Basic Juice - the wine blog for my generation

Beehive Brew

Let's leave wine for a bit and talk about the rich history of Utah beer..(blank stares all around)

Actually, there is more to Utah's liquored past than abstinence.  Local brewer/pub-owner, Del Vance has penned a 300-page book entitled Beer in the Beehive (Utah is known as the beehive state).  From Vance's recent interview with the local alt-weekly, we learn that..

• Between the post-prohibition era and 1968, local brewers were producing upwards of 100,000 barrels of beer per year
• One avant garde brewer obtained a licenese to produce beet-based beer
• ZCMI, the LDS Church-owned general store sold beer, wine and liquor out of its Salt Lake City location in the late 1800s
• Brigham Young passed a law in the Utah territory (known as Deseret at the time) prohibiting the production of whiskey - except by him.  Young's spirit was known as "Valley Tan."  Apparently, even by frontier standards, it was heavy-duty stuff
• A few of the legendarily-named beers produced by modern Utah brewers are: St. Provo Girl (Squatters Brewery), First Amendment Lager and Polygamy Porter (Wasatch Brewery)

Beer in the Beehive is published by Dream Garden Press.

My Sweet Lucifer

Rarely do I drink beer.  However, once in a while, malted brew catches my eye.  Such was the case with Lucifer, a Belgian golden ale brewed by Liefmans Brewery.  Naturally I got a kick out of the label's Satanic playfulness.  Yet, what sold me was the flotsam of expired yeast carcasses awash in the bottle.  Upon further inspection I discovered that Lucifer undergoes secondary fermentation sur lie in the bottle.  I wondered if this ale would possess some of that yeasty-tang that I often find & love in sur lie Muscadets.

Lucifer did not disappoint.  This brew is fiery (8.5% abv) and full of bitter flavors.  Yet it also showed a soft side with blood orange flavors and a hint of vanilla yogurt - courtesy the dearly departed yeasties.  Throw your wine palate a curveball; sip a little Lucifer ($3-4, 33cl bottle; $8-9, 750ml bottle).