SLUG Contributor Limelight
April 2, 2020
Contributor Limelight – Rio Connelly
For over 10 years, SLUG has been fortunate enough to work with a veritable mage of beer-brewing, writing and drumming. SLUG Senior Staff Writer Rio Connelly has not only covered local beer, spirits and food for the mag, but has also given us his expertise on local beer as a content consultant. Well-respected in the community as the founding Head Brewer of Proper Brewing, Connelly’s knowledge about beer—and myriad other topics—seems boundless. He’s never content to rest on his laurels, drawing on his creative drives for anything from arcane beer recipes in his library to lyrical drumwork in his punk band, Filth Lords. In this, our 13th Annual Beer Issue, find Connelly’s essays about what constitutes vegan beer and on how to taste craft beer at beer fests such as SLUG Mag’s Brewstillery—you’ll get a sip of why we’re lucky to have him!
Articles by contributor
All the Way Around: Baby’s Bagels
Bagels get people passionate. I’m avoiding all that shmear and focusing on whether I enjoyed the entire bagel experience, and on that front, Baby’s Bagels scores a hole-in-one. … read more
Localized 10
August’s Localized brings two hip hop aficionados to the Urban Lounge stage on Friday, Aug. 12. Dusk One, who co-founded local hip hop group MindState, plays alongside DJ Knucklz’ newest project, Zebrafish. Masters of Death opens the show. A mere five bucks gets you in. … read more
SLUG Magazine’s Drinker’s Glossary Vol. 1
For this year’s Beer Issue, we provide you with a glossary of useful words and phrases to help you sort through the vast world of alcoholic beverages. … read more
Kindred Spirits: Distilling is Brewing’s Younger Sibling
Let’s just scratch the surface of the many ways in which fermentation is related to your favorite distilled spirits. … read more
An Endless Palette: Designing Beers for Every Palate
Brewers have a functionally infinite palette, a vast array of “colors” available to “paint” and design beers with. … read more
Beer > Not Beer
With these easy guidelines from Rio Connelly, you can turn your lunch-break sandwich into a sublime beer-pairing opportunity. … read more
FIY: Ferment It Yourself
The ability to make tasty fermented drinks lies in your hands, but you may not know what you need to get started. Join us to FIY! … read more
Oasis Games: A Smorgasbord of Board Games
Oasis Games Owner and Director Alex Sittner talks what board games offer during the darker months and which games you can pick up at Oasis. … read more
Horn of Africa: Grabbing Goat By The Horns
The rich array of spices and flavors on display at Horn of Africa make for an unforgettable introduction to what Somalia has to offer the world. … read more
Curbside for Survival
These snapshots are a testament to the resilience of vital worker communities and the generous support of a customer base who isn’t giving up. … read more
The Shooter’s Sandwich: Updating the Perfect Traveling Food
Let’s talk about how the Shooter’s Sandwich might be modified, but to do justice to the improvements, we first have to understand the original. … read more
“Waiter, There’s a Fish in My Drink”: Is Your Beer...
Is your favorite crushable pint of beer vegan-friendly? This article is a rough attempt to clarify the issue by providing insight into the brewing process. … read more
Out-Nerd Your Beer-Nerd Friend at SLUG Mag’s Brewstillery
Consider this your guide to out-beer-nerding your friend when indulging in the flavor smorgasbord at an event like SLUG Mag’s upcoming Brewstillery. … read more
Icelandic Feast in the City of Salt @ Caputo’s Annual...
SLUG was lucky enough to attend a special dinner (the Icelandic Feast in the City of Salt) that was part of the eighth annual Caputo’s Chocolate Festival. … read more
Tradition: Comfort Close to Home
Tradition opened its doors in April of 2017 with hopes to share personal-experience-inspired versions of comfort food within the SLC dining scene. … read more
The Spirits Frontier: Clear Water Distilling Co.
Clear Water Distilling will be Utah County’s first distillery since before Prohibition, possibly the first ever to hold a federal license. … read more
Where the Hearth is: Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm
Now in its 20th year, Hell’s Backbone Grill embraces the rural setting and its surrounding wilderness, and tries to get us all to slow down a little. … read more
Cerveza Zólupez Beer Company
Javier Chávez Jr. is a Wasatch Front native who opened Utah’s smallest brewery in 2018, and he offers his unique approach at Cerveza Zólupez Beer Company in Ogden. … read more
Bonneville Brewing + Bowling = A Perfect 300 at Pins...
