Two new Salt Lake City bars — one in Sugar House and one in the downtown Peery Hotel — as well as a Moab bar and Logan’s second brewery have received their liquor licenses.
The commission of the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services (DABS), which had its monthly meeting on Thursday, had six bar applicants this month and only four licenses available to give out.
The commissioners awarded licenses to:
• Scovilles, at 2121 McClelland St., in Sugar House. Projected opening May 1.
• Rooted Vine, at 137 N. Main St., in Moab. Projected opening May 1.
• Spritz!, inside the Peery Hotel at 110 W. 300 South, in downtown Salt Lake City. Projected opening April 5.
• Home Range Brewing, at 186 N. Main St., in Logan. Projected opening Oct. 1.
The two businesses whose applications were denied are Blues Katz Rock & Roll Grill in St. George, which is already licensed as a full-service restaurant; and The Manor F&B, a resort development in Summit County.
Scovilles will be a sports bar that plans to serve chicken wings with a variety of spice levels, as well as other food, according to the bar’s website.
The co-founder of Home Range Brewing spoke at the meeting and said they plan to be Logan’s first “taproom-focused brewery” — Prodigy Brewing Co. is the other brewery located in Logan. He also said Home Range Brewing — located in a 100-year-old building that’s being refurbished — plans to highlight local ingredients, including local grain and local hops. It’s more likely that Home Range Brewing will be open sometime between October and December, he said.
The owner of Spritz! also spoke, and said her bar will be centered around spritz drinks, like the classic Aperol spritz, common in Italy. She said she thought the downtown Salt Lake City bar scene was “loud and clubby and kind of basic,” whereas Spritz! aims to create a “fun and safe kind of quirky environment.”
The commission denied Blues Katz Rock & Roll Grill a full bar license because it’s already in business as a restaurant and has had two liquor violations, according to the DABS: one instance of having more than two alcoholic beverages in front of a patron at one time and allowing patrons to consume alcohol away from the table, in July 2023; and one instance where patrons were served alcohol away from a table with no intent to dine, in December 2023.
The commission denied The Manor F&B a license at this meeting because it would be serving alcohol only to members of the finished resort and its golf course. The Manor F&B had hoped to get what’s called a bar equity license, which applies to members-only establishments and allows for alcoholic beverages to be served at up to five “dispensing areas,” said DABS spokesperson Michelle Schmitt. Bar equity licenses count against the state’s bar license quota, she added.
The next meeting of the commission is April 25, when it will have one liquor license available to award. As part of the liquor omnibus bill that the governor signed earlier this month, the new quota calculation will bring additional licenses starting in July, Schmitt said.
The bill set out a plan to lower, over seven years, the population quota used to determine how many bar and restaurant licenses the DABS commission can grant.
