New Brews Soon For You! - 2 Row, Red Rock, Talisman, Uinta

This week's 'New Brews Soon for You' is more of a mixed bag than we've had in previous posts. Today we have previews 2 Row, Red Rock, Talisman and Uinta. Even though the government shutdown is temporarily over; the backlog of labels to be approved is likely a mile high, so there's no telling when we'll see these new beers. Rest assured we'll tell you all about them when they officially arrive. 

We'll start with the Red Rock's 'Peaches and Steam' that's pictured above. This beer is a California
Common at it's base with the addition of peach. Steam beers are typically toasty with mild malt fruitiness along with an herbal hop bitterness. I'm curious to see how the stone fruit addition will play

with American hybrid beer. This will be a 4.0% beer.

2 Row Brewing is barrel aging a new beer called Divine Lunacy. The name alone leads you to believe that this beer will be beast of a beer. 2 row already hold the state record for the highest ABV beer, coming in 15.1%. Divine Lunacy may not come in that big, but it does give you an idea of what owner/head brewer, Brian Coleman is capable of. This a Belgian style Quadruple Ale at it's base; They're rich and malty with subtle spicy yeast are definitely on the boozier side of the spectrum. This should be fun!

Talisman Brewing Co. has a new label for all of those higher ABV 'One Off' beers that may be coming from the Ogden brewery. This is a smart label; it gives you the liberty of having a variety without all of the federal B.S. that comes with the whole labels approval process. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what style of "one off" beer will be behind this label.


Finally Uinta Brewing will finally be putting out their take on the New England Style IPA. Uinta's Test Phaze IPA will feature a hop so new that it doesn't even have an official name yet. Simply
known as  'HCB-692, this hop exhibits grapefruit, floral, stone fruit, potpourri, woody, cream, pine, and resinous notes that apparently work well with many beer styles. This particular NEIPA will dial in at 6.5% and will be packaged in 12 ounce cans. This one has been in development for a while, this should make the droves of hazy IPA fans giddy.

Again, these are just previews of what's to come in Utah. There's no guarantee that these beers will make it to market as presented here, or at all.

Cheers!   

Images found at shipcomplient.com

New Beer/Brewery Friday: Silver Reef Brewing Company

The Saint George area of Utah hasn't been this geeked for beer since the area's first breweries opened up in the late 1870s. As far as my research has determined, the first brewery in that neck of the woods was the B. Noebling Brewery that operated briefly in 1879 and closed that same year. A year later the Welte Brewery opened and managed to make a go of it from 1878-1888.

That's the only trace of legal breweries that I could find. Now the long, long, long beer drought is over with opening of the Silver Reef Brewing Company. The name is taken from the old mining town of Silver Reef (where the two previously mention breweries hailed from) and is owned by Ellis Island Hotel and Brewery out of Las Vegas. The brewery is located at 4391 S Enterprise Drive, St. George and the beer is for sale at brewery's retail store now. Kegs are supposedly en route to Salt Lake, so stay close to see where they end up.

In addition to craft beer, St. George’s Beverage (Silver Reef) also has plans to operate as a distillery and winery producing Southern Utah wine with the existing vineyard in Chanela Farms located on Pine Valley Mountain.

St. George beer nerds, listen up! We need tasting notes on these beers so share your thoughts if you've had them! 

Silver Reef - Mexican-Style Lager: No tasting notes

Silver Reef - Fresh and Juicy Ale: No tasting notes

Silver Reef - White Dome IPA: No tasting notes

T.F. - Harvey Cream Stout: Described as having dark chocolate with roasted malts jive with slight cream sweetness. The nitro gas accentuates the creaminess giving it a silky feel. 4.0% - Available at T.F. Brewing.

Hopkins - Twilight Saison: Described as having dark roasted malts combine with spicy phenolic yeast to produce a mixed bag of cocoa/char and herbal clove. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins 

Zion - Pomegranate Sour:  Described as having fresh, mildly tart pomegranate that starts the flavors with a trace of pie crust. Light and balanced. 4.0% - Found at Beer Bar.  

Saltfire - Barrel Aged Dirty Chai Stout: Look for chocolate and coffee; combined with chai spices that play off of subtle note of bourbon. 9.3% - Available at Saltfire and better beer pubs around the Wasatch Front

Shades - Not Your Mama’s Wassail: It’s described as having a bit of wheat and is lemony/tart with spices added. 4.0% - Available at Shades starting today.

