Beer, There and Everywhere
Weekend forecast: 100% chance of brews at the Utah Beer Festival.

Utahns are living through the hottest, driest summer on record. We've choked on toxic dust from our exposed lake bed. We've watched our lawns and gardens wither away and die. We've cowered for scraps of shade between boiling, exposed swaths of concrete and asphalt.

Now, July is over, temperatures are finally dropping, and we all deserve a drink.

Just in time to wet the parched gullets of thirsty souls across the Beehive State, the 12th annual Utah Beer Festival is upon us. Over two days at The Gateway, guests can sample from among 250 beers offered by more than 70 beer vendors, along with food and music and more (including booths for the American Cancer Society's "Colors of Cancer," technology app Econus, discount medical cards from Utah Canna, educational materials from WholesomeCo Cannabis as well as non-alcoholic beers and cocktails)—and all in the heart of our beautiful capital city.

To help readers prepare for the dozenth iteration of Utah's booziest party, City Weekly is proud to offer the 2022 Beer Issue. Inside these pages, readers will find an A-to-Z guide to the state's brewing scene and a roundup of the year's brew news from Mike Riedel, the authority for all things beer in the Beehive. Writer Aimee L. Cook checks in on a handful of the breweries—and a new cidery!—pouring rounds around town. And arts and entertainment editor Scott Renshaw has the details on how to get the most out of your festival experience.

So, in honor of the scorcher season we just survived, let's raise a glass, kick up our feet and enjoy the remaining—and slightly more hospitable to human life—weeks of summer as we wind our way down to fall. Much like our temperatures, Utah's beer community has never been hotter, and if there's one thing desert living teaches us, it's the importance of staying hydrated.

Cheers!

—Benjamin Wood
Chief Beverage Officer

The A to Z of Utah Beer
By Mike Riedel

Utah's prolific brewing scene has become so dense, it begins to read like the alphabet. So we thought, let's scour this Utah-shaped hole in the map and see if we could put our theory to the test. Could we cover the Utah craft beer scene from A to Z? The delicious answer follows.

Altbier (Bohemian, bohemianbrewery.com): Altbiers, or "oldbeers," are kind of a hybrid style. They're made with ale yeast, but fermented cooler for longer periods of time, similar to lagers. This "Alt" from Bohemian pours a clear reddish brown. The nose has strong toast with some medium caramel sweetness and a hint of pine. The taste has strong malt up front with toasty crackers and cocoa. Grassy and herbal hops pop in next, with a hint of earthy cherry and biscuit in the finish. A Utah staple since 2014.

Black Rock Wit (Bonneville, bonnevillebrewery.com): Different from saisons, witbiers are wheat-based, with an emphasis on coriander and orange peel. Bonneville's has a dull, cloudy yellow color with an aroma that's sweet and fruity, redolent of banana, pear and sweet melon. The taste starts with sweet spices, banana, melon and some coriander; bready wheat follows, but the fruit flavors dominate. The finish was very mild with light, floral hops and the mouthfeel is light with moderate carbonation.

Chasing Haze (2 Row, 2rowbrewing.com): One of Utah's most prolific IPA makers has created an ale that is a master class in the kind of fruit flavors that can be coaxed from malt and hops. It looks like orange juice, and the nose is super aromatic and fresh with citrus, mango, papaya and melon. The taste opens with clementine, mango and overripe cantaloupe. It's super juicy, but not overly sweet, and finishes dry with a subtle orange and grapefruit peel bitterness. Probably one of 2 Row's most well-rounded hazy IPAs.

Dos Hazy Boi (Bewilder, bewilderbrewing.com): This 8.0 percent double IPA features a salad of fruity hops that produce aromas of orange, grapefruit pith, passionfruit flowers, honey and pine. A creamy orange, tangy, sweet and salty rounded malt hits first, followed by a dry hoppy center. Tingly grapefruit, honey, floral and honey ride along, adding a tang to the sides and tip of the tongue. Hops are more citrus pith, and the malt holds it together for a well-balanced beer.

English Mild (Desert Edge, desertedgebrewery.com): In the "low point" days, beers like this were made in keeping with Utah's ABV standards. There's some nice flavor in this beer; the toasty notes with light chocolate and a touch of toffee are in sync with a slight residual sweetness. Ultimately, it does what it should: dry out the mouth to prepare it for the next sip. The role of hops in here is strictly bitterness, it seems, succeeding to tame perceptions of sweetness.

