This week on the STL Hops Twitter

• Bunch of beers got released in St. Louis yesterday, check out STL Hops for more details. http://stlhops.com/big-beer-release-day/ (2 days ago)
• RT @TWCPBeer Bell’s Collaboration with De Proef has finally arrived at Forsyth — very limited…. http://tinyurl.com/yg2ewhz (3 days ago)
• Boulevard’s Nutcracker holiday ale appears to be hitting local store shelves. (3 days ago)
• Amalgamated Brewing (The Stable) has their Rauchbier on tap. Delicate, smoky flavor. Wonderful beer. (4 days ago)
• Looks like The Stable will have a cask of Schlafly Imperial Stout tonight at 5PM. (5 days ago)

Stuff from around the web

• If you’re pouring a beer at a Schlafly festival, just remember, Susan is watching.
• The Beer Buddha considers if Michelob is a craft brewery.
• Ray Hill gets some press in the Suburban Journals.

Retail Beer Releases

• deVine Wines & Spirits (10/27/2009)
  • Anderson Valley Brother David’s Triple
  • Arcadia Jaw Jacker
  • Avery IPA
  • Avery Salvation
  • Avery White Rascal
  • Becks Oktoberfest
  • Bell’s Best Brown
  • Boulevard Pilsner
  • Boulevard Saison Brett
  • Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale
  • Coney Island FreakToberfest
  • Founders Breakfast Stout
  • Founders Red Rye
  • Hebrew Jewbelation 13
  • Jack’s Pumpkin Spice
  • Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest
  • Magic Hat Roxy Rolles
  • Mendocino Oktoberfest
  • New Belgium HopTober
  • New Belgium Transatlantique Kriek
  • O’Fallon Pumpkin
  • Pyramid Thunder Head
  • Red Hook Late Harvest
  • Sam Adams Coastal Wheat
  • Schlafly Oktoberfest
  • Southern Tier Pumking Imperial
  • Van Twee Brewmasters Edition
  • Whole Hog 6-Hop IPA
• Provisions Market (10/30/09)
  • Founders Pale Ale
  • DeProef Collaboration Van Twee
  • Samuelsmith Yorkshire Stingo
  • Avery duganA IPA
  • Rogue Somer Orange Honey Ale
  • Froach Heather 20th Anniversary Ale
  • He’Brew Bar Mitzvah
  • Great Divide Fresh Hop Ale
• Starrs (10/26/09)
  • Bells Java Stout
  • Bells Double Cream
  • Bells Cherry Stout
  • Boulevard Saison Brett Batch 2 750ml
  • Caldera Pale Ale/IPA
  • Founders Breakfast Stout Batch 1
  • Kronenbourg 1664
  • Lakefront Brewery Fuel Cafe Coffee Flavored Stout
  • Laughing Dog Dogzilla Black IPA
  • Laughing Dog Alpha Dog Imperial IPA
  • Lemp Lager
  • Odells Isolation Ale 2009
  • OFallon Chocolate by the Barrel 22oz
  • Redstone Mead Traditional
  • Redstone Mead Black Raspberry Nectar
  • Rogue Double Dead Guy Stout
  • Scaldis Noel 8oz
  • Schlafly Barleywine Style Ale 2007
  • Sierra Nevada Big Foot Ale
  • Stevens Point Pale Ale
• Wine and Cheese Place (Clayton) (10/30/09)
  • Founders Dry Hopped Pale Ale (bottled Oct 22)
  • Left Hand Warrior IPA with Fresh Colorado Hops
  • DeProef Collaboration with Bells – Van Twee
  • Fraoch Heather Ale 20th Anniversary Ale
  • De Struise – Tsjeeses
  • Ølfabrikken – Jule Ale
  • High and Mighty – Home for the Holidays
  • Dieu du Ciel – Solstice d’Hiver
  • HopBack – Pickled Santa
  • Haandbryggeriet – Nissefar Father Christmas
  • Brasserie des Geants – Noel de Geants
  • Hook Norton – Twelve Days
  • Mikkeller – From/To
  • Samuel Smith – Yorkshire Stingo
  • Woodchuck Limited Release Winter Cider
  • Ridgeway Brewery – Bad Elf Winter Ale
  • Ridgeway Brewery – Very Bad Elf Special Reserve Ale
  • Ridgeway Brewery – Seriously Bad Elf English Double Ale
  • Ridgeway Brewery – Criminally Bad Elf Barleywine Style Ale
  • Ridgeway Brewery – Insanely Bad Elf Imperial Red Ale
  • Ridgeway Brewery – Lump of Coal Dark Holiday Stout
  • Delirium Noel (2 sizes)
  • Gouden Carolus Noel (2 sizes)
  • Nogne – Winter
  • Nørrebro Julebryg – Nørrebro Bryghus
  • Boulevard – Nutcracker
• Wine and Cheese Place (Rock Hill) (10/29/09)
  • DeProef Collaboration with Bells — Van Twee
  • Avery DuganA IPA
• Wine and Cheese Place (Ballwin) (10/30/09)
  • Avery DuganA IPA

