Proper Brewing Co. | Salt Lake City, UT
Beer Trip: Proper Brewing Co. in Salt Lake City, Utah
While visiting Chris’s cousin Erica and her husband Tristan during a work trip to Salt Lake City, they wanted to show us a new brewery we hadn’t been to previously. Having visited the city several times before, it was actually surprising to find another new place. Proper Brewing Co. comes with great food, solid beer, and a fun atmosphere - it’s easy to see why this place is becoming a local hot spot.
The Brewery
Proper is in a cool, brick facility just south of downtown SLC and has quite a bit of parking around it. You truly can’t miss this place with its massive Proper Brewing mural painted down the entire side of the building! There is no outdoor area here, but the indoor space is where you’d want to be anyway. The back wall is complete with a 12-person bar and windows overlooking the brewery itself, while the remainder of the seating area has large tables meant for sharing.
Awesome mural along the wall of the building!
The other half of the brewery feels like it’s straight out of a Dave and Buster’s! There is Skee-Ball, arcade games, pinball, and two pool tables (pool happens to be free on Monday nights, bringing in many people)! The other neat thing about Proper is that they are licensed as a bar, which means you can carry your drink around inside - this is ‘hit or miss’ in Utah, but really changes the feel of a place when you’re stuck in your seat.
Bar area
Gaming area fit for a king!
The Beer
Offering roughly a dozen beers on tap and just as many in cans, one can easily find something to their liking here. While travelers like us typically go for draft options, in Utah anything above 5% ABV is only offered in a can - so it’s important to keep those in mind when making a selection! All of the choices at Proper are listed on their black boards above the bar and, while they have some great artwork on each option, they are a little tough to read the styles of beer. Roughly one third of the menu is various forms of IPAs, but they also had tons of European styles such as Belgian and English Ales and Czech lagers.
With the vast range of styles, it made for quite the range - which was a lot of fun for the palate! Our top beer from Proper was actually not one tried onsite, but rather one that Chris flew back with. The Hopothetical IPA was incredibly smooth for an IPA, with a citrus and bitter combination. It doesn’t sound like much, but the flavor profile was really unique. Another different option tried was the Red Headed Stranger. This red ale was actually kegged on nitro, giving it a smoothness you would expect along with a toasted coffee flavor.
Many options available, but unfortunately not enough time to try them all!
Food, Merch, & More
Delicious burgers and onion rings
To keep its bar designation, Proper very cleverly has an entire separate building across the parking lot where they take food orders. Offering tons of fantastic burger and fry combinations, you can order at the restaurant side and then they’ll deliver it to the brewery. In addition to serving beer, they also have a full bar and can make you just about anything.
To top everything off, there is a separate merchandise area here located to the side of the brewery that features glassware, shirts, and one of every color of hat you could think of! All of this, paired with their large selection of canned beer to go, are things you’ll want to be sure to take advantage of (we certainly did)!
Huge collection of hats available!
While likely not as trafficked as many of the Salt Lake City breweries, we were told that Proper Brewing is quickly gaining in popularity - and we can certainly see why.
Cheers!
Plenty of to-go beers available (which we made sure to pack for the plane ride home)!