Full Sail - Atomizer: Described as having a touch of grapefruit zest and hints of pine along with a slight sugar cookie sweetness. Crisp feel, bright and balanced just bordering the bitter side with a dry finish. 7.0% - Available at DABC.

Oskar Blues - Can O Bliss:  Described as hazy yellow/gold in color with a pungent aroma of grapefruit, passion fruit and vague citrus rind. Front to back you get a salad of citrus with lots of fruity tones and little bitterness. Finishes on the sweet side. 7.2% - Found at the Bayou.

Oskar Blues - Guns ‘N’ Rosé: Described as clear Pink in color with a very botanical nose of hibiscus and rose water. The taste is prickly pear like with more botanicals and a slight tartness. Not too overpowering. 6.0% - Found at the Bayou.

Prost!

Image provided by Silver Reef Brewing

New Brews Soon For You: Utah Ogden (UTOG) Brewing Co.

This New Brews Soon for You profiles what you can expect too see from what will be Ogden's and possibly Utah's next brewery. Utah Ogden (UTOG) Brewing Comapny will be a production brewery that will be located at 2331 Grant Avenue in Ogden, Utah. UTOG is piloted by Carson Foss who is one of the co-owners and will be the ventures head brewer. The brewery is expected to go online in the next few months and will offer a full ranger of high and low point beers. Look for a full service pub that will also have a kitchen that will feature in house designed dishes. Here's a tease of what you can expect from the brewhouse.

Pictured above is the Buffalo Soldier Black Rye IPA. This will be a 4.0% Percent offering that will showcase the IPAs dark side. I'm hoping for lots of rye in this one; looking forward to trying this on day 1.

Also at 4.0% is the Golden Grant Golden Ale. There are generally rounded and smooth ales that are easy-drinking beers have no particularly dominating malt or hop characteristics. This will likely feature an American hop varietal that will feature a flavor profile somewhere in the citrus to piney/floral range. So, think pale ale with a lighter color and and a less hearty malt profile. 


The Wheat IPA or white IPA as they're sometimes called are an unfiltered style of ale that is light and cloudy in appearance due to the high level of wheat, and sometimes oats, used in the mash. Some versions are spiced like Belgian Witbiers with coriander, orange peel; others just rely on the the base malts and a butt load of hops. I'm curious to see which way way Carson goes with with this one. This will also dial in at 4.0%.

Finally, you gotta have an IPA; to start off, UTOG's IPA will be a  Session IPA. The umbrella is pretty broad and covers damn near every varity of IPAs under the session banner. This will likely fall under the the west coast style with citrus peel qualities combined with subtle pine to floral bitterness. This will also be available in draft and cans.

There are plans for higher ABV beers as well and I'll let you know what to expect on those as soon as they are formulated. With the current state of the Federal government's shut down it could be anyone guess on when we could see those. Stay close for more news on Utah Ogden Brewing and other new breweries that will be headed our way in 2019.

Prost!

Images found at Shipcomplient.com

New Beer Friday 1/18/19

Shades - Kveik #9: This is similar to Shades' gold medal winning Kveik #1, however this one was made with Lemon Drop hops. Look for a little more lemon twang, it also slightly sweeter which gives it a little more balance between malt and tart. Very nice sour. 6.3%. Available at Shades.

Proper - Snow Plow: This "citrus pale ale" is made with grapefruit peel, lemon peel. It's obviously citrus forward with complimenting hops. English/American blend yeast strain adds to the character. 4.0% - Available at Proper

Uinta - Elevated Red:  Brewer Brandon Kemmer said that being a California native who relocated to Utah, he wanted to brew a beer in tribute to the state of Utah and its red rocks to the south, and pine-filled mountains to the east. Brewed with piney hops and the addition of spruce tips add a slight piney flavor and aroma to this mild ale.

Saltfire - A Series of Singularities "Matuwhatka"- From Saltfire: If the Citra Ninja wandered about New Zealand and mistook some hop plants for blood enemies then the carnage left behind could only be the Motueka hop verital....varital...varietal! Damn it! Anyway. Announcing the next in our Singularity line of IPAs this citrusy (is that even a word?) hop with notes of tropical fruit from the islands down under is sure to throw a Shuriken blade into your frontal cortex. Doors open at 3pm

Full Sail Malted Milkshake Style IPA: Described as having an aroma of sweet pineapple. Taste is tropical fruit pine resin and bready malt. 6.8% - Available at DABC

Wasatch West Coast IPA: Fruity aroma and taste with tangerine/orange being the most prominent. Isn't very fizzy as it goes down but it finishes smooth and very drinkable. Quite enjoyable and definitely a pick-up if you want a new IPA to try. 6.5% - Available to go in Park City only. Available to enjoy at all Wasatch/Squatters Locations.

