May 2012
SLUG Readers Interview Social Distortion
For over 30 years, Social Distortion has built a loyal following wherever their music has reached, Salt Lake being no exception. Mike Ness and the boys have never had any trouble selling out shows in our fair city, which is why SLUG reached out to you, our readers, via Facebook and Twitter, to submit the questions you’ve always wanted Ness to answer. Never ones to let us down, you came up with some terrific inquiries that evoked some interesting responses from Mr. Ness. … read more
Local Reviews: Austin Joseph
Early Years, Austin Joseph’s first album, has an intriguing duality to it—whether it was a conscious effort is left to the listener to decide. To start, Mr. Joseph looks pretty clean cut: all smiles, hair gel and jeans. His musicality reflects this clean-cut image: uplifting keys and inspirational guitar. It’s clear that Joseph has extensively studied the catalogs of Pete Seeger, Gordon Lightfoot and other guitar-wielding good guys. … read more
Local Reviews: S.L.F.M.
This 14-song, 13-and-a-half-minute album is a sweet little treat indeed. S.L.F.M., the brainchild of SLC musician Jessica Davis, is one our cities finest projects. With buttery vocals reminiscent of Pink Martini’s China Forbes, frenetic strumming not unlike Dead Kennedys, and the unique use of distorted ukulele to set the mood, these tunes are ridiculously original and fun. … read more
Wandering into the Wild West: Spindrift Returns to Salt Lake...
It’s a rare treat to find a band who so easily transports listeners to another place. It’s even better when the experience is enhanced during their live sets. On multiple occasions while watching LA’s Spindrift perform, I’ve felt the transformative and utterly delightful power of their mostly instrumental and moody spaghetti western songs. The music is driven by its imagery, and surprisingly, it is done without the use of many lyrics. … read more
Homebrewed: An Interview with Kincade Bauer
Over the last decade, Salt Lake City has seen exponential growth in the craft beer scene—the sturdy backbone of this movement has been the home brewers. One of these home brew aficionados is Kincade Bauer. Bauer worked closely in Salt Lake City’s music scene as a promoter for years and currently works as a liquor rep and as the Beam Ambassador for Utah. Despite slinging booze in his working life, it has not stopped him from crafting his own libations at home as a hobby. … read more
Utah’s Best Beerfest
I would personally like to invite you all to a beerfest! Utah’s best beerfest in fact. We have close to 60 breweries from all over the West coming to this beer festival. There will be approximately 220 different beers at our super beer soirée, but there’s a slight problem with our beer festival: We have to hold it in Idaho. I know, it’s a bit confusing, but if you look at it this way, it might make more sense. … read more
Epic Proportions: A Clever Way to Get What You Need
With the complex and convoluted liquor laws in Utah, breweries have had to get creative in the methods they employ to get their products to the masses. “Because of the laws brought about by S.B. 314, we had essentially been excluded from selling our beers on Sundays and holidays,” says co-founder David Cole. In order to overcome this setback, Epic opened up a sandwich shop inside their facility. … read more
Finding the Drink of the Gods: The Hive Winery and...
The idea for The Hive Winery originated when Jay and Lori Yahne, who both work as engineers, began experiencing difficulties with the recent economic crash. The Yahnes had been home brewing for around 15 years, so starting a business focused on brewing seemed natural. In addition to using local honey and fruit in their production, The Hive also sells a few local honeys and fruit spreads at their site in Layton. … read more
Stop, Collaborate and Brew It!
You may have noticed a new advertising scheme that has developed over the past few years: co-branding and product collaborations. By utilizing this marketing tool, local and domestic brands can step outside their designated target audience and embrace those with similiar ideals. Brewvies, X96 and The Arts Fest are a few local organizations that have figured out the best collaborations are those that include alcohol. … read more
Heeeeeeere’s Johnny! The New Face of Moab Brewery
Chances are, you’ve noticed a couple new beers in the cooler at grocery stores and gas stations. The bold red, white and blue bull’s-eye of Johnny’s American IPA and the vintage, checkered turquoise-and-white Rocket Bike American Lager stand out on the shelf, both in appearance and size. If you looked closer at the four-pack of 16 oz tallboys, you may have been surprised to see that they were from Moab Brewery. … read more
A Sustainable Future for Local Beer
Brewing beer itself is not the most environmentally friendly business—it’s a complicated process involving a lot of water, energy and movement of heavy materials. It invariably comes with a lot of waste, which is why a local brewery working hard to offset these costs, while bringing you a high quality product, means so much to people here in Utah. Uinta Brewing has been doing its part by working toward energy self-sufficiency for over a decade. … read more
Beer Match Challenge
You’re a grocery store clerk, and your drunken shoppers have dropped all their beer right before beer o’clock. They want to get checked out lickety-split, and you need to satisfy the customer before the hour strikes. Since they’re too inebriated to function, it’s up to you to get the right beer with the right person out the door. It’s now time for the Beer Match Challenge! … read more
