July 17th marks the date of yet another dinner being put on by Starr’s Market. As always, you have five courses and 10 beers to sample during the dinner. Here’s the menu:

Summer Vegetable Salad
Sierra Nevada Summer Fest
Reisdorf Kolsch

Fried Green Tomatoes with Fried Oysters and a Light Blue Crab Sauce
Fried Green Tomatoes with imperial sauce (no crab) - Vegetarian
Tomos Watkin OSB Bitter
Buffalo Belgium Stout

Tender Fried Rabbit Pieces and homemade Fettuccine with a sherry cream sauce
House made Fettuccine with Wild Mushrooms - Vegetarian
Thirez Blond dry Hopped Farmhouse Ale
Karmeliet triple

Pittsburg Style NY Strip Steak with New Potato Hash
Tofu, Hicama, and Vegetable Stir Fry - Vegetarian
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Amber ale
LaChoulette Amber

Normandy Apple Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream
Unibrou Ephemere Apple
Black Dog Kristal Weiss

Dinner starts at 6:45PM. The cost of the event is $36.95 (plus tax and tip) for the carnivores and $26.95 (plus tax and tip) for you veggies. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 314-781-2345. If you’re concerned about missing the Tour de France, do fret. Bud informs me that it’ll be on the TV so you won’t miss a moment.

Some of you may already know Joe Billhartz, but if you don’t he’s almost singularly responsible for the craft beer scene in Southern Illinois.  He previously worked for Corral Liquor as their beer buyer, so for may years he worked diligently to bring some awesome beers to our area.  Joe is now working for Specialty Distributors helping to do his part to bring even more to us.  Why all of this info on Joe?  Well first, he’s awesome, but secondly he’s helping host a beer dinner at Neruda in Edwardsville, IL.

Course 1
Gaffel Kolsch, Germany
Green Bean and Sweet Red Pepper Salad

Course 2
Erdinger Hefe-Weizen, Germany
Scallop Ceviche
Scallops, Citrus, Avocado

Course 3
Duvel Golden Ale, Belgium
Steamed Mussels
In a Dry Sherry Thyme Butter Broth

Course 4
Lion Stout, Sri Lanka
Orange Glazed ‘Pork Wings’
With Baby Bok Choy

Course 5
Kasteel Rouge, Belgium
Chocolate Nut Torte With Blueberry Marscapone

The only catch about attending this beer dinner is that it’s tonight.  (Sorry for the late notice, I just found out about this one myself.) There is a reception at 6:30 p.m. and dinner begins at 7:00 p.m. The cost of the dinner is $60 per person plus tax and gratuity. You can make reservations by calling Neruda at 618-659-9866.

If you’re not all festivaled (yes, I did just make up a word) out yet then Saturday, June 28th is your next chance to get yourself a sampler glass and enjoy some Missouri beer.  Westport Plaza is hosting a Beer and Brat Festival from Noon-6PM next Saturday to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.   Here is a list of the breweries who are attending:

• Schlafly
• Buffalo Brewing
• Anheuser-Busch
• Alandale
• Boulevard
• Griesedieck
• Gruhlke
• Ray Hill

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 dollars at the door.  Not too many things go better together than beer and brats.

After some discussion in the forums about how we’ve done enough gabbing about beer on this website, maybe it’s time to actually sit down and have one as a group. I’m happy to say that we now have a date, time and venue for the first STL Hops event. On Tuesday, June 17 at 6:30PM STL Hops will be hosting a meet-up at Mattingly Brothers Brewery at 3000 S. Jefferson (map it).

I plan on buying the pizza, you guys are on the hook for your own beer. After we get done with eating, drinking and talking we’ll probably move upstairs to Mattingly’s private room to do some beer sampling. So this is your chance to bring some homebrew or maybe some beer you’ve been sitting on waiting for a special day, etc. Mattingly’s new head brewer, Drew Huerter, will also be bringing some beer