All Star Bowling and Bonneville Brewery are seeking to change this situation with a new concept called Pins & Ales, a more adult-oriented bowling experience. … read more
Vocally Local: Using Utah in Beer
I started a restaurant and brewery business five years ago, which now operates in three different locations and is looking into expansion. One of our central tenets since the inception of the company has been making buying local products a priority. … read more
Born Again in Springdale: Zion Brewery Rises
Zion Brewery has gone through more than a few changes over the years. But with a fresh start, the gloves are off for Utah’s southernmost brewery. Located in Springdale, the brewery has ample opportunity to capitalize on the booming tourism business of the area. … read more
Booze You Should Choose
With the bevy of new distilleries opening in Utah there’s a lot to sort through. Here’s a handy set of reviews to save you time at the store. … read more
What the Truck? Fisher Parks the Food Truck Model in...
A. Fisher Brewing Company has been a runaway success so far. A big part of that success is the loyalty that they’ve earned by providing their customers with something that can’t be found anywhere else in Salt Lake. … read more
Local Reviews: Burnell Washburn
It’s good to hear quality hip hop produced right here in SLC. Burnell Washburn is young and his inexperience is evident, but that’s not a bad thing. I’m tired of too many veterans touring on the strength of some radio hit from 1994. Burn. … read more
Local Reviews: In Key Dropouts/The Skaficionados
This split EP by defunct local favorites In Key Dropouts and The Skaficionados is a good demonstration of the musical chops present here in Salt Lake. There’s always been a following for ska music and the fantastic shows where it’s played. … read more
Local Reviews: Carlos Cornia
Carlos Cornia are a group of guys who are clearly fans of kicking back, smoking a “cigarette” and playing their music—reggae-influenced rock. The songs manage to convey a chiller vibe while not losing their individuality or tune, like so much similar stuff out there. … read more
Local Reviews: Raw Xtract
I’ve never heard anything sound quite like this record by local poet and pianist Ami Hanna. There are moments of this scattered effort that are listenable as more conventional music, but the majority sounds like homework assignment poems read over amateur beats. … read more
Local Reviews: Joseph (The Voluptuary) Smith
The most striking thing about this record, straight off the bat, is that the all-black plastic CD case has a small castle (temple?) adorned with a sparkly mushroom placed on the middle of the cover—that’s three-dimensionally, sticking out about three inches! … read more
Local Reviews: Fox Van Cleef
These Ogden boys sound like the kind of blues you might have found in a smokey tavern 30 years ago where the drinks were cheap and the waitresses underdressed. The first vocal line by Dustin Bessire on “Somethin’ ‘bout the Way and Groovy Tuesdays” is a dead ringer for Dr. John, with a low, throaty growl behind the wail. … read more
Local Reviews: Armorie
While the arrangements of the songs on Pew Pew feel a little spastic, a little schizo, giving this record repeated listens helps to understand what the band was going for as a whole. I mean, this sounds like a few different guys getting their ideas down on a recording, experimenting with abandon and developing minor themes into entire songs. … read more
Local Reviews: Birthquake!
In many instances of math rock, the progressions can feel forced. The beauty of that music is its subtle tension. There’s a comfort to the cascading riffs and staccato rhythms. These guys feel utterly at home in their musical space, which is fitting, as the three members are brothers. … read more
To Guild or Not to Guild: Acacia Coast on the...
