SUPERBOWL!!!! Yeah Yeah I know it is way late sorry

So for SuperBowl I showed up to the party with a Chubby!! That is a Chubby 5L mini Keg full of Wasatch Golden Ale. This little guy went over HUGE! These are available at the beer store and I have seen them at the DABC store up on Highland Drive. 

This is as close to on tap as you can get outside a bar in Utah and the flavor is amazing. I have had Wasatch Golden Ale in the Little Slammers before and liked it then but this is even better. This is the perfect beer to give to all your friends that are used to the fizzy yellow water the major breweries call beer (I am talking directly to the Bud Light Crowd) This went well with all the food we had there but it went especially well with the Tar Pit Hot wings. They were an amazing combo there was a nice bit of smokey heat and then the malt in the beer really came through because of it. Then it is a very refreshing brew so it cooled off the palate so you wanted more wings.
My only regret was that there was about 12 people drinking it and I wish I would have brought 2 instead of just the one.

On a side Note I also have been drinking some Hop Rising from Squatters and I have to say I am very impressed with it. I was not at first, in fact the first one I tried I hated. However I love it now that I know what it goes with, or more importantly what not to drink it with. I will post more on that later this week because it is amazing as well. For now all I will say is that if you see it at your local DABC get a 6 pack or two and try it. NOT WITH anything creamy like cheese it will taste like someone slapped you in the mouth with a hop vine. EAT IT WITH SPICY FOOD it was absolutely delicious with the Thai Potstickers and hot sauce I had on Friday so so good. It is good on its own as well if you are used to full flavored beers.

Great Utah Beer Info

Check out this blog-Utah Beer

Mike there does a great job of keeping up to date info about new releases from the Utah breweries. Take a look you won't regret it.

EPIC................. Well the Jury is still out

  So this post is biased, there it is right out there and I may eat my words later. In all honesty I hope I do eat my words or maybe a better analogy drink them later, but here it goes anyway. The reason I started this project is because I love beer and I like Utah and we have some great breweries across the state. The newest one is EPIC Brewery. Strike One--The Name. Not bad in itself but if you are going to call your brewery EPIC it had better put out awesome beer, nothing but awesome beer. I intentionally waited to try the beers from here because I was worried my expectations are high and I didn't want to be let down. All of that because of a name. Strike Two--Only available in bottles. Now this may work out for them and really I hope it does. I like big beers so I like the fact that is what they are making. However there are quite a few lower gravity beers that I enjoy as well, beer does not have to have a high alcohol content to have great flavors. So here comes Strike Three-- The beer, well maybe it is not a true strike because the beer I had was not bad, and I did only have one so I am not writing them off yet. This is still a beer I would take over almost any mass production beer but I just don't feel it was epic.
  So there I said it, here is what I had- 825 State Stout

  Now I love Stouts and Porters, I am Irish Guinness is still my favorite beer, and I hope a craft brewery, maybe one in Utah can come up with a beer that dethrones Guinness to me but it has not happened yet. So I know this style of beer and saw it at one of our new DABC stores, (The one in Holliday just off Highland Drive AWESOME BEER SELECTION!) so I grabbed it and the Galloway Porter that they offer as well (haven't tried this one yet, I am waiting for my disappointment to wear off.) and opened the Stout last night. The first thing I noticed was an alcohol smell off the head which surprised me since it is less than 6% ABV. Then after tasting it I realized that the flavors just didn't last and that the mouth feel of it was very thin almost watery. The flavors were not bad, and there were some very nice chocolate, and coffee noted in it but they just did not last. Those issues alone would not make me completely write this beer off but then came the kicker. The aftertaste....The alcohol notes carried over into the finish of the beer and killed the good flavors it has at the start. The other issue is that the competition in this style is stiff -Captain Bastards Oatmeal Stout from Squatters- and -Madame X Stout from Hoppers- are both amazing and a few seasonals we have available are very nice as well.
  I intentionally waited to write this so I could think it over before I put it all into words but there it is. I am going to try EPIC's other beers in the future I will probably wait a little while to cleanse my mental palate so to speak and look at them on their own merit and leave the name out of it, it really isn't fail to hold them to a higher standard just because of their name.........but then again you guys named it EPIC not me so not my fault. I am going to try the Porter and probably get their IPA as well and give that a shot and I will definitely do a review of those and hopefully it will even out my opinion of this brewery.
  If anyone has experience with EPICS other brews especially those that you liked please let me know with a reply on this post so I know what to try next or maybe what to try them with, I really want to do this new brewery justice and not discourage anyone from trying their brews for themselves.

HIVE..........Honey stung Ale

  I was very excited to try this beer before it is out of season, according to the website it is Jan-Mar. So I got a 6 pack at Smiths Marketplace last night and had one on its own. This beer looks awesome it has a deep golden color and smells wonderful. It also has a nice full head on it that reminds me almost of a Nitro beer but doesn't last quite as long. The flavor was very nice it does have quite a bit of bitter when you first take a drink but then it mellows out nicely. It reminds me of a more flavorful Amber Bock. I really did like the flavor of this beer however I was slightly let down.........

