Four+ Brewing Company - Sum’r Organic Summer Ale

Sum’r pours a very slightly hazy pale golden straw color with a cap of ample white foam. On the nose, look for a lightly tart impression with a yeasty hint. Pale malts are overlaid with bright hop notes that tend toward grassy, citric, and lightly spicy. There’s also an underlying impression reminiscent of white grape juice. In the mouth, Sum’r is light and crisp, with tart acidity, pale malts and a very bright, grassy, citric note (akin to lemon zest) contributed by the Japanese-developed Sorachi Ace hop varietal. Quite dry and earthy with some yeasty spice, it finishes with a grainy breadiness that wells up in the aftertaste. Sum’r is, not surprisingly, another excellent summertime beer that will match well with any outdoor cooking event involving grilled chicken, fish, or burgers.

The “Four” in Four+ Brewing Company’s name is a reference to the four traditional brewing ingredients (water, barley, hops, and yeast), while the “+” refers to the creativity and artistry that the brewer brings to the beer. Founded in 2003 as an offshoot of Salt Lake City’s Uinta Brewing Company, the lineup currently includes 6 beers, 2 of which are USDA Certified Organic – which just so happen to be the two we’re bringing to you this month. The parent company, Uinta Brewing Company, was founded in 1993 by Will Hamill. Hamill, who was originally from Maine, enjoyed an exciting outdoors lifestyle when he came to the state, much like many other Utahans. However, the excellent beer he had loved so much in Maine was nowhere to be found. So he took it upon himself to quench his thirst himself and became consumed with homebrewing. One thing led to another, and after studying brewing at UC Davis, he launched Uinta in a small mechanic’s garage he converted to a brewery. Uinta enjoyed strong growth and by 2001 the brewing operations were taken to a new 26,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility that was built with energy efficiency as a prime goal. Amazingly, the brewery is 100% powered by wind energy. Their commitment to the environment doesn’t end there; they established a recycling location for brown glass, donate their used grain to local ranchers to use as feed, purchase recycled paper, and use natural lighting in the brewery as well as energy-efficient electric fixtures. Great job guys, we’ll raise a glass to that! To learn more about Four+ and Uinta Brewing Company and for scheduled tours, visit www.fourplusbrewing.com or call (801) 467-0909.