The Best Brewery Hops in Salt Lake City

Let’s start with the sad reality: Utah beer laws are garbage. They vary from place to place, they seem to change with some frequency but never for the better, and they hurt anyone looking for a tasty craft beer with a greater-than-4% ABV. Certain places can’t give you beer unless you order food, you can’t draft beer at higher than 4%, others can’t sell cans or bottles of over 4% on Sundays or under other various conditions… we’re not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of the Salt Lake City liquor legalese, and we’re not going to pretend the laws are now the same as they were when we wrote this article.

All we know is in a state where tourism, manufacturing, and mining reign supreme, a state in which we’ve done some of the most beautiful hikes we’ve ever encountered in our years on this earth, delicious beer should be a given for all Utahns and Utah visitors. Luckily for you, Loyal Reader, if you’re in Salt Lake City, we have just the brewery hops for you.

Honorable Mention: Uinta Brewing

Uinta Brewing‘s brewery isn’t really on a hop, but if you make your way there, you’ll be treated to a spacious taproom with tasty burgers on the menu. Even if you can’t make it to the brewery itself, Uinta has a very respectable set of canned beverages (above 4%!) which are widely available for purchase wherever higher-ABV cans or bottles of beer are sold in Utah. The Hop Nosh is their most popular, a tasty, piney IPA– but if you want some beers with steeper ABV for your fridge, find their double IPA, the Detour, or Russell’s personal favorite of the whole bunch, the Dubhe, a roasty imperial black IPA.

3. Squatters Pub –> Red Rock Brewing Co

Squatters is a fun, lively establishment with a good variety of beers on tap, albeit sub-4% ABV. Still, as far as these lower-ABV Utah beers go, Squatters has a few winners. The Full Suspension Pale Ale has decent flavor, and Captain Bastard’s Oatmeal Stout is among the least thin of the 4% stouts we’ve ever had in the state of Utah, so major props for that. Our recommendation: after a couple of samples of their tap selections, go for the bottle of the Hop Rising, a smooth and refreshing double IPA.

From there, head around the corner to Red Rock Brewing Company, which has more of a restaurant feel to it. This would be an appropriate place to eat some food– we found the personal pizzas quite enjoyable. (Pizza and beer is one of God’s great flavor combinations.) To Red Rock’s credit, the Chocolate Chili Porter has some of the best flavor you’ll find in a 4% beer in Utah, though it’s not as spicy as you’d think/hope. Our recommendation: the Elephino is a buttery DIPA and the 20th Anniversary is a potent, hoppy imperial red. Two bottles of those will pair with your pizza magnificently.

2. A. Fisher Brewing –> Kiitos Brewing

We stumbled upon A. Fisher Brewing after the good people at Epic Brewing (more on them later) said it was their go-to spot after their shifts have ended. What’s good enough for Epic is good enough for us! A. Fisher has a number of beers that are rather good– again, given their 4% restriction. Our recommendation: try whichever IPAs the bartenders recommend. When we were there, the Galaxy Juice, a galaxy dry-hopped IPA, was especially tasty, and we’ve heard good things about Collusion, a juicy rye pale ale collaboration with Desert Edge that tapped this summer.

It’s a half a mile west to Kiitos Brewing. Kiitos has an especially fun brewery atmosphere– it’d be the ideal place to kick it with friends and play games. Plus, Kiitos has, in our opinion, the best variety of 4% beer options we tried during our stay in Utah. Their Blackberry Sour was jammy, and options like their Coconut Stout and the Coffee Cream Ale don’t taste nearly as watery as other stouts and cream ales tend to do at such a low ABV. Our recommendation: the Northeast Pale Ale, which is crisp and tasty even in its 4% incarnation– we dare say the Northeast Pale Ale is the best 4% beer one is likely to find in Utah. All that having been said, they also sell a higher ABV version in can form, so do yourself a favor, crank up the booze, and enjoy a quality beer living up to its full potential.

1. Proper Brewing –> Epic Brewing

A note: this hop can theoretically be combined with the A. Fisher/Kiitos hop. You’d start with Kiitos and work your way east– it’d be roughly a mile and a half, but hey, for one stretch that small to have some of the best beer in Utah is a gift from above. Strongly consider.

If not, then kick things off at Proper Brewing. Maybe it’s just the fact that they willingly give bottle pours of higher ABV beer, or maybe it’s the insanely fun games– including ski ball!– we played while consuming them, but we had a terrific time at Proper. They’ve got a nice double IPA and some fruity and decently tart saisons. Our recommendation: you’re at one of the rare places where they’ll pour you the good stuff in an actual glass. Go for the Grand Slaintre, a quality imperial stout that is easily consumed when celebrating a ski ball victory.

Afterward, it’s about a block-long walk to by far the best craft brewery in Salt Lake City, Epic Brewing. A word of warning: the “tap room” isn’t really a tap room at all. It’s a tasting room where (a) you’re required to be seated and (b) in order to order beer, you’re required to order food– even if it’s just a charcuterie place, unless you get food, you won’t get beer. So timing is everything here: if the seats are filled, either see if someone’s almost done and wait around (it’s worth it!) or head down to local restaurant The Bayou, which has a fantastic and extensive bottle collection for you to peruse as you kill the clock.

Once you’re finally seated at Epic, everything is worth the wait and then some. Bourbon-barrel and rum-barrel aged stouts, wine-barrel aged sours, and a variety of IPAs, from the malty to the hoppy to the resinous to the hazy. Sit as long as you can, enjoy the charcuterie or whichever food item you ordered, and work your way through bottle pours of as much of their delicious menu as you can. Additionally, both times we’ve been, we’ve ended up in long conversations with the bartenders, and anecdotally, it seems everyone who works for Epic is personable and lovely. Russell had a lovely conversation with a bartender named Russel– with one L!

Our recommendations: the Big Bad Baptist is a nationally acclaimed stout, rich and boozy, an absolute must-order. Sour fans will fall head over heels for the Oak and Orchard, absurdly tart and laced with deep wine flavor. Finally, you’ve been missing IPAs on this trip? Start with a juicy Rino pale ale and work your way up to the best gathering of hoppy and hazy treats in the state, including the Imperial IPA, the Escape to Colorado, and, for you New England IPA fans out there, the Pulp Addiction. You’re welcome.

BEST PLACE FOR IPAS:
Epic Brewing (Runner-up: Kiitos)

BEST PLACE FOR SOURS:
Epic Brewing (Runner-up: … Proper, we guess?)

BEST PLACE FOR STOUTS:
Epic Brewing (Runner-up: Proper)

BEST PLACE TO PLAY GAMES:
Proper Brewing (Runner-up: Kiitos)

BEST PLACE FOR A LARGE GROUP:
Kiitos (Runner-up: A. Fisher)

BEST PLACE FOR A SMALL, QUIET DRINK:
Epic Brewing (Runner-up: Proper)

BEST PLACE TO EAT:
Epic Brewing (Runner-up: Red Rock Brewing Co)

Which is your favorite of these brewery hops? Are there any you love that we neglected to mention? Please shout them out in the comments below!