Fisher California Common: Very light sweet malt aroma. Light sweet malt, a hint of light fruit with a spicy hop flavor and finish. 4.0% - Available at Fisher.

Toasted Barrel BA Raspberry Porter: This is described as having a bit of barrel character, slight raspberry, and a bit of tartness, that balances it out more than bitterness. 6.7% - Limited at Toasted Barrel. starting tomorrow.

Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA: Described as being a blend two Dogfish Head favorites, add maple syrup and carbonate the mixture naturally. The carbon dioxide trapped during bottle conditioning gives 75 Minute IPA a soft and velvety mouthfeel. Dry-hopped with whole-leaf Cascades,

Crazy Mountain Snowcat Coffee Stout: Dry roasted coffee, smooth rich dark chocolate malts.
Coffee bean nose. Brown/black, opaque, with a tan foamy head with delicate lace.
Medium body. 5.9% - Available at DABC.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 1/11/19

Was it a long weeek for you? It sure as shit was for me. It kinda makes you yearn for a slower, simpler time. This week’s New Beer Friday selections are mostly local, which is always a good thing.

Wasatch - American Craft Lager: This lager is rich and grainy up front with a snappy, crisp drying bitter finish backed with herbal hops. The beer has a clean fermentation character with a trace of tartness and is lightly dry. 4.8% - Available at Wasatch Park City (to go/stay) West Side Tavern (to stay).

Wasatch - Oatmeal Stout: This stout smells of roasted malts and a nice dark chocolate. There is also a perceived sweetness of vanilla. The beer also has a vanilla-like  character followed by the richness or oats and roasted malts. The beer is very smooth and has hints of chocolate in it as well. Very Nice.  6.0% - Available at Wasatch Park City (to go/stay) West Side Tavern (to stay).

RoHa - Shut Down Pale Ale: This pale ale has a new hop bill. It pours a nice pale copper color. Well balanced hop forward pale that has citra hops in the finish. 4.0% - Available at RoHa.

Hopkins - Cascade Oat Saison: Some phenolic clove with wheat crackers in the nose. The taste is more subdued with more wheat a hint of spicy yeast that's backed with hints of citrus and pine. A nice hopped saison. Available at Hopkins

Roosters - Ogden Double IPA: Poured a clear honey yellow with a subdued white head. Smells of tropical fruit mainly pineapple and oranges. Flavor follows the nose with the addition of pine. Hearty with good carbonation. Overall a very nice beer. Available at all Roosters locations

Ninkasi - Heart and Science IPA: Missed out on this one. Look for a typical American IPA with notes of melon and citrus. 6.8% - Available at DABC.

Cheers!

New Brews Soon For You: Kick Back with Wasatch Edition

Welcome to the first New Brews Soon for You for 2019. Today we're gunna preview a new series of beer from Wasatch Beers. All of the Beers in this new Kick-Back Series are made at the original source, Utah's first craft brewery: Park City's Wasatch Brewpub. PC's Head Brewer, Nils Imboden has been given full reign to design this signature series of beer that will be canned in small batch 16 ounce cans. Here's what you have to look forward to.

West Coast India Pale Ale: This 6.5% will likely encompass all of the the things that made this the most popular style of American IPAs. Big citrus peel with medium sweetness and a good dose of bittering citrus and pine. We'll just have to sit back and wait to see what Nils does with this one.

This Oatmeal Stout looks pretty straightforward. The oats will add a silky smoothness to this cocoa-like, roasted/caramel classic. The 6% ABV will add even more body and flavor than it’s lighter cousins. I'm looking forward to a simple oatmeal stout. A no barrel, imperial, lacto, fruit, adjunct laden stout will hit the spot. Hurry up, please.

For all of the "haze" lovers there will be a New England Style Double IPA. The differences between this and their West Coast style IPA will be Lower all around bitterness with more malt sweetness, added alcohol (8.0%)and a high hop fruitiness that will skew towards tropical and citrus flavors. No fruit will be present all the implied fruitiness will be derived from the hops. Look for this near the end of January. "Get in my belly"! 

