New Beer/Brewery Friday 10/30/20

 

Hear that? that's the sound of very few kids pounding at your front door. We all know the only pounding this weekend will be the slamming of drams on your over-taxed counter tops. Please keep it in check though, those little shits have devious parents that are just as devious as you once were. Happy Boo Beer...er New Brewery Friday!

 

Ogden River - Aviator American Wheat: We have a new brewery! Ogden River Brewing is the culmination of many beer dreams, but none more than Pat Wonslow's. Pat's first beer has a nice toasty wheat base with  a subtle amount of toast that carries a bit of coriander and orange peel beneath.It not quite into Witbier territory, but it gets the point across with out being overbearing.  Solid and highly drinkable at 5.0% - Only at Ogden River. 

Ogden River - Hop Train: A straight up American Pale Ale with medium to light malts and a slightly over balanced hop bill. This is not trying to be an IPA dressed as a pale ale, it's a tight easy drinking beer with no frills. 5.0% - Only at Ogden River. 

Ogden River - Union Station Amber: This takes a slight turn towards hoppy-side. It's all about the malt upfront, but then it goes into pale ale territory, offering up a slightly exaggerated hop bite that is less better and more snappy. very quantifiable at 5.0% - Only at Ogden River.

Ogden River - Jacob's Bogie Scottish Ale: This one hit after I got my samplings.Look for a high malt profile with hints of peaty smoke. Just hints. 5.0% Only at Ogden River. 

Ogden River/Bewilder - Patersbier: From the start clove drives the flavors here. Some esters from ythe yeast creat a vague fruitiness with honey malts driving the base beer. The yeast also offers a bit of white pepper, which helps it drive to a dry finish. This is quite a assertive 'father's beer' peppery dry. 5.0% Only at Ogden River and Bewilder.

Bewilder - Mole' Porter: This has a solid Porter body without a doubt. There is a bit of chocolate and maple up front. Those flavors give way to chili, cinnamon and peppers. Not much heat – butr the mole spects drive you to the finish.This is Bewilder's first beer above draft level and it hits at 6.0% and it will go one sale this Saturday.

Salt Flats - Barrel-aged Low Rider: Aged in Salt Flat's Bonneville Bourbon barrels. This chocolate forward ale will beat your ass if your not careful. Massive amounts of milk chocolate dominate, until the wicked bourbon and rye attack turning this into a decadent witches brew. This is not for the meek. For a barrel-aged beer this is the best bang for your buck, I promise. At 10.5% this will light up any evening, in or out of the house. 10.5% - at Salt Flats today. 

 

Hopkins - You can't Do That On Television IPA: This is a throwback to American IPAs from 20 years ago, this beer features caramel malts (from Solstice Malts), a firm bitterness and a piney citrus dry hop profile from Chinook, Citra and Simcoe. 5.0% - Only at Hopkins.

Potosi - Rosa Stiefel: This is a Pink Boots collaboration beer that emulates a Euro- Grapefruit Hefewezen.  This comes across as a radlerbeir without all of the sweet soda. High on Fruity flavor – low in beer difficulty. It's a guilty pleasure for sure at 4.5% Found at Slackwater in Sandy.

Check us out at 9:20am-ish on KBER 101 as Mick, Allen and myself dissect all of these and other beers on the New Beer Friday – KBER edition.

 

Here's this week's small batch beers from Hopkins Brewing. Click for a larger image.

Cheers!

Ogden River Brewing Opens Today

When Pat Winslow envisioned his post retirement brewpub, he had no idea the end result would be the beautiful riverside it is today. Winslow's original spot was an old garage that ocqupied a lot a few blocks west of where the current brewery resides. Due to Ogden City demands, that property was deemed to expensive to redevelop. Thankfully Winslow had a chance meeting with the Lotus Company and the two entities where able to turn their visions into one reality. 

Today Ogden River Brewing Co. officially opens to the public. The beautifully designed brewpub is designed to show off its proximity to the Ogden River and offers multiple level outside to take it all in. ORB has 10 tap handles and the brew-team is quickly working to fill them ASAP. At last count they were up to five taps; today, they may have more. 

So welcome Ogden River Brewing to the Utah Beer Family, our 41st local and  independent brewhouse! 

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 10/23/20

You can tell the seasons are changing by the beers that are out this week. There's some hearty and boozy stuff this week that's guarenteed to keep you warm. 

