New Beer Friday 01/29/21

It was a strong start for Utah's craft beer scene with breweries hitting the normally dry January. If you sat out January this would be a good weekend to get back into the game. 

TF Brewing- Tangelo Berliner weisse: This is a citrus bomb. The citric acid lights up the sides of the tongue giving you a good indication of the citrus level. Full of orange and grapefruit flavors. Tartness is medium in intensity. 5.0% - Avaibale starting today at TF. 

Moab - Bougie Johnny's Rose Ale: This beer/wine hybrid is brewed with Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio grape must. Look for a slight tartness with berry fruitiness and sweet pilsner malts. 5.0% found at Harmons.

Heber Valley - Stellar Stream: Nose is muted (opens up a bit once warm), but the taste explodes with tropical fruit, papaya, guava, passion fruit, mango, kiwi, and some faint citrus. Creamy feel on the palate. 5.0% - Only at Heber Vally Brewing.

Ogden River - Chocolate Milk Coffee Stout: I missed this one. If the name doesn't entice you into trying it, then you're probably dead... or hate coffee. 5.0% Only at Ogden River Brewing.

Shades - Lemon Meringue Pie: This really lives up tot he name. There's nice tart lemony flavor that has a hint of vanilla. There's a bit of graham cracker in the background but this beer is driven by the lemon. 6.5% Available at Shades.

Hopkins - Black Sesame Stout: The sesame seeds were hand toasted at the brewpub. This beer has a nice roasty stout profile along with a toasty black sesame finish. 5.0% - Only at Hopkins.

*Worthy - Lights Out Stout: A simple and straight forward stout with a balanced amount of vanilla and light coffee. Fairly sweet but these mentioned flavors balance agreeably with the roasted malts. Found at Slackwater (Sandy).

Oskar Blues - BA20 Vol. 1: All Monde: Vanilla fudge and toasted almond hits up front, and the bourbon barrel is nice. Very balanced. The almond flavor is subtle but definitely there. Caramel, cookie dough, and roasted marshmallows. A little boozy as well. 12.5% - Found at Slackwater (Sandy).

*Bombastic - Murder: Aroma has cinnamon, cocoa nibs, a touch of cayenne pepper, not getting much of the chilies unfortunately, also tobacco, leather, toffee 10.5% - Found at Slackwater (Sandy).

*Bombastic - Attempted Murder: The aroma is strong cinnamon, nutmeg, coffee, chocolate. The taste is cinnamon, coffee, vanilla, chocolate malt balls, bourbon alcohol warming and taste. 10.0% - Found at Slackwater (Sandy).

Sawtooth - False Summit: Missed this one. Look for a malty sweet body with a medium bitter finish. 5.6% Found at DABC.

Sawtooth - Stanley Juicy IPA: Missed this one too. Found at DABC.

*Offshoot - Retreat: Missed this one. it's described as having a simple malt bill and hopped heavily with fruit-forward Mosaic, Cashmere and El Dorado. Laced with delicate and aromatic tropical notes along with a bright berry medley and a crisp mouthfeel. 8.6% - Found at Slackwater (Sandy).

Melvin - Back in Da Haze: Aroma of orange peel, grapefruit, mango and toasted caramel. Sweet tropical fruitiness with toasted caramel and a sharp bitterness in the finish. 6.5% - Found at Slackwater (Sandy).

Here are this week's small batch beers from Hopkins Brewing. 

Cheers!

*New to Our Market

New Beer Friday 01/22/21

 

Feel'n that New Beer Friday Burn? You're not alone. 

Grid City - Extra Brown Ale: Nice aroma of toasted grain crackers and white bread. Hops are light with light floral notes and pine.The taste here is pumpernickel, burnt malts: chocolate, caramel and molasses with roasted nuts and a touch of dark fruit. A floral hop smack rides in the back. Aftertaste is malty and toasty. 6.6%

Grid City - Imperial Brown Ale: Double the malt and hop bill of their standard English brown. This one comes across more like a brown IPA. A more assertive floral and pine bitterness. Much more mat sweetness along with a slight alcohol punch. 8.6%

Strap Tank - Motor Maid: This Saison was made with pink peppercorns that give it snappy kick. Some fruity eaters build on the malt profile and help compliment the notes of clove that are produced by the saison yeast strain. 5.0% - Available at Strap Tank Springville now - Lehi next week. 

Proper - Carroso: This is Proper's Gruit (beer bittered with herbs and spices rather than hops) that has been aged in Pinot Noir barrels. Fruit up front in the nose with notes of lemon, orange peel, along with vinous  berries. Undertones of oak barrel adds a vanilla note, adding aromas of pine, thyme and coriander. In the taste you get tartness up front that is quickly followed by an array of rack spices Mid-palate that brings out some fortified wine notes and a variety of herbaceous notes. The finish is dry, with more lemon and Pino Noir lingering. Excellent stuff. 9.5% On sale at noon today at Proper. Note: Proper's standard Gruit is also available today as well.  

