Sacred Beer

Mikkeller Single Hop series is back.

2011-06-30T15:45:00.000-07:00

My latest discovery.

2011-04-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

STL Taverns, in which some saucy local drinkers endeavor to document the area's more traditional corner bars. You can contribute, review and browse dives, sports bars, lounges, and of course taverns of note from the Innerbelt to the East Side. The simple prose of the guide serves the subject matter well, and reveals that the writers to be no mere slummers.

These are proper old-school bars. Chances are you won't find much craft beer in these establishments, but you will find lots of character and a link to a timeless part of St. Louis that's easy to forget about. After all, these businesses don't always have websites and Twitter feeds.

I like the simplicity of this website's maps. Instead of listing every neighborhood and municipality, the authors (thus far--it's a work in progress) have used colloquialisms to designate areas. For example, everything south-central from 44 down to Bevo is just "Tower Grove," and "State Streets" is, well, where you'd expect it to be. "North City" could use a few more divisions, though, setting apart the North of Downtown area and The Ville/MLK at least. And maybe S. Broadway should be its own category. (Ok, so I'm a map freak.)

Anyhoo, great site. This weekend, try to work a corner bar into your plans. They're inexpensive, and they're the lifeblood of Old Saint Louis. Be friendly and keep it simple. I recommend the Busch cans.

I can make stuff.

2010-11-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

I just made pumpkin muffins.

I mean, I got a pumpkin, cleaned it out, cut it up, baked it, pureed it, mixed it with pumpkin ale and a bunch of other stuff, poured the mix into a muffin pan and stuck it in the oven until it became muffins.

And they were delicious.

If you knew what a terrible cook I was, you'd understand: this is significant. Maybe I'm not a cook, but a baker. That must be it. I am a baker. I bake. Feel the power.

(Credit is of course due to seven cookbooks, the internet, my wife who was in the next room, and to whomever at Schlafly posted Andy White's Pumpkin Ale Bread recipe on Twitpic. Thank you, thank you all.)

Coffee Stout tapped today at the Tap Room!

2010-10-22T02:09:00.000-07:00

Coffee Stout tapped today at the Tap Room!
Coffee Stout tapped today at the Tap Room!
Coffee Stout tapped today at the Tap Room!
Coffee Stout tapped today at the Tap Room!
Coffee Stout tapped today at the Tap Room!
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Pete Brown nails it. Again.

2010-07-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

My favorite English beer writer wrote a post recently about the World Cup idiocy involving ABInBev and the Dutch brewer Bavaria. It's a rant to be sure, but it's not some casual AB bash. It's a story that is truly, as he says, scary.

I am so proud.

2010-06-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Check out this great story (and an even better video segment) produced by the BBC about local brewers reclaiming our city's beer heritage. The BBC!!

Somewhat less amazing, but nonetheless cool, is me in the Sunday New York Times. The Royale was listed as one of two bars to hit if you have only 36 hours in Saint Louis (the other being Fred's Six Feet Under), and there's a picture of me pouring beer for a few of my favorite people.

The Schlafly "Sale"

2010-06-24T04:29:00.000-07:00

Everybody take a deep breath. The Saint Louis Brewery, makers of Schlafly Beer, is not, repeat, not for sale. For some reason, the owners thought it would be a good idea to let the world in on their inner workings a bit, and the story got all crazified. The owners are planning ahead--years ahead--for their retirement, and to ensure that the brewery doesn't end up in the wrong hands, the very long process of eventually selling the biz to senior management has begun. That is it. I'm not buying it, ABInBev's not buying it, some faceless investment bogeyman isn't buying it--the biz is staying in the family. Period. Now go have a beer.

iTap Soulard

2010-06-10T05:05:00.000-07:00

Hooray for the International Tap House guys! For bringing good beer to the Chesterfield Valley, for being successful enough to open a second location, and for having the wisdom to open that second location in the City near my house. Methinks I will be catching quite a few World Cup games there this month.

Opens Thursday June 17th.

Almost forgot

2010-01-11T10:18:00.001-08:00

There's a new Dave Bailey joint opening up downtown, next door to Left Bank Books and down the street from Bailey's excellent spot Rooster. The Bridge will be opening sometime this month. The Post has this blurb about it (http://tinyurl.com/y9g8u7v) and that's all I know. Dave knows his beer, so this "tap house and wine bar" should have an excellent selection.

