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Show WASATCH COUNTY COURIER September 28, 1999 19| er City Something New Brewing in Park City Brewing Company moves operations locally Jean Croasmun, Courier staff Amidst absolutely no fanfare, no hoopla and no Company, uproar, Park City Brewing the most recent addition to the ‘microbrewery scene in Park City, moved its operations to Heber last July. “It was really easy,” says Matt Beamer, Head Brewer at the now somewhat misnamed Park City Brewing Company. “Heber. was actually much more cooperative than Park ey” KOEN LY Beamer was expecting somewhat of a fight from the brewery’s move to the more conservative side of the mountain, four different types to be exact. And even though Park City Brewing Companys tanks would look like just a couple of six packs to macrobrewers like Budweiser, for a town known for its trep- -idation with alcohol, it is a big*deal. For Beamer, who lives just a couple of miles from the new brewing site, the move was a dream come true. Short commute to work, larger facilities, and a chance to really concentrate on his artcrafting beer. | | Park City Brewing Company is a brew pub, an establishment that makes and sells its own beer. They have no retail outlets in Heber. They have no Heber tasting: room. Park »City~. Brewing Company doesn’t bottle its beer. They merely sell in their restaurant whatever they make. Tt Barley and wheat and i malted grains are > the primary jfigrediotts that Park City Brewing Company uses when making its beers. Recently, the operations moved to Heber. Wort combined with yeast sits in huge fermenters while making beer, all of which had to be carefully loaded onto trucks to make the recent move from Park City to Heber. - While Beamer is limited by equipment to only four batches of brewing beer at a time, he’s not restricted too strongly by styles. Currently he is planning his seasonal pompicia beer. “Its like liquid pumpkin pie,” Beamer says. Aeticinatli a to Beamer, the art y i brewing comes from mixing just the tight amount of grains with the proper type of yeast and specific hops to create a flavor that is uniquely pleasant. Knowing how much and what to do, _ plus when to do it is an acquired skill. “IT was a home fiesaie for years,” Sie TY ry beer, clients approached me about a brew pub,” says Beamer. The client was one of . the original owners of Park City Brewing Company.. Beamer signed on. \ OT By going through the whole process, Beamer means the process of making ie but instead, Heber City cooperated. “We went through the whole process with them. It was really easy.” Unfortunately construction setbacks forced the brew pub to delay its opening six months and Beamer was faced with a grand opening during the height of ski season, quickly brewing early batches of -” beer behind a window in close quarters. Things have eased up since. Now, as Park City Brewing Company embarks on its third ski season, Beamer _ feels much more prepared. He has a From the fermenter to the keg. Park City Brewing Companys beers go from the large fermenters to chilled conditioning casks and ultimately to kegs which are then sent It’s almost a one-man show. to the restaurant in Park City. The operation itself is very low profile. Beamers beer creations start with grains, barley and wheat, that he cracks himself But best of all to. Beamer is the creativity he’s afforded in creating Park City Brewing Company’s final product — beer. That and the short commute. That in a grain mill, in order to keep them intact so that he can extract ~ makes it easy to make making good, old their — fashioned Park City beer right here in starches. Beamer does this by mashing the grains in a process in which hot Heber. 2% water is infused into the cracked grains to release the starches in the form of sugars. The result, according to Beamer, looks something like oatmeal. Next, the mash is filtered and pumped into a kettle where more hot water is added. This creates what brewers call wort, the very sweet, malty base for the beer. The wort is then steeped with different hops, the spices of beer, actually small dried flowers that add hints of aroma and bitterness to a beer. Then the combination of wort, water and hops is cooled and pumped into a fermenter where it is combined with yeast until the sugars that were once extracted from the original barley or wheat are converted into alcohol. ‘In Utah, Park City Brewing Companys operation is limited to creating beer that achieves an alcohol level no higher than 3.2% by weight, that’s the law. Heber has prohibited the brewery from having its own local retail establishment. All beer is kegged for retail service in Park City Brewing. Company’s restaurant, the Park City Smokehouse, on Lower Main Street in Park City, and for restaurants throughout the Salt Lake and Park City areas. A few batches are. even private labeled for other. retail establishments. Currently no retail. establishments exist in Wasatch County. Conditioning casks are where the final aging process in making beer occurs. While impressive and large, these casks belonging to Park City Brewing Company are small compared to macrobrewers like Budweiser. Beamer who gave up his day job as a ski patroller at Park City Mountain Resort to do grunt Company work at Uintah Brewing. in Salt Lake. “I did all the new, larger facility in which to brew beer. He has tried and tested. recipes. He’s sending two of Park City Brewing Company’s beers, the Oatmeal Stout dirty work. I washed and filled kegs,” says Beamer. Beamer was willing. to ~and the Park City Pilsner, to the Great: American Beer Festival.in Denver to see | make the drastic career change so that he could learn more about how to make beer commetcially. _how they.fare. And Beamer’s latest cre- A year later, his career move paid off. “] was working landscape and one of my ation, the Pre-Prohibition Pilsner, a pil- sner made the way beer was brewed before prohibition, is about to go on tap at the brew pub. 2 Matt Beamer, Head Brewer for Park City Brewing Companys new facility in Heber, shows how to test the product in the fermenters. The final product. ready for distribution to restaurants around the Wasatch front and back. While Park City Brewing Companys beer is made in Heber, currently all of it is exported. |