Crafty Beer Girls

Girls Love Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Beer Stories

By Jenni Shafer 5 Comments

2 Row Brewing: Your Friendly Neighborhood Brewery

Family brewery 2 Row Brewing
Derek, Brian, and DeDe Coleman of 2 Row Brewing

 

With so many microbreweries throughout the country being bought up by larger ones, it’s really refreshing to have a small, homegrown, local brewery like 2 Row in town. Husband and wife team Brian and DeDe Colman are like your neighbors around the block, except now they’ve got a bit more than just a home brewing system in their garage. After initially getting started with a Mr. Beer home brew kit and then expanding into their garage, they eventually purchased a small, second hand professional brewing system they found in the classifieds from a brewery in Georgia, and went pro by co-founding 2 Row Brewing. The parents of two children opened their little Midvale, UT bottle shop store front in June of 2015 to become the Salt Lake Valley’s newest neighborhood brewery.

This family operation is a Mom and Pop brewery in every sense of the word. The Colemans work 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week to run their new business and aren’t sure when they’ll get their next vacation. Pop (Brian) creates, fine-tunes the recipes, and brews the beer. Mom (DeDe) keeps the books, mans the bottle shop, and helps with the bottling. Their son, Derek, helps Dad out by doing a lot of the manual labor like cleaning out the mash tun and fermenting tanks, and he also pitches in with the bottling. Derek, who is heading off to Utah State this fall to study mechanical engineering, has really enjoyed working with his Dad and is proud of what he’s accomplished. Brian has been a bit of an entrepreneur. He had a trucking business that hauled all sorts of things like bottled water, onions, and Christmas trees. He still has a towing business that he’s left in the hands of a capable manager to run while he pursues this newest venture. Beer, it seems, is his true passion.

Once he was bitten by the beer bug, Brian went full steam ahead with his new hobby. His home brewed beer won numerous awards both in Utah and elsewhere in the US. He took a course in beer quality and analysis from Oregon State and became a nationally certified beer judge. As a professional brewer, he’s a perfectionist. A lot of time is spent figuring out how to lower the oxygen levels in each recipe he brews to achieve the best product possible. He has avoided selling his beer through the Utah DABC, except by special order, because they don’t refrigerate their beer which can alter the flavor. This has limited 2 Row’s “high point” (above 4% abv) beer to being bottled and sold generally through restaurants, bars, and the Midvale bottle shop where it’s brewed.

As their business grows, the Colemans will have some growing pains and many decisions to make, but they’d like to keep their focus on the beer. There has been some thought about the possibility of opening a pub of some sort where people can come and drink their beer and maybe eat some food, but ultimately, it’s the product itself they want to sell people. Anything else will likely be an enhancement of that. Currently 2 Row has 4 beer styles available: golden ale, IPA, double IPA, and American farmhouse ale. A mocha porter is in the works, which I’m very excited about. Every one of their beer styles have been painstakingly crafted to be at the highest quality possible. The latest batch of Accelerator IPA was definitely an improvement on the first one I had, which was a solid IPA to start with.

Accelerator IPA, Dangereux American Farmhouse Ale, and 24k Golden Ale.

Accelerator IPA by 2 Row Brewing   Dangereux American Farmhouse Ale by 2 Row Brewing   24k Golden Ale by 2 Row Brewing

Right now the Colemans are work-a-holics. If things calm down, they hope to do some traveling, drinking beer from local breweries along the way. It might be a while, but they already have a lot to be contented with; a fantastic small brewery that Utah can be proud of! The beer is great, but my favorite thing about 2 Row is the fact that when I go into their bottle shop to purchase it, Brian and DeDe are the ones who sell it to me. They are lovely, unassuming folks who just want to brew good beer, and they’re thrilled for you to drink it. Go and make their acquaintance if you get a chance.

2 Row Brewing bottle shop, Midvale, Utah
DeDe and Brian Coleman manning the 2 Row bottle shop in Midvale, UT. Visit 2rowbrewing.com

 

Filed Under: Utah Beer Tagged With: 2 Row Brewing, Salt Lake Breweries, Utah beer

Comments

  1. Aaron Wayman says

    September 13, 2015 at 5:22 am

    I enjoyed their beers when I tried them. I am planning on hooking some friends of mine on 2 Row in the next coming weeks, as they live in the area.

