Joey Cardaccio, service manager at Slackwater Sandy, joins Utah Beer News for another episode of our 3 Beers with Joey video series.

Each month, Cardaccio will chat with us about three new or noteworthy beers worth checking out. Here are the three beers selected for November 2021:

• Pumpkin Spice Latte (Pipeworks Brewing)
• Sword of Surtr — Imperial Pastry Stout (Mason Ale Works)
• Heavy Metal Parking Lot — Black Lager (SaltFire Brewing)

About the Utah Beer News Virtual Taproom

Utah Beer News conducts 15-minute video interviews with brewers, breweries, and everyday imbibers. These brief conversations are recorded virtually. They are uploaded the same day (or the next day) to the Utah Beer News YouTube channel.

Instead of the more in-depth interviews and brewery histories typical of the Utah Beer News Podcast episodes and Brewery Profile articles, these bite-sized conversations feature so-called “newsy” information. We talk about new beer releases, upcoming events, and general happenings in and around Utah’s craft breweries.

If you’re a brewer or brewery representative — or even an everyday imbiber with a story to share — and would like to participate in an upcoming episode, please fill out the contact form.

Audio Version

Slackwater Sandy Transcript (November 2021)

The following is a slightly edited transcript of our conversation. And here’s a previous article we wrote about Slackwater Sandy.

[Tim Haran]

Hey there everyone. Thank you for joining Utah Beer News for the latest in our one-on-one conversations with local brewers, breweries, and everyday imbibers. I’m Tim Haran, the founder of Utah Beer News. And we are back for our regular check-in with Joey Cardaccio, the service manager at Slackwater Pub & Pizzeria in Sandy.

Welcome back, Joey.

[Joey Cardaccio]

Hey, thanks, how are you doing, Tim?

[Tim Haran]

I’m doing great. It’s November. Thanks, as always, for taking the time to talk with Utah Beer News.

Before we get started, congratulations to Slackwater Sandy on celebrating its two-year anniversary.

[Joey Cardaccio]

Yeah, today, Nov. 4 is two years to the day since we opened the doors down here. And it’s been quite, quite the two years.

[Tim Haran]

That’s what I was going to ask. What have the last two years been like for you at Slackwater?

[Joey Cardaccio]

Well, I mean, it started out normal, you know.

[Tim Haran]

Yeah, you had a couple good months there before everything kind of went sideways.

[Joey Cardaccio]

And then we had Covid hit. We closed for six weeks completely. Came in and deep cleaned everything and kind of revamped the restaurant even though we’d only been open for a few months at that point. Five months.

And then we reopened, I believe we reopened on May 1. We closed down the day before St. Patrick’s Day. Reopened around May 1 and then just been getting at it ever since. Busier and busier every day. One of the lucky ones, you know.

[Tim Haran]

Well, yeah, happy anniversary.

OK. For viewers and listeners, I generally don’t know which beers you’re going to highlight until a few minutes before we start recording. And you sent me the picture today and I had to catch my breath. This is quite the trio from the can art alone, from the labels alone. I can’t wait to learn more about them.

What’s the first one you want to talk about?

[Joey Cardaccio]

The first one is from Pipeworks Brewing, they’re in Chicago. We have a couple of their beers and it’s brand new into Utah. This is their Spice Latte.

So it’s a pumpkin spice latte-inspired beer. It’s 6.6%, it’s an oat ale with pumpkins, coffee, lactose, vanilla, clove, ginger, so all the spices are involved. Pretty spicy, it’s pretty hoppy, but it’s really, really well-balanced.

It’s just a really nice fall beer if you’re into the pumpkin spice craze you’d probably love this beer.

[Tim Haran]

Yeah, and it’s probably got kind of a creamy mouthfeel to it, I would imagine?

[Joey Cardaccio]

A little bit. It has lactose but I don’t get much of the lactose, honestly, but there’s just a super subtle coffee note to it. But it’s really, really good. I like it. It’s a lot of spice and some hops, well-balanced though. Really good.

[Tim Haran]

OK, the second one?

[Joey Cardaccio]

Next, I’ve got the Sword of Surtr from Mason Ale Works. Mason Ale Works is in San Diego. They are the ones that own — or the other way around — Beer Zombies, which is at The Gateway.

We just got a crop of about six different Mason Ale Works beers and they’re exclusive to Slackwater here and Slackwater in Ogden.

So this one I’m featuring, the Sword of Surtr is 13%. It’s an imperial pastry stout. Coffee, cacao, and it says on the can chocolate sandwich cookies, so basically Oreos. I guess they can’t use that word.

[Tim Haran]

Yeah, the lawyers probably said no Oreos.

[Joey Cardaccio]

And marshmallow. It’s obviously pretty sweet, a sweet pastry stout. To me, it’s subtle coffee on it. But really nice, if you’re into big, heavy, sweet stouts, this is a must-try for sure. Again, 13%.

[Tim Haran]

Yeah, that’s one you might want to split with somebody after dinner. After a pizza, enjoy that one with a friend.

[Joey Cardaccio]

And then last, I have a new local from our friends at SaltFire. Their collaboration with the Heavy Metal Shop in Salt Lake.

This is the Heavy Metal Parking Lot. So this is a black lager. This is 6.66%. Very metal. Malty, malty, slightly sweet, a little bit of a complex finish. Just a nice, pretty crushable dark lager.

It’s kind of a style that you don’t see too many, too many of floating around, so that’s why when I saw they released it, oh this would be good to sell because we don’t have too many dark lagers.

[Tim Haran]

Nice. Well, those are three awesome beers we’ll have to check out at Slackwater. Before we wrap up the 3 Beers, what else do you have going on this month at Slackwater?

[Joey Cardaccio]

This month we have a tap takeover with RoHa. They’ll be here on Wednesday, Nov. 17. 5 o’clock until close, we’ll have four of their drafts on for $4 a pint. They’ll be here representing, probably with some swag, hanging out and talking beers. So that will be a fun night. That’s on the 17th.

[Tim Haran]

OK. Awesome, very good. We’re getting into the holiday season, too, so I’m excited to see kind of what the brewers come out with for the holidays, some special one-offs or things to take to holiday gatherings and parties and things like that. It’s going to be fun to see.

[Joey Cardaccio]

I’m already dropping sours and adding stouts.

[Tim Haran]

There you go. Great. Well, yeah, be sure to visit Slackwater in November to enjoy any of these three beers.

Follow Slackwater on social media and check out its current beer list on its website and on Untappd. It’s always changing. I get notifications almost daily about new ones you’re adding to the list, so it’s very cool.

Thanks, Joey.

[Joey Cardaccio]

Yeah, you got it.