Strap Tank's Lehi Brewery Opens Soon

Utah's next brewery will soon be open and the natives couldn't be happier. On Monday, August 5th this grand craft beer palace on the northern most end of Utah County will open it's doors, bringing local suds to Utah's bustling technology corridor.

The Lehi brewery is a pretty remarkable achievement; mixing carnival, garage and theatrical themes. It's defiantly one of the most unique craft beer spots that you'll find anywhere in North America.

Once Lehi's brew house goes online, look for head brewer, Shawn Smith to get his core brands on tap before he has the opportunity to get his "passion projects" to you. Strap Tank Lehi, has a restaurant license so bring your appetite; or at the very least plan on ordering an appetizer with your beer.

I think the opening of this new brewery is very telling in regards to Utah's changing attitudes on beer and where entrepreneurs are choosing to spend their money to bring it to the masses.

Congrats to the Strap Tank gang and to Utah County beer nerds in general on their newest craft watering hole. Strap Tank: Lehi is located at 3661 n. Outlet Parkway.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 7/26/19

Did that mid-week "holiday" screw up the rhythm of your week? It sure did with mine. To help you get your groove back there are three new saisons and a pils that are (for the most part) light and kind for these high temperature days. Happy New beer Friday!

2 Row - Czech Pilsner: This new lager has a that classic floral aroma with a light, crip body and crystal clear appearance. Up front is a grassy and peppery hop feel with some balancing sweet and  toasty malt. It finishes slightly dry. This pils has a nice broad palate and is pretty enjoyable. 5.3%. Available at 2 Row starting today. 

Saltfire - Saison de Femme Fatale: This collaboration with the Hop Bombshells Homebrew Club utilizes the Pink Boots society's special hop blend and makes its debut today at Saltfire. 6.7% - Available at Saltfire. 

Mad Fritz - The Lion and Other Beasts: This farmhouse beer is a Belgian style beer known as a grisette. It's earthy and round with nice brett notes along with a good dose of cracker and dough. There's some spicy yeast as well that play off of the very subtle grassy Euro hops. 5.6% - Found at The Bayou.  

Mad Fritz - The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs: This saison has some really nice apple and pear notes with a good deal of yeast spiciness. Herbs, oak and orange peel round out the back end with a bit of white pepper in the finish. Alcohol seems slightly high. 7.0% - Found at The Bayou.

Cheers!

Pie and Beer Day 2019

 If your new to Utah, or have been living in a ward house basement for the last 10 years; Pie and Beer tongue and cheek play on Pioneer Day, where people who really don't identify with "pioneer culture" can celebrate in their own way on this state holiday.

The state's biggest Pie and Beer Day celebration is happening tomorrow, and this year's event is the biggest yet. 26 breweries and eateries have teamed up to provide some of the best pie and beer pairing you'll ever come across in one place. The "official" P&B Day celebration is a fundraiser for KUAA Radio and is held in the back lot of Beer Bar/Bar X and will feature Music and water features to help you  keep cool. $30 get you five pairings and you can up that if you desire. Here’s a list of what you can expect and I hope to see you there!

EATING ESTABLISHMENT & HOPKINS BREWING
Quiche Pie W/ Sugar House Pilsner

COPPER ONION & 2Row BREWING
Cochinita Pibil Empanadas w/ Hipacrit IPA & Draft Saison

PIE PARTY &  EPIC BREWING
Apricot and Thyme WITH Honey Lemon Cream Cheese w/ Oak & Orchard Pie and Beer Day / founder aged sour with blueberry and boysenberry

EVA BAKERY & HOPPERS BREWING
Peach Bourbon pie W/ This is the Pilsner

NOMAD & UINTA BREWING
“Baked Hawaii” Frozen Pineapple Mousse Toasted Marshmallow & Uinta Mango Lime Pilsner Powder w/ UINTA Test Phaze and Tu Meke.

