Utara Brewing Company

Not at all what was expected, based on the website. Newly remodelled taproom, wood and steel. Open to brewing area.. 6 house taps, neighborhood vibe. Pretty cool place.

I dropped in at Utara a couple months back when passing through Sandpoint. They’ve got a nice taproom with a bit of an industrial vibe because the brewhouse shares the same space. There’s a big wood bar and a nice outdoor area; overall it’s a reasonably big taproom considering the size of the place. It’s also a curry house, and I regret having eaten just before I got here, because it smelled absolutely great in there — gonna have to come hungry next time!

On my visit, they had 11 beers on tap: 5 IPAs of various descriptions, two pale ales, a Czech lager, an American lager, an amber, and a porter. So, not a huge breadth of styles, but if you’re after hops this might be your place. The porter was okay, but the hazy IPA I had was totally solid. Service was friendly, and I’m definitely gonna stop in again the next time I’m passing through town.

Located in downtown Sandpoint this establishment serves tasty Indian food. The selection of beers was average for a brewery. The quality of the beer I had was above average. Vibe was very laid-back with some standard seating and some comfy living room style seating.

a really unique place here, right in downtown sandpoint and definitely a place to add to your list when you are here. its a tiny place, easy to drive right by, but they have a really unique thing going on, its a very creative brewery, but also a curry house, and they have a neat food menu to accompany the clever beer. the inside is like a lot of other small working breweries, a garage door letting some air in, the bar adjacent to the brew house, which is all open to see, smells like wort, kitchen in the back, a charming little patio area with three or four picnic tables out front, possibly more seating out back but didnt check it out, and a real welcoming homey vibe. the curry part was awesome, we had some vindaloo fries, but could have been happy with anything on the menu, they were excellent and now i want to go back for dinner! the beers were thoughtful as well, a pineapple and habanero pale ale with very natural flavors and a little kick, a gin barrel aged ipa that was incredibly botanical forward, and a solid hoppy czech lager, covering a lot of ground in terms of flavors in this place, and i love that. the service was quite good, the brewer even stopped his work to chat with us about a couple recipes quick, and we had an amazing time playing cards outside in the afternoon. i think the unique food really helps make this place memorable, but the beer was very good too, and it was one of the best breweries we had never heard of before from our northwest road trip! not to be missed, and show up hungry!