resident and attorney. His beer recipes will be influenced by the beer and food heritage de México. Javier beers will be using ingredients traditionally found in Mexican culture. Cerveza Zólupez's construction is  underway and received it's alcohol manufacturing license from the DABC yesterday. Javier plans to open Cerveza Zólupez later this year. Felicidades, Javier!

The other brewery was tracked down by Utah beer lover and photographer DJ Benway. DJ found a brewery called Emigration Brewing Company. By all appearances it appears to be appropriately located in Emigration Canyon and looks to be located at the old Santa Fe Restaurant - located next Ruth's Diner. Their website suggests that the owners may already be active in Utah's hospitality/restaurant industry and has some financial backing. 

As I get more info on Emigration and Cerveza Zólupez I'll be sure to pass it on.

And just in case your keeping score - Cerveza Zólupez would join Saltfire, Toasted Barrel, Templin Family Brewing and Saint George Brewing as Utah's 2018 new breweries. Assuming all goes as planned by the individual breweries.

In related news: Saint George Brewing received its alcohol manufacturing license from the DABC yesterday, the Templin Family Brewing received their liquor license from the DABC as well, and Policy Kings Brewery in Cedar City got their full-service bar license.

Salud!