GARAGE ON BECK & MOAB BREWING
Funeral Potato Pie W/ Scorpion Pale Ale

STONEGROUND & BONNEVILLE BREWING
House Made Ricotta Cheese & Lemon Pie W/ Sun Twist Lemon & Ginger Golden Ale

BELTEX MEAT &  KIITOS BREWING
Pastrami Rueben HOT POCKET, Smoked Ham & Beer Cheese Hot Pocket w/ NE Pale Ale

STEIN ERICKSON / WASATCH
Stein Eriksen’s Lodge Sticky Pecan Pie W/ Baltic Porter aged in brandy Barrels

THE DODO & BOHEMIAN BREWING
Dodo Tollhouse Cookie W/ Bohemian Kolsch

OUIRRH RESTAURANT & SHADES BREWING
RASPBERRY CHEESE CAKE W/ Key Lime Golden Sour Kveik. W/ vanilla and graham crackers

MOTHERS FOOD TRUCK & ZOLUPEZ BREWERY
Morgan Valley Lamb Chili WITH Butternut Squash, white Beans & Beehive Rosemary Mint Cheddar Frito Pie w / Mandarina Kolsch, Zolupez Agave IPA, Zolupez Mango Golden.

LUCKY SLICE PIZZA & ROOSTERS BREWING
Lucky Slice Funeral Potato Pizza W/ Roosters Black Berry Cream Ale

BENJI’S 24 HOUR BBQ - RED ROCK BREWING
Ice Box Lemon Pie  W/ Bier De Mars Spiced Belgian Amber

CURRENT & T.F. BREWING
Strawberry Frangipane Hand Pies w/ Keller Bier ( German Pilsner )

BEER BAR & LEVEL CROSSING
Lemon Sour Cream with Poppy Seed Crumble w/
You-Tah UnCommon Cream Ale

RED BUTTE BAKERY & DESERT EDGE BREWING
Tart Cherry Pie W/ Desert Edge Pro Tem

SQUATTERS PUB & SQUATTERS BREWERY
Berry Cobbler W/ JUICY IPA

RIO GRANDE & PARK CITY BREWING
Rio Grande Key Lime Pie  W/ Park City Imperial Pilsner

BAMBARA & SALT FIRE BREWING
Lemon Coconut Cream W/ SALT FIRE Lemon zest & Ginger root SAISON

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PIES & VERNAL BREWING
Apple Crumb Pie w/ Pilgrimage Extra Pale Ale

STRATFORD PROPER & PROPER BREWING
PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN PIE W/ PINEAPPLE SOUR BEER

CAMPOS & ROHA BREWING
Braised Short Rib Meat Pie W/ Roha Red Ale

UTOG KITCHEN & UTOG BREWERY
Cheese Cake Pie  W/ Pucker Time Sour Citra IPA

ESTE PIZZA & STRAP TANK
Jordan Savior Pizza ( jalapeño, red onions, artichoke hearts, and Garlic ) W/ HAZY IPA

TRADITION & FISHER BREWING
Rosemary Peach Pie w/ Sour French Saison

New Beer Friday 7/19/19

Happy New Beer Friday. This week you get two treats as Founders' and Belching Beaver's beers hit Salt Lake. Supposedly some of these are hitting DABC stores; I have no info on that but I did find some at a couple of notorious beer spots in SLC. If you see them somewhere else, please spread the beer love.

Toasted Barrel - Bourbon Barrel Quad: This beer has aromas of fig, slight bourbon notes and a fuity sourness. The tastes follows with woody dryness and vanilla up front. Bourbon asserts itself as it warms with a little sour cherry and fig rounding it out. Finishes with boozy cherry and dark fruits. barrel dryness & figs. a beast at 15.0% - Available at Toasted Barrel.

2 Row Huckleberry Sour: This debuted yesterday and I missed it. I'm sad... I'm guessing it's got a sour lemony base with flavors of Huckleberry. If I'm wrong, set my ass straight! 5.9% - Available at 2 Row.

