Uinta Brewing Company | Anniversary Barley Wine Ale

10.4% ABV

There’s a common misconception that you can’t get strong beer in Utah. In reality, you can get strong beer in Utah; you just have to jump through a hoop or two to get it. So when you finally do drive the ten miles to the state owned liquor store, at a time that it’s actually open, when you’re willing to pay the ridiculous prices for room temperature beer, you know the secret handshake you have to give the clerk, and you walk out of the place with a couple of mix and match six packs of beers like Uinta Brewing Company‘s 10.4% ABV Anniversary Barley Wine Ale, you tend to want to save a bottle or two to enjoy on a random week night. Well, my friends, tonight is one of those nights. Read More

Epic Brewing | Pfeifferhorn Lager

5.3% ABV

When I stopped at the Utah state-owned liquor store last night after a day on the slopes, the label of Epic Brewing’s Pfeifferhorn Lager stood out, what with its powder-covered peak imagery. Named after the 11,326 foot Pfeifferhorn Peak, a.k.a Little Matterhorn, which overlooks the Salt Lake Valley, this beer’s label proclaims that its namesake’s “craggy summit lures hikers and skiers year round.” Read More

Bohemian Brewery | Czech Pilsner

ABV: 4.0%

Among the numerous reasons that I enjoy writing for PorchDrinking.com is that it allows me to drink beer at the laundromat. Now, I’d typically shy away from popping the top on some suds in a place such as this, and surely there’s some legality issues at play (or at least some questions of decorum, especially here in Salt Lake City). But I feel that writing for a reputable, national beer blog like PD brings to my drinking some professional perspective, thus justifying this laundromat imbibing; I have a beer showcase due tomorrow, and I’ve been going commando, as they say, for damned near a week now.

For this public showcase I went with a beer from Midvale, Utah’s Bohemian Brewery. I chose their 1842 Czech Pilsner. Why? Because I enjoy this light-bodied golden lager? Yes. But also because the silver can, in the right light, looks like it could be full of off-brand soda, or as we call it in my home state of Michigan, pop. Read More

Uinta Brewing Company | Cutthroat Pale Ale

ABV: 4%

IBU: 34

I love big dumps, and any other skier will tell you the same thing. When it’s pouring rain on a January day where I work in Salt Lake City, you can bet that up in the Cottonwood Canyons it’s dumping snow. And that’s why I’ve been craving all day to get up there and get in a little night riding at Brighton, where the falling snow will mean free refills.

When I got to the mouth of the canyon, though, I wished the dumping had kept itself in check a bit, as the road leading up into Big Cottonwood Canyon was closed and packed with stopped traffic —no doubt an accident plugging up the tiny, winding mountain road leading to my goods. As much of a kick to the nuts a thwarted powder night is, I take consolation that my favorite SLC bar, the Hog Wallow, is right at the base of the canyon. It especially makes me happy that the Wallow serves my favorite Utah beer, Cutthroat Pale Ale from Uinta Brewing Company. Read More

Wasatch Brewery | Polygamy Porter

Owning a mountaintop cabin would be sweet, but having friends who own a mountaintop cabin is a whole lot cheaper. My friends who share their cabin also share their beer, and I’m happy that brew happens to be Wasatch Brewery’s Polygamy Porter. Nah, I’ll pass on multiple wives, but I could definitely enjoy a few of these beers. Brewed in Salt Lake City, Polygamy Porter is exceptionally smooth, with a nice malty bite, and a roasty, toasty finish. Read More

Wasatch Brewery | Provo Girl Pilsner

4% ABV

Wasatch Brewery’s Provo Girl Pilsner is a beer showcase that I do not want to write. Why? Because I just spent the day shooting grouse with my good buddy Charlie, who moved to Utah a year before I did to fight fires and occasionally dress up as Smokey the Bear at rodeos. We had some wild nights together as members of Northern Michigan University’s Moosemen Rugby Football Club, and we just spent a day shooting birds and wandering around the Ashley National Forest in Utah’s Uinta Mountains (we didn’t get lost —we just didn’t quite know how to get back to camp). Sitting here by the campfire under some amazing stars with our tired pooches at our feet, writing in a notebook might ruin it. Read More

Wasatch Brewery | Evolution Amber Ale

ABV: 4%

The best part about sitting in the bleachers of a minor league ballpark in the rain, watching the grounds crew mess with the giant tarp is the fact that the delay makes more time for beer drinking. Luckily, as messed up as a lot of Utah’s beer distribution laws are, the Salt Lake Bees serve good craft beer in addition to the 3.2% Bud Lite piss-water that is more appropriate for sprinkling the outfield grass than it is for human consumption. I’m really glad that the Bees serve Evolution Amber Ale from Wasatch Brewery, giving me the opportunity to try it for the first time. Read More

Uinta Brewing Company | Detour Double IPA

Uinta Brewing Company – Detour Double IPA

ABV: 9.5%

As I celebrate my 30th birthday in a rented trailer on the banks of Utah’s Weber River, drinking a Detour Double IPA from Salt Lake City’s Uinta Brewing Company, I find it hard to believe that nine years have passed since my 21st. I’m glad tonight that I’m not drinking countless car bombs and tequila/tabasco shots at the Bayview and then barfing them out the window of my own Jeep as my friends drive me home, though beers at the Bay on Michigan’s Gull Lake do sound pretty nice.

I stopped at the nonsensically-regulated state of Utah-owned liquor store on my lunch break for some celebratory beer and chose a four pack of the 9.5% Detour Double IPA. Why? Because I like hops? Maybe. Because the label features a sweet, stylized Airstream trailer, and I live in a less-sweet, but still kind of cool trailer? Probably. Read More

Beerstagram 7/5- 7/12

New brewery opening? Softball game cancelled? On vacation? There is always a good excuse to try a new beer… or several. Liz Riggs went all the way to Utah to … Read More