1833
Joseph Smith claims to receive a revelation from God—the Word of Wisdom—saying Mormons should abstain from wine, strong drink, tobacco, hot drinks and certain food items. An exception was allowed for pure wine to be used as a sacrament.

1847
Brigham Young and the pioneers arrive in Salt Lake City, declaring “This is the place.”

1850
Two breweries—Beach & Blair and City Brewing—open in Utah.

1860
British adventurer Captain Richard F. Burton stops in Utah and is introduced to Brigham Young and Mormon-produced Valley Tan whiskey.

1861
Mark Twain visits Utah and gets acquainted with Valley Tan, later saying it was “a kind of whiskey or first cousin to it; it is of Mormon invention and manufactured only in Utah. Tradition says it is made of imported fire and brimstone.”

1864
German immigrant Henry Wagener establishes California Brewery, the first commercial brewery in Utah’s history, across the street from where Brigham Young said, “This is the place.”

1869
The arrival of the transcontinental railroad and the mining boom brings an influx of non-Mormon settlers—many of them Irish, German and English—and, consequently, small regional breweries.

1871
A Mormon named Richard Bishop Margetts establishes the Utah Brewery, which would operate for 50 years and be one of only four Utah breweries to survive until Prohibition.

April 1871
A Mr. Donnel opens the first brewery in Central City (now Alta).

June 1871
Donnel opens a second Alta brewery. Philander Butler obtains license to manufacture and sell beer at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

May 1872
M.E. Campbell becomes sole proprietor of City Brewery in Corinne, adding a saloon.

1873
The territorial legislature grants Brigham Young the exclusive right to manufacture and distribute whiskey and other spirituous liquors in Utah. Young claimed never to have tasted whiskey, and his son-in-law William Hooper said, “Brigham Young hates intemperance and its evils, and who, if he could have, would never have made a drop or permitted a drop to enter Utah. He wishes that all the whiskey that the Gentiles brought had been so filled with poison as to have killed all who drank it.”

Young himself said, “If I had the power, I would blow out the brains of every thief in the territory, and I despise the whiskey maker more than I do the thieves.” Despite this claim, Young generated a huge amount of revenue for his new territory by taxing and controlling the very liquor he manufactured, yet despised.

May 4, 1873
First documented church service at Alta is held in Harlow & King’s Saloon.

Nov. 1873
City Brewery in Corrine is temporarily shut down for violating the law prohibiting the bottling of beer on the same premises as it was brewed. Corinne, a town of 1,500 residents and some 20 saloons, was viewed by Mormons as the “City of the Un-Godly.” Brigham Young begins to freeze out the “Gentiles.”

The Salt Lake Tribune reports “Uebel & Co. are erecting a building for a brewery just north of the Provo Bridge. They expect to be able to furnish handmade lager beer within three weeks.”

1875
Jacob Moritz, another German immigrant, sells his interest in the Montana Brewery and assumes control of a small brewery about two miles from California Brewery. Moritz’s Salt Lake City Brewery became one of the largest in the western United States.

1876
French scientist Louis Pasteur publishes “Etudes sur le Biere,” an examination of the fermentation process and the damage to beer brought on by bacteria. Pasteurization, as well as ice-making machines, refrigerated rail cars and better bottling equipment enable Salt Lake City brewers to serve a much larger area.

Feb. 19, 1877
The Deseret News reports, “The Provo Brewery burnt up last night, supposedly the work of an incendiary.”

August 1, 1878
A fire destroys most of Alta, including the breweries and saloons. The California Brewery reopens in a tunnel on the south side of the canyon, where it had been storing a large quantity of beer.

October 1878
Nine of Alta’s saloons have been rebuilt, including the William Nischwitz and Charles Sickler’s California Brewery, which had no connection to Wagener’s joint of the same name—although it became Wagener’s sole outlet.

1879
Henery Worley opens the Cache Valley Brewing Company in Logan.

1880
Salt Lake City’s population reaches roughly 21,000.

1884
Fisher Brewing Company opens in Salt Lake City.

1890
Salt Lake City's population more than doubles. Bottling law is amended to allow breweries to pipe beer into adjacent bottling houses.

1892
Crown-top bottling method is patented. “Crown” is the proper name for bottle cap.

1892
Schellhas Brewing Company—later Becker Brewing Company—opens in Ogden.

1893
The Manti Messenger writes, “The Manti Brewery is a sign that should adorn a large building near this city. That building should contain the machinery for making beer to be rolled in and out by the thousands of dollars. It would bring more people, more money and more trade to this city. … We hope to soon see some enterprising men at work on this project.”