Wasatch Dunkelweizen: I missed out on this one too. This is a very small batch beer that is only available at Wasatch's Sugar House Brewpub. 4.0%.

Proper - It's Always Sunny in SLC: This pale ale is light with caramel sweetness, pine, orange peel and herbal hops in the finish. 4.0% - Available at Proper. 

Belching Beaver - Me So Honey: This has a golden/orange color with an aroma of honey and toasty bread. The taste is sweet with the distinct taste of honey. There is a little bitterness at the end but a lot of cracker and bread notes. If you're a fan of honey beers look into this. 5.5% - Found at the Bayou.

Belching Beaver - Peanut Butter Milk Stout: This is the beer that built this brewery. Smells of peanut butter and chocolate malts. The taste follows with more peanut butter and semisweet chocolate. Lactic sugars come in next to sweeten it up a little. There a hint of coffee in the finish. Medium to full bodied with a creamy mouth feel. 5.3% - Found at the Bayou.

Belching Beaver - Deftones Phantom Bride: This IPA an aroma that is grassy and citrus-like. The taste follows with zesty citrus, some tropical fruit, caramel malt, and a little bit of dank and floral bitterness at the end.7.1% - Found at the Bayou.

Founders Solid Gold: This lager has nice herbal hops that drive this tasty lager with notes of lemongrass and pine. Mild toast and corn round it out. Dry finish with minimal sweetness. 4.4% - Found at Beerhive.

Founders - Dirty Bastard: Pours a dark reddish brown with a nose of toffee, caramel and brown sugar. Very boozy from the start with flavors of toffee, peat and dates. It finishes with some more fruity flavors, like plum or raisins. Very nice. 8.5% - Found at Beerhive.

Founders - Centennial IPA: : The aroma is resinous with tropical citrus and melon. There's citrus and melon initially in the flavor with toasted bread and caramel malts underneath. Mostly tangerine, nectar, and melon in the end with a black tea bitterness in the finish. An excellent example of an IPA. 7.2% - Found at Beerhive.

Founders - All Day IPA: The nose has a pleasant balance of sweet malt, pine, melon and grass. The flavor is mostly driven by pine with some light tangerine backing it up. Seems thin even for Utah standards. Finishes mildly bitter. 4.7% - Found at Beerhive.

Founders - Breakfast Stout: Strong and intense aroma of coffee and dark chocolate. The flavor is full of coffee, with dark chocolate and oats in the background. Very nice. 8.3% - Found at Beerhive

Founders - KBS [Kentucky Breakfast Stout]: Subtle roasted malts and coffee notes in the aroma.    Huge bourbon notes with dark chocolate and vanilla off the top. The coffee get a little lost, but it doesn't detract from the smooth, beer's barrel character. 12.3% - Apparently this is only at the Beerhive, if you see it anywhere  else let us know.

Kiitos - Grapefruit Hard Seltzer: Just what you'd expect; spritzy and quenching grapefruit water with a little kick. 4.0% - Available at Kiitos on draft.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 7/12/19

The heat is on, and the beers this week reflect it. I'm not saying these are all quenchers; I will say that if you need an attitude adjustment there plenty here to get the job done. Happy New Beer Friday!

Uinta - Tu Meka Tart: This has an herbaceous/fruited yogurt aroma with a lemony tart base. The New Zealand hop blend adds some perceived fruitiness and bitterness adding to the lactic twang. It finishes slightly puckering. Nice beer.  6.7% - Available at Uinta. DABC next week.