RoHa - Blanche: The final entry in RoHa's Golden Girls Brett Pale Ale series is here. Blanche is more hop forward than the previous "girls". A quality funky aroma of damp hay and barnyard leading to pineapple, light pear, and green herbs. Flavor though is cleaner than expected - leather and straw, crisp grassy hops. Second pour is yeastier and a touch fruitier. Light bodied with frothy carb, crisp and highly drinkable. A very enjoyable Brett Pale. 5.0% - Available to go in crowlers at RoHa. 

Toasted Barrel - Kiwi Double IPA: The flavor is first and foremost fruity, but there are small nuances apparent from the  Kiwi treatment. Mostly it seems that the fruit shifted the dynamic of the hop profile, as opposed to adulterating the brew with discernible fruit flavors. The soft bitterness normally found in Toasted Barrel's IPAs is somewhat softened, allowing for a fruit-focused bouquet. Nice stuff. 8.5% - Available at Toasted Barrel.

Kiitos - Vienna Lager: Has a beautiful clear, dark copper color, rich in depth and hue. Above-moderate carbonation, thick fluffy tan head that gradually dissipates. I smell an aroma of bready and biscuit malts and grains, yeasty smell, along with a sweet caramel note. Reminds me of an Oktoberfest. Tastes like toasted malts, cereal, toast, bread, and yeast, along with as sweet caramel to balance the hops. Hops have a spicy kick and make the tongue tingly. Taste an orange peel in the aftertaste. 5.0% - Only at Kiitos.

Lone Pine - Chaos Emeralds: Opaque yellow gold with aromas of dank leafy herbs sweet tropical fruits, citrus, light foresty diesel, berry, with mild biscuity caramelized malt. Feels super soft and creamy with smooth carbonation. Tastes like pineapple, melon, tropical mango, fresh citrus peels, lime, grapefruit, hint of watermelon, berry, mild bready caramelized malts, with foresty diesel like dank leafy herbal flowers. Overall a really great DIPA.8.0% at Slackwater (Sandy).

Non-Beer – Because, sometimes you need a change. 

Mountain West Cider - Berry Balm: Jammy and lightly tart with apple taking a back seat. The whole package is quite nice though the lemon balm does get a bit lost in the berries. Very limited, small batch cider. 6.8% - Only at Mountain West Hard Cider.

Epic Hard Green Tea: Haven't had this one yet. This is a first for our market and rarity in the adult beverage market. This is all green tea with little no sweetener. 5.5% Available starting today at Epic.

Flying Embers - Hard Kombucha: No notes. 6.8% Found at DABC

Allkind - Super Berry Hard Kombucha: No notes. 6.5% Found at DABC

Allkind - Tropical Turmeric: No notes. 6.5% Found at DABC

Stem - Chile Guava Cider: No notes. 5.7% Found at DABC 

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 1/15/21

There's an excellent mix this week of local and out of state craft beers. There a re quite a fee new entries to our market from new breweries, check 'em out. 

Hopkins - Rye Pilsner: Another hit from Matt’s small-batch series makes it to the main tap! This pilsner has a light malty profile with a hint of spicy zest from the rye, a touch of bitterness and hop profile from Saaz hops, and a clean, crisp finish. Featuring locally grown and malted pilsner and flaked-rye from Solstice Malt. 5.0% Only at Hopkins.

Hopkins - Introduction Pale Ale: A simple and approachable pale ale featuring locally grown and malted Solstice 2-row malt. This version features the 2020 Veterans Blend hops, which comprises five different Pacific Northwest-grown hop varieties including Idaho 7, HBC 692, Sabro, Mosaic and HBC 630 in the dry-hop. The hop blend is created by veterans and a portion of proceeds support the Wounded Warriors Family Support Fund. Citrusy, tropical aromas and flavors are the highlight of this pale ale while allowing a delicate malty backbone with minimal bitterness and a dry finish. 5.0% Only at Hopkins.

TF - Zkittles Terpene IPA: This IPAs terpenes are based on a popular Inca cannabis strain that has similar aromatics as Skittles candy. Im haven't had this one yet. Look for a super dank and fruity IPA with tropical and berry accents. Available starting today at TF. 7.5%   

Epic Midnight Munchies: This new peanut butter stout hits the cold case today as well. No advanced tasting notes here either. 8.0% - Only at Epic.

Fisher Doc Sarvis: Notes of Bourbon, chocolate and roasted malt are the primary flavors here. You'll get nice chocolate in the base with light whiskey and wood rounding out the background. 5.0% - Only at Fisher.

