Utah is sprouting microbreweries faster than rocks on mountain biking trails. The number has been growing since just before the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and sure to proliferate once again before the snow and ice games return in 2032.
There’s no formal beer or ale trail, so just pick a city—large or small—in any part of the state and take your pick of brews that range from traditional lagers and stouts to concoctions flavored with seasonal fruits like strawberries.
A signature of Utah’s microbreweries is fanciful names—including politically incorrect names—that will bring a smile to your lips even before tasting the first sip.
As a skier, one of my favorites—first for its name, then for its refreshing lightness—is Last One Down, a lager from Salt Lake City’s Wasatch Brewery, one of Utah’s largest. They also produce a salted lime-flavored beer that goes down like a Margarita with bubbles. But they may be most famous for one of their first beers, Polygamy Porter, a dark malty brew that pokes fun at the state’s history when having more than one—wife, that is—was legal. Polygamy Porter t-shirts are a hot seller in Park City, where the brand was born, but its largest outlet these days is the ginormous Squatters brewpub in downtown Salt Lake City, where at least a half-dozen choices are on tap daily.
Moab is a top destination for adventurous activities in Arches National Park, and the local Moab Brewery is worth exploring as well, for its German-style Over the Top hefeweizen wheat beer and its potent Belgian-style Desert Select Triple ale. The brewpub menu includes beer-infused choices such as beer cheese soup, definitely an acquired taste.
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St. George is at the front door of Zion National Park, and like Moab, has appealing choices of local brews. Silver Reef Brewing Co. offers a rotating list of year-round and seasonal choices. Day Drink Believer is a smooth bock suitable for celebrating completing the famous and treacherous Angel’s Landing hike, or go rogue with Guavalu. It’s a tart and sour brew that’s also an acquired taste, far much too tart and sour to wash down the pub’s fried pickles.
Ogden is a college town, and while no beer is allowed in the protective safety cages of Social Axe Throwing, where you can hurl axes against a hay bale wall, there are three microbreweries here to check out. Two are restaurants which happen to brew beer, while Ogden Beer Company is a brewery which pours at its pub. Choices range from 1851, a traditional low-hop lager, to Tmave, a hearty Czech-style dark lager that tastes like liquid bread. Or, try Alpenglow, made from rice and brewed like beer instead of as saki, the traditional Japanese rice-based wine. All are available on tap.
Founded 30 years ago, Uinta Brewing, headquartered in Salt Lake City, may be large enough to be disqualified as a microbrewery, but it still qualifies for the limited production of some off-beat year-round brews and seasonals. Cutthroat Pale Ale is the company’s original brew and top seller, a golden ale light enough to be mistaken for a pils or a lager. Small batch Lime Pilsner tastes like summer and Seasonal Pumpkin Ale is a like a holiday pie in a can. There are also two German-style wheat beers, the traditional unfiltered Golden Spike Hefeweizen and a fruited version called Alpenweizen. Uinta canned beers are available in markets statewide, on tap in local restaurants and at the company-operated pubs in downtown Salt Lake City and at the airport.
Plan your trip to Utah at https://www.visitutah.com.