January

2010-01-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hello again. The holidays are finally over--well, The Holidays are over. Personal celebrations continue unabated, filling up my schedule like a dance card.

Like Burns Night at the Tap Room on Jan. 25th. Scotch ale, Scotch whisky, scotch eggs, bagpipes and haggis. And my mother-in-law drumming in the pipe band! Best way to start the new year.

Then there's my buddy Joey Finn's 30th birthday at some dive bar on the Southside. Joe isn't really my buddy, though--he's family. He's the seventh Thenhaus. He's the only non-blood relative who can walk into my parents house, grab a sandwich and a beer, park it at the kitchen table and watch the game and no one bats an eye. Happy birthday, brother.

Two more occasions at the Tap Room follow. The Royale is having their "Xmas party" there next week, and then Schlafly holds their annual Employee Reunion party the week after. Good thing it's one of my favorite places.

This month of fun winds up with my old man's retirement party. Thirty-four years and two months of working for the Veteran's Administration and now he gets to put his feet up. Which of course he won't do. He'll still be running around his back yard chasing my two-year-old, helping me put my house back together, and climbing onto his roof every Christmas to put the damn huge star up. Saturday the 30th, we'll try to get to sit down and enjoy himself in his own home, surrounded by all of us ne'er-do-wells, raising a glass in his honor. Congratulations, Dad. You made it.

This past week and a half...

2009-11-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

...has been sooooo great! I declared the beginning of The 12 Days of Halloween back on Oct 23rd and turns out I wasn't kidding. Two bonfires, two costumes, one street festival, one punk rock flea market, two pork bellies, two private tastings, one beer dinner, and one awesome little kid in a monkey costume saying "Me need more candy, Dada. Me got bellyache. More candy make me feel better." Halloween fucking rules.

A big glass of witch's brew raised to the following quality establishments.
The Amsterdam Tavern
The Schlafly Tap Room
Sandrina's
Binge & Purge
Duff's Restaurant
The Royale Food & Spirits
Foam
Buck's house
Whitey's house
Dylan's house
The Fortune Teller Bar ;)

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

This month, I would just like to point out that this Saturday is the greatest of all holidays, Halloween. Grab some pumpkin ale or some mulled wine or some smoky whisk(e)y and Come As You Aren't!

Also, the day after All Hallow's Eve is pretty cool too. On Cherokee Street, there will be a Day of the Dead celebration all up and down the strip. This is a great opportunity to check out the amazing variety of shops and joints that are thriving on Cherokee now. I love watching this neighborhood come back to life. I'll be hitting the punk rock flea market at Binge & Purge, Sam Coffey's open house, La Vallesana for some lengua and Jarritos, and best of all, the long-awaited Foam at the corner of Jefferson. Foam is slated to open this Friday after teasing us for months (Foam's facebook page boasts "Opening since 2008!") and I'm super excited. Coffeehouse-slash-alehouse, this will be the first place on the strip to serve craft beer. Reason enough to come out and celebrate.

http://cherokeestreetnews.org/
http://www.myspace.com/foamstl

The holidays are here.

2009-09-19T02:22:00.000-07:00

That's right. The only two holidays that really matter are upon us. Halloween is next month, and tomorrow, for one day only, the Saint Louis Brewery, brewers of Schlafly Beer, will crack open a keg of every single one of their 40+ styles of beer and let us all drink deep. Thirty bucks, all you can drink--the greatest display of brewing prowess this town has ever known.

I'll be the one with the big dumb grin. See you there.

HOP in the City
Schlafly Tap Room
2100 Locust St. Downtown STL
September 19, noon-5
314-241-BEER

Another round

2009-09-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

Just so all three of you know, I'll be writing about beer in a new online venue very soon. I'm sure I'll still have the occasional STL-bar-centric post for Sacred Beer, but the more reliable, slightly more professional stuff will be available elsewhere.

Stay tuned.
But first, go to The Royale and Blueberry Hill soon (a rare personal plug--sorry, it's all about the beer) to experience O'Fallon Chocolate By The Barrel Cream Stout. I was told that only the big O'Fallon accounts get this beer. Go. (Check stlhops: Beer Lists for availablility.)