  With a label like this and the information I have read I was hoping for more honey flavor that I just didn't get. I have looked on the website and it recommends Salmon or Baklava, I think I will try that and see if it will bring out some of the sweetness that may be hiding in this beer. 

  It is a good beer and if you are not used to craft beers this is a great one to start with, like I said great flavor but just don't expect to have a ton of honey flavor as I was. I will make another post when I have a chance to pair this. If you have had it before in a good pairing please let me know.  

Packers and Steelers here we come!!

  It's been a busy week but I was able to get together with a few friends for the games on Sunday. We had quite a spread of food and I brought the beer. Had a few this time that went very well with what we had to eat. The first is one of my new favorites that I have mentioned before and that is:
 
  Wasatch Devastator- I cannot say enough good things about this brew, we had a cheese platter with smoked Gouda, Irish Cheddar, and Aged Wisconsin Cheddar. This beer went great with the Irish and the Gouda. We had a baked Salmon with some Mango Salsa that is also went very well with, the sweetness and little bit of heat in the salsa really played with the beer nicely. This is an amazing beer with a ton of flavor, as I mentioned in an earlier post it is 9% ABV so it is a BIG beer but there is very little alcohol taste to it that still surprises me. I am going to try it soon as a Black and Tan variation with my beloved Guinness.

  Wasatch Polygamy Porter- This is another beer I have had before and I quite enjoy. It has a flavor that is comparable to Guinness, yet it doesn't have the super thick creamy head like one. However this beer is smooth it has big flavor and very little, if any aftertaste which is quite nice. It went amazing with the cheeses, especially the Gouda, and it was awesome with the chocolate dipped Eclair we had for desert. This is a great beer for deserts especially I would recommend trying this one for sure if you haven't already, it is also available at many of the local supermarkets in Salt Lake so you dont have to make a special trip to the DABC.

  Squatters Root Cellar- So I have seen some sours on New Brew Thursday and have been intrigued by them so when I saw this one was available at the Beer Store I had to try it. I had also read that you usually dont like your first sour I really enjoyed this one. It i a bit darker than the other sours I have seen and had a ton of flavor. It is aged in Port barrels and it picks up a ton of fruit flavors in that process. This is not like any beer I have ever had. It went well with the cheeses but this one would be fine all on its own as well. I am definitely going to do some research to find a few recommended pairings for sours and give this one another shot. I believe it is a limited edition so if you want to try it I would get it as soon as you can. I am going to the beer store again today and get a few more bottles of it to save.

Football and Beer! Labyrinth, Tilted Smile and..................a surprise!

  It has been very busy since Thursday, and busy since then as well but on Saturday evening I had a great night with my friends Rick, and Preston. We went to Ricks to watch the Packers play Atlanta and thank goodness Green Bay won. Even if they hadn't Rick probably would have still been in a good mood since the beer was amazing. We had your normal football fare, chips and bean dip, and a few other snacks as well and Prestons favorite beer style is Pilsner so out came the tilted smile...........boy is it smooth. It does not taste like a 9% beer the flavors are awesome, the hops are there but not overpowering at all and even though the flavor is complex it doesn't have an after taste at all it is just smooooth. We will definitely be keeping this beer around, as I mentioned in a previous post I picked this up at the DABC store and it was about 7.00 for the big bottle and it easily serves three. It is also available year round, I would strongly recommend picking up a bottle or two next time you are at the liquor store.

  Right before half time we wanted more beer so we decided to try the Labyrinth, Rick and I are both dark beer fans so we popped that one open. Ricks take was "I think I am going to have to break my glass to get this out!" This beer is dark and has a ton of flavor, molasses, anise, chocolate, and coffee tones all at once. I am going to save any further comments for another post because this one needs its own, we didnt really have any food to go with it and it is STRONG on its own. I am going to plan a dinner with Cheese Cake for desert and have this with that and I think it will be much better. Don't get me wrong it is good on its own, but it is DARK and I drink Guinness two or three at a time on a regular basis so I would suggest pairing it with something sweet and it will be amazing. 

  Now the surprise of the night was next, I pulled out a couple bottles of Wasatch Devastator. All I have to say is that beer is an A. It will be getting its own full review in the near future and I have a Black and Tan inspired idea for this brew so stay tuned.

Its New Brew Thursday! Maui Brewing Coconut Porter

  NBT current podcast is Coconut Porter, I know I have to go to Hawaii now because that sounds awesome! I finished off a bottle of Winterfest from Wasatch which was quite enjoyable, I will pair it with something and do a review soon with the others I have. The outstanding one tonight was a surprise Uintas' 17th Aniversary Barley Wine Ale. It's a BIG beer at 10.4 ABV but it is smooth with a ton of flavor. Get to your local DABC Store and grab a six pack or three six packs it can be aged like wine and should have a different flavor a year or two from now. They are keeping around all year now so you can age them and do some tasting experiments.