Fest Devious (Epic, epicbrewing.com): This one is brewed for Oktoberfest season, and it's one of my favorite lagers from Epic. It smells of biscuits and grainy caramel malt with not quite toffee levels of sweetness, more like toasted cereal. Very subtle yeasty notes emerge, and some sassy leafy, grassy and piney green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, a touch of biscuity toffee, the remains of a cigar aficionado's day and more well-tamed leafy, weedy and herbal noble hoppiness.

Golden Boy (Heber Valley, hebervalleybrewing.com): This wonderful amber lager from our pals in Heber Valley has a malt-dominant nose, with an earthy, toasted nuttiness as the focal point. The flavor profile follows the nose step-for-step. It's undermalted, even for the style, with that same nuttiness that reminds me of a helles. There isn't enough barley on board for more than a token amount of sweetness, which leaves more hoppy bitterness than beer of this style usually displays.

Honey Cream Ale (Grid City, gridcitybeerworks.com): Locally made beers with locally sourced ingredients are always enticing when searching out craft brews. This ale is loaded with local honey, and you can taste it. Hops are floral and light, and the beer finishes dry. If you're a fan of honey ales, this one may go to the top of your list. Try it on nitro or from the cask; it enhances the honey.

Irish Coffee Stout (Hopkins, hopkinsbrewingcompany.com): This take on a classic cocktail is brewed with Irish whiskey and coffee beans. Coffee and stouts go hand in hand. They're naturally close in their flavor profiles, so it's a no-brainer that Hopkins would brew one up. Full of the roast characteristics you'd expect from an Irish stout, complemented with heavy coffee notes and a touch of whiskey.

Jalepeño Blonde (Kiitos, kiitosbrewing.com): You'll never come across a beer style more divisive than this one. When it comes to chile beers, you're either going to love them or hate them. The key to a good chile beer is, of course, the heat component. The amount of fuego present can take it from an enjoyable sushi companion to a flamethrower fuel. Luckily, Kiitos' crew managed to keep this one in check with nice pepper essence and mildly scratchy heat.

Kolsch (Moab, themoabbrewery.com): When your brewery is located in one of the most beautiful desert regions in the world, you need beers that reflect the area's sensibilities and, of course, have that quenching factor. Though this style hails from Koln, Germany, this North Rhine-Westphalian ale is perfectly designed for the arid Moab climate. It's full of light grains, floral hops and a fruity yeast that, when combined with lighter alcohol and a refreshing snap, ensure enjoyment for hours of arch-gazing.

Lemon Basil Gose (Ogden River, ogdenriverbrewing.com): An American take on another German ale takes our "L" beer in directions you may have never imagined. Traditional Leipzig-style Goses are tart with light but noticeable saltiness—and a bit of coriander added. The crew at Ogden River opted for something less traditional that adds a nice zing that's unmistakably basil to this sour beer. Pairs well with creamy pasta and roast-beef sandwiches.

Mild Child (Fisher, fisherbeer.com): The Fisher Beer portfolio that existed in the early 1900s was, for the most part, fairly small. Beer was more about hydration and nutrition back then—unlike today, where beer has become more of a luxury beverage. We don't know for a fact that Albert Fisher made a light toasty ale, but odds are good that something similar was around. This century's incarnation of Fisher Brewing Co. has made a period beer that would have fit in 100 years ago as well as today.

Nectaron (Offset, offsetbier.com): This is not the name of a lame Transformer that turns into a navel orange. This beer is named for a New Zealand hop that has been in development for the past 17 years. It has intense tropical pineapple, passion fruit and stone fruit characters. Nectaron displays high levels of tropical fruit characteristics, as well as stone fruit (peach) and citrus (grapefruit). Offset Bier loves to experiment with cutting edge stuff like this, and we all benefit from it.

OPP IPA (Policy Kings, policykingsbrewery.com): Utah's only Black-owned brewery can always be relied on to keep things interesting from their home base in Cedar City. The family-owned pub keeps the suds flowing with beers that are full of hop flavor and aroma, and tastes featuring clean malt, citrus and floral hops with a ton of tropical fruit. OPP is very clean and polished overall, juicy but with a dry finish. It definitely leaves us wanting more.