Fisher - Valley of Gold: This Brett fermented pale ale is funky and doughy with barnyard aromas.Complex earthy quality despite being so young. Still getting some of the tropical flavors the nose suggested, but it's subdued. Medium-bodied, with a fairly crisp mouth-feel. Such a wonderful beer!

Kiitos - Sahti: This Finish style of beer is traditionally unhopped with juniper twigs used during the brewing process create balance, imparting an unusual resiny character and serving as a preservative. Meanwhile, exposure to wild yeast and bacteria gives Sahti its signature tartness. This has some rye and a woody quality. Bitterness is low, some hops are detected. 5.0% - Only at Kiitos.

Shades - Incubus Imperial Pastry Stout: This delicious dark beer reveals your darkest desires. It's sweet, roasted, creamy and boozy with medium to low bitterness and a chocolate taste. Incubus is the base for more pastry stouts to come. Malted oat, de-husked barley, un-malted barley, all roasted, and lactose.⠀8.0% - Available now at Shades.

Roosters - Winter Blues: This is a "blueberry forward" IPA. No notes one this one but it's got me curious; gunna need to get on this one. 5.0% at Roosters B-Street Brewery.

*Gruner Brothers Brewing - Devilito: This is classified as a Belgian style strong ale. Look for a lighter body with moderate sweetness and classic phenolic yeast spices of coriander, clove and a hint of citrus peel. 8.3%. Found at Slackwater Sandy, DABC:

*Gruner Brothers Brewing - Salt Creek Citra: Aromas of Citrus, tropical fruits and pine. The taste follows with grapefruit forward citrus and hints of mango. Pine bitterness enters towards the finish. 7.7%. Found at Slackwater, DABC.

Revision - Cloud Cuddles: This NEIPA hits all the right notes with tangerine, peach and melon. Late palate you pick up a good dose of mango and tangerine, but it's the sweeter fruits that dominate due to malt profile. Bitterness is very low. 6.5% Found at Slackwater Sandy.

Revision - Battle of the Lords: A Double NEIPA that  pours a cloudy tangerine orange with a juicy aroma. Flavor-wise you get orange, mango, peach and pineapple. It's a great package with slightly higher bettering towards the finish. Some warming alcohol. 8.5% 

*Slo Brew - Cali Squeeze Mango Hefeweizen: Lots of mango, orange and lemon. The Hefe base is for the most part light. Not a game changer, but nice and fruity. 5.4%. Found at Slackwater in Sandy.  

*Slo Brew - Cali Squeeze Blood Orange Hefeweizen: Same drill here, though the blood orange adds a more pleasant flavor profile for me. Some tartness with blood orange, lemon and grapefruit. 5.4%. Found at Slackwater in Sandy.  

Mother Earth - Nitro Cali Creamin: This nitro version is new and comes in a special 16 ounce nitrogen can. It still has that rich vanilla flavor, but it's more pronounced due to the less bitter nitrogen gas. 5.0% Found at various grocery and C-stores in Davis County. 

New Belgium - Voodoo Ranger Captain Dynamite IPA: Look for aromas of grapefruit, orange, caramel and pine. Sweet tropical fruits on top of caramel, peach and pine on the palate. found at DABC.

Returning Favorites:

Saltfire - Mobius Trip Fate Bell: The Sotol barrel aged sour is back! if you missed it last time here are my notes from last year.  This one is in Sotol barrels from Texas. If you're not familiar; Sotol is kin to tequila and mezcal, that shares many of the characteristics of agave but it's far from that. It has a very earthy tequila profile, which comes through well in the beer. The beginning is tart and earthy with some granny smith peel. Next comes notes of pineapple and salt. The finish is oaky with puckering lemon. This is super complex and very intriguing. Never had anything like this. It's well worth your time if you like tequila flavors and sour beers. 7.1%

Level Crossing - The Black Album: This is part of Level Crossing's Black Feather Series. This is a black imperial rye IPA. The aroma is hugely dank, herbal and grainy with dense, bready malts. Flavor profile is less sticky, and a little more bold in regards to the malts  – there's a good dose of roast and char swirling around throughout. Dank, herbal, floral, zesty hops open up playing off of the bready, nutty, roastier malts flavors. The bitterness is medium to high and pretty much rules the beer from the back-end to the finish. Overall, a solid BIPA, with big hopiness. 9.2% 

Here are this week's Small Batch Series beers from Hopkins Brewing.

*New to the SLC Market

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 1/8/21

Things not going your way? Luckily, New Beer Friday has what you need and will help get you back on track. 

TF - Fluffier Nuts: This is the much bigger version of the popular pastry stout. Look for a sweet aroma of marshmallows, peanuts and roasted grains. The taste was very sweet with a peanut dominance by the marshmallow sweetness & a light coffee roastiness. The finish has some lingering peanut butter. Mouthfeel was full. (Contains Peanut Butter and Lactose). 12.2% - Only available at TF.