We all love beer—that’s a given—and more and more, consumers are becoming interested in what goes into the making of their beer, from breweries to brewers. Yet another level deeper are the people behind those people. Since developing a passion for craft beer after her first bottle of Mirror Pond Pale, Acacia Coast has been
Local Reviews: The Numbs & Linus Stubbs
What could be better than veterans in their element? This collaborative effort from scene-defining artists The Numbs and seasoned beatsmith Linus Stubbs has it all. The beats are rich, full of classic soul and Motown-sounding samples. Stubbs can make simple boom-bap into a dusty funk soundtrack, tight and gritty at the same time. The lyrics are what you’d expect for a group of emcees who’ve been trading mics for over a decade. … read more
Local Reviews: Muscle Hawk
I like to dance, and Muscle Hawk clearly like to make my booty shake. Their music is relatively straightforward techno in the vein of European greats like Justice or Daft Punk: The bass is heavy, the beat throbbing and the samples dramatic and super-polished. … read more
Local Reviews: Fisch Loops
This funky little EP was pieced together entirely out of samples taken from that educational show from the ‘70s, “The Electric Company.” The unlikely source material yields some downright classic-sounding grooves, bringing to mind Lifesavas’ Gutterfly or some Curtis Mayfield in its homage to the decade of funk with a capital “F.” … read more
Sugar House Distillery: Sweat Pays Off
Sugar House Distillery pays a lot of attention to each spirit in their small product line, and the commitment to quality is clear in tasting their spirits. … read more
Local Reviews: MAD MAX
A hip hop record that uses all-live instrumentals usually falls to one end of the spectrum: either really awesome or really bad. Combinations of rock music and hip hop are even less reliable—certain elements of live rock seem to clash with some of the other components of hip hop, like clear vocal delivery and danceable rhythm. … read more
Local Reviews: Israel West
My only real complaint with this album by local hip hop artist Israel West is how hard the vocals are to hear on some of the best songs. They often sound like they were recorded in a shower, or from down a hallway and the beats totally overwhelm them. … read more
Local Reviews: Veggie Stew
Nü-metal meets butt rock on this thankfully short EP from Veggie Stew. Crunchy power chords and standard drums play under juvenile raps about partying and ego. The clichés abound here, so don’t be surprised when you hear the rhyming of “Bacardi” with “party” or lines like “I’m a terror when I flow” from the lead singer. … read more
Local Reviews: Atheist
I was blown away by this release, straight up. It has everything I love in a hip hop record: rich and dusty beats from classic source material, tight verses by the main emcee and more than a few collaborations. … read more
Local Reviews: DJ Shanty
The master of the turntables for local hip hop legends The Numbs has not been idle since 2011’s Soulburn release. The production of Megatherium, an instrumental beat album, is halfway between classic video games, breakbeats and world music with buzzed-out bass behind tight snare and rich woodblock and tom drum hits. … read more
Local Reviews: Parlor Trix
This four-piece rap outfit from Salt Lake is ambitious—they acknowledge they are less about the hooks and more about lyricism. This release finds three MCs trading verses over beats by DJ Drix.While the energy and devotion to hip hop culture are evident, it’s hard to see at first what sets these guys apart, aside from being local. … read more
Local Reviews: Dusk Raps
Throw Away The Key is the new full-length solo release from local hip hop mainstay Dusk One. Having been a member of MindState and collaborated on several shorter releases with Fisch Loops, amongst other projects, Dusk has been defining the scene—it was only a matter of time before he branched out of state and made his presence felt nationally. … read more
Local Review: Linus Stubbs
Having heard more of Stubbs’ work with collaborators like The Numbs, it could be easy to typecast him as a standard hip hop producer, more concerned with fat bass and recognizable samples than expressive music. … read more
Doomtree @ Kilby Court
Way before even getting to the venue, people were warning me that Doomtree, the Minneapolis DIY hip hop collective, would be playing without their most famous member. I wasn’t worried. … read more
The Great American Beer Fest
Imagine the funnest, awesomest, most craziest playground ever. Got it? Now imagine that instead of sand on the ground, there’s concrete. Not very safe, but probably a lot better than sand because all the stuff to play with in this playground has to do with drinking beer. … read more
P.O.S. @ The Urban Lounge
I’m at the Urban Lounge early, drink in hand, waiting for the music to get started. At the smaller venues, it’s worth my time to show up this prematurely to maybe catch a glimpse of the performers while they aren’t all done up in PR mode. I don’t know why I do it—perhaps to feel included, perhaps just to reassure myself these artists who have provided essential soundtracks for my daily life are, in fact, real people. … read more