Back to school

2009-09-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

So, for the first time in eight years, I'm enrolled at an institution of higher learning. I figure that, if I want to open a bar, I should probably have some learnin' under my belt regarding that business stuff. A little law class couldn't hurt either. I just I wish I'd known that online classes are in fact more time consuming than real life ones. Silly me, thinking I was being smart avoiding the drive.

Writing--well, doing anything, really--with a toddler in the house requires ninja skill and speed. Working on assignments requires lots of time sitting quietly, a state of being anathema to your average 2 yr old. Even now as I write this, the J-Bear is looping his arms around my right arm, chanting Come outside wif me. Come outside wif me.

Ok the laptop just caught a soccer ball. Gotta go.
Oh, uh, Founders Breakfast Stout on tap at Stable and 33. Go.

Yet another story about buying down

2009-08-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

Great news for beer...

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE57G2VL20090817

...even though the increase in popularity proves that craft beer is hardly boutique. Appreciated by a specialized and sophisticated market, yes, but ultimately populist in nature.

Oh right, I have a blog.

2009-08-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Whoooooooshit that was a long break. OK, back to keeping my thoughts on the local drinking scene in an orderly black-on-white manner as opposed to clogging up my head or littering my house in scrap paper form.

For today's note, I'd like to mourn the passing of Wm. Shakespeare's Gastropub in Midtown. I'd only visited once, and I was wary when I saw the totally dead term 'gastropub' in the very title, and the beer selection left something to be desired for a place claiming to be a pub, a pub being more than just dark wood and Guinness on tap, but still, sucks to see another potentially beercentric place go down. Especially at that location--how great would it have been to have a thriving beer destination next to the Fox Theater? Ah well, back to the brewpubs.

Saint Louis Craft Beer Week

2009-03-09T03:01:00.000-07:00

Yes! It is happening. For too long I've stared longingly at stories about beer weeks in San Fran and Philly and, geez, every week in Portland, and now, thanks to beer god Mike Sweeney Saint Louis has embarked on its first Beer Week as well. Philly's big enough--and been doing this long enough--that they've racked up an astonishing seven hundred events over a ten day period. Ours will be decidedly low-key by comparison, but hey, why am I comparing?

The festivities culminate at the Brewers Heritage Festival, Friday & Saturday June 5 & 6. The previous Saturday, May 30, I will be in in the Windy City celebrating Chicago Maifest--that city's got enough German joints to make it a kickass celebration. In between, we'll be rocking this town's beer past and beer future within an inch of its life. My birthday's on June 2, so you see...well, I've already told my wife I might be a little, um, absent that week. If you know me, you should try to find me. I'll be the one with the big smile.

Keep up with everything at http://www.stlbeerweek.com.

Date Night

2009-02-25T21:19:00.000-08:00

My lovely wife and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on Sunday. Hard to find a place open on Sundays, but we were determined. We decided to satisfy our curiosity about Herbie's Vintage 72. Good call, that was. A proper White Tablecloth joint, the food and wine and service were fantastic, but the nicest surprise: a solid beer list. A bottle of sparkling with dessert, of course, but with dinner, delicious draught beer. Switching back and forth between Schlafly APA and Bear Republic Racer 5 while supping on perfectly medium rare filet, tender rabbit and sashimi grade tuna was just goddamn sublime. "Let's do this once a month." "Deal."

Out of Town

2009-02-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

Found myself in Evansville, Indiana today. Yes, today, as in Sunday, as in "Yeah we know Indiana has beer you can't get in Missouri and that you don't know when you'll be back in Indiana but screw you we made a stupid law about no package sales on Sunday and we're sticking to it." Grr. That's not to say, however, that there was no beer to be had. On-premise sales are ok, as in "Get drunk at the bar and crash your car but you can't take any home to drink." OK I'll let it go.