1895
As Utah’s constitution is drafted, teetotalers want to declare Utah a dry state. Then-LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith opposes this because it would give the impression that Utah is a theocracy.

1911
Utah, with the exception of Salt Lake City, Farmington, Ogden, Sandy, Midvale, Price and various mining towns, goes dry.

August 1, 1917
The Twelfth Session of the Utah Legislature makes Utah an entirely dry state.

1919
Prohibition is ratified by Congress; all four of Utah’s active breweries close. Salt Lake City Brewing and Becker Brewing change their names and begin brewing nonalcoholic “Near Beer.”

1920
Salt Lake City's population approaches 120,000.

1921
Adherence to the Word of Wisdom becomes a requirement to enter Mormon temples.

Nov. 7, 1933
In a special off-year election, by a 2-to-1 majority, the people of Utah vote to allow the sale of 3.2 percent ABW beer. Richard W. Young Jr., author of Utah’s prohibition amendment, retrospectively declares it “a mistake.”

Dec. 5, 1933
Prompted by Prohibition’s vast unpopularity as well rampant organized crime—namely bootlegging—and the loss of potential tax revenue from alcohol, the 21st Amendment is passed, repealing Prohibition. Utah is the last state to ratify the amendment.

Jan. 1, 1934
With Prohibition repealed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, this was the first day Utahns could legally imbibe—but only with 3.2 percent beer.

1947
Becker Brewing Co. and Fisher Brewing Co. produce a combined 182,533 barrels of beer.

1965
Ogden’s Becker Brewing Co. goes out of business.

1967
Fisher Brewing Co. closes its doors, commencing of a 19-year period in which no beer is bottled in Utah.

1983
Utah raises per-barrel beer tax from $4.12 to $11.

Oct. 15, 1986
Greg Schirf opens Schirf Brewing—now Wasatch—in Park City, the first such establishment in Utah since 1967.

1989
Brewpubs are legalized in Utah.

July 1989
Greg Schirf opens Utah’s first brewpub on historic Main Street in Park City.

Sept. 5, 1989
Peter Cole and Jeff Polychronis open Salt Lake Brewing Company, DBA Squatters, in downtown Salt Lake City.

1991
Eddie McStiff’s brewpub opens in Moab.

Feb. 8, 1994
Del Vance and Will Hamill open Uinta Brewing Company in Salt Lake City.

March 1994
Red Rock Brewing Co. established in downtown Salt Lake City.

April 11, 1995
Roosters 25th Street Brewing Co. opens in Ogden.

June 1995
Desert Edge Brewery at The Pub in Trolley Square begins brewing beer.

May 17, 1996
Moab Brewery opens.

Dec. 16, 1996
Hoppers Grill & Brewing Company opens in Midvale.

May 14, 2000
Utah Brewers Cooperative, an alliance between Wasatch and Squatters, is formed.

July 24, 2001
On Pioneer Day, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules Utah’s ban on alcohol advertisements “irrational,” saying it might be causing irreparable harm to local liquor, brewing and publishing companies.

Feb. 17, 2002
Tracks Brewing Company opens in Tooele.

April 25, 2002
Bohemian Brewery debuts in Midvale.

2003
Per-barrel state beer tax raised to $12.80.

2004
A study by The Beer Institute and The National Beer Wholesalers Association ranks Utah 23rd among states with 13 breweries per capita—or one brewery for every 163,834 residents. Local breweries also generated $36.4 million in state and local tax revenue (plus $36.1 million federal) with an additional $24.2 million in state and local sales and excise taxes (plus $16.7 million federal).

2005
Utah legislators increase brewery-license fees from $350 to $3,500 for initial one-time license and annual renewal charges from $1000 to $2,500.

2008
Utah law changes, allowing brewers to sell heavy (strong) beer directly to the public.

2009
Shades of Pale opens in Park City.

March 2010
Epic Brewing Company opens in Salt Lake City.

Sept. 11, 2010
City Weekly’s Utah Beer Festival ends four-year beer festival drought in the valley.

July 1, 2011
Senate Bill 314 goes into effect, changing all mentions of “liquor” to “alcohol products,” closing a loophole that allowed beer to be sold at a discount. The bill also prevents unlimited beer from being sold at one flat rate, forcing the Utah Beer Festival to go to a token program.

2011
Local craft brewers band together as the Utah Brewers Guild.

Special thanks to Del Vance, whose book Beer in the Beehive: A History of Brewing in Utah (Dream Garden Press) provided the bulk of this information.

Maybe someday the saying will be, “Eat, drink and be merry—you’re in Utah.”