If you weren’t at our Best of the Best (of the Best) SLC Mixer you missed something special.  Beehive Cheese, Creminelli Fine Meats, Charming Beard Coffee, Uinta Brewing and High West Distillery came together under the same roof to tell their story and share their flavors with 50 people at the Uinta Brewpub.

All of these brands have a few things in common – 1.  Obsession over ingredients.  Each product is more expensive than other brands within its category because of the high quality ingredients.  2.  Small(er) Batches – Each brand works in smaller, hand-crafted batches allowing for more TLC in every bite/drink.  3.  Their business models revolve around a love for whiskey, beer, coffee, salumi, and cheese (respectively), not money.  Money is a part of it, but I have a feeling these folks would be doing this even without the success they’re experiencing.

These are five of the best tasting things coming from Utah.  There are a lot of great brands around here, but on this night, we celebrate these five.

We started the evening with a cup of Charming Beard Coffee served up by owner/roaster Levi Rogers.  Every attendee tasted the Uganda Kabum Co-op from this, the first third wave coffee roaster in SLC.

Charming Beard Coffee fact:  Charming Beard was formerly named La Barba Coffee.  Why the change?  La Barba partnered up with Sam DuRegger, (full disclosure) Becky and me.  It’s still the same great taste you knew from La Barba with a new name.  It’s available at Caputo’s.

Steve Kuftinec served us beer all night and he also just happens to be the owner of Uinta Brewing.  This is what we love about Salt Lake City.  Our greatest local brands have owners that are super accessible and willing to share their story in a room of 50 thirsty people.

Uinta fact: Uinta is expanding their production facility.  They’re currently one of the top 50 largest craft brewers in the country.  However, a little perspective:  Anheuser-Busch producers in 18 minutes what Uinta produces in one year.

Cristiano is the personality-filled owner of the Creminelli Fine Meats.  His family has been making salami for hundreds and hundreds of years and it shows clearly in the excellence with which he crafts his products.  If you haven’t had Creminelli, they’re in Whole Foods nationwide.  Stop reading this and go buy some.

Creminelli fact:  In Cristiano’s words, the pork in Utah are better quality than the pork he had access to in Italy.  He believes, and many agree, that the salami he’s making tastes better than what is coming from anywhere in Italy.

Jess Perrie is a cheese chemist at Beehive Cheese.  If you’ve never talked with a cheese chemist, I highly recommend it.  You’ll learn everything you never knew was possible to know about something you never would have thought was so complex.  Does that make sense?

Beehive Cheese fact:  Jess told Charming Beard co-owner Sam DuRegger that eating the cheeses she brought are acceptable to eat for those who are lactose intolerant.  After that, Sam had the best cheese-filled night of his life.

David Perkins, like all of these folks, is very unsuspecting in the best possible way.  He’ll chat with you for a while about anything it seems.  He’s incredibly accessible and willing to talk about his whiskey.  In fact, he took me on a tour of his distillery in Park City and educated me on the process of distilling with a passion that makes you want to drink High West every day (in reasonable quantities) for the rest of your life.  His passion is incredible and his Whiskeys are stunning.

High West fact:  Martha Stewart likes High West (and Uinta).  It fits the High West brand really well.  High West as an old-west/outlaw sort of vibe to its brand suitable for convicts and ex-cons.

If you were one of the lucky fifty who made it out, thanks.  If you weren’t, do yourself a favor and seek out these brands.  Join us for a future SLC Mixers event.  Our spring calendar is coming soon.