Yes, the beer to be had. A fine establishment by the name of the Gerst Bavarian Haus was open for business and they served beer. Lots of beer. Twenty-six taps, the most intriguing of which were Dark Horse Oatmeal Stout, Arrogant Bastard Ale, and a decent enough trifle called Gerst Amber Beer which, a quick search of BA tells us, is a Dunkel made by Pittsbugh Brewing. Bottle selection was extensive and appropriately German-heavy. Prices were very good, even for the monster frosted fishbowls. Man that was cold beer. Kept me from drinking very much, the cold, it did. The food was tasty and included offerings not found in many US German restaurants, including kraut balls, fried pickles, cornbread cakes, and on-the-bone pig knuckles. Gerst is big and woody and beautiful, housed in a former hardware store on a classic small town Main Street strip. (The front windows still bear the words "Feed & Seed", "Tools", etc, plus new additions in the old painted style, creating some hilarious juxtapositions like "Implements/Oysters" and "Guns/Ammunition/Lunches.") Took some great pictures that I'll post here if I can.

Good time of year to drink.

2009-02-05T04:12:00.000-08:00

Seriously, pull up a chair. It makes all the winter blahs turn into cozy memories.

Schlafly is of course on the ball, providing ample festivities to get you out of the house. Last week was Burns Night, the annual celebration of Robert Burns and all things Scottish. Mmmmm, haggissy. This weekend they'll do it all again at the Cod & Cask festival, for which the kitchen (woo-hoo Andy White!) makes up a whole mess o' battered cod and serves it up with beery selections from Ye Olde Handpump. I'll be there in the afternoon--the stuff goes fast!

Also last week was the 1st Annual Arch Rival Rollergirls Trivia Night fundraiser. Lots of Bud was imbibed (hey: free) and lots of cheese balls inhaled. Mmmmm, junk food. (Bud and cheesy poofs? Throw in some canned green beans and you got my family's grocery list circa 1982... JK, Mom. JK.) Anyhoo, the important thing here is that the fourth season of roller derby in Saint Louis is about to begin. The kickoff party is Friday the 13th at the City Museum and the season opener is the following Saturday the 21st. Drinking beer with roller girls is good for the soul. We should all give my wife a big bear hug for bringing them to Saint Louis.

Did anyone hear about the megatap that just opened in Chesterfield? Of course you did--they're already getting lots of press. The International Tap House looks mighty fine. Too bad they're in Chesterfield. I can count on one hand the number of times I've found myself out there. Well, every neighborhood deserves a good beer bar, at least until there's good beer at every bar. Then we'll have gotten somewhere. If you're in the neighborhood, check 'em out.

And there's always Blueberry Hill.

2009

2009-01-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

Everybody's already saying it's better than 2008. Adios, shitty recession/corporate bailout/lame duck/torture/Prop 8/Palin/ABInBev/Blagojevich/Madoff scumfest. On the other hand, thanks for the new president. We were kind of embarrassed for the last guy. Party at my house Jan 20th.

Speaking of ABI...well, let's not. I'm just waiting to see how the distribution scene changes. Just another reason to DRINK MORE LOCAL BEER. And while hometown brewers are putting out some respectable brews that may be called extreme by some, I like Lew Bryson's suggestion that we make 2009 The Year of the Session. I know that I've been rediscovering the joy of having quite a few little ones as opposed to just a couple big ones. Let's reward those brewers who remember how to put out a nice English- or German-inspired pint of Everyday Beer. Mild, keller, ordinary, helles--these are the exciting beers in my world right now. No dis to the Belgians or Californians--ever--but, y'know, I just keep thinking of that scene in Beerfest. Remember, where the guys drink the family's beer for the first time and love it so much that they start rattling off all the celebratory and pornographic things they want to do with the beer? Well, that wasn't barrel-aged quad. That was dark lager. That's the beer I want to spend some quality time with in the upcoming year.

Adult Beverage Establishments

2008-12-11T10:05:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note about recent developments, all in the city.

The Wedge, at Bates & Virginia, just steps from the iconic, the glorious, the almighty Iron Barley, has transformed itself from...something else...into a proper rock & roll bar. Small stage upstairs, pix of punk icons on the walls, and a TCB beer selection. Stag drinkers of Dutchtown, we salute you.

Mattingly Brewing Co. at Jefferson & Crittenden, in Benton Park, has started allowing glimpses of their upcoming house beers. Once a week, the brewers feature a Peek-a-Brew: samples of two styles that may be on tap soon. Check out the website or stlhops.com for details. Be on time--shit goes fast.