2 Row - Seeing Stars:. Pours a murky orange with thick white head. Aroma is tropical fruits with some grapefruit. Huge tropical fruit flavor with mango, papaya, pineapple and also some tangerine. Another excellent NEIPA from 2 Row. 8.3% - Available at 2 Row, Beehive, Dick n Dixie's

Shades - Tai Tom Kha: This may have already sold out, so make a call before heading out. The subtle tart base creates a nice platform for the coconut, ginger and lemongrass. A restrained amount of lactic sugar helps sweeten it up a bit - adding balance to it all. Another winner. 6.3% - Available at Shades 

Kiitos - Rimando Pale Ale: I missed out on it. I'll try to have something for you later on KBER 101 at 2:20pm 5.0% - Available at Kiitos, I also found it at the Bayou.

Mother Earth/Fremont - 4 Seasons Hazy IPA: It has a peachy nose with some peach/passion fruit vibes at the beginning of the taste. Pineapple and citrus peel round it out. Minimal bitterness in the finish. seems a little light in body for as turbid as it is. Nice. 7.5% - Found at Beerhive

Great Basin - Cerveza Chilebeso: Missed this one. I'll try to have something for you later on KBER 101 at 2:20pm. 5.5% - Found at Bayou. 

Kiitos - Hard Lime Setzer: Nice lime flavor. It looks like real fruit by it's appearance. Very refreshing. 4.0% - Available at Kiitos on draft only.

Cheers!

Speakeasy: A Better Way to Search the DABC

The Utah Department of Alcohol Beverage Control does a relatively fine job given the restrictions the Utah legislature forces upon them. Understaffed and over worked; I'm often surprised by how that ship manages to stay afloat. Their website is a prime example of a bureaucratic mess that focus more on licensing and underage drinking and less on the the people that spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on buying their products. 

While the DABC website certainly has all the information you could ever want regarding the current products the state offers, It's not exactly geared toward getting people what they want in a quick and easy manner. Enter adult beverage consumer and code writing machine, Scott Peterson. Peterson found the current online system less user friendly and decided to give it a more consumer oriented focus. "I've never found it terribly useful unless I knew specifically what I wanted" Peterson told me, "I created Speakeasy to make that information discoverable and give users the tools to find new and interesting products – quicker and easier than they thought possible through the DABC's current site".

Peterson's Speakeasy site is an easy to navigate system that gets the consumer to their preferred beverage(s) in just a few steps while adding an interactive component. "I wanted to augment the information the DABC provides—like adding user generated reviews—and make it a more shopper friendly experience". Lastly Peterson wants Speakeasy to be collaborative websites or app, by being a central place where developers would have access to tools and a publicly available API to build from in the future.

I'm offering a link to Speakeasy here at Utah Beer in the column to the right. Feel free to look it over and give it a good workout. Positive input is already making it better than it was weeks ago. You can comment at Speakeasy's Facebook page. 

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 7/5/19

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day. I understand that many of you have today off as well? If that's the case.... I hate you. I'm glad we could get that out of the way. Due to the holiday, there wasn't a whole lot released, but there are come collaboration beer left from last weekend's festival – so there's that. Happy New Beer Friday!

Proper - Yellow Sour Ranger: Part of Proper's Sour Ranger Series - this pineapple infused beer has a lemony base with a good dose of pineapple twang to to liven things up. The fruit is the star of the show with most of the Sour Rangers and this one doesn't disappoint. 4.0% ABV - Available at Proper, Craft by Proper and I believe it's still on at Salfire Brewing as well.

Proper - Equal Pay Pale Ale: I missed this one due to the holiday yesterday, I hope to have tasting notes for this this afternoon on my New Beer Friday segment on KBER 101 at 2:30pm. 4.0% - Available at Proper.

Talisman - Mexican Lager: The aroma is bready with notes of crackers and grass. The taste starts of with malt and a hint of corn. It's not pronounced but seems to lend some sweetness to the beer. It's very malty with notes of toasted cereal at the end. This style isn't supposed to be super complex, but it comes off as being more than just a quencher. 4.0% - Available at Talisman.

Wasatch - Gruit: This beer has no hops. It uses mint, dandelion, spruce and holyhock flowers. It fermented with a unique strain of wild yeast. 4.0% - Only available at Wasatch Sugar House.