Epic - Creamsicle: The Aroma has a slight hint of orange juice with very little vanilla sweetness. The taste has a citrus tang with a slight hop bite from the hop bill. There's a comforting orange flavor that works along side of the hops. The vanilla flavor comes in about mid way and is lightly sweet. This brings up the beers drinkabilty a lot in my opinion; as it finishes quite nice and citrusy. 8.5% - This goes on sale Saturday

Epic - Big Bad Baptist Double Chocolate, Double Peanut Butter: Rich, roasted coffee bean nose with a good amount of earthy potent chocolate. The taste largely echoes the aroma, with notes of caramel syrups, roasted barley malts, and dark chocolate undertones, matched by a rich, roasted coffee bean flavor, generating a balance of fruit, acidity and roast characteristics. Finishes moderately dry with a lingering roasted coffee finish and hints of bourbon and peanut butter managing to make an appearance. Best enjoyed on the warm-side. 12.5% - Available starting today at Epic's SLC brewery.

Epic -Big Bad Baptist Sextuplet: This beer is blend of six BBB variants. This beer has a symphony of flavors that are silky and complex with rye spiciness, fudge, cherry cordial, espresso and coconut cream pie. You’d think that with all of the barrel addition here, it would be a hot mess, but it all comes together in a fairly tame manner. 11.5% - Available at Epic starting today.

Fisher - Rotating IPA: Pine, grapefruit and some pineapple on the nose. Decent strength and some nice fruit character here.  Grapefruit, pine flavors and mango up front. A big finish of pineapple, grapefruit, some tropical notes and hop bitterness linger on the palate. Notes of bread too. There’s definitely some well measured hop character here. This is definitely a West Coast style IPA. 6.8% - Available at Fisher.

Saltfire - Jeniver:  Nice juniper aroma. Right off the bat, the barrel pops with more generous berry notes. Then the spruce part comes in, it is more subdued, but it swirls around the berries like a Christmas tornado. Tangerine peel and orange zest round out the end. You wouldn’t think a gin barrel aged IPA would work very well, but the juniper aspect is perfect with the hops used. 8.0% - Available at SaltFire.

Toasted Barrel - Barrel Aged Raspberry Vanilla Sour: Pours a raspberry color with a thin pink head. Smell and taste are tart and sour with raspberry and balsamic. It finishes tart with some citric dryness and a puckering sourness with some wood in the finish. 7.0% - Available at Toasted Barrel.

Firestone Walker - Chocolate Cherry Stout: There's a lot of chocolate happening here, and the cherry is assertive as well. It would seem this beer was specifically designed for the holidays. It's quite sweet so take that into consideration. 5.5% - Found at Beerhive.

PBR - Hard Coffee: Missed this one. Found at DABC, which confuses me because this beer is clearly marked as being 5.0% - someone explain this to me please.

N'ice - Chouffe: Nose is sweet and malty with notes of brandy, dark cherries, figs, and dark candi sugar and faint molasses. Some holiday spices waft lightly along the top. Delicious brandy soaked roasted malt with nuts and nutmeg lingering. Sweet dark fruits and boozy toasted brown bread dipped in toffee. A wonderful holiday ale. 10.0% - Found at Slackwater Sandy.

This is also the last weekend for the Oktoberfest that's being held at the Utah Motor Sports Park in Tooele Co. More info here utahmotorsportscampus.com/

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 10/16/20

 There's "no pressure" finding any of the new stuff I've found for you this week. There's plenty to go around, so you don't have to do it all in one day, like yours truly.

Saltfire - Wet Hop Lupulin Dew (El Dorado):  Mostly grapefruit peel with some berry, mint & vague herbs. It's got great balance for a wet-hop, the fact that it's a pale ale brings up its drinkability. 5.6% - Available at Saltfire

Saltfire - Mobius Trip: This foeder soured beer has generous amounts of prickly pear. This one is a little more fruit forward than some of the Mobius Trip beers. There's good balance here and prickly pear works well with the sour base. 8.0% - Available at Saltfire

Level Crossing - Raising Hope: 100 percent of the profits from this beer will go to cancer charities. This IPA is made with raspberry, blood orange and Bulgarian rose water. The combo creates a new taste at first that's pleasant but hard to describe. eventually the raspberry begins to shine. The IPA is not buried by the fruit and the whole package work incredibly well. One of the better fruited IPAs you'll come across. 

