Kiitos Brewing, based in the Granary District, is building a second location — this one in the Sugar House area. And now that there are two Kiitos logos painted in the front windows of the new building, word about the brewery’s growing footprint is starting to spread.
Owner Andrew Dasenbrock said that he likes to prop the door open while he is working, and it’s common for people to pop their heads in and introduce themselves. “Everybody seems to be pretty excited,” he said.
That friendliness between neighbors seems to be in keeping with the vision that Dasenbrock has for the new Kiitos at 1533 S. 1100 East in Salt Lake City.
He said while the look of the original Kiitos at 608 W. 700 South is more industrial, in keeping with the rest of the Granary District, the new location is going to be based on old “public houses,” which is where the word “pub” comes from.
“Back in England and even early America, ‘public house’ was someone’s actual house, and you would go to their house and they would have beer or whiskey and you would hang out in their kitchen and their living room,” Dasenbrock said. “And you’d talk to your neighbors and meet your neighbors and talk politics and all these things. ... That’s really want we want to create here.”
Whether people come in to Kiitos for a cold beer or a cup of coffee, Dasenbrock wants to “create an environment that fosters conversation,” he said.
Like the Granary District location, the Sugar House location will be influenced by its unique history. The building was a sewing machine repair shop for more than 40 years, and it has been gutted to its original infrastructure.
Dasenbrock said they plan to keep all of the exposed brick, the red and beige checkerboard flooring, and the original sign, which reads “Shingleton’s.”
“There’s very little we’ll be changing,” he said. “We want to keep this as preserved as possible.”
Business manager Jamie Kearns said they have even been collecting vintage sewing machines and other implements to use as decor to “pay homage to what it used to be.” And they also have plans to paint a mural on the exterior that will incorporate sewing machines in some way.
There have been some construction headaches, though, in the form of engineering and architectural delays, as well as the discovery that there currently is not enough electricity flowing to the building to support a business.
Kearns said their tentative opening date will be sometime in the fall, after they can build two restrooms and the bar itself.
Expanding Kiitos
As the new Sugar House Kiitos location comes on board, some changes also will be in the works at the original brewery and elsewhere around the Salt Lake Valley.
Before COVID-19, Dasenbrock had a plan to expand Kiitos into multiple new locations. “We were sailing through clear skies and had a map ahead of us,” he said. But once the pandemic hit, he said, “we were just in the middle of a storm with absolutely no data on how big the storm was or how long it was going to last.”
Opening the new Kiitos in Sugar House is the first phase in getting that expansion plan back on track. Dasenbrock said he also plans to open a new Kiitos location in the “heart of downtown” Salt Lake City, and then somewhere south of Sandy for a part of the valley he describes as “underserved.” Once those locations open, there will be a total of four Kiitos brewpubs.
“Each location will keep the Kiitos brand and the Kiitos hospitality level that we try and provide at our location currently,” he said. “But the building and the atmosphere will need to match the neighborhood, if you will.”
While the food situation is “picnic style” at the original Kiitos, where patrons are free to bring in their own, the new Sugar House location will have an oven in which to eventually make food, Kearns said. Kiitos also plans to get a full liquor license at the east-side location, so they can serve all their high-point beer, as well as cocktails.
Kearns said they plan to create beer cocktails, like adding their Salt-N-Pickle beer to a bloody mary. They would be “still promoting our own beer, but making more fun things with it,” she said. Once they secure a liquor license for the Sugar House location, they also plan to get a liquor license at their Granary District brewery.
Fans of the pinball machines at the original Kiitos can rejoice: The new location will have about five machines in the back room. And Kearns said they plan to feature art at the new location, too, with rotating displays by local artists.
Dasenbrock said COVID-19 was “like a gift from God for introverts,” with hardly anyone going out to socialize. But he said he is “optimistic [that] trend of isolation will start shifting.” He said he hopes the new Kiitos location can be part of that shift, as a place where “you can walk down the street and chat with your neighbors, get back to that again.”
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