Powder Buoy (Park City, parkcitybrewing.com): This beer's name comes from the story of a weather buoy out in the seas near Hawaii and refers to its predictive nature for forecasting "powder days" in Utah. It's not super scientific, but the damned thing seems to work pretty well—just like this beer. It's not technically super scientific, either, but its reliability in the flavor department keeps us chasing that crispy cold thing we crave: the beer—not the snow.

Quadrupel Ale (Shades, shadesbrewing.beer): Inspired by the Trappist breweries of Belgium, a Quadrupel is a Belgian-style ale of great strength with even bolder flavor compared to its sister styles Dubbel and Tripel. Typically a dark creation that plays within the rich, malty palate and spicy phenols that are usually kept to a moderate level, Shades' interpretation is sweet on the palate with a low bitterness yet clearly perceived alcohol. The next time you come across one these, age it for a couple (or a few) years.

Rauchbier (TF, tfbrewing.com): This is another one of those beer styles people will either love or hate. Centuries ago, all beers were basically rauchbier (smoke beers), made over open fires, where the smoke would very often make its way into the beer, flavoring it with whatever wood was used. Closed-kettle brewing eventually eliminated that component, but that didn't keep dedicated brewers from adding the smoke back whenever they craved it. The brilliant beer from TF is an excellent example of smoke and malt working together once again.

Snap Down IPL (Squatters, squatters.com): When IPLs (India pale lagers) were introduced, they were seen as a way to capitalize on the IPA craze and help spread the hop love into the lager-lovers market. For the most part, that is true, but IPLs are more than that. They keep the fun hop profiles while losing the fruity flavors from the yeast, creating a cleaner, more refreshing bitter beer. Snap Down is a brilliant example of this style that works perfectly on CO2 or the nitrogen tap handles.

Trader IPA (Uinta, uintabrewing.com): In the land of session beer, no one should be surprised that Utah's own Uinta Brewing would be one of the trailblazers into this infamous beer subcategory. Back in the early 1990s, this beer was simply known as India and was considered to be an English-style Session IPA. Over the decades, it's undergone a few recipe and name changes to keep up with beer nerds' tastes and drinking habits, but it's always remained light and sessionable, full of hops from the past and present. An excellent companion over these many years.

Udder Chaos (Talisman, talismanbrewingco.com): With a name like Udder Chaos, you'd think that this would have to be beer that utilizes milk sugars in some way. You'd be right. For me, there's no better use for locatose (milk sugars) than sticking it into light and oatmeal stouts. It's the combination of the roastiness and sweetness that always seems to work for me. This fine example provides the heavy roast and cocoa you'd expect along with that unmistakable dairy sweetness.

VBC Stout (Vernal, vernalbrewing.com): Vernal Brewing Co., in eastern Utah, may not get the same play as those breweries that are down the street from you. But don't dismiss them—there are some cunning brews coming from dinosaur land. Vernal's stout is one of those sleepers, showcasing an earthy, roasty nose with the sweet scent of oats and cocoa. The taste is toasty, bitter and lightly creamy, with cool, firm bitterness from hops. Their spice mingles with the sweetness of the oats as cereal grain and bitter coffee round it out. Go east, young man.

Wonderful Winter Ale (Wasatch, wasatchbeers.com): Beer nerds of a certain age may remember the pine crates in grocery stores that appeared over the holidays every year filled with Wasatch's Christmas Ale. Then came a brilliant, amped-up version called Winterfest. Wonderful Winter Ale continues the holiday tradition with this malty, lightly-spiced and hopped ale that has become a necessary part of the holidays in Utah.

XIV Anniversary Barleywine (Uinta): The first barleywine ever made in Utah. For years, the brewers at Uinta would make this grand, malty beer—and hop it generously. The nose is malty and boozy with pine and citrus. The taste starts with raisin, pumpernickel and sherry notes. Resiny hops come next, revealing a touch of whiskey. The finish is sharp with alcohol and bitterness lingering on the tongue. Rumors abound that this brew may soon return.

Yellow Snow (Prodigy, prodigy-brewing.com): This Steam Beer or California Common style beer comes from Prodigy, Utah's newest craft brewery located in Logan. The beer is akin to the world famous Anchor Steam, the originator of its style. Due to lack of refrigeration, these beers were originally thought of as a "cheap beer" because they were fermented with lager yeast at near-ale temperatures. But this ain't cheap beer. Prodigy's offering picks up on this tradition with a brilliant, copper-colored beer boasting smooth caramel malt notes, but with noticeable hop bitterness and finish is remarkable.