Epic - Bid Bad Baptist (Chocolate Raspberry): This is a sweet, fruity, and roasty aroma with a big scent of raspberries along with chocolate. It tastes like it smells, Big taste of sweet raspberries and vanilla with notes of dark chocolate, mild coffee, toffee, caramel and biscuit along with wood. Some of the base beer gets a little lost, but if you're picking this up it's because of the chocolate and raspberry 10.5% Available at Epic.

Epic - Bid Bad Baptist (Pecan Pie): Making beers that taste like pie is becoming part of life around here; luckily for us, the breweries around here do them quite well. This is no exception. Cocoa and candied pecans lead it off with nice creamy toffee notes rounding it out. Mild cinnamon and coffee come in next with bourbon building towards the end. A little bit of heat in the finish. I'm a fan of bourbon pecan pie, this is pretty close to that. Good stuff. 11.5% - Available at Epic.

Wasatch Kick Back Series - IPL: The aroma starts off with a mixture of spicy, lightly soapy, floral and citrus rind aromas with the spicy hops. it starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with the hops still being the first to show up and they impart the same aspects that they did in the aroma, this time no single hoppy aspect seems to stick out the most and it's followed by some of that clean Lager yeast. Up next comes some pale, grainy and sweet malts flavors. On the finish there's a lighter amount of bitterness with a hoppy aftertaste. This is a nice tasting beer. 6.5% - Available at most Wasatch locations.

Hopkins - Savin Blanc Brut: Look for light toasted malts with minimal sweetness. with berry, citrus and melon notes. 5.0% - Only at Hopkins.

2 Row - Cryo Storm: The aroma is pleasant, lots of citrus juice and bitter peel, pineapple, earthy pine, cereal grains and a floral bouquet. The flavors are good, strong citrus juice and bright pineapple, floral, grassy, dank and piney with well hidden alcohol and malty balance. The mouthfeel is good, coating and crisp with a lively medium body that finishes with a dry bite. Very nice. 7.1% Available at 2 Row.

Toasted Barrel  - Belgian Waffle Triple: Missed this one. It's made with waffles, maple syrup, vanilla and candied sugar. 11.0% Only at Toasted Barrel.

Brujos Brewing/Beer Zombies Wizards and Zombies: A nice aroma of citrus, tropical fruits, hops and sweet malt. It starts with a good dose of guava and mango with lots of orange and other vague citrus flavors. This is a solid, focused, and completely likable beer. Not overly fruity or aggressive, but certainly lively. 10.5%  - Only at Beer Zombies

Mason Ale Works/Beer Zombies - Galaxy Revenge:  Soft, tropical, dank fruit that you'd expect from Galaxy hops. Passionfruit, mango, orange, grapefruit. Maybe some slight piney notes. A beautiful nose that's getting me excited for a sip. The nose follows through but a bit more subdued, led by sharper citrus notes (orange/grapefruit) with a decent hop bite. Some piney flavor, steers clear of the vegetal/grassy issues I've had with some Galaxy IPAs. Nice hint of warmth in the finish. 8.0% - Only at Beer Zombies

Mason Ale Works - Ball Don't Lie: Missed this one. 7.0% - Only at Beer Zombies

Mason Ale Works - The Duke Triple IPA: This extreme IPA isn't for the meek. It hearkens back to  the days of full throttle bitter IPAs. Enormous peach forward maltiness with ridiculous amounts of hops. The result is big flavors of pineapple, stonefruits, mango and grapefruit. Bitterness is high with pine, leaving a bit of booziness in the mouth.11.0% - Only at Beer Zombies

The Bruery - Ruekeller Helles: A nose of grainy cereal and sweet malts with some other mineral notesand herbal hops. The taste starts off with doughy malts, cereal, nuttiness and some fruity ester notes. Light bitterness with fruity herbal hops come next with a drier finish with more cereal grain. Semi-dry finish. 5.2% - Found at Slackwater in Sandy

Crown Valley Brewing - Imperial Pumpkin Smash:  - Missed this one. 10.6% Found at Slackwater in Sandy

Rogue - Coast Haste: Missed this Imperial Hazy. 8.6% - Found at DABC

 Here's this week's Small Batch Beers from Hopkinbrewing Co.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 10/9/20

There's no debating that this week's New Beer Friday will Fly above expectations. We have a couple of anniversary beers and a mandatory dose of hop forward ales.