Lastly, The Bleeding Deacon is having its grand opening this Saturday, December 15th. What's the name mean? Does it matter? What we know is that this joint at Gravois & Chippewa bleeds South Side cool, with a big nod to scooter culture. Are they mod or rocker? Just shut up and have a Curly Dog. (Beer selection's nice too.)

Anniversary of Repeal of Prohibition

2008-12-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment fully repealed the 18th Amendment. Seventy-five years ago, we ended one of the more destructive experiments that this country has undertaken. Make sure to spend Friday educating yourself about this tragedy and celebrating the day we came to our senses.

Here's some fun little bits to get you started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPmnqXV-ZfE (August Busch Jr's 1933 radio address)
http://www.prohibitionrepeal.com/
http://newyork.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/roundup/repeal-day-in-nyc/805347/content
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Drunkard%27s_Progress_-_B%26W.jpg

Beer on NPR

2008-12-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

I've been lucky enough to stumble across a coupla radio shows about beer lately and, compared to the usual cringe-inducing ignorance displayed by most hosts/journalists, Ira Flatow does a pretty good job. Good selection of experts, decent average-guy-but-not-dumbass questions, overall clear, entertaining, informative final product. Pour a nice one and give a listen:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200811283

Been gone a while

2008-11-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so...holidays, man.
Lots of beer goodness is happening but with all the gatherings and family and trampling of Wal-Mart workers we're expected to do this season, who has time to blog?
But seriously, if you've started tuning in to this here log of webby goodness, I'm very, very sorry for not keeping up. There will definitely be more to come.
In the meantime, why not stop by 33 or the Wine & Cheese Place and pick up some good holiday beer for yourself? Let the relatives drink their Pinot Grigio and Bud Select--more saison for you!

Bottling Day

2008-11-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

So we bottled the Scotch ale on Sunday at my dad's. All the brothers were there, plus two sig others and an offspring. The Sprout got to help a bit, or at least pose for a few photos that made it appear that that was the case. We spilled a little and got fewer bottles than we should have, and when we sampled the stuff before adding it to the priming sugar it tasted like a super nutty brown ale, and we think The Sprout might have put one of the bottles in his mouth before we filled it, but hey, we got beer. Or we will in three weeks or so. We're planning a Thanksgiving dinner debut, if my father can leave it alone for that long.

Today Dad wants to start the second batch, an IPA. These are kits he bought from STL Wine & Beermaking, by the way. We'll get the hang of extract first, then, someday, go grain. Then again, maybe I should see if we're any good at this before I make any predictions. I wish I'd had time to go to the Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day gatherings I read about recently, but for now I'll just keep reciting the Papazian mantra: Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew. And until we have our own, that means a homebrew of George's or Gabe's or Sarah's, my lovely friends who have bravely gone before.

Duff's Beer Dinner

2008-11-05T21:45:00.000-08:00

The eighth annual New Belgium beer dinner at Duff's Restaurant in the CWE was super delicious. I got to sit with my lovely wife and four of our friends, all of us current or former Duff's employees. Everything was excellent, including appropriate glassware for each style and meat-free versions of each dish for the veggies in our crew. That last bit means that those who were willing to try both basically got two dishes per pairing.

Opening the meal was the surprisingly sessionable Mothership Wit paired with a hearty curried lamb samosa in a powerful coriander mint chutney. The chutney was so spicy I had to order a bottle of Third Coast Beer to cool off so I wouldn't inhale the witbier. But soon, spice balanced spice, phyllo married malt, and we were off. Even got seconds. Can't remember what was in the veg samosa.

Le Fleur Misseur, the draught-only, limited release, Orval-inspired, 'Lips of Faith' thing, was next up, paired with a pear/bleu/walnut/cran viniagrette salad. I'm sure the salad was nice but all I cared about was the beer: Brettanomyces, Hallertau, you expected a mess and you got a delicate, balanced symphony.

On to the Blue Paddle with a shellfish chowder. The chowder was just creamy rich enough, not too much. When you took a sip of the beer, it washed the tongue clean with a malty flush, and got you eager for another spoonful. The veg version had mushrooms and whatnot but still had boatloads of flavor.