Zólupez Pale Ale (Cerveza Zólupez, zolupez.com): When Javier Chavez set out to create Cerveza Zólupez in late 2018, Utah had no idea what they were in store for. Creating a line of unique Mexican-themed beers—based on old European styles—sounds like a risky gamble, but Chavez's dream and recipes paid off. This Mexican-inspired ale is brewed with barley, pineapple, hops, brown sugar and spearmint. There are some stellar flavor additions here, including just a little bit of bitterness and a bit of minty hop flavor. The brown sugar is super nice, toasty, slightly sweet—and at the perfect intensity level. It's also a great pineapple feel here, as it's sweet, but not overwhelmingly so.

There's so much more to uncover. This is just a taste of what's out there, waiting for you to discover. You can always find the letter that's right for you.

How to Beer Fest
The when, the where, and the who cares?
By Scott Renshaw

Beer-lovers, rejoice: It's time for the 12th annual City Weekly Beer Festival. Those who joined in the fun last year will find many of the details and logistics the same. If you're a newcomer—or getting back into Beer Fest-ing after a hiatus—here's everything you need to know about how to get the most out of your experience.

Dates and times: The Utah Beer Festival takes place Saturday, Aug. 20 and Sunday, Aug. 21, 2 p.m.-8 p.m. each day. Sales of passports (see below) end at 7:30 p.m. each day, with "last pour" at 7:45 p.m.

Venue: The Beer Fest once again takes over the lower level of The Gateway (200 S. 400 East, SLC). Because it's a public thoroughfare, there's no single point of entry nor is any admission fee required for anyone who doesn't plan on drinking.

Designated drivers and other teetotaling guests are welcome to enjoy the vibe, the food trucks and the entertainment (more on that below) free of charge. Well-behaved, leashed dogs are also welcome, and you can bring in chairs or blankets for making a comfy spot by the performance stage. No outside food or beverage (including coolers), please.

Transportation and parking: Garage parking is available at The Gateway, but the Beer Fest will not be validating parking. Attendees are encouraged to ride transit, particularly the Trax Blue Line—as the Planetarium Station will be the easiest way to access the festival area. Free valet bike parking will also be available for those who want to pedal their way to and from the event.

Sampling beers: Those who plan to imbibe will need to purchase a passport with 10 punches for $35 in advance (at utahbeerfestival.com, or at the City Weekly offices 175 W. 200 South, Ste. 100, Salt Lake City, with no service charges) or for $40 onsite.

Once onsite, you'll need to get your valid ID checked—same ID rules apply as at any Utah bar—and keep a wristband on at all stations as proof of legal drinking age. You'll also need to exchange digital/paper advance tickets for the physical passports.

More than 200 beers, ciders, hard seltzers and more will be available, at a charge of 2-6 punches for a 5-ounce sample, or 3-6 punches for a 12-ounce pour, depending on the brewer and the beverage type.

If you use up your punches, you can buy more onsite (cards and cash only), but it will be at the $40 day-of-event price, so it's best to plan ahead and get as many as you think you're likely to need. VIP access is only available through advance purchase, not on the dates of the event.

Breweries to look for: More than 70 individual vendors are providing their delicious offerings, ranging from all of your Utah favorites to other regional microbreweries and national brands. For a full list of participating brewers/vendors, visit utahbeerfestival.com/breweries.

Dining and entertainment: Local food trucks will be on hand to provide tasty eats that pair with all of your great beverages, in addition to all of the dining establishments found at The Gateway.

Live entertainment begins on the plaza stage (at the north end of The Gateway near the Olympic fountain) at 4 p.m. daily, with local music headliners including Hoodoo Child on Saturday, and Makisi on Sunday.

Behavior policy: Nobody needs drama. Drink responsibly. No underage drinking is permitted. Vendors may choose not to serve to anyone who is visibly intoxicated. Have fun, be respectful, and let everyone else have fun, too.

Anything else? Visit utahbeerfestival.com online, or contact pete@cityweekly.net.

