New Beer Black Friday 11/26/21

Hope you all had a great holiday. If you thought that the our local brewers would be taking the week off, you'd be sorely mistaken. This New beer Black Friday has a something for everyone. 

Kiitos - Key Lime Pie: Pours a hazy gold color with a decently retained half inch white head that left little lacing. Smells like lime juice with a hint of sweetness. Tastes of lime, lime zest, lactose sweetness, salt, crackers and moderately sour . Light bodied, medium carbonation, tart, sour and refreshing. Pairs great with Mexican food.

Salt Flats - Brew-Tiful Mind: Made with Mindful Coffee Co's Ethiopian blend. It has a nice coffee aroma with a hint of flowery hops. Flavor starts with more coffee the malt sweetness gives it a nice cappuccino feel. Coffee lovers will find it a pleasant cold weather lager. 5.0% Available at Slat Flats and the Garage Grill.

SaltFire - Grievance: The aroma is quite boozy with Brandi and apples. Some apple pie as well. The taste is more mellow with pleasant toffee malt driving the flavor. Brandied apple and spice pick-up the rest of the show and drive to the end. The malt sweetness is quite complimentary. This might be my favorite winter warmer so far this year. 8.0% - Available at Saltfire. 

Heber Valley - Fixed Grip: This pale ale was hopped with Idaho 7 and Sabro hops. Sadly I missed it. 5.0% - Only at Heber Valley.

Ogden River - Mango with the Flow: This is part of ORB's Separation Sour Series featuring, you guessed it.. mango. Missed this. 5.0% - only at Ogden River Brewing.

Strap Tank - Twisted Cherry: This is cherry pie beer that's made with tart pie cherries. The malt mimics pie crust quite well and rounds out he cherry tartness. 5.0% - only at Strap Tank in Springville. 

Level Crossing - Tangerine and Pineapple Philly Sour: Ale was fermented with Philly sour yeast then aged on tangerine and pineapple purée. It has intense tart and fruity aromas and mouth puckering, yet refreshing flavors from the sour fermentation.5.0% - only at Level Crossing  

Melvin - Scenario: Missed this robust porter. 6.4% - Found at The Bayou and Slackwater.

Melvin - Comet Me Sabro: Missed this is a IIPA. Found at the Bayou and Slackwater. 

Cascade - Baked Apple Sour: This barrel aged sour features apples cinnamon and maple flavor and I missed this one as well. 5.0% - Found at Slackwater. 

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 11/19/21

Many of you may be planning your holiday getaways. If you're getting away for Thanksgiving, please bring back beer. If your sticking around like me, I have found some excellent New Beer Friday suds that'll make those excursionists wish that they'd kept their asses put!

SaltFire - Mobius Trip (Prickly Pear#2): This foeder-aged golden features the addition of prickly pear. This version features more prickly pear flavor with with medium tartness from the base beer. Oak is prominent along with some watermelon flavors in the finish. 8.0% - Only available at SaltFire.

Offset Bier - Movember (Mosaic/Motueka): Missed this pale ale, sounds tasty though! 5.0% - Only at Offset.

TF - Jarda: This Czech Pilsner starts with nice toasty and sweet crackers. The hop profile is is nice, gassy and herbal with some sneaky lingering bitterness. A great example of the style. 5.0% - Only on draft at TF.

Fisher/City Weekly - Private Eye PA: This beer is an ode to City Weekly's beginnings and is made to support local Journalism. This pale ale has an aroma that 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. 5.0%. Available at Fisher.

Bewilder - Sauced: This beer is a sour at it's base and is dry-hopped with Idaho Gem. Cranberries, cinnamon and orange peel. Its designed to be a holiday beer. The nose has a lot of orange peel and cinnamon. taste is mildly tart with more orange peel. The cinnamon isn't too overwhelming but it does cover up the hops. 5.8% - Only at Bewilder

Epic - Cranberry IPA: Wasn't sure this would work, but it does. It has a nice malty body with noticeable citrus forward hops (Centennial/Amarillo?) the cranberry is present for sure but not overwhelming. The can says there's lactose but no sweetness that I can detect. Nice stuff. 7.5%. This will be released on Monday 11/22. 

E9 - Transmissions On Air: Missed this new IPA. 6.4% - Found at the Bayou.

E9 - Realize Real Lies: Missed this new IPA. 6.5% - Found at the Bayou.

