Red Rock and New Belgian Brewing

This is amazing news check out the Utah Beer blog for the full story on this. I really want to try Dandelion beer!

UTAH BEER BLOG

Need a Reason to go to Logan?

Superbowl Sunday!! No plans for once, and we ended up going to Logan to get my son at his friends. I wanted a good beer and good food I passed the Beehive Grill and saw they had Moab Brewery beers so we gave it a shot. The best way to put it, we were pleasantly surprised, I am trying to be a 75% vegetarian so I had the Gazpacho Salad and black bean soup that came with their Jalapeno Cornbread, my wife had the Clam Chowder and all the food was amazing.
I paired my food with Moab Brewery's Rocket Bike Lager, which I had not tried before, I had seen it in cans at Smith's but I am always excited for craft beers on tap. The reviews online for this beer aren't stellar but they are all based on the can version. I loved this beer it has a great bready smell to it and a very earthy strong flavor with just the right amount of hop bite to it. The hops seemed to still have a bit of citrus pushing through the bold flavor of this beer. My favorite thing about this beer though is that it has a strong flavor profile, yet has little to no after taste. I appreciate that more and more in a beer since I started brewing this one is crisp.
It will stand up to spicy and rich foods, yet it won't overpower whatever you are enjoying for dinner because of the clean finish it has, that finish also makes it a great session beer. Next time I am at the store I am going to grab a 4 pack of cans to see if it close to this one I had on tap.
As for the reason to drive to Logan the Beehive Grill has the full selection of Moab Brewery beers on tap and they are only 3.25 a glass!! The food was very good as well and they make their own Gelato onsite, we had the Burbon Vanilla and the Orange Chocolate and they were both very good. This is a place worth trying so check it out, take a day trip up to Logan and be sure and go here for lunch or dinner.

Guinness "Light"

In a previous post I talked about my friends that don't like Guinness while I still don't understand how any one could not love a pint of the "Black Stuff" it is true that every beer is not for everyone. When people who tell me they don't like beer I usually tell them they just haven't found one they like yet because there are so many different kinds and flavors out there I really do believe there is something for everyone. Even my buddy Frankie who "doesn't like beer" found a beer he likes, I just kept bringing different ones over until I found one he liked. True it was Tequiza (discontinued) so it was a odd kinda tequila/fruity beer but a beer none the less. Now I have to find him a different one I guess.
Anyway this leads me to Guinness Black Lager, this beer has the great roasted, complex flavor of Guinness Draught, yet it is a lager so the beer is much "lighter" not as "thick" as my friends put it. The flavor is really amazing and you can tell it is Guinness family beer but it is a more refreshing session style beer as compared to a stout. (Not everyone can "session Guinness like an Irishman) It goes great with most meals, as a dinner beer or with the right desert it can be quite good as well, think chocolate and cheesecake type things. I am thinking of making a Chocolate Guinness cheesecake and this may be the one to use in it not original Guinness, I will let you all know how that turns out.
As of right now due to the liquor laws in Utah this is only available at the DABC stores because it is a 4.5 ABV beer but most of the ones I have been to have it in stock, since it is the DABC store you can get 1 or 2 if you like but in my opinion it is one worth keeping a six pack of in the fridge.

Galloway Porter You have to try this!

As I mentioned in a previous post I had some Galloway Porter and it got me very interested in Epic Brewing again. Guinness is my favorite beer and is amazing (I'm Irish what can I say) and this is not a Stout, however I make a Guinness comparison due to the depth and complexity of flavor this beer has. Their website describes it as "A dark, full-bodied and drinkable beer, Galloway Porter highlights rich roasted chocolate and coffee-like malt flavors and aromas.  It has a very mild hop addition so that the chocolate malt flavor can shine through, 5.4% alcohol by volume."
That is an apt description but I think it may sell it short, the flavor is amazingly complex, yet it is not a heavy beer. The guys that were drinking it with don't really like Guinness and I take some heat from them for my "beer so thick you can stand a fork in it". These same guys were loving this Galloway Porter, full flavor, amazing color and smell, almost no aftertaste it is defiantly going to be around during the Superbowl tomorrow this is a GREAT Beer. If you have not tried it yet get down to the DABC store or better yet to EPIC Brewing and give it a try even if you don't usually like dark beers, this one may change your mind.

I am still alive! As you can see my last post was over a year ago, a lot has happened in a year! We had family move in with us, my work tried to kill me and created some long term health issues, I started a new job, and went back to school.
My friend Rick and I started making beer and I built a Keezer all the info from that would be great on here to share so I have some catching up to do. I am looking at drastically changing my diet but fortunately beer can still be part of it and I am still very interested in food pairings with different beers. There have been quite a few new beers from our local breweries in the last year as well that are amazing so those will be up soon as well. Stay tuned and I will be adding more beer post in the very near future!

Brewing, Epic Porter, and Wasatch Summer Twilight

So as I mentioned in my last post this spring has been swamped but I am getting everything back in order and need to transfer a lot of stuff from my notebooks to here. That being said a quick update on the homebrews! We did a Kolsch first and it is now in secondary Lagering down for a bit and we will be bottling it on Saturday or Monday. We also brewed up a Unraptured Celtic Stout on May 21st. Yeah made it right when Jesus was supposed to come get us and since that didn't happen it will be aging for about 3-4 months in secondary and then we will give it a try.
On a local beer note I had an Epic Galloway Porter the other night and Epic has hit a homerun with that one in my book it was amazing. We had some nice rib eyes and some mashed potatoes with Redwine brown gravy and  the flavors went very well together. I am going to have to make a trip in to their location now. I was a little let down with their Stout but after this Porter I want to try a lot more of their stuff so watch for that coming up as well.
I also grabbed a couple 6 packs of Wasatch Summer Twilight at Smith's the other day when we were brewing our first batch of beer. It caught my interest because it is a Kolsch style beer and that is what we were making so I was all over it! They didn't last to long this beer is super clean and crisp and perfect for hot weather. If you or your friends are still drinking Corona for your hot weather beer then get some of this instead you will not regret it.

I am still here really !

I have a ton of great stuff to add from the past few months I have just been extremely busy. I have a few beers from the Bahamas, there are some great ones down there to go with Conch. Quite a few new ones from here in Utah, and I also had to make a trip to Wyoming and tried some stuff from Wind River that was quite good as well, and that is a little closer than Freeport or Nassau to go on a beer run.
Also I went to Beer Nut yesterday and picked up a home brew kit, my friend and I are going to go in this weekend and see what one we are going to try first they have a ton of different recipe kits there to chose from decisions decisions. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.
Check back in the next week or so I will be putting up quite a few beer reviews from the stockpile I mentioned above.