Brewing craft beers is all about a sense of community, brotherhood, creativeness, authenticity, compassion and realism, according to Red Rock Brewing Company’s head brewer Kevin Templin.

“The Utah craft beer industry is world-class,” Templin says. Utah is “at the top of the food chain in the craft brewing industry.”

Red Rock Brewing opened in 1994 and currently has three locations, including downtown Salt Lake, Park City’s Kimball Junction and the newest location at the Fashion Place Mall in Murray. The large production brewery opened in 2009.

Red Rock’s current line-up includes 46 brews—stouts, ales, lagers and high gravity beers. One of their best selling beers is their Elephino (pronounced el-uh-fine-oh), offered at Utah liquor stores, and consistently ranks at the top of the Double IPA category. Red Rock now brews 15 varieties of beers at their expansion brewhouse located at 443 N 400 W. Red Rock’s ingredients include clover honey from Utah’s Miller’s Honey Company. There are a few gravity beers in the works for the summer, including an imperial stout and dandelion beers.

Kevin Templin recently returned from a collaborative effort with New Belgium Brewing in Colorado to produce a seasonal Paardebloem brew. Paardebloem, Flemish for dandelion, uses dandelion greens instead of traditional hops to provide the beer’s aroma and bitter flavor. Paardebloem won a silver medal in the 2012 Great American Beer Festival in the Experimental Beer category.

“New Belgium is the third biggest craft brewery in the country, and probably the most progressive, environmentally sound brewery on the entire planet,” Templin says.
All that inspiration has allowed Red Rock Brewing Company to cultivate a solid name in Utah. Templin has won copious awards, 78 to be exact, for his work at the brewery.

“I’ve won a closetful of medals and all of my success is because of my wonderful and fantastic brew staff,” Templin explains. “We are currently in three or four different states and we plan on conquering the entire earth.”