Kiitos - 3rd Anniversary Ale: This beer is a blend of four different Kiitos ales. It starts with 20% Barleywine, aged in Wyoming Whiskey Barrels for 25 months – 20% Imperial Red Ale, aged for 13 months in High West Whiskey Barrels – 20% Imperial Red Ale, aged for 5 months in High West Whiskey Barrels – 40% Pastry Style Stout aged 7 months in Sugar House Whiskey barrels. Chocolate and whiskey dominate with toffee and tobacco adding some round sweetness. Deep down there's some berry-like fruitiness. Nicely complex and worth laying down for a year or two so that you can start working on that verticle tasting down the road. 11.6% - Available at Kiitos. Not Vegan Friendly

Kiitos - Triple Dry Hopped Hazy with Sabro/Comet: Pours a mostly hazy golden color with a white head, Smell is tropical fruit and malts. Taste has citrus melon some pear, passion fruit and mango. A juicy mouth feel paired with some minor bitterness. 5.0% - Available in 16 ounce cans at Kiitos.

Shades/Beer Bar - Kveik Sunrise: Orange dominates the nose and the beginning of the the first swig. It's natural OJ, not flavoring; you can tell by the way the citric acid lights up the taste buds. Cherry and agave add some minor nutty notes. Would work well tequila or rum. 6.5% - Available at Shades and Beer Bar. Not Vegan Friendly

Shades/Red Rock - Pistachio Ice Cream: No lengthy descriptors needed here. The flavors are simple: Vanilla and pistachio with hint of tartness in the finish. If you dig pistachio milkshakes, you'll find happiness here. 6.5% - Available at Shades and select Red Rock restaurants.  Not Vegan Friendly

Shades - Ten Year Anniversary: To celebrate 10 years, Shades will be debuting a big Triple IPA. This beer features, 10 pounds of 10 different hops per barrel – consisting of: Amarillo, Citra, Cascade, Comet, Centennial, Mosaic, Motueka, Galaxy, El Dorado and Huell Melon. The result is a highly resinous IPA that's tropical fruit forward with a helthy dose of pine. There's a good amount of bitterness, but considering all of the hops were added in the whirlpool and dryhopping, it's pretty mellow considering the hop bill. Some alcohol heat in the finish. 10.0% - Available at Shades on  Saturday 10/10. Are you sensing a theme here???

TF Brewing - Triple Oated Imperial IPA: Pours a fairly turbid yellow-orange body with a one finger white head. Aromas of grapefruit zest and orange pulp, touch of floral as well. Minimal malt sweetness is evident at first. Flavor is similar to some of Templin's other offerings; with a more pronounced grapefruit skin zestiness lingering on the finish. Mouthfeel is a solid medium with a super creamy body – due to the huge amount of oats. Overall bitterness is low. 8.5% - Available at TF starting today.

Red Rock - Saison Rosé: This part of Red Rock's new Back Door Series (quit snickering Mick and Allen) and is exclusive to Red Rock's downtown brewpub. This debut beer from brewer, Chris Harlin is a saison, fermented with brettaanomyces with chardonnay must, hibiscus and raspberry. The flavor is slightly funky due to the immature age of the ale. The berry is nice and round as the hibiscus and brett add some countering tartness. This is a complex, yet refreshing ale that really stands out this week. 6.9% - Available Saturday 10/10 in 22 ounce bottles. If you want it to-go, you must go to the brewery's back door (get it) to purchase it, not the main door.

Upslope - Spruce Tip IPA: This comes off as holiday beer; at the very least it's a cool weather beer. Citrus and pine in the aroma for sure. The body seems pretty full for an IPA, but it does deliver on the spruce. It's nice and sappy/resiny. This is a limited release, when these are gone, they're gone til next year. 7.5% - Found at DABC

Dogfish Head -  Campfire Amplifier: This beer has only been for sale across the country for about a week. And you've already got access to it.  This is a Milk Stout that has S'more flavors added; brewed with marshmallows, graham crackers, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, Madagascar vanilla beans and smoked malt. 6.5% - Found at DABC Not Vegan Friendly

Roadhouse - Trout Whistle: Missed this one. 6.0% Spotted at Slackwater in Sandy.

Returning

RoHa - Pumpkin Black Ale: Smells of cocoa and pumpkin spices. The taste follows with milk chocolate, nutmeg and allspice. Very dessert-like with a fair amount of body for a 5.0% ABV beer. Available at RoHa Brewing Project.

Fisher - Intermountain Juice: This returning favorite is a wet hopped beer made with 100 lbs of fresh picked Idaho 7. Look for big flavors of citrus peel, melon and grasses. 5.0% - Available at Fisher.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 10/2/20

It's another solid line up from local breweries this week. However, if you subscribe to the vegan lifestyle, take note that there's a more than a few options that may not jive with your lifestyle. 