Saisons are one of the most popular Belgian styles that American have embraced. Their yeast driven clove-like spiciness appeals to many palates. They tend to be even more popular when you add in a good dose of American hops. That's what Nils appears to be doing with his Dry Hopped Saison. I'm not sure what hop bill is planned for this ale; odds are good it will have a nice citrucy twang to play off the yeast. This is all speculation on my part, so we'll just have to wait and see.

The last beer in the Kick-Back Series is the American Craft Lager. This beer is coming so soon you could say that it's already out and available. And if you were to say that, you'd be correct. This lager came out earlier this week. I hope to have tasting notes on this 4.8% beer tomorrow for New Beer Friday, so please stay tuned.

Prost!

Images found at Shipcomlient.com

The 2018 Utah Beer Year in Review

To say 2018 was a banner year for beer in Utah is one of the biggest understatements in recent decades. The state that gets very little respect for it's beer culture saw an explosion of breweries and craft beer brands. Here is a recap of just some of the highlight in the Utah Beer Blog's 2018 Beer Year in Review. Sorry it's late.

January: Strap Tank offered up their first barrel aged saison, Kiitos released a straight up barely wine and Avenues Proper was brave and put a bret pale ale on draft!

February: We first became aware of St. George Brewing Company; which we now know as Silver Reef Brewing Company. The brewery would be St. George's First brewery.

March: Grid City Brewing came to our attention. The brewery was originally supposed to be located in downtown SLC's north west side. It is currently located in South Salt Lake City and is under development. Utah's Chapter of the Pink Boots Society (a beer industry group that is designed to inspire and educate women who work in the U.S. beer industry.) released their Mash the Patriarchy beer. 

April: The Templin Family Brewery went public with their planned SLC brewery and the 9th Annual Tour de Brewtah Happened under the new guidance of Bohemian Brewing's Will Gillane. The Roha Brewing Project released their Maltese Cross Beer with proceeds going to local firefighters.

May: May began with Saltfire Brewing Opening its doors - one of the states biggest Craft Beer Weeks on record, later in the month on May 29th, Toasted Barrel went online in Salt Lake City.

June: Saturday June 23rd Toasted Barrel Opened, while Kiitos Made a Big Gay Ale to help celebrate Utah Pride Day. Utah breweries also had a really strong showing at the North American Brewers Awards in Idaho. Uinta Brewing also Celebrated their 25th Anniversary.

July: Epic Brewing Company and Japan's Matsumoto Brewery teamed up to brew a special "Sister Cities" beer. Epic also brewed up a special Pie and Beer Day barrel aged sour beer to help celebrate the day it's named for. The Utah Legislature screwed with our lives once again; making brewpubs choose to be restaurants or bars. #dickmove  

August: Cerveza Zólupez Beer Company hit our radar, while Strap Tank continued to innovate with their Valley Forged Ale (also known as "Treebeard") this version of Strap Tank's locally sourced ale has willow, spruce, juniper, local wheat

September: Shades Brewing picks up a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival for their Kveik #1. Kiitos Brewing also took home a gold medal in the same competition with their Coffee Cream Ale. 

October: The last quarter of 2018 begins with four breweries that would close out the year. Policy Kings, Cedar City's first brewery since the 19th Century opened on October 16th. A week later The Templin Family Brewery also opened as well; showcasing the talents of former Red Rock Head Brewer Kevin Templin. T.F. opened on October 26.

November: Cerveza Zolupez opened and was the first brewery to set up shop in Ogden since Talisman opened up in early 2016. The nano brewery concentrates on Mexican style ales that are brewed in extremely small batches. 

December: Roosters' B Street Brewery opened and began brewing in December - St. George's Silver Reef Brewing Company begins making beer and we ended 2018 with Hopkins Brewing Co. opening it's doors on the last day of the year.

2019 is on pace to be as culture changing with another six or seven breweries in the works for Utah. Stay close as I promise to get you all of your breaking local beer new and events.

Cheers!

New Beer/Brewery Friday 1/4/19

It's a good thing when you can start off the new year with a New Beer/Brewery Friday. On the last day of 2018 Hopkins Brewing became Utah's newest brewery; debuting with seven new beers. Hopkins is an adult only brewpub and is open from 11am- midnight seven days a week. Welcome to the Utah Beer Family! 