Bohemian Brewery: 1842 Pilsner
For the Bohemian Brewery to release another pilsner-style lager, on top of those familiar silver and green cans in grocery stores statewide, you know it has to be something special. Everything about this beer is handcrafted in the oldest traditional ways known. … read more
Ugly Duckling at Urban Lounge
Hip hop shows, as most people who have attended them in Utah will know, can be a mixed bag. The performance-oriented nature of hip hop creates an incredible burden for those on stage, while the crowd can act however it pleases. Usually, fans are there for the headlining act, and will not have heard of any of the openers. With that quick primer, let’s compare the acts who recently took the stage at the Urban Lounge to show us what hip hop’s all about. … read more
Starfucker @ Urban Lounge 04.19
I am so glad this band returned to their original name. The Portland dance pop squad initially altered their moniker because of the media attention they were receiving from the funloving but thorny “Starfucker” to the somewhat bland “Pyramid.” Apparently you just don’t feature a band called Starfucker in a TV commercial. With the release of their second LP (after a slew of EPs), Reptilians, the original name is back, although they will also tour as the more marquis friendly “STRFKR.” I think the original fits them. … read more
X-Dance Review: Walls of Perception
Walls of Perception
Poor Boyz Productions
X-Dance Screening: Friday, Jan. 13 @ 2:30pm
Known for making cutting-edge ski films, Poor Boyz Productions teamed up with the Oxbow surf team to make this genre-hopping surf film. … read more
X-Dance Review: The Freedom Chair (Ski)
The Freedom Chair
Switchback Entertainment
X-Dance Screening: Friday, Jan. 13 @ 8:30pm
This short film chronicles the inspiring story of Josh Dueck, a young and well respected freeskiing coach who endured a bad accident in 2004, losing forever the use of his legs. … read more
Colour Revolt, colourmusic, The Love Capades @ Kilby 09.16
I love attending shows at Kilby, and I’m always surprised when they’re under attended. This is a totally homegrown, all-ages venue near downtown with lots of national and local talent coming through all of the time. Get the fuck off your couches and go to shows at Kilby, kids! … read more
X-Dance Review: After Dark (Ski)
After Dark
Level 1 Productions
X-Dance Screening: Saturday, Jan. 14 @ 1pm
Level 1 productions offers one of the most interesting ski films I’ve seen in years. … read more
X-Dance Review: Winter (Ski)
Winter
The Ski Channel
X-Dance Screening: Saturday, Jan. 14 @ 4:30pm
This genre-spanning feature-length documentary from the Ski Channel features athletes from many fields. … read more
X-Dance Review: Denali Experiment (Ski)
Denali Experiment
The North Face
X-Dance Screening: Saturday, Jan. 14 @ 6:30pm
Part ski movie and part climbing movie, Denali Experiment features a North Face sponsored crew of professionals enduring a 10-day climb of Denali in Alaska—and then skiing down. … read more
The Devil Makes Three @ The Depot with Jonny Corndawg
The Devil Makes Three’s music is the best kind of bluegrass: raunchy, grizzled, often finger-blisteringly fast, and very, very tight––songs about alcohol, long nights, crackwhores and sinning, all played with an old-timey, string-band rhythm that keeps the feet moving. … read more
The Advantages of Being the Little Guy: Desert Edge’s Chris...
If you enter the Desert Edge Brewery at The Pub in Trolley Square from 500 East, you’ll see through a pair of double doors the untidy and cramped array of fermenters and tuns which is the playground of Head Brewer, Chris Haas. … read more
Book Reviews – November 2009
Books reviewed this month are Hakuin’s Precious Mirror Cave, Last Shop Standing and The Night In Question … read more
RJD2: No Rest For the Wicked Cool
The first time I heard RJD2 (RJ Krohn), I was at a party for the radio station where I worked as a DJ, and I wasn’t wearing any pants. The soon-to-be-ridiculously-ubiquitous single “Ghostwriter” off his Deadringer LP came over the speakers through the crowd of pantsless folk with its infectious horn lines and I could not cease my boxered booty from shaking. After going in a new, more self-reliant direction in 2007 with his last release, The Third Hand, he’s blasting back onto the scene with his newest, The Colossus. … read more
The Plight of the Utah Bar Owner
Del Vance has been an important part of beer culture in Utah for literally decades. Vance has helped found both Uinta Brewing Company and The Bayou bar in Salt Lake City—aficionados and casual drinkers alike have benefited from his love of beer. SLUG sat down with Vance to talk about the everyday challenges Vance’s business faces in a state notorious for its lack of alcohol selection, the future of Utah nightlife and that most frustrating obstacle, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (DABC). … read more
Local Reviews: Hearsay
Poppy punk chops are fun to listen to and that’s all there is to it. Doesn’t matter how high-pitched the vocals, how emo the subject matter, or how derivative the melodies. Those things are secondary. Hearsay is about playing power drums and rock guitar with energy. Perfectly moshable rhythms, staccato fills, and guttural bass punctuate the tightly structured songs. … read more