Saltfire - Los Braceros: Smells heavily of sweet grains and malts with some spicy, grassy hoppiness in the background. For the style, happy to have some hint of hops on the nose. Tastes similar to the nose. Buttery toffee and roasted, sweet grains up front with a bitter hop, crisp and dry hop finish. 5.5% -Available at Saltfire

Shades/Purgatory - El Papi: This beer is based on the Purgatory cocktail. Margarita-like aroma with hints of chilies and basil. The taste is the same. Agave sweetness works well against the sour base beer. the basil subtle and the jalapeno is heat is light. 5.6% This one goes on sale Saturday 10/3  Not Vegan Friendly

Shades/Edge Brewing - Guavalicious: Made with Boise's Edge Brewing. This beer has a big guava nose with hints of vanilla. The taste follows with fresh guava that is light and it compliments the base kveik beer. A nice fruity beer, with high drinkabilty.  5.6% - Available at Shades now. Not Vegan Friendly

Shades/Slackwater - Beautiful Disaster: This cream ale has a more brown hue due to the cocoa nibs. The nose is big with hazelnut and chocolate. The taste is basically Nutella with light banana. The banana is real banana and not estery yeast flavor. The whole package is very dessert-like. 5.6% - Available at Shades now. Not Vegan Friendly

Toasted Barrel - Pina Colada Triple Milkshake IPA: Big flavors of pineapple and coconut dominate with vanilla and citrus coming in next. There's some floral bitterness floating around in the background with the big 10.5% stays relatively hidden. Tasty stuff. Only at Toasted Barrel. Not Vegan Friendly

Level Crossing - Astro Shake: The nose is hoppy, malty, with nice orange, tangerine, grapefruit and guava The taste is nice with a surprising amount of hops coming though the lactose addition. There's a nice citrus blend of orange, tangerine and grapefruit. Guava -like flavors show up as well with a nice pine bitterness in the finish. the 7.7% ABV. Overall, a tasty brew. available  starting today at Level Crossing. Not Vegan Friendly

Hopkins - Deseret Dunkle: Look for slight banana with a deep sweet bready smell and some burnt sugars and raisins. Sweet breadiness light bits of clove and banana lights bits of caramel and toffee on the end a little honey. 5.0% - Available at Hopkins.

Bewilder - Pumpkin Mild: This spice beer is is full of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. There's a nice amount of malt sweetness as well. This comes across more as a gingerbread cookie to me. Good stuff. 5.0% - only at Bewilder.

Bewilder - Raspberry Golden Sour: Made with fresh local raspberries and you can tell. The berries are fresh as hell tasting and the base sour ale is has medium to low tartness. Very nice stuff. 4.7% - only at Bewilder.

Bewilder SMaSH Pale: Hopped with Amarillo, this is a pleasant and highly drinkable pale ale full of citrus peel notes and bitterness. Tasty stuff. 5.0% - only at Bewilder.

Kiitos - Pomegranate Gose: This is part of Kiitos' 3rd Anniversary party this weekend. It will be released on Saturday.

Kiitos - Autumn Haze: This is part of Kiitos' 3rd Anniversary party this weekend. It will be released on Saturday.

Kiitos - Barrel Aged Coconut Stout: This is part of Kiitos' 3rd Anniversary party this weekend. It will be released on Saturday.

Fisher - Peaceful Transition: Hoppy with a lot of pine. Some grapefruit and floral notes in the nose as well. Grapefruit is stronger than in the nose. Pine notes as well as vague citrus. Good stuff. 5.0% - Available at Fisher

Boulevard - 30th Anniversary: The aroma is full of dark fruit, brandy, bourbon, spicy rye with strong booze. Flavors surpass the nose with bourbon, whiskey, spicy rye, brandy, Cabernet wine notes, dark fruits of plum and dark cherry, vanilla, moderate char, coffee. There's a ton of complex flavors here that improve as the beer warms. 12.5% - Found at the Sandy Slackwater

Mare Island - Fog Bell: This hazy is a new release from Mare Island. There a nice tropical aroma, just as you'd expect from the style . Flavors are mostly pineapple and citrus with minor pithy flavors. It's got a bit of bitterness which may throw some of you off. Overall a nice beer – not quite to style. 6.3% Found at Beerhive.

 Here are Hopkins Brewing Company's Oktoberfest small batch offerings.

Cheers!