Panic, Relief, and a Cold Beer
Yesterday I walked down to 443 27th Street expecting my usual routine: a short stroll, a friendly hello, and maybe a six-pack or two from Salt & Hops. Instead, I was greeted by a storefront sign that read Wild Meraki. For a split second my heart sank — was Salt & Hops gone?
I stood there in denial for a moment before my eyes drifted to the east side of the building. There it was: the Salt & Hops sign, and with that my heart un-sank. I exhaled, laughed at myself, and stepped inside.
Inside, the vibe was exactly as I remembered: shelves lined with the freshest craft beer in Utah, a mix of quirky glassware, cocktail mixers, snacks, and décor that makes you want to linger. It’s not just a beer shop — it’s a place you can spend half an hour poking around, even if you only came in for one thing.
Greg, Mary, and Ping Pong
As luck would have it, Greg Evans — who co-owns Salt & Hops with Mary Rydman — was in the back office and came out to talk. We walked through the store, and he laughed while telling me about how the idea started.
“We thought if we opened a beer store, we wouldn’t have to work for the man anymore.”
Of course, he still has a full-time day job. Turns out being a small business owner doesn’t mean you stop working for the man — you just become him.
The idea for Salt & Hops grew during COVID. Greg and his wife Theresa were already running Salty Creative, their event and photography studio space inside the building, and their breaks often turned into ping pong matches and long conversations. They talked about what Ogden was missing, and one recurring answer was a proper beer boutique. On a drive back from Las Vegas, they got serious: they sketched out the business plan, applied for licenses, ordered coolers, and lined up vendors.
By February 2022, Salt & Hops officially opened its doors.
Of course, in Utah nothing involving alcohol is ever simple. State law requires beer stores to be more than 600 yards from schools, churches, or parks. By tape measure, their building sat at about 500. But by walking distance — the metric regulators ultimately used — it squeaked past 600. That odd little quirk of geography is the reason Ogden got its beer boutique.
From the beginning, they wanted Salt & Hops to feel more intentional than a convenience store beer cooler. They called it a “beer boutique” for a reason: the focus is on freshness, curation, and community.
Beer and Beyond
Salt & Hops launched with over 150 craft brews, leaning hard into local. You’ll find Ogden breweries like Rooster’s, Cerveza Zólupez, UTOG, Talisman, and Ogden River, plus a rotating mix from Salt Lake favorites like Kiito’s, Epic, Shades, Level Crossing, and Fisher.
Selections change constantly. They’ll drive down the same day a beer is canned or bottled just to make sure it’s fresh. There are always new things to try, with at least one or two fresh arrivals each week.
And the shelves aren’t just beer. There are cocktail bitters and mixers, Bloody Mary kits, local chocolates, vintage glassware, salty snacks, and quirky extras that make you smile. The “salt” in Salt & Hops doesn’t come from the Great Salt Lake — it comes from Greg and Mary’s long-running joke that beer just tastes better with salty snacks on the side.
Inclusivity also plays a role. Gluten-free options are always stocked — a nod to Mary’s wife, who has celiac disease. There are also hard kombuchas, seltzers, and low-alcohol ciders (everything capped at 5% ABV, as required by law).
Salt & Hops doesn’t just sell beer — it collaborates. They’re the exclusive local stocker of the queer art zine The LQ, and they’ve hosted record drops with Lavender Vinyl. When Level Crossing released a Frank Zappa-inspired sour, Salt & Hops paired it with vintage Mothers of Invention records, turning a beer release into a cultural event.
That creative current runs deep in everything they do. This isn’t just retail — it’s community.
A Building With Stories to Tell
The building itself has lived many lives. Built in 1948, it began as a State Farm office. Local singer-songwriter Marny Proudfit even has a relative who worked there back in its insurance days — a fun connection that ties Salt & Hops to Ogden’s present creative scene, since Marny and her partner Lex just began their own venture, Loose Wheel Coffee.
By 1989, the building had shifted into community service when it was donated to the United Way of Northern Utah. Later, in the 2010s, it became a recording studio — hosting sessions like Tim Smith of Ogden’s Own recording Johnny Cash covers with his band Underground Cash.
Greg and Theresa bought the building in 2015, gutted it, and opened Salty Creative, a flexible event and creative space. For years, it housed concerts, shoots, and studio work before transforming into Salt & Hops in 2022.
Like Ogden itself, the building has reinvented itself over and over — always finding new ways to serve people.
A Neighbor in the Old Spot
That moment of panic I had outside? It wasn’t for nothing. Where Salt & Hops once stood is now Wild Meraki, a new apothecary and paper studio. They craft herbal teas, salves, ritual bath blends, incense, and even handmade paper. On the surface, beer and botanicals might seem an odd pairing, but together they give the building a yin-yang quality: hops on one side, herbs on the other.
What started as a ping pong daydream turned into one of Ogden’s most distinctive small businesses. Salt & Hops isn’t just where you buy a six-pack. It’s a place where you can talk shop with Greg, discover a new Utah brewery, pick up a funky glass or snack, and feel connected to the people who make Ogden what it is.
And that’s the bigger picture: from a State Farm office to a United Way hub, from a recording studio to a creative space to a beer boutique, 443 27th Street has always been about people. Salt & Hops carries that torch forward — with heart, humor, and plenty of cold beer.
Next time you’re thinking of grabbing a pack of beer from Maverik or Smith’s, pause for a moment. The price might be similar, but the impact isn’t. At Salt & Hops, every dollar goes back into Ogden. It supports their dream, fuels their collaborations with local breweries and artists, and keeps our city’s creative heartbeat strong.
So skip the chain cooler and head to 27th Street. Grab a cold one, pick up a salty snack, and see for yourself why Salt & Hops has already become a neighborhood staple.
NOTES FROM THE HORSE
“Neigh.”
Until next time,
Raw, weird, and local.