The national dish of Brazil is apparently Pork Feijoada, this incarnation consisting of rice, yummy black beans, and amazingly flavorful pork sausage. Accompanying it was the Abbey Ale, and once again I was more into the beer than the food. Don't get me wrong, great counterpoint and all, with the rustic meeting the refined and the deep flavors all settling in together. But this dubbel is just so damn big and boozy, you can't help but get contemplative, planning out the rest of your night around this one, glorious draught until you realize oh right two more courses. I'll just set you aside, little snifter, and you can command more of my respect later. Again, the veg version wasn't committed to memory.

1554 with beef tournedos, roasted root veg and a freakin killer beet-horseradish sauce. Now, I've had beets'n'horseradish, or at least I thought I had--this stuff was blood red, almost purple, and thank god there was a lot of it because I made sure it went on everything. The 1554 smelled like milk chocolate and, because of the lager least, went down easy with the spice and the fat and the love. The veggies got a rather tasty big meatball made of Match, I believe, in place of the beef.

Lastly, Giddy Up! and a perfect little mousse-like house-made chocolate tiramisu. This was killer. Just killer. Short and sweet and gone. The light-bodied, sweetish, espresso-accented ale, which I'd had before and liked, was perfect with the delicate dessert--a nice change, as someone pointed out, from the usual too-big-too-late pairings of fruit lambics/imperial stouts/barleywines and oversized choco-cliches. This last beer of the night--except of course for that Abbey I'd been saving--finished with hints of toffee, lemons, and wood, and a strange stinky unidentifiable aroma that just served to make the evening that much more interesting.

Here's to hoping we all can make it to the next affair: the Mangia Italiano Beer Dinner, featuring Schlafly beers, on Thursday, November 20th at 7pm.
http://aleuminati.ning.com/events/1501346:Event:21762

Black Gold

2008-11-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

Mikkeller Jackie Brown
Schlafly Coffee Stout
Trois Pistoles
Bodegal #103
2006 Bourbon County Stout

Oh my goodness.
Mix with friends, Trivial Pursuit and Halloween candy and you got yourself a party.

Wednesday Afternoon Crawl

2008-10-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

I tell ya, drinking in the afternoon with a trusted colleague and friend--is there anything better? And on one of the most beautiful days of the year, to boot. Three old-school taverns got our business that day: CW's in the Fairground Neighborhood, Valerie's Sit 'n' Sip in Hyde Park, and Hatfield's in St. Louis Hills. A proper account of these Old Reliables is necessary, but for now, I'll just say that the Stag was cheap, the music sweet and the barkeeps attentive. What else do you need, really?

Weekend Roundup

2008-10-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

Excellent drinking this weekend. A rare two-night outing, only accomplished because I got to conduct some business during some of the sessions. Aren't bars great?

Friday night was spent at the venerable Schlafly Tap Room. New chef/GM Andy White has reimagined the menu and everyone's stoked. I had the vegetarian shepherd's pie which was spicy and hearty and delicious, a perfect chilly Fall night bite. It was of course accompanied by an array of liquid hearties, including the Oatmeal Stout, Hop Harvest Ale, and the long-awaited seasonal Coffee Stout. Boatloads of lovely peeps were in attendance as well, which always makes the experience memorable (whattup DanSheenaPaulPaulBrett AmyBrendaKristinAndyTony!)

Saturday I was a little more, um, promiscuous. The evening started at Off Broadway at the KDHX volunteer appreciation party, which featured great burgers and brats from Kenrick Meats, and the sweet sounds of a young gent ("from just up the street") on kazoo and old-timey geetar. Had a coupla Stags--easily the #1 choice for cheap beer aficionados. Then, just down Cherokee to the PHD Gallery, where a colleague was opening a provocative show (entitled "Buy Mark's Art or the Terrorists Win"--check it out). Usually I settle for the white plonk at these things but they had cans of PBR so what the hell.

