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Wasatch Beers, famous for poking fun at Utah culture, later this week will celebrate a quarter-century of needling.
The brewer is known for Polygamy Porter ("Why have just one!"), Evolution Amber Ale and its Darwin-approved seal ("Created in 27 days, not 7") and, of course, the St. Provo Girl, its take-off on St. Pauli Girl (which because of legal issues is known as Provo Girl).
On Saturday, Utah's oldest active brewery, and its most impertinent, will be celebrating its 25th anniversary at City Park in Park City, the mountain town where it all began.
"We've gone from one pub at the top of Main Street and have moved on so we're now selling in 12 states," said Wasatch Brewing founder Greg Schirf. "Just being in the beer business in Utah for 25 years is kind of a big deal — so we decided to kick back and celebrate."
Since its founding in Mormon-dominated Utah, people have come to expect some kind of irreverence from the brewer.
Like the time in 2003 Schirf threw a Boston Tea Party to protest a state-imposed beer excise tax. Protesters poured four pressurized kegs into the Great Salt Lake and yelled slogans such as "Give me liberty or give me a cold one."
The brew, dubbed 1st Amendment Lager ("Exercise your First Amendment right to a great beer") went on to win a Gold Medal at the World Beer Cup, one of the world's largest commercial beer competitions.
"Sure, we've done some crazy stuff," said Schirf. "But you can't lose a customer you'll never have. Our core customers understand what it's like to be a minority because that's what they are — they think our ads are funny because they can relate. All we have to do is stand by and wait for the Legislature to give us some new ammunition."
There also was the time during the 2002 Olympics when Schirf launched Wasatch Unofficial Amber Ale, drawing the attention of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the official beer sponsor, Anheuser-Busch. Undaunted, Schirf got a parade permit along the same route as the Budweiser Clydesdales. Schirf's entry consisted of his two yellow Labrador retrievers hitched to a sleigh bearing kegs of the Games' unauthorized beer.
Schirf, 59, grew up in Milwaukee, dubbed the Beer Capital of the World. He likes to say that coming from a German family, beer was always around. Utah's mountains and canyon lands drew Schirf to the state with the lowest per-capita alcohol consumption in the nation, which is driven by Mormons' avoidance. Schirf settled in Park City, which he characterized as a "funky mining town going in the wrong direction. We hit our 'indolence' at about the same time and then became adults together."
Utah had no brewery at the time. Schirf sensed a need and opened one in 1986, launching his inaugural beer, Wasatch Premium Ale. The first year, capacity was 3,000 barrels, compared with 52,000 barrels today.
By 1994, Schirf expanded brewery operations to Salt Lake City at 1763 S. 300 West. Six years later, Wasatch merged with Squatters (Salt Lake Brewing Co.) for draft and bottle production at the plant, and in 2010 the Great American Beer Festival named it the Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year.
Years earlier he had worked in the same real-estate office with Peter Cole and Jeff Polychronis, who in 1989 went on to open Squatters Pub Brewery in Salt Lake City. Although competitors, the men remained friends. One day, over lunch, they talked about merging to gain a critical mass in the small market of teetotaling Utah.
Today, Schirf is managing partner of the combined operation and Dan Burick is the brewmaster and general manager.
"Greg is shaped like a keg — he's the first to admit it — and he's as much fun as the contents," said Burick. "He's also a sucker for quality. If I go to him and say I need something to make a better beer, we pretty much will get what we want."
Schirf needed some convincing in 2007 before launching the Devastator Double Bock ("feel the strength"), an intense amber lager with 8 percent alcohol by volume. Schirf , who drank pale ales and hefeweizens, said he was not plugged into the extreme beers movement "and it was not in my creative DNA." Its first roll out of 1,200 cases sold out in three weeks.
But even today, Schirf bumps up against Utah's culture. The 5-liter, keg-shaped Chubby, introduced in February was outlawed by the Legislature on Oct. 1., with lawmakers citing fears of over-consumption.
"I argued that the Chubby was no more than a 12-pack of beer and more environmentally friendly because there wouldn't be all those bottles around," he said. "But the lawmakers said, 'Yeah, so what?' It was way over their heads."
Despite the setback, the Squatters and Wasatch cooperative is ramping up production to meet increased demand. It has added two, 200-barrel fermentation tanks to its production line dedicated to its most popular beers: Squatters Hop Rising Double IPA and The Devastator Amber by Wasatch.
"We grew our sales about 20 percent last year, and we are ahead of that pace this year," said Schirf. "In Utah, we are among the survivors."
Last year, sales topped $7 million.
Twitter@DawnHouseTrib —
Wasatch Beers
A look back at Utah's oldest active brewery:
1986 • Greg Schirf opens brewery in Park City; inaugural beer is Wasatch Premium Ale.
1989 • First brew pub in Utah opens at the top of Park City's historic Main Street.
1994 • Brewery operations expand to Salt Lake City at 1763 S. 300 West.
2000 • Wasatch and Squatters brewers merge for draft and bottle production at 300 West plant.
2001 • Polygamy Porter is brewed and later wins a gold medal at World Beer Cup.
2002 • Unveils the unauthorized Wasatch Unofficial 2002 Amber Ale during Winter Olympics.
2010 • Named Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year at Great American Beer Festival. —
The world according to Greg Schirf
Some thoughts from the man who dubs the brewery's anniversary celebration as having as much fun as legally possible:
"I had a German grandmother who used to tell me, 'Either beer or milk — none of that soda pop stuff in my house.' "
"Go figure, I left the highest per capita state [Wisconsin] for beer consumption to start a brewery in a state with the lowest per capita consumption."
After the merger with Squatters, I told my friends, 'If you have been sneaking around drinking Squatters beers, I don't care anymore.' " —
Park City celebration
When • 11 a.m to 6 p.m., Saturday
Where • City Park, 1354 Park Ave.
What • Live music, food, beers, including inaugural Wasatch Premium Ale
Admission • Free