Bewilder Brewing Co.
“I grew up here, just kind of feral, snowboarding all winter, skateboarding, camping and four-wheel-drive exploring in the summer, always outside.” Cody McKendrick, the owner of Bewilder Brewing Co., is Salt Lake City through and through. He was raised in the Brickyard and Sugar House area, the kind of childhood that revolved around seasons rather than schedules. It was an active, unscripted upbringing that shaped the way he still approaches life and work - curious, hands-on, and deeply rooted in place.
Cody attended the University of Utah where he completed a dual major in marketing and organizational communication in an unusually short amount of time, graduating in 2003. Organizational communication, a field focused on how groups function, exposed him to the study of social movements, religions, business culture, and systems of people working together. It was intense. He worked full time while finishing two degrees, and by the time he graduated, he was burned out and ready to slow down.
Early jobs reflected both Cody's interests and his work ethic. He worked in sports photography, shooting team photos and covering events for the University, the Mountain West Conference, and projects tied to the 2002 Olympics. In the winters, he worked at his local snowboard shop. Later, he moved into retail sales at Circuit City where the unusual schedule allowed him to work seven days on and seven days off. He used those off weeks the only way he knew how - snowboarding in winter, camping and exploring Utah’s back country in summer.
Eventually, Cody transitioned into business-to-business sales as an account manager for a commercial printer that specialized in direct mail marketing. Many of his clients were in the homebuilding industry, and when that industry collapsed in 2007, he felt the impact directly. Financial pressure forced him to sell his house and briefly move back home. It was a difficult moment, but also a turning point. Around that time, a friend introduced him to homebrewing.
What began as a hobby quickly became an obsession. There was only one homebrew supply store in the area, it was always busy, and Cody recognized both the energy around brewing and the opportunity. With a background in retail and a long-standing desire to be self-employed, he spent the next year developing a business plan. In 2011, he and Ross Metzger, a lifelong friend, opened Salt City Brew Supply in Midvale. The shop took off immediately, growing so quickly that they outgrew their space within three years, moved into a larger location, and then opened a second store in Ogden. At its height, the business employed around twenty-five people and became one of the largest homebrew retailers west of the Mississippi.
As Cody watched customers evolve from homebrewers into commercial brewers, the next idea began to take shape. If they were helping so many people start breweries, why not do it themselves? Around 2015, he and Ross began laying the groundwork. Ross had grown up two houses away from Cody. They trusted each other completely. Ross brought strengths in marketing, graphic design, and big-picture thinking, complementing Cody’s operational instincts and brewing knowledge.
After years of planning, they secured financing, signed a lease, and built out their space. Bewilder Brewing Co. opened at the end of December 2019, just two months before the world shut down. COVID changed everything overnight. With no ability to sell beer off-site and a downtown location suddenly emptied of people, survival required quick adaptation. They scraped together funding for a small canning machine and began packaging beer, a move that quite literally kept the brewery alive.
The homebrew industry, meanwhile, was changing. Interest declined, online retail surged, and COVID accelerated consumer reliance on delivery. By 2024, Cody made the difficult decision to close the Salt Lake homebrew store in order to focus fully on the brewery. The Ogden store had already been sold to a longtime employee, and Cody felt strongly that one healthy local shop was better than two struggling ones. The remaining store continues to serve the homebrewing community, and the relationship remains collaborative and supportive.
Today, Bewilder Brewing Co produces just under 1,000 barrels of beer a year. The focus has never been aggressive growth or wide distribution. Instead, the emphasis is on quality, freshness, and beers meant to be enjoyed in the space itself. About six core beers anchor the menu, supported by rotating seasonals and experimental one-offs. Among them is Dos Hazy Boi, a hazy double IPA that has won back-to-back gold medals at the International Beer Awards, yet is still consumed almost entirely on site or in a handful of closely aligned accounts.
Cody describes their approach simply - make traditional, well-executed beers that people can count on. A robust reverse-osmosis water system allows the team to tailor water profiles to match classic European styles, creating beers that taste as close as possible to their origins. Kölsch malt is sourced from Cologne, English malt for their ESB comes directly from England, and yeast and hops are selected with equal care. It is quiet precision, not trend chasing.
The brewery’s food menu reflects the same philosophy. It is intentionally simple, with a German-inspired pub focus designed to match the scale of the kitchen and the nature of the space. Bratwursts and sausages, schnitzel, smash burgers, salads, and their most popular item - a giant Bavarian pretzel served with house-made beer cheese - anchor the offerings. Wherever possible, ingredients are sourced locally, including sausages from Tooele Valley Meats, beef from Main Street Meats, bread from Salt City Baking, and pastrami and corned beef from a producer in Logan.
The building itself carries more than a century of history. Originally a Western Electric warehouse, it later became a telecommunications hub and eventually a series of music venues. When Cody and Ross took it on, windows were cinder-blocked, layers of paint covered brick and beams, and the work required to restore it was extensive. Sixty thousand pounds of sand were used to strip the space back to its bones. The goal was not polish, but warmth and character - a place that felt lived in and welcoming.
That atmosphere is reinforced by one defining feature - darts. Rather than leaning into trends, they built one of the best steel-tip dart rooms in the city, inspired by the feel of an English pub. Dart leagues, including Beehive Sports, bring regulars in weekly, and the space welcomes everyone. Cody often talks about how meaningful it is to see families, long-term regulars, and people of all abilities sharing the room together.
Ross was deeply involved in the brewery’s early years, handling branding, marketing, and design. While he later stepped away from day-to-day operations, he remains a close collaborator and confidant. Cody still talks to him daily. Ross now works as a project manager at O.C. Tanner, bringing his entrepreneurial experience into a different arena.
The name Bewilder was chosen deliberately. After discarding ideas that were unavailable or legally complicated, they kept returning to a word that felt flexible and open. Bewilder contains “wild” inside “beer.” People pronounce it differently. Some say Bewilder, some say Be-Wilder. Cody does not mind. The ambiguity invites conversation and allows the brand to stretch without being boxed in. If something feels a little unexpected, that is the point.
Despite awards, loyal customers, and steady growth, Cody is candid about the realities of the business. The margins are tight. The work is relentless. COVID left lasting financial scars, and unexpected setbacks still appear. Yet he remains committed to doing things deliberately, sustainably, and with integrity. He has seen too many breweries expand too quickly and collapse under the weight of their own growth. “I would rather be the tortoise than the hare - just keep plodding along slowly, making really good beer, staying within our means, and building something that lasts.”