Wasatch - Classic American Pale Ale: American malt and hops create a citrus/pine dream. 4.0% - Only available at Wasatch Sugar House.

If you missed last week's Brewers Guild Fest, you may still have the opportunity to try some of the collaboration beers that are left. Here are some tasting notes on some of the collabs that have managed to stick around. Due to the limited amount produced, check with the respective breweries before making the trip to acquire these.

Toasted Barrel/RoHa - Gin Barrel Saison: Flowery and woody aroma. There's a faint gin in flavor to start then it transitions to juniper and clove with a hint of pepper. One of my favorites from the festival. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

2 Row/Bohemian - Galaxy IPL: Think of a hoppy pils with more of a spicy grapefruit zest feel. Super crushable.  4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Squatters/Saltfire - Key Lime Pie Milkshake: A subtle mix of "pie" adjuncts make this a super drinkable representation of the famed dessert. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

UTOG/Zolupez - Madarina Kolsch: The hop in this beer give it an intense pineapple, lemon and citrus flavor with a resinous, herbal finish. Tasty AF! 4.0% - Available at UTOG.

Hoppers/Bonneville - Smoked Cherry Ale: Super subtle smoke keeps the malt and fruit in check. The result is a toasty ale with cherry accents that comes off as clean as a lager. An excellent beer that you need to try. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Shades/TF Brewing - Berliner w/guava coconut and Mint: The aroma is big with coconut but the taste is more subtle with mellow lemony tartness and a hint of guava. The mint is tea-like which gives it a refreshing finish. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Vernal/Moab - Route 191: This session IPA delivers on all fronts with a nice caramel base backed with ruby red grapefruit zest and tangerine peel.

Level Crossing/Wasatch - Zappa's Ancient Enigma: Excellent pale ale with a nice caramel base that provides a solid foundation for the tangerine and piny hops. Very nice. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Salt Flats/Hopkins - Chile Mangose: The chilies provide more flavor than heat in this sour based beer. Ever tried mago dusted with chiles? it's very much like that; with less intensity. A wonderful beer. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Strap Tank/Uinta - Sour Brut IPA: Dry, sour and hoppy. This beer will disappear in moments if your not careful. It's dry tartness and citrus twang get those salivary glands pumping. Not 100% sure if any of this is left. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Epic/Red Rock Cucumber Lime Lager:The cucumber and lime are used in moderation here; it creates a refreshing pool-side beer that will or won't work for you depending on your love for cucumber. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Kiitos/Roosters - Key Lime Milkshake: This one is much more 'in your face than the previous Key Lime beer. Loads of lactose and graham cracker here, gives this beer more body and intense flavor. Which did you like better? 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Fisher/Desert Edge - Ancient Sour of the Future: A fruity sour with a good dose of tartness and hops. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Proper/Zion - NXSW Pale Ale: A fruity American Pale ale with a bit of tartness. 4.0% - Available at the respective breweries.

Also, please beware of increased DUI patrols all weekend. 

Cheers!

Don't Forget the Beer!

Remember, if you don't snag the 'high point' suds you crave for Independence Day today, you may be sad little beer nerds come Thursday. Some breweries may have their beer shops open on the 4th, so there's that option, but let's face it, you probably have better things to do with with beer time... like actually drinking it - instead of hunting it down. Have a great and safe Independence Day!

Cheers!

Belching Beaver Heads to Utah

Lookie here! On the heels of the announcement of Founders' entry into the state, comes word that San Diego County's Belching Beaver Brewery is coming to Utah. Look for beers like Me So Honey Blonde, Phantom Bride IPA and of course the beer that put them on the map, Peanut Butter Milk Stout to debut. I'm sure others will follow but this is what they will launch with. 

Cans of these super popular beers will be hitting bars and restaurants as special orders in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on on us here at Utah Beer for the exact dates; not to mention the where and when. Whatdaya think, beer folk?

Cheers!