Restaurant and Bar Beer List Updates

• Bigelo’s Bistro (10/27/09)
  • Goose Island Matilda
  • Bear Republic Racer 5
  • Boulder Hazed and Infused
  • Founders Breakfast Stout
  • Bell’s Amber
  • Bells Oktoberfest
  • Schlafly Oatmeal Stout
  • Sand Creek Wild Ride IPA
  • Boulevard Wheat
  • Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
  • Boulevard Bobs 47
  • Blue Moon
• Blueberry Hill (10/28/09)
  • Anchor Steam Beer
  • Bass Ale
  • Blue Moon Belgian White
  • Boulevard Wheat
  • Bud/Bud Light
  • Guinness Stout
  • Magic Hat #9
  • New Belgium 1554
  • New Belgium Fat Tire
  • O’Fallon 5-Day IPA
  • Pabst Blue Ribbon
  • Schlafly Hefeweizen
  • Schlafly Oatmeal Stout
  • Schlafly Pale Ale
  • Stella Artois
  • Strongbow Cider
  • Bud Light Golden Wheat
• Cicero’s (10/29/09)
  • Arcadia Sky High Rye
  • Ommegang Abbey Ale
  • Goose Island 312
  • La Chouffe
  • St. Bernardus Prior 8
  • Rogue Double Dead Guy
  • Samuel Adams Octoberfest
  • Peroni
  • Newcastle
  • Blue Moon
  • Left Hand Milk Stout
  • Schlafly Oatmeal Stout
  • Schlafly Octoberfest
  • Schlafly Hefeweizen
  • Schlafly Pale Ale
  • Boddington’s
  • Guinness
  • Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
  • Kasteel Triple
  • Fullers Porter
  • Abita Purple Haze
  • Lindemans Framboise
  • Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
  • Boulevard Tank 7
  • O’Fallon Pumpkin
  • O’Fallon 5 Day IPA
  • Maudite
  • Shiner Bock
  • New Belgium Fat Tire
  • New Belgium Fall Wild Ale
  • New Belgium Hoptober
  • Smithwick’s
  • Pilsner Urquell
  • Deliruim Tremens
  • Woodchuck Amber
  • Anchor Steam
  • Sierra Neveda Pale Ale
  • Franziskaner
  • Warsteiner
  • Old Rasputin Stout
  • Maredsous Dubbel
  • Bell’s Cream Stout
  • Black Raspberry Mead
  • Odell St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale
  • Belhaven Scottish Ale
  • Arcadia Cereal Killer Barley Wine
  • Bass Ale
  • Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat
  • Warsteiner Oktoberfest
• Iron Barley (10/30/09)
  • O’Fallon Smoked Porter
  • Amalmagated Helles
  • Left Hand Milk Stout
  • North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner
  • Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
  • Boulevard Bob’s 47
  • Goose Island Honker’s Ale
  • Griesedieck Golden Pilsner
  • O’Fallon Cask 5 Day IPA
  • Warsteiner Dunkel
  • Smithwick’s Irish Red Ale
  • Boulevard Smokestack Saison (750 ml)
  • Boulevard Smokestack The Sixth Glass (750 ml)
  • Boulevard Smokestack Long Strange Tripel (750 ml)
  • Boulevard Double Wide IPA (750 ml)
  • Tucher Hefe Weiss (Bottle)
  • Wychwood Hobgoblin English Brown Ale(Bottle)
  • Odell IPA (Bottle)
  • Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen(Bottle)
  • Weihenstephan Dark Hefe (Bottle)
  • Rogue Dead Guy Ale (Bottle)
  • Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen(Bottle)
  • Left Hand Polestar Pilsner (Bottle)
  • Left Hand Black Jack Porter(Bottle)
  • New Holland The Poet (Bottle)
  • Brouwerij Huyge Floris Apple (Bottle)
  • Grand Teton Bitch Creek ESB (Bottle)
  • Guinness Draft (Bottle)
• Newstead Tower Pub (10/24/09)
  • Griesedieck Golden Pilsener
  • O’Fallon 5 Day IPA
  • O’Fallon O’Town Brown
  • Schlafly Pale Ale
  • Schlafly APA
  • Schlafly Oktoberfest
  • New Belgium Mothership Wit
  • New Belgium Lips of Faith Fall Wild Ale
  • Boulevard Single Wide IPA
  • Boulevard Smokestack Tank 7
  • Founders Porter
• The Royale (10/30/09)
  • Founders Breakfast Stout
  • Griesedieck Bros. Golden Pilsner
  • Guinness Stout
  • O’Fallon 5 Day IPA
  • Schlafly Hefeweizen
  • Schlafly Oktoberfest
  • Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale
  • Strongbow Hard Cider
  • Witkap Pater Singel
    • GUEST BOTTLES
  • Anchor Porter
  • Arcadia Jawjacker
  • Boulevard Pilsner
  • Boulevard Saison-Brett
  • Schlafly Tripel
  • Sierra Nevada Torpedo
  • St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition
  • Weihenstephaner Kristallweiss
• The Stable (10/29/09)
  • Amalgamated Helles
  • Amalgamated Marzen
  • Amalgamated Wet Hopped Zoigl
  • Amalgamated Zoigl
  • Arcadia Hop Rocket
  • Bells Two Hearted
  • Charlieville Explicit APA
  • Duchesse du Bourgonge
  • Founders Breakfast Stout
  • Founders Reds Rye
  • Founders Centennial
  • Kasteel Rouge
  • Odell St. Lupluin
  • Ommegang Abbey Ale
  • Poperings Hommel Ale
  • Schlafly Dry Hopped Apa
  • Sierra Nevada Anniversary IPA
  • Warsteiner Dunkel
  • Warsteiner Oktoberfest
  • Southern Tier Harvest