Hopkins - Friendly Introduction Pale Ale: Nose of grapefruit, mild orange citrus, some sweet malt, and woody/floral grass. Tastes like grapefruit peel, sweet malt, some spice with floral pine and earthy grass. Light bodied, creamy with low carbonation. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing 

Hopkins - NAIPA: Aromas of biscuit, citrus fruit, and floral tickle the nostrils. The taste is much the same with biscuit, floral, citrus zest, and pine needle flavors on the finish. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing

Hopkins -  Bourbon Barrel Porter: The nose has notes of roasted malt and cocoa. Roasted malt and chocolate is present throughout the flavor profile with whiskey notes becoming more apparent after it warms. The finish is bitter with slight lingering bourbon notes. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing
 
Hopkins - Smoke Porter with Jalapeno: Aromas are driven by a refined leathery, roastiness; char, tobacco and chipotle brings clarity and roundness. The flavors follow the nose, with an added tickle from the chipotle creeping in. The smooth leatheriness from the chiles plays off the chocolate and malt of the base porter without dominating. Finishes with a rather bitter roast character. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing

Hopkins - Old Merchant Nitro Cream Ale: Very light aroam with some lemon citrus and cracker malt. Taste is more assertive but still light, like most cream ales. Earthy malt with a light citrus hoppy character that shows up in the finish. Definitely maltier than hoppy. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing.

Hopkins -Coffee Cream Ale: The smell of coffee hits you nicely; not overpowering, but not subtle either. The taste is where the subtlety of the coffee is, which is perfect as i didn't want to dominate. The La Barba coffee addition is very easy to drink; creating a nice representation of a coffee infused cream ale.

Hopkins - Winter Ale: Missed this one. This ale is made with orange peel and mulling spices, so it will definitely live up to it's name. 4.0% - Available at Hopkins Brewing 

Saltfire - Barrel Aged Baltic Porter:  Roasted brown malts and floral bitterness combines with wonderful rye whiskey to create a spicy, chocolate alcohol fueled bomb. Very limited. 8.0% - Available at Saltfire.

T.F. Brewing - Albion Belgian Tripel: This has a golden cantaloupe color with sweet spicy nose of yeast and candy. The taste starts with notes of stone fruit, then quickly transitions into bubblegum and peppery yeast. Dangerously drinkable for a Tripel. 10.2% - Available at T.F. Brewing. 

T.F. Brewing - Helles: This unfiltered lager pours a hazy golden yellow under a solid fluffy white head. Sweet grainy aroma with a little hoppy spice. Flavor is biscuity and sweet - not much from the hops other than some bitterness. Pretty light and crisp. 4.0% - Available at T.F. Brewing.

Avenues Proper - Breakfast Juice: Designed with the day's first meal in mind. Both malted and flaked oats were used to add chewiness and body with hints of vanilla that complimented the addition
of lactose. The ABV is kept deliberately lower and finally the addition of a special blend
of Coffee from La Barba adds rich complexity. 4.0% - Available only at Avenues Proper.

Toasted Barrel - Black Currant Sour: Pours a jammy purple color with a creamy white head. Smell is nice with an extremely sour taste and lots of black currant. A surprisngly estery start on the tongue, with a long-lasting sour black currant and raspberry-like finish. 6.5% - Available at Toasted Barrel.

Toasted Barrel - Belgian Blonde: Aroma has some hefty Belgian yeast imparting some citrus and astringency. Taste is decidedly yeasty as well. Minor amounts of clove, grapefruit, apple and pear from the yeast. Its actually pretty straight forward. 7.5%. - Available at Toasted Barrel.

Squatters - Red Hop Redemption: Missed this New England style hopped red ale. It's described as having Ekuanot, Simcoe, and Idaho 7 hops with a strong supporting malty backbone. 4.0% - Available at Squatters brewpub.

Roosters - Blackberry Cream Ale: This is being canned as of 7am this morning. Goes on sale this afternoon at Roosters B Street Brewery in Ogden. 6.0%. 

Policy Kings Hefeweizen: Missed this one. 4.0% - Available at Policy Kings

Anchor - Brewer's Pale Ale Citra: Missed this one. 5.3% - Available at DABC

Sam Adams - Cold Snap: Missed this one. 5.3% - Available at DABC

Sierra Nevada - Brut IPA: Missed this one.6.2%  - Available at DABC

If you've tried any of those that I missed please share your thoughts with the rest of us, please.

Cheers!