    Reply
  2. Keith Peplin says

    May 23, 2016 at 5:56 pm

    I use to live in Midvale and took a job back home in Southern California. I had the opportunity to meet both DeDe and Brian. If you get the chance to meet either one of them, they are fantastic people and Brian puts a ton of work into his beer, probably the best beer I tasted being brewed in Utah. Brian has developed some other beers recently and they are just as good as his originals, he is a true “craft beer enthusiast’!!!!
    He also has new labels that are off the charts for his bottles.

    Reply
  3. Jenni Shafer says

    May 23, 2016 at 6:13 pm

    Totally agree! They are awesome people and true beer lovers. I also dig the new labels!

    Reply
  4. Derek W says

    September 16, 2020 at 7:57 pm

    Thereʻs really nothing like good people and good beer. Hoping for the best for these two folks!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 2 Row Brewing is Growing Up says:
    December 3, 2016 at 4:23 pm

    […] Go back in time and read our original post 2 Row Brewing: Your Friendly Neighborhood Brewery […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

craftybeergirls

Jenni Shafer & Lauren Lerch
A sunny Sunday morning on the slopes with a tasty A sunny Sunday morning on the slopes with a tasty local @fisherbrewing beer to wash down burritos in the parking lot. Yes, Utah! #sundayinutah #utahbeer #skiday #parkinglotbeer #skialta #fisherbeer #sundayfunday #sundaybeer #skibeer #lunch #beer #altaskiarea #fisherbrewing #crispyboi #utah
Finishing up the holiday pie/beer #pieisbeer #beer Finishing up the holiday pie/beer #pieisbeer #beerispie #drinklocal #utahbeer #pecanpie #pumpkinpie #roostersbrewing #shadesbrewing #epicbrewing #dessertbeer #holidaypie #holidaybeer #holidays #aretheyoveryet #drinkbeer #newyear
Taste the sensation of skiing @altaskiarea on Chri Taste the sensation of skiing @altaskiarea on Christmas Day! ⛷️🎄 #peppermintpatty #uintabrewing #skialta #christmasday #skiday #christmasbeer #peppermint #chocolate #beer #getthesensation #merrychristmas #christmasskiing
We hope your cup is full of beer this fine Christm We hope your cup is full of beer this fine Christmas Eve 🎄🍻 #merrychristmas #griswalds #holidayale #redrockbrewery #cupofcheer #christmasbeer #utahbeer #drinklocal #spicedale  #christmaseve #beer #cheers
Welcome, winter! It's good to be back on the slope Welcome, winter! It's good to be back on the slopes for some snowy mountain therapy. #winterwelcome #beerwithaview #skibeer #apresski #altaskiarea #wasatchmountains #beeroutside #brightonresort #samuelsmith #kiitosbrewing #skilunch #wheatbeer #dogfishhead #americanbeauty #hazyipa #snowboarding #skiutah
High above the grid, this GABF medal winner lets s High above the grid, this GABF medal winner lets simple flavors shine. Cheers to the highs and lows of 2020, @gridcitybeer 🍻
.
.
#utahbeer #gridcitybeerworks #honeycream #ale #slcbeer #honey #creamale #utahcraftbeerscene #gabfmedalwinner #awardwinningbeer #utah #beer #beerwithaview #beeroutside #socialdistancing #survivingcoronavirus #trailbeer
All hopped up on cider! 🍎🌱 ~L #hoppedcider # All hopped up on cider! 🍎🌱 ~L #hoppedcider #craftcider #oregon #oregoncoast #roadtrip #beachlife #weebitchilly #tillamook #greenery
Last week vs this week. A bit of a temperature cha Last week vs this week. A bit of a temperature change, but still spending Sunday on the trails. #sundayfunday #mountainbiking #trailbeer #levelcrossing #sinday #kiitosbrewing #pumpkinlatte #sundaybeer #bikesandbeers #beerwithaview #beeroutside #utahbeer #paleale #pumpkinbeer #utah #beer
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Contact us:

craftybeergirlsblog@gmail.com

© 2019 Crafty Beer Girls