The Year in Beer
Brew news from around the Beehive State.
By Mike Riedel

The past year has seen a few ups and downs in Utah's craft beer scene. However, the state of our craft beer culture remains strong. Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the past 365-ish days.

Toasted Barrel closes: Billed as the state's dedicated sour house, Toasted Barrel Brewing set up shop in Salt Lake City's Marmalade neighborhood in the summer of 2018. Co-owners Lynn Litchfield and Sage Dawson envisioned a place where locally made lambics, wild ales and IPAs would mingle seamlessly in one space for years to come. Sadly, COVID-19 on top of money woes forced the intimate and educational space to close earlier this year, though some of their wild and sour beers can still be found in some of the state's finer craft beer pubs.

Hoppers reorganizes: Founded in 1996, Hoppers brewpub was a craft beer staple for the beer nerds who lived farther south in Salt Lake County. Their Midvale location was unceremoniously sold out from under them to a national chain in late 2021, and they were forced to abandon their corner on Fort Union Boulevard. That's the bad news. The good news is that Hoppers' has used this setback to their advantage, and is reorganizing the business from brewpub to production brewery. Look for Hoppers to reopen in SLC's Central 9th neighborhood in early 2023.

Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services installs beer coolers: Beer is many things; eternal is not one of them. Beer is an active, living beverage that requires a moderate amount of climate control to remain viable. The larger breweries can pasteurize, increasing shelf life, but for the most part, normal beers are quite fragile. That's why I was happy to find that DABS (formerly DABC) has been installing multiple beer coolers in some of its newer stores, and in all of their stores that are currently being built. It's not a perfect fix to DABS handling of beer, but it's a welcomed start.

Park City Brewing reborn: In early 2015, three Kentucky guys with the last name of Ray opened Park City Brewery in Kimball Junction. The brewery did well and thrived for a few years, but as often happens in the high-rent area of Summit County, the brewery sought cheaper rent in Salt Lake City.

Eventually, the brewery was sold to a team of investors who quickly began the task of transforming Park City Brewery into Park City Brewing Co. The new PCBC is also in Kimball Junction (different location), and it brews beer in-house on a small brew system with plans to build a production brewery in Salt Lake. For now, they contract-brew their five canned beers locally.

Offset Bier opens: On the heels of Park City Brewing's rebirth, Offset Bier opened up within the city limits of Park City. Offset is helmed by Patrick Bourque and Conor Brown; Bourque's name may be familiar to you from his time at Epic, Uinta, Saltfire and Ogden River Brewing.

Bourque always found a way to express his creativity, but never on his own terms. Now, with the launch of Offset Bier Co., he and Brown have finally found a permanent home and a place to focus their simple vision on making beer that tastes like beer.

Prodigy Brewing opens: The long craft-beer drought in Cache Valley is over, with Prodigy Brewing opening its doors last July. Many are under the impression that this is the first brewery to operate in Logan, but there were actually quite a few back in the day.

In 1888, Jacob Theurer started Cache Valley Brewing, which served the people of Cache County until it closed up shop in 1912. Prodigy, located at 25 W. Center St. in Logan, offers a wide range of ales and lagers, with a menu that's considered upscale pub fare.

I recommend trying the Yellow Snow steam beer, along with What the Helles lager. Welcome to the family.

True Brews
A taste of local Utah breweries serving up beer, cider, food and good times.
By Aimee L. Cook

Utah's brewing scene is an abundance of riches, growing every year with new businesses, recipes and reasons to get together over a round of cold beverages and hot bites.

Ahead of this year's Utah Beer Festival, City Weekly caught up with the teams behind six local breweries to chat about their tried-and-true offerings as well as what's new on tap.

Bewilder Brewing: After seeing so many of their customers succeed in the craft beer market, Ross Metzger and Cody McKendrick—of Salt City Brew Supply—decided to jump on the bandwagon and launch Bewilder Brewing in 2019. Three years later, Bewilder boasts 16 brews on tap and several high-point offerings in cans, ready to go.

McKendrick now shares the title of brewmaster with Steven Engle, who worked in an award-winning Idaho brewery before coming to work at Bewilder. The business recently opened for lunch, seven days a week, with a food menu perfect for pairing with their in-house brews. Chef Justin Field's menu includes delicious pastrami and smoked turkey offerings, as well as signature sausages made in-house.

