The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [94]
The first brewer in Utah to venture into such tricky stylistic terrain, Talley was recognized in 2011 as the first female recipient of the Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing, a prestigious honor from the Boulder, Colorado-based Brewers Association, which oversees the craft brewing industry nationwide.
KEY BEER
Black Forest Schwarzbier, Talley’s authentically roasty yet light-bodied German-style black lager was recognized as the top example in the world in 2010, defeating thirty-seven rivals.
UINTA BREWING CO.
1722 Fremont Dr. • Salt Lake City, UT 84104 (801) 467-0909 • uintabrewing.com • Established: 1993
SCENE & STORY
From its catchphrase alone (“save water—drink beer”), this Salt Lake City microbrewery and brewpub a short drive southwest of downtown makes good beer without wrecking the neighborhood. Named for the soaring, east-west situated Uinta peaks in the north of the state, UBC is 100 percent wind powered and rewards customers that reuse six-pack carriers with swag from the gift shop, the Little Big Beer Store, which has seven varieties of beer to go. Inside the eight-tap bar, guests gather around wood tables, by the pool table or dartboard, and around the U-shaped bar, talking beer.
PHILOSOPHY
Uinta has been 100 percent wind powered since 2001, and all the spent grain goes to ranchers rather than landfills. Recently the brewery has also moved the beers in a more progressive direction. The minimalist labels of the Four+ series belie more complex beers within, such as the Wyld, a dry, citrusy, and faintly honeyish 4% ABV American pale ale. With somewhat mixed results, the 750-milliliter Crooked Series line wanders farther away from the old standards of pale, wheat, and stout, with an imperial Pilsner, double IPA, and 13.2% ABV black ale called Labyrinth, all labeled by hip local artists.
KEY BEER
Sum’r, from the Four+ series, is a 4% ABV blonde ale with a distinct lemony zing, excellent for a hot day.
BEST of the REST: UTAH
EPIC BREWING COMPANY
825 S. State St. • Salt Lake City, UT 84111-4207 • (801) 906-0123 • epicbrewing.com
The first high-strength brewery in Utah since Prohibition, Epic was established in 2010 to brew exclusively bigger beers like the Brainless Belgian series (around 9% ABV) which are strong golden ales, sometimes aged with cherries, peaches, and other fruit in wine barrels for added complexity. The beers come in three categories, Classic, Elevated, and Exponential, and are sold directly from the brewery in twenty-two-ounce bombers, but no sampling is allowed on the premises. No matter. Demand soared from Day One and Epic’s distribution quickly spread throughout Utah, and into Idaho and Colorado as well.
THE BAYOU
645 S. State St. • Salt Lake City, UT 84111 • (801) 961-8400 • utahbayou.com
A busy taproom near downtown in an atmospheric old brick building with thirty drafts and some three hundred bottles to choose from (including some two dozen brews from Epic and another fifty-odd Utah-brewed beers), the massive selection is the real draw here, but a huge, Cajun-themed food menu, live jazz and blues performances, and free weeknight pool also draw hordes of locals.
The
MIDWEST
T he American heartland has long been the nation’s beer cellar as well as its breadbasket. (And of course, the cheese counter, too.) But until very recently, nearly all the beer coming out of the lake-dotted countryside and prairies of Middle America was bland, industrial lager made with cheap adjuncts like corn, rice, and other profit-driven shortcuts, spending millions on ads instead of quality beer, even employing chemical foam enhancers. The craft beer revolution came on slowly here, but now more than ever, the area we sometimes call the Corn Belt—especially the Great Lakes region—has discovered