2 Row - Citra Hopped Belgian IPA: Look for an aroma of tropical fruit, grapefruit and orange peel with some coriander beneath. The taste is similar to the aroma, with some likely earthy breadiness noticeable. There's also a nice lingering finish. 6.4% - At 2 Row.

2 Row - Simcoe on Rye:  A very citrus nose with a grapefruit tinge and overtones of pine. The taste is even more delightful than the aroma, featuring a clean not-too-bitter taste with an aftertaste of pine and grapefruit that lingers nicely. In fact, a wonderful double rye IPA. Made with Solstice malts. 8.0% At 2 Row.

Bewilder - Oat Pale Lager: Look for a hoppy lager with toasty grains and floral and citrusy hops. The oats add a nice smooth mouthfeel. Comes across as a citrus forward hoppy blonde. 5.0% - At Bewilder. 

Toasted Barrel - Non-Alcoholic Stout: If you're participating in "dryuary" This is a must for you. It's probably the best NA beer I've ever had. Full of chocolaty roasted malt and a hint of char. Since this style of stout is typically low in alcohol you barely notice the absence of alcohol. 0.5% - Only at Toasted Barrel.

Oskar Blues - Thick Haze: Pours a hazy light-amber with a grapefruit rind, pine resin, lemon, and cracker malt aroma  The flavor follows with a crisp mouthfeel- not what I've come to know as a NEIPA. Finish is dry and somewhat bitter. Overall, a refreshing IPA, but not a NE one. Found at 7.0% DABC. 

Cheers!

New Year Beer Friday 2021

Happy New Year Beer Friday! 2020 threw a lot at breweries and for the most part they were able to overcome their challenges with your help. Here's to a kinder and hopefully more gentle 2021. 

Hopkins - Holiday Ale: This has a nice mahogany color with a nose of nutmeg and orange peel. I was expecting a spice bomb, this was much more subtle. The mulling spices are classic with some clove and nutmeg. The orange aspect is a little muted but there. Nicely drinkable. 5.0% - Only at Hopkins.

Grid City - Nitro Raspberry Cocoa Brown: This sounds like a pretty busy beer but it's not. This is their classic brown that has a nice toasty/malty character. the cocoa nibs offer a light chocolate quality that work well with the base beer. The raspberry is pretty subtle, but it manages to stand alone. All of the elements are nicely balanced. The nitro conditioning is perfect and it creates a silky and creamy body that is sublime. Defiantly worth checking out. 4.6% - Only at Grid City.

Proper - Thunder Mountain: This schwartzbier opens to even more smooth lager malt with nutty, dirty, and cocoa accents but always centered on drinkability. Maybe a smidge of caramel but for the most part just a barely black lager. Hops are low and herbal in the mouthfeel but the carbonation is just about spot on. 5.0% - Only at Proper locations.

Hi Wire Brewing - 10w-40: This brewery is new to our market and this stout mimics German Chocolate Cupcakes.  The nose has roasted malts some lactose, mild chocolate and coconut aroma some coffee notes and mild vanilla and cherry. Taste is on par with the nose the good base is there still good coffee notes but the sweetness from the lactose, coconut and cherries kind of take away from a great stout. 8.0% Found at Slackwater in Sandy. 

Sun King - Electric Reindeer: Tons of malty, chocolate, brown sugar and vanilla in the aroma. Notes of ginger as well. Taste stands up to the nose pretty well; more toasty and brown-ale like with a nice ginger/spice component and that same nutty character; more vanilla and caramel/brown sugar as well. 5.8% - Found at Slackwater Sandy.

Cigar City - Fancy Papers: If the haze is important to you, this may leave you wanting a bit. It has a fruity aroma; orange, papaya and lime. Flavors are fruit forward also orange, papaya and mango. Mouth feel is lighter and less juice like. Very enjoyable. 6.5% Found at DABC.

Sierra Nevada - Wanderland Nectarine Ale: The nose is full of stone fruits; nectarines being most prominent. Taste has citrus tangerine with some slight peach character. Bready malt and some herbal hop bitterness towards the end. Mouthfeel is medium with ample carbonation. The finish is moderately dry and balanced. Good stuff! 7.5% - Found at DABC.

Chimay - Dorée: You can always count on the Bayou to bring you classic Belgium ales on draft. This beer pours slightly hazy, transparent dark gold with a fluffy white head.  Smells of sweet red apple, pear, clove, cinnamon, black pepper, honey, and hay. The taste follows the nose precisely, plus some orange peel. Lightly sweet upfront but moderately dry on the finish. Slightly light mouthfeel, but bubbly and pillowy. 4.8% - Available to go, in crowlers only at the Bayou.

Here are this week's special New Year small batches from Hopkins Brewing. 

Cheers!