"We try to brew to style, we use regionally specific malt and water profiles for each beer," said Metzger. "We want our beers to be as authentic as possible."
445 S. 400 West, SLC, 385-528-3840,
bewilderbrewing.com

Hopkins Brewing Co.: Founder Chad Hopkins—a restaurateur around Salt Lake for 20 years and homebrewer for more than a decade—successfully won several medals in beer competitions before employing his talent to open his own brewery in 2018, taking over the space that was Epic Annex. Hopkins Brewing is a relatively small brewery with big flavor, having eight taps with rotating recipes. There's always something fresh to try.

Head brewer Matt Yeager creates additional new and exciting beers to share on "Small Batch Friday." And if you're looking for something that's not part of their regular lineup, you can find ciders or hand-crafted cocktails using locally sourced spirits. Hopkins strives to use local ingredients whenever possible, including locally grown and malted grains from Solstice Malt in Salt Lake City.

The food menu at Hopkins Brewing Co. will make you forget all about your diet. Whether it's loaded totchos ($15), fried pickle chips ($8) or a generous burger made from local grass-fed beef on a local pretzel bun ($16), this brewpub has what every palette craves.

"We are one of the smallest breweries, so our beer is always fresh. We are not trying to be like any other restaurant or brewery—we brew what we like to drink," said Hopkins.

"We are community focused and donate to local charities," he said. "To us, craft beer is more than just beer—it's community. We don't distribute, so you have to come to us to get our beer."
1048 E. 2100 South, SLC, 385-528-3275,
hopkinsbrewingcompany.com

Scion Cider Bar: If you've ever asked, "Where can I get some cider?" you now have a new cider bar to check out. Whether you are new to hard cider or you are simply looking for variety, the Scion Cider Bar has a selection that will make your mouth water with delight.

An idea born out of frustration over the lack of ciders in Utah led to the opening of the Scion Cider Bar by co-owner Elisabeth Osmeloski and her partners. And it's proven to be a hit among local cider enthusiasts. So far, their primary focus has been to import more than 200 ciders from all over the world to offer at the bar in a rotating menu that includes both traditional and modern ciders.

Flights of three tasters and 5-ounce pours are a great way to try something new each time you go. There's also a variety of draft ciders, draft beers, wine and spirits available at the bar.

In addition, Rio Connelly—their cider-maker extraordinaire—is producing small batches of in-house cider a couple hundred gallons at a time. Connelly has come to cider after working many years as a beer brewer and co-founding Proper Brewing.

Scion sources its apples from local family orchards around Utah. They hope to get more of their own product on tap over time. "A fun fact is that we can serve our cider at full strength on tap," said Osmeloski (noting that it's not the case with beer). "Our ciders on tap range from 5% to 9% ABV."

There are currently 22 ciders on tap at Scion. And with the range of ciders offered, you're sure to find a new favorite. Foods to pair with cider selections include cheeses, charcuterie and artisan tinned seafoods.

And every Thursday night, they offer a free education class at 7 p.m. to help cider lovers better understand the world of ciders.
916 W. Jefferson St., SLC,
scionciderbar.com

Ogden River Brewing: Bryan Wrigley and Pat Winslow founded Ogden River Brewing in 2019 after launching a Kickstarter to make the dream of owning a brewery a reality.

Winslow, a retired railroad conductor, began homebrewing more than 20 years ago and fell in love with the craft. As a nod to the area and beer makers that came before, Ogden River created a new recipe as a tribute to Becker's Beer—which was manufactured in Ogden from 1890 to 1964—for their flagship beer: Becker's Best American Pilsner.

With 10 beers on tap, there's a beer that will pair nicely with any food offering. In addition, you can get a nice glass of Daily Rise nitro coffee on tap.

Pub favorites are on the food menu along with elevated dishes such as blackened salmon ($16) and New York crusted steak ($27).

"We try to keep a rotation of different things happening and new things coming on [tap], like our peach cream ale," said Winslow. "Our motto from the beginning has been 'From the neighborhood, for the neighborhood."'

Ogden River will be hosting their annual "Pints for Pups" on Sept. 17, an adoption and fundraising event for the Weber County Animal Services. One dollar per pint of "Golden Mutt" will be donated to the fundraising effort.
358 Park Blvd., Ogden, 801-884-6936,
ogdenriverbrewing.com

Level Crossing Brewing Co.: Opened in 2019, the name Level Crossing—and its red feather logo—are symbolic of memories from the childhood of owner Mark Medura.