Brewery and Brewpub Beer List Updates

• Schlafly Taproom (10/30/09)
  • ESB
  • Coffee Stout
  • Hop Harvest
  • Wit
  • Dry Stout
  • Oktoberfest
  • Kolsch
  • Summer Lager
  • Hefeweizen
  • Pale Ale
  • Dry-Hopped APA
  • Oatmeal Stout
  • Cask – ESB (Simcoe & Chinook)
  • Cask – Old Ale

I’ve made a change in how the beer tastings will be listed in the Friday Round-Up, it’s going to be a week’s worth of tastings starting with the Friday that the list is posted. So if you’re a retail shop, bar, restaurant, brewery or distributor and want me to list your tasting, make sure to email me at mike@stlhops.com.

Today, from 4PM to 6:30PM the Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton will be having a tasting featuring Avery DuganA IPA, MIkkeller From/To, DeProef/Bells Collab Van Twee, Struise Tsjeeses, Fraoch Heather 25th Anniversary, and Boulevard Nutcracker. Additional information can be found at their blog.

Griesedieck Brothers Brewing will be having a tasting at the Dorsett Schunucks today, October 30, from 4-6 pm. They’ll Be tasting some Griesedieck Bros. Golden Pilsener and will have some brewing memorabilia to view as well.

Once again, if you’re a retail shop, bar, restaurant, brewery or distributor and want me to list your tasting, make sure to email me at mike@stlhops.com.

Mmmmm Double IPAs.  I didn’t name this place STL Hops for nothing.  Avery Brewing, who also puts out the much sought after hop bomb Maharaja, recently released their duganA IPA.  This limited release beer has finally found its way to St. Louis.  I’ll let Avery describe this beer:

Lupulin Rapture Incarnate! As fervent  devotees of hops, we found ourselves on a quest to create a transcendental IPA capable of quenching our voracious lupulin desires. Our mantra became “unity of bitterness, hop flavor and aroma.” Enlightened, duganA IPA was born: A brutally bitter, dank, piney and resinous ale designed for those seeking a divine hop experience.

