When national parks are mentioned what comes to mind? Mount Rainer, Olympic, or perhaps the Great Smokey Mountains?
But what about Uinta?
Yep, not a national park and not the noted national forest — Uinta Brewing Co. in Salt Lake City, Utah. We speak of the craft brewery founded in 1993 best known for the delicious pine and citrus forward Hop Nosh IPA. Uinta has introduced Golden Ale, a light bodied, slightly sweet, year-round refresher inspired by the U.S. national parks. In fact, the brewery’s inspired idea is as massive as Yosemite National Park. Uinta isn’t just sending tongue-dragging interns to snap selfies with Golden Ales in various national parks. Throughout 2017, Uinta will salute the national parks with rotating Golden Ales, each release with a different national park illustration gracing the 12-ounce can. Yosemite graces the first can, which will park in Peaks and Pints’ cooler when its national release party commences Monday night in our Tacoma Proctor District bottle shop, taproom and eatery.
Uinta Brewing will co-host Peaks and Pints’ Sudspop music and craft beer series at 6 p.m. every Monday night in February, with the national release party being the focus of the first night, Feb. 6. Uinta’s Rotating Park Series Golden Ale No. 1: Yosemite will pour from Peaks and Pints’ Western red cedar tap log, in addition to other Uinta craft beers. Besides being the first to enjoy Uinta’s Golden Ale, SudsPop patrons will have a change to score a Discover Pass granting free admission to Washington state parks, T-shirts, glassware and entry for the grand prize drawing — two Discover Passes and a Uinta Yeti Cooler — on the final Uinta Sudspop night, Feb. 27. A three-hour “National Park” soundtrack and outdoor recreation on our 130-inch screen round out the nights, naturally.
Following Golden Ale No. 1: Yosemite, Uinta will release Golden Ale No. 2: Yellowstone, Golden Ale No. 3: Arches, No. 4: Great Smoky Mountains, No. 5: Grand Canyon, No. 6: Acadia, No. 7: Rocky Mountains and No. 8: Everglades. These beers will all be Golden Ales with Carapils and Vienna malts in harmony with German Saphir and Sterling hops. Bitterness is as low at the Grand Canyon, allowing a hint of sweetness to shine through in the finish. It’s a hiking, paddling, Instagraming kind of craft beer.
Subsequent Uinta SudsPop nights will include national park history games. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the first national park, Yellowstone, into law in 1872. The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service, “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” Last year, the National Park Service celebrated its 100th birthday.
Those looking to beef-up their national park knowledge should turn their attention to Ken “Slow Fade In/Fade Out” Burns and his The National Parks: America’s Best Idea PBS documentary. John Muir goes on and on about nature, the soul, the slow roll of grasses and the hard edges of craggy mountain outcrops. Teddy Roosevelt does the imperialist abroad thing, and brings it right back home. The politics of the park pit workers against rich tourists against evil corporations who want to build a dam across the Grand Canyon against guys like Ranger Sheldon who tumbles off a bus from Chicago at the gates of Yosemite and finds himself. Imagine how the lives of Muir, Roosevelt and Sheldon would have changed if they had a backpack full of Uinta Golden Ale on such adventures. Their salmon dishes and salads surely would have tasted better.
Let’s recap: Uinta’s Rotating Park Series Golden Ale No. 1: Yosemite national release party parks at Peaks and Pints at 6 p.m., Feb. 6. The national park celebration will be paired with Uinta beer, music and games at Peaks and Pints every Monday night in February. President Ulysses S. Grant is awesome. Ranger Sheldon could have used a Uinta Golden Ale.
SUDSPOP WITH UINTA BREWING CO., 6 p.m., Mondays in February, Peaks and Pints, 3816 N. 26th, Basecamp Proctor, Tacoma, no cover
LINK: Complete Guide to Yosemite