Este
When a kitchen fire tore through Este Pizzeria’s Sugarhouse location, founder Dave Heiblim had few options. In order to finance the rebirth and continuation of his New York-style establishment, he sold a franchise to then-manager Brook Lund, who had worked in pizza since he was 16 and at Este since 2005. Lund quickly set up shop downtown on 200 S. and since then, he’s been using his decade-plus of pizza experience and slinging huge slices of thin, topping-laden pie with gusto. … read more
Meditrina
To Jennifer Gilroy and Amy Britt, the couple responsible for the award-winning wine and small plate restaurant, Meditrina, it’s the personal touches that matter. After coming from backgrounds in nightclub management and the corporate sector, they started the foodie heaven in 2008 without investors, so little things are constantly improving. Having followed their own passions for food and excellent wine, they say it’s the energy of the place that makes it unique. … read more
The Odd Beer Out
Drinking delicious, locally made beer has become a no-brainer. With so much to choose from, even here behind the Zion Curtain, the consumer’s cup literally runneth over in a marketplace full of options. However, the standard styles—pilsner, stout, amber ale and hefeweizen to name a few—are no longer enough. Increasingly, brewers all over the world are pushing the envelope of what is considered normal for beer, and the results are as tasty as they are groundbreaking. … read more
The Night Shift
Making beer is a time-consuming process and some companies make so much of it, they have to be running at odd hours to meet demand—sometimes continuously. While most of Utah’s brewing companies aren’t boiling away 24/7, many do have a brewer or two who work a late night or early morning shift. SLUG wanted to see how these beer makers work so we sent three of our favorite photographers to capture the odd shifts at five Utah breweries. … read more
SB 314: Fun-Killer
During the last legislative session, Sen. Valentine introduced Senate Bill 314. This bill proposed several changes to Utah’s already convoluted liquor laws and was objected to by the Downtown Alliance, the Utah Hospitality Association and written without consulting the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Because legalese is not most people’s first language and some of the changes were very subtle, here’s a quick rundown of SB 314’s effects. … read more
Localized – August 2011
August’s Localized brings two hip hop aficionados to the Urban Lounge stage on Friday, Aug. 12. Dusk One, who co-founded local hip hop group MindState, plays alongside DJ Knucklz’ newest project, Zebrafish. Masters of Death opens the show. A mere five bucks gets you in. … read more
Outlaw Filmmaking with Damon Russell
The line between reality and fiction can get blurry while making a documentary. Having produced and worked on reality-based television series like MTV’s Made and A&E’s The First 48, Damon Russell is no stranger to the drama that occurs when cameras capture real events. When robbery boy and crack dealer Curtis Snow approached Russell to make a movie about his life, he jumped at the chance and spent the next year and a half filming documentary-style footage around Atlanta’s most dangerous neighborhood. … read more
National Music Reviews – May 2012
New and recent releases from Ane Brun, fIREHOSE, Gift of Gab, Mean Jeans, Saint Vitus, Sleepy Sun, Torche, Zammuto and many more are reviewed. … read more
Local Reviews: Pat Briggs and the T-Birds
This album reminds me of the best band you heard at a college party in the late ’90s and could never remember the name of—but I mean that in the best way. The instrumentation is softer rock, all shining guitars and thoughtful and adept rhythm-section backups. … read more
A Sustainable Future for Local Beer
Brewing beer itself is not the most environmentally friendly business—it’s a complicated process involving a lot of water, energy and movement of heavy materials. It invariably comes with a lot of waste, which is why a local brewery working hard to offset these costs, while bringing you a high quality product, means so much to people here in Utah. Uinta Brewing has been doing its part by working toward energy self-sufficiency for over a decade. … read more
Local Review: KonSICKwence & Skip Sanders
Utah hip hop just keeps getting better. I mean it. I know many of these kids have been around for a minute, but they’re hitting their strides. Utah. Jazz. is just that—full of dusky, distant piano samples over bass-heavy boom bap. … read more
Homebrew Clubs: ZZ Hops
The Zion Zymurgist Homebrew OPerative Society is the oldest brewing club in Utah, which makes them pretty special when you think of how this state used to be.
Homebrew Clubs: Lauter Day Brewers
I’d brewed with plenty of folks before, but had not envisioned something as large as this. It turns out that Lauter Day Brewers is Utah’s largest homebrew club, with around 60 dues-paying members, which ensures that every one of their events is crowded.