Oh baby, that sounds like a hop lover’s dream. This is a very limited beer and will not be in the area very long. If you’re looking for it on draught I’ve been told that the International Tap House and The Good Pie will have it initially.  If you’re a fiend for the hops, better step to finding this.

The Mattingly Brewing Company may now be producing full scale productions of beer, but that doesn’t stop them from showing off what’s yet to come. Tonight, Head Brewer Drew Huerter will be offering his Autumnal Blaze Strong Amber Witbier. Drew gives a description of the beer:

Be sure to head out tonight and taste some of Drew’s excellent beer.

Here’s a list of what to expect over the next few weeks:

11/4 – Hop Goddess Double IPA
11/11 – Evil Pumpkin Imperial Porter
11/13 – Funky Friday the 13th – Special Friday Tapping
11/18 – Black Past Historical Porter

Cicero’s Italian Restaurant continues their fall Beer School semester this Wednesday from 5:30-6:30PM. Cicero’s Beer School provides background about beers and beer styles usually directly from people directly in the beer industry.

It’s a perfect opportunity to learn more about a style you’re unfamiliar with or to just brush up on a style you haven’t enjoyed in a while.

This week’s school is being taught by Laura Dale from Boulevard Brewing. Laura will be on hand to discuss and sample their Pilsner, Double Wide IPA, Tank 7 and Saison Bret. Go out and take advantage of one of the few places where you can drink and learn!

If you can’t make it out to the Beer School, you can check out all of the classes via podcast at Cicerosbeerschool.com.

This was our last full day in Denver, so we headed to Fort Collins, CO to check out New Belgium Brewing.  I was lucky and was able to visit New Belgium last year during GABF.   While my tour last year was a lot of fun, this year we got a tour from New Belgium’s Sensory Specialist, Lauren Salazar.

Notes from Day 3, New Belgium Brewing:

• It shouldn’t surprise you that this place is huge.  Just enormous.
• Which is why they’re on schedule to do 500,000bbls this year.
• This first photo below is the original brewing system that New Belgium started with.
• Check out Sponge Bob eating a pizza!
• Yes, this is the second day in a row I got to visit the top of a brewery’s fermentation tanks.
• As you may know, this company is very green.  You can see the new solar panels they’re installing.
• Drinking beer right off of the large wooden barrels is really cool.
• I asked Lauren about the change in La Folie, she told me that she realized that she was making the beer more for her palette and not for the consumers.  Which is why the sourness has been scaled back a bit to make for a more balanced beer.
• While we saw the bottling line, we didn’t actually get to see it in action.
• But I did get to see it last year and I’ve included a video below.
• Yes, that really is a slide and yes you really can slide down it.

[View with PicLens]

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Yesterday saw the release of a some new beers in St. Louis.  As the holidays are approaching, we’re going to be seeing a ton of holiday and winter beers coming into the area.  Thanks to Paul from The Wine and Cheese Place, here’s a list of what became available yesterday:

• Van Twee Belgian Ale – A Collaboration Between Bell’s Brewery and De Proef Brouwerij
• De Struise – Tsjeeses
• Ølfabrikken – Jule Ale
• High and Mighty – Home for the Holidays
• Dieu du Ciel – Solstice d’Hiver
• HopBack – Pickled Santa
• Haandbryggeriet – Nissefar Father Christmas
• Brasserie des Geants – Noel de Geants
• Hook Norton – Twelve Days
• Mikkeller – From/To
• Samuel Smith – Yorkshire Stingo
• Fraoch – Heather Ale 20th Anniversary
• Ridgeway Brewery – Bad Elf Winter Ale
• Ridgeway Brewery – Very Bad Elf Special Reserve Ale
• Ridgeway Brewery – Seriously Bad Elf English Double Ale
• Ridgeway Brewery – Criminally Bad Elf Barleywine Style Ale
• Ridgeway Brewery – Insanely Bad Elf Imperial Red Ale
• Ridgeway Brewery – Lump of Coal Dark Holiday Stout
• Delirium Noel
• Gouden Carolus Noel
• Nogne – Winter
• Nørrebro Julebryg – Nørrebro Bryghus
• Boulevard – Nutcracker