E9 - Puppies vs Kittens: E9 - Puppies vs Kittens. 6.6% - Found at the Bayou.

Cascade - Single Malt Sour: Missed this new sour. 11.2% - Found at the Bayou.

Cascade Double Dutch: Missed this new sour. 9.2% - Found at the Bayou.

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

Cheers!

Hoppers Says Goodbye to Fort Union

 In 1996 craft beer life got a little easier in the south end of the Salt Lake Valley. Though craft beer had had a presence in Utah for a solid 11 years, we who lived in the southern part of SL County never had a place to call our own. Then came Hoppers. 

It was a modest brewpub that was started by the local owners of the Sizzler/Red Robin franchise. Who used the small 10 barrel brewery to feed many of its multiple locations with local beer, all made from the brewdeck located at the corner of 900 e. Fort Union. 

At the helm, secret agent and tenured brewmaster for nearly twenty years, Donovan Steele has been overseeing many of the brewery's advancements and innovations taking in from neighborhood pub to a south valley member of the family. 

Now all the dozens of fermentors, medals, staff and award winning beers will need to look for a new address, as the current landowner has sold the property to the incoming Raising Cane’s franchise out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ironically, both Hoppers and Raing Cane’s were both established months apart in 1996.  

Hoppers is NOT done, but they’re last day of operation at their corner on Fort Union will be on November 24th, as the new property owners take control on Dec 1st. The time in between will be used to dismantle the brewery, Kitchen and all the important equipment to get them off and running at their new location. 

Speaking of the new location, that is still up in the air. Hoppers owners (not the Sizzler people) have been scouring Salt Lake County for a new address for the past six months, trying to find the best fit for Hoppers 2.0 and its staff. 

If you have some time in the nine days I’d encourage you to stop by to hoist a pint or two for the old building that took care of us when we were in need, and to encourage the staff that we’ll be back when Hoppers 2.0 opens its doors once again.

Cheers.         

New Beer Friday 11/12/21

Well, we're at the beginning of 'barrel-aged season'. All manor of full flavored and boozy lagers and ales are rolling in as we speak. Also happening this week, the newly reorganized Park City Brewery is debuting some of their beers this week. These are all new beers that are coming from all new management and crew.  These Park City beers are hitting various pubs around the Wasatch Front and Back, including  O.P Rockwell, Grappa, and Downstairs, as well as Whiskey Street and Piper Down Pub, located in Downtown Salt Lake City. 

Park City Brewery - Siren’s Call American Lager: 5.0%

Park City Brewery - Powder Buoy Pilsner: 5.0%

Park City Brewery - Sneaker Tree IPA: 5.0%

Park City Brewery - Silver Creekwater Amber Lager: 5.0%

Park City Brewery - Gold Town Pale Ale: 5.0%

Salt Flats - Barrel-Aged Rye IPA: Nice aroma mostly whiskey and sweet malt. Big rye whiskey up front with a good amount of toffee. Nice hop punch of mostly citrus and pine. The finish is moderately bitter with a wee bit of alcohol heat. 9.3% 

2 Row - Covert Hoperation: This has a big explosive nose full of citrusy hops. Taste follows with pant loads of tangerine and grapefruit peel. the malt brings out some peach and vague tropical notes as well. The alcohol is very well hidden. One of the best IPA in the market right now for sure. 9.0% - At 2 Row, the Bayou, Beer Bar, Dick n Dixies and Slackwater to name a few.  

RoHa - Barrel Aged Nights Out: This is a Belgian stout at its base aged for six months in Beehive Rye barrels. It starts with pleasant chocolate qualities that quickly transition into rye whiskey with notes of vanilla. Alcohol heat is low, and its 8.6% ABV is pleasant. A small batch Available at RoHa, Slackwater. 

Uinta - Ellipses: This barrel-aged oatmeal stout debuts today. Sorry, no notes. 11.9% - A limited batch beer only at Uinta.

Lagunitas - Contents Under Fresher: This features whole-cone Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe & Sabro hops. Lots of piney, resin on the nose and the taste follows suit. Pretty dank with a nice mouthfeel and bite. On the bitter side. Good stuff. 7.7% - Found at Slackwater.

Odell - Hazer Tag: Not completely opaque, but a half hazed apricot color. A grapefruit aroma starts your off with tangerine, mango, and passionfruit. Taste is light citrus without tang, acid or sweetness. All of the aromatic notes are mild and restrained on the palate. The hops are super light grapefruit and not bitter. Some light malt as well. 7.0% - Found at Slackwater and The Bayou.

