Salt Lake City’s Best Distilleries
Despite its reputation, Salt Lake City has plenty to offer someone who wants to explore a variety of locally produced spirits.
Utah gets a bad reputation (with good reason) in the drinking community. From the out of touch laws surrounding drinking to the dominant culture, it’s understandable. But Utah’s Capital City offers an exciting, hyper-local adult drinking culture.
While the breweries in Utah garner the most attention (an article on those in the future),as of late boutique-style distilleries have been popping up in and near the Capital City. From the original Utah whiskey distillery to a few fancy vodka and gin makers, there are plenty of spirits in Salt Lake City for you to enjoy.
Many of the distilleries listed offer tours, which is a great way to spend an afternoon learning. There are many interesting steps to the distilling process.
Dented Brick
Dented Brick distillery, located South of downtown Salt Lake City, is a small-batch, local distillery. You can visit their location for a tour or to shop in their store, but you can also buy Dented Brick products at most liquor stores.
Dented Brick describes what makes them special on their website:
“The most important part of the “craft” process is control. Control over the raw materials such as regionally sourced grains and house selected yeasts. Control over the water source used which is the foundation of all distilled spirits. Ours is an artesian well located on-premise in our Salt Lake City Distillery.”
Beehive Distilling
If you’d rather sit down for a specially crafted cocktail when you visit a distillery, Beehive Distilling is the perfect spot for you. With a massive tasting room, vaulted ceilings and beautiful art, Beehive Distilling is the perfect atmosphere.
Located in Downtown Salt Lake City, on the West side of State Street, Beehive Distilling is right in the middle of the action.
Beehive specializes in Gin with multiple varieties but they also make vodka. The cocktail selection is to die for with drinks made from high quality ingredients like snap peas, rhubarb syrup and Earl Gray tea.
A bonus at Beehive is that there is food. They feature different food trucks Thursday-Friday.
Distillery 36
The lesser known of the three distilleries listed is located slightly West of Salt Lake City proper. Distillery 36 was established in 2015 by two “best friends”.
Distillery 36 specializes in rum. Their different types of rum are made from scratch using 100 percent cane sugar. While rum is the specialty they also produce vodka. Distillery 36 offers private tours and a storefront to purchase spirits.
Take it from me, their spiced rum is to die for. It makes amazing drinks to cool you off in the summer or even warm you up in the winter.
Salt Lake City really is an ideal place to kick back and relax with a drink, what makes these places extra special is the hyper-local feel and the high-quality, responsibly sourced ingredients.
Enjoy the end of summer with some delicious, locally-made cocktails but remember to enjoy responsibly.