Utah’s first Black-owned brewery moving to Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — Utah’s first Black-owned craft brewery is leaving southwestern Utah and moving to Salt Lake City.

Policy Kings Brewery is owned and operated by Deandre and Sara Ridgel. The husband-and-wife duo opened Cedar City’s only craft brewery in 2018. First, it was a two-barrel operation, but it quickly grew to five.

“We outgrew our space three years ago, and we couldn’t find any commercial space down here,” Sara Ridgel told ABC4.

After trying to find another home in southern Utah, where Sara grew up, the couple opted to move their business to the state’s capital, in part because of its flourishing craft beer scene.

“Beer is normalized up there. Craft beer is accepted,” Ridgel said. “It’s a part of people’s everyday lives. It’s community for them, like it should be.”

Policy Kings plans to open in Salt Lake City this fall in the hip 900 South area, not far from Scion Cider.

Black-owned business

Policy Kings derives its name from the prohibition era in Chicago, when an illegal game of chance called “policy” — similar to today’s lottery — was extremely popular among the Black community.

The racketeering syndicate behind the game, known as the Policy Kings, made millions, and they put that money back into their community.

Policy Kings aims to honor that notion of giving back.

“We’re kind of going down that same path …. creating something similar, jobs and opportunities,” Ridgel said.

Being a Black-owned business comes with its challenges in Utah, in which Black Utahns are a little more than 1% of the state’s population.

According to Ridgel, people sometimes don’t trust the quality of their beer like they might another brewery.

“A lot of times it has to be validated, they have to be told by someone else that it was good,” she said. “That’s with a lot of Black businesses, not just being a brewery.”

Even so, the Ridgels are excited about moving to a place that is more diverse and home to other minority-owned businesses.

Art & Food

Similar to their current set-up in Cedar City, Policy Kings plans to have murals in their new location showcasing Black culture, with images of icons like Prince, Nipsey Hustle, and Kobe Bryant.

They also will continue to hold events, ranging from live music to Juneteenth celebrations.

“It’s just going to be an all-around cultural, fun experience,” Ridgel said.

The move will also provide them with a kitchen, something they didn’t have down south. This will allow Policy Kings to serve food alongside beer and cocktails.

Currently, Policy Kings has a Kickstarter page to raise money for the kitchen. Those who donate can potentially be a part of creating the art that’ll be in the new brewery space.

Leaving southern Utah

With Policy Kings leaving Cedar City, there’ll be no craft brewery left in the town renowned for its Shakespeare festival.

The nearest craft breweries to Cedar City, according to Utah Ale Trail , are in Springdale and St. George, both roughly an hour’s drive away.

The economy in southern Utah, Ridgel said, is heavily dependent on summer tourism, and the cold months can be tough.

“People just stop drinking in the winter down here,” Ridgel said.

Still, Policy Kings is grateful to have built community and beer culture in Iron County.

“We appreciate all our southern Utah and Cedar City drinkers,” Ridgel said. “We’ll never take that for granted.”

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