Medura grew up near a railroad crossing in Pennsylvania, and the red feather represents a family tradition of leaving an empty place at the dinner table for any extras. That mantra has carried over into the brewery: There's always a place for you.

With 10 beers on tap and six to eight high-point beers in cans, the crafty concoctions include the aptly named Suss It Out—a rye IPA—and Dallas Alice, a Belgian style blonde ale from the creative mind of Medura.

In addition, each month The Red Feather Series is a special limited release that patrons can enjoy until that brew runs out.

Wood-fired pizzas ($15), gourmet sandwiches ($12) and pub style snacks ($8-$19) are available to accompany your beverage.

"We like to have fun with our labels and in the names," said Medura. "We really put a lot of creativity and fun into our beers, and we've won a couple dozen medals over the years. We are super proud of that."

Level Crossing will soon expand to a second location in the Post District, near 600 South and 300 West.
2496 S. West Temple, SLC, 385-270-5752,
levelcrossingbrewing.com

Grid City Beer Works: Opening during a pandemic presented its own set of challenges, but the gang (Justin Belliveau, Drew Reynolds and head brewer Jeremy Gross) at Grid City Beer Works persevered, tweaked their business model and ultimately thrived.

Grid City is a working brewery with three beers on tap that can be served three different ways—with traditional Co2, nitrogenated and cask, all of which makes them taste like totally different beers depending on how they are served.

They've also recently introduced three high-point seltzers, with a fourth on the way. A special nitrogen beer is served monthly with fun names like Tanzania Mbeya Iyenga Coffee Vanilla Nitro Honey Cream Ale, and a seasonal beer is always available as well.

"I'm excited about three things coming for Grid City this year," said co-owner Belliveau. "More interesting high-point seltzer creations from Jeremy, the constant flow of specials from Chandler's kitchen and seeing the Grid City family grow with Jennifer (the GM) and Drew's daughter on the way!"

The food at Grid City is definitely elevated pub fare, created by chef Chandler Bailey. Try the Bangkok Bowl ($15) or the fried green tomatoes ($12) for something different, or stick to the smash burger ($16) which can be made with beef or the house vegan blend.

To cultivate a sense of community, Reynolds has recently launched the Grid City Music Fest. The dog-friendly roof deck is open Monday through Thursday, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., noon to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday.

"The way we serve our food sets us apart," said Reynolds. "When you come in, you know what you are going to get, as far as beer. And what we are doing with our seltzers—making them almost like a ready-to-drink cocktail in a can—people enjoy them."
333 W. 2100 South, SLC, 801-906-8390,
gridcitybeerworks.com

Phantastic Phlavor!
Get to know phantasm with Beer Phest, a new IPA from Bewilder Brewing and City Weekly.
By Benjamin Wood

Beer world is all abuzz over phantasm, a new, fruit-forward beer ingredient that is increasingly beoming the rage in home- and craft brewing circles.

Made from freeze-dried Sauvignon Blanc grapes, phantasm powder delivers a blast of thiols, which in turn boosts the tropical notes and aromas of a brew, creating the haziest of hazies, and the juiciest of juicies

Utahns can get their own taste of phantasm with the launch of Beer Phest, an IPA created in partnership by Bewilder Brewing and City Weekly.

"If I want to get super technical, I may be more inclined to call it a 'Strong Pale Ale' than an IPA," said Bewilder co-brewmaster Cody McKendrick, "just due to the bitterness not being really in IPA territory."

McKendrick described Beer Phest as having a passion fruit-forward flavor. The beer commemorates the Utah Beer Festival, which will hold its 12th annual event on Aug. 20-21 at The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City.

"I think this beer is tasting great," McKendrick said.

Beer Phest joins previous specialty beers launched in partnership with City Weekly, including Private Eye Pale Ale from Fisher Brewing and a collaboration with Squatters Brewing for the paper's 25th anniversary in 2009.

"City Weekly is excited to partner with one of our good friends in the brewery world, Bewilder, in producing a specialty beer for our 12th annual Utah Beer Festival," said City Weekly publisher Pete Saltas. "We're looking forward to the feedback from our attendees on one of the hottest new flavors hitting the craft beer market in Phantasm. Cheers!"