A quick jump from Benton Park to Tower Grove brought me and my lovely partner for the evening to Friendly's. Oh, Friendly's. This place, I believe, at this point, might qualify as a South Side institution. But so much about the place still just makes me wanna go "Yeesh." First off, this was my dad's haunt when I was a kid, so the phrase "been down at Friendly's" can still elicit an eye-roll in my family. Then there's the familiar scuzzy bar aroma, the fucked up floor out to the patio that threatens to make you spill your drink, the ubiquitous TVs with the game turned WAY UP--not to mention that bizarre big screen near the pissers that allows you to see the security camera feeds! My companion was generous on this last bit, pointing out how convenient it would be for a manager--or just a bar-goer--to be able to see the whole place at once, but it just gives me the creeps. Twenty cameras in this joint? Yow. But here comes the but: Really nice patio bar area, friendly staff (duh), and happy hours that start after 10 pm. Dig that crazy shit. Keep drinking and the beer gets cheaper. Suddenly a round of Schlafly Oktoberfests is five bucks. Who's creeped out now? Not me.

A last-round swing by the new Amsterdam Tavern on Morganford capped off the crawl. The theme here is futbol, with an emphasis on the Netherlands. Decent European bottle selection, big comfy beflowered and firey patio, and, usually, footie on the telly. Tonight, hey, it's the World Series. Phillies are up two games, if you're wondering. Oh--had a Spaten Oktoberfest and a funky fruity decidedly-past-its-prime Fuller's ESB. Didn't say anything because I was more interested in catching up with an old friend who showed up with a literal busload of bachelor party guests. By the way, the whole place erupted in applause when the bus started to unload. That's the spirit!

Don'tcha just love drinking in this town?

The "Honest Pint" debate

2008-10-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is interesting.
http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/1592016
http://beervana.blogspot.com/2008/06/honest-pint-project-update.html
I've noticed some better beer places in Saint Louis switching to some version of the marked 18-20 oz nonik/tumbler glasses, so the serving can have enough head to be visually and olfactorily pleasing while providing a full 16 ounces of beer. I think it's an excellent development, but I also don't think we'll see the end of the 16 oz shaker pint any time soon. Of course, anything's better than the 12 oz shaker-pint-looking glasses a local restaurant tried to sell beer in a few years back. (Employees rebelled, the 16 ouncers were brought back and the price went up.)

Brew Day Recap

2008-10-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

So that turned into a full on party.

My dad invited his homebrewing neighbor, my girl brought a coupla friends, all the bros showed up, it was a thing. The only bump happened when a filter fell back into the mash, gumming things up for a bit. And the water had to be replaced because someone dropped a shrimp into it. And the wort got siphoned rather messily, so there was a little sediment in the final product. But eventually the beer got into the final container and into the office closet to rest.

Next time, it'll be much more dignified.

Homebrew Day #1

2008-10-19T07:42:00.001-07:00

Today, I take the leap.

Twelve or so years after opening my heart and taste buds to flavorful beer, ten years of pouring said beer for pay, and about a year after my first batch of mead, I, here, now, today, with my best friend, father, brothers and son at my side, will finally, at very long last, get off my ass and brew some damn beer. Why did it have to become such a big production, you may very well ask? My question as well.

It will be a scotch ale. And this beer will be good. And we will call it "This Beer."

Baby steps

2008-10-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

The theme for tonight is Editing.

I just found a bunch of articles I wrote a while back that never really saw the light of day. Trying to polish 'em up now and see if they're worthy to show anyone. Also, the business plan is being overhauled again. Progress!

Got to try the new O'Fallon Cocoa Creme Stout today. Really really nice. Much more approachable than I'd expected. Expected dessert, got more sessionability than most milk/sweet stouts offer.

Sprout's screamin. Gotta go.

Cheap beer you can't have

2008-10-15T02:11:00.000-07:00

So over at stlhops there's a running tally on "what you had last night." I've been skipping it b/c my intake lately has been limited to the same few beers, including Boulevard Pale, Schlafly Oktoberfest and O'Fallon 5-Day. Why have I been limiting myself? I got a deal on six-packs of these lovely reliable session beers. I'll be drinking off these for a while. No, I'm not telling. Get yer own.

I did buy a Mikkeller Jackie Brown from 33 a few nights ago. I'll be holding off on this one though until the sweet cool nights of Fall are here to stay.

This thing here

2008-10-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

Just my beer diary. Want lots of information and opinion? Beeradvocate.com. Want lots of information and opinion with a local emphasis? Stlhops.com. Me, I'm just recording my experiences so I stop forgetting them.