Salt Lake City — 14 breweries in 7 days!

Jul 14

There are two things about the SLC beer scene that were a little surprising to me. First, to sell beer on tap, the beer must be 5% ABV or less. For those beers above the limit, the bartender will pour the beer from bottles or cans. Second, someone will scan your ID upon entry to the brewery. Despite that, craft breweries are flourishing in the area.

During our weeklong stay in the SLC area in June 2021, we visited fourteen breweries. It was Kasie’s birthday that week, but the truth is that we just really enjoy craft beer. I thought I would share my take on each of them. Those with asterisks are featured in our videos, and there are time codes in the video descriptions in case you just want to watch the information on the brewery.

Unita Brewery — 3:31; Fisher Brewing - 12:17; Templin Family Brewing - 13:52

6:29 - Kiitos Brewing; 21:37 - Shades Brewing

(1) 2 Row Brewing. Out stop here was a quick one. At the time of our visit, there was no taproom. We purchased a some of their signature IPAs in bottles.

(2) Bewilder Brewing Co. The last brewery we visited during our stay, I neglected to write down what we had there. Maybe I was bewildered at the time. Our reviews/thoughts on breweries get better. I promise.

(3) Bohemian Brewery. This place is one of the handful of breweries in the area that serve food, and we went there for lunch on a mid-day week. The place was pretty busy, and we had to sit at the bar (although we generally prefer sitting there so that was not a big deal). “Knedlik” (my last name) means “dumping” in Czech. Some of the meals come with bread dumplings, but we opted for a very tasty pierogy appetizer (topped with bacon!) instead. Our beers were a traditional Bavarian wheat and Kolsh, and about what we expected for traditional Czech/German-inspired beers.

(4) Epic Brewing. Epic sits on a pretty busy street and had limited parking. The taproom inside is also fairly small as well (certainly not “epic”). We sat at the bar and had a Brainless Raspberries strong ale and the Intermountain wheat poured from bottles.

(5) Fisher Brewing Company (*) We visited here on a hot Saturday, and enjoyed the Dawn of the New Haze and the Lemonade Stand blackberry lemon sour. The beer selection was diverse, and we watched the bartender place rainbow labels on cans for a special beer to celebrate Gay Pride. The brewery is very close to the TRAX light rail, which is also a plus. There’s an excerpt from our visit in our SLC video.

(6) Hopkins Brewing Company. Perhaps because the brewery is located in a very commercial rebuilt area of town, the beer/food here is a little pricey. The beer selection was fairly limited, but included the Stonewall Saison. One cool part about the brewery is the collection of customer-made doodle coasters on the wall.

(7) Kiitos Brewing (*). This place won my heart the moment we walked in and saw cans of “Big Gay Ale” to celebrate Gay Pride. Not only that, the beer had glitter in it! We shared a flight which included the Salt N Pickle lager, Strawberry Milkshake, Raspberry wheat, Blackberry sour, and the Coconut stout. All of the beers were exceptional, and we purchased some to take with us. The place really needs to work on naming their beers though as the names are pretty descriptive and boring. There’s an excerpt from our visit in our SLC video.

(9) Red Rock Brewing. Having been around for over 25 years and having three locations (SLC, Murray, and Park City), I was expecting a little more from this brewery. The SLC location is more of a restaurant than a brewery, and we had to fight the throngs of volleyball teams who were playing in a tournament in the area. I had the IPA Jr, and Kasie had the Czech Pilsner. Both beers were fine, but not particularly memorable. Our food was average and not particularly memorable either.

(10) Salt Fire Brewing Co. Someone added a “and have a beer” sticker below the “stop” sign next to this brewery. So we did. The place feels super hipster, but welcoming. We had the Summer Camp Crush IPA, and the Charlotte Sometimes blonde. As beer names go, the place has some good ones.

(11) Shades Brewing (*). Known for sour beers, the place did not disappoint. I had the Passion Fruit sour, but Kasie got adventurous and tried the Mango Apricot Slurry. We purchased some of the beer to go, and also feature Shades in our video.

(12) Strap Tank Brewery (Lehi UT). We visited this brewery on our way back from our Provo bike ride primarily because it serves food and we were hungry. The reviews online were mediocre, and we would concur. Enough said.

(13) Templin Family Brewing (*). We walked here after our visit to Fisher Brewing. Because of the temperatures, we were craving fruity sour beers, and TF delivered. We had the Passion Fruit Berliner Weisse and the Pomberry sour. The beers were pretty to look at, and so was the vibe. There’s an excerpt from our visit in our video.

(14) Uinta Brewing (*) Although last on our alphabetical list, this was the first brewery we visited. We shared a flight of the Birthday Suit blackberry lemon tart ale, the Lime pilsner, Hazy Nosh IPA, Mango Golden Spike wheat ale. The brewery distributes throughout the United States, including Missouri. It was fun to visit this place because we had actually sampled some of their beers before. The Nomad restaurant sits within the brewery, and we shared some darn good nachos. There’s an excerpt from our visit in our video.

I’ve included time codes in the videos that pertain to these breweries. There are just too many good breweries in the area publish videos on all of them. If you are curious, our favorites were probably Shades and Kiitos.