Local beer drinkers will soon get a taste of what the Beehive State has to offer.
Officials with the Utah Brewers Cooperate — which operates Wasatch and Squatters breweries — this week confirmed the group’s plans to expand distribution into Arkansas.
Wasatch opened in 1986 in Park City, and was Utah’s first microbrewery. Its owners are credited with spearheading a campaign to change state laws to allow brewpubs to exist. Squatters opened three years later in nearby Salt Lake City. The two companies operated independently for about a decade before merging brewery operations under one roof in 2000 as the Utah Brewers Cooperative in Salt Lake.
Among Wasatch’s list of beers includes Polygamy Porter, a low-ABV brown porter named after the state’s history of polygamy in the 19th century, and Evolution Amber Ale, an unfiltered amber that the brewery describes as a tribute to Charles Darwin.
Judy Cullen, the cooperative’s marketing director, said Wasatch plans to send at least five beers to Arkansas, including Polygamy Porter Nitro, Evolution Amber Ale, Devastator Double Bock Lager, Ghostrider White IPA, and Apricot Hefeweizen.
Squatters offerings in Arkansas will include Hop Rising, a 9% ABV imperial IPA, and Full Suspension, a Northwest-style pale ale.
Cullen said the first truck of beer headed for Arkansas left Utah on Monday (Sept. 19), and should be on shelves soon.
