Mikkeller Single Hop series is back.

Soooo preeeetty.

My latest discovery.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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"

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.