Beer Stories
Greg Schif like a kid in a candy store with his new products and his amazing new bottling machine just installed last week. “We were unable to package our beer fast enough and this increases our ability label, fill bottles and package three times as quickly as before. The Squatters/Wasatch beer co-op has just undergone a $3 million expansion.
But it’s not the machines that Schirf is so giddy about, so much as the new beer he is producing.
Little Slammers are the latest innovation in Utah beer bottling. While everyone is going big in their bottles, Little Slammers are small 7 oz. and pocket size. “In this respect we believe less is more,” Shirf explains, “We used to call them pocket rockets, Pabst offered them… You could say I’m taking an indulgence in my own nostalgic beer history.”
Schirf then demonstrates what is so incredibly cool about his “pocket rocket” beers as he slides two of them into his shorts pockets. There is no way to detect that he is carrying beer on his person. “I did this the other day at the movies.”
One might excuse the “Little Slammers” as a novelty but there is something very nice about drinking a bit less beer than the standard 12 or 16 ounce portion. I almost never indulge in most of my favorite beers during lunch because the high point beers could affect my job performance. Little Slammers are what Shirf calls “a session beer” allowing someone to drink a six pack or one and have greater control over quantity than the large bottles allow.
I’ve never been a fan of light beer. The notion that you are doing a lot of good for your body by drinking excess amounts of disgusting light beer, has never been an idea I’ve subscribed to. Little Slammers are the answer for guys like me who should probably drink a little less, but still want to enjoy great beer.
So far the feedback that Schirf has received over his Little Slammers has been positive. “I had some golfer buddies tell me they threw back a couple of six packs while playing a round.”
Schirf has plans to offer Wasatch and Squatters beers in new mini-keg. But since this is still a work in progress and months down the road, he didn’t want to go into it yet in-depth. This coming from Schirf, who has always been a master at pushing the envelope when it comes to challenging Utah’s liquor laws.
Squatters/Wasatch beer co-op is the joint effort between two of the oldest and most respected Utah breweries. The co-op produces both of their award winning beers under one roof. The co-op facility located on 1763 South 300 West has recently undergone a massive expansion of the building enabling them to have plenty of room for additional storage and packaging.
Wasatch Brewery was Utah’s first brewery. Greg Schirf is the man to thank for spearheading the effort in changing Utah’s liquor laws to allow microbreweries that can produce, sell and distribute all under one roof. Wasatch offers a brew-pub in their original location in Park City. Squatters offers Salt Lake City’s oldest microbrew pub in downtown Salt Lake City.
Squatters and Wasatch have both given their packaging an updated new look. The new Provo Girl beer features a new model in a variety of seasonal outfits—typifying the spirit of Provo life in a manner that every BYU co-ed will appreciate.