Odell - Positive Latitude: This IIPA is made with passion fruit and is pretty much the opposite of the Hazer tag. Besides the notes of passion fruit you also get more citrus peel and more dank pine bitterness. 8.0%  - Found at Slackwater and The Bayou.

Mother Earth - Wet Hop Dream: This year's version features Sabro hops. It has a nice chewy quality full of citrus peel and herbal hops. great stuff. 6.7%  - Found at Slackwater, Dick n Dixie's and The Bayou. 

Mother Earth - Barrel Aged Old Fashioned: This is an Old Ale as its base, Mother Earth's brewers blended Maraschino cherry syrup, Navel orange zest, and Aromatic bitters and aged it in whiskey barrels. 12.5% - Found at Beerhive.

Mother Earth Abstract Consciousness:  7.3% Found at Dick n Dixie's 

Revision - Reefer Truck:  Pours a clear pale yellow straw color with a nose that is piney and full of tropical fruit. Taste is resinous and mildly dank. 6.5% - Found at the Bayou.

Revision - Moment Commander: This is full of Citra and Simcoe hops which provide nice  orange, grapefruit and pine blast all around. Very crushable with medium bitterness and some tropical notes.  6.6% - Found at the Bayou

Lone Pine - Kiwi Cannon: Missed this one. Look for light, fluffy, silky flavors of honeydew melon, white flowers, and of course, kiwi. 7.7% - Found at the Bayou, Slackwater

Bombastic - Pandemonium: Missed this one. This imperial stout combines heaps of peanut butter and marshmallow to bring back the classic FLUFFERNUTTER! 10.5% - Found at the Bayou

The Bruery - Frucht Cucumber: Missed this one. Look for the freshness of cucumber blended with the sour aspects of the base beer. 4.3% - Found at the Bayou.

Cheers!

New Beer Friday 11/5/21

The last few weeks have been quite brutal in regards to quantity. So I'm defiantlye not going to complain about this relatively light New Beer Friday weekend.  I hope you find a way to enjoy some of these tasty beers.

Epic - Big Bad Baptist [Chocolate mint]: This is the last of Epic's 2021 BBB variants. This stout features the usual suspects: Coffee, cocoa and whiskey barrels with the added chocolate and mint. The nose is rich with chocolate, mint and whiskey. The taste starts with big Thin Mints cookie flavors that seem like they were dipped in Kahlúa. Notes of bourbon come in next, adding some vanilla and heat. The mint intensifies towards the end. Another big beer at 12.0% - Available starting today at Epic.

Hopkins - Cowboy Lite: This unique pilsner is truly a league of it’s own, bittered with Chinook and Saaz hops, it clocks in just above 40 IBU’s. They fermented it off their Campfire Smoked Lager yeast, giving it a fairly subtle amount of smoke. The hop profile is very nice, with a firm bitter smack of grass and citrus peel. excellent stuff. 5.0% - Only at Hopkins.

Hopkins - Sauvin Blanc Brut IPA: Highly effervescent and super dry with a low malt-profile, this beer style focuses on hops that produce a white wine-like flavor and aroma with homegrown Chardonnay grapes added to the fermenter to make this a true wine-beer hybrid. Hallertau Blanc hops were used in the whirlpool, then Nelson Sauvin hops were used in the dry-hop. The beer's vinous qualities are pretty subtle.

Policy Kings - Terror Squad IPA: This is described as being brewed with Nelson, Citra and Mosiac hops with a perfect amount of bitterness and hoppiness.

Policy Kings/Iron Gate Winery - Anniversary Ale: Brewed to celebrate PK's 3rd Anniversary. This sour ale was aged on Merlot grapes from Iron Gate Winery with added vanilla and the perfect amount of tartness. 6.0% -This will be released Nov 6th at 3pm. This is a limited release so don't miss out on this incredible creation.

Sünner Kölsch: I first tried this at the Utah Beer Festival. It pours a clear golden/dark straw color with a slightly metallic aroma, followed by a wheat, toasted malts and light herbal spice.

Sweet and malt forward at first with balancing, moderate grassy and herbal hops. Some nice  lemon zest with a finish that is semi dry. Medium to light in body with a moderate and tingly carbonation which adds crispness. Solid and refreshing all around. 4.8% - Found at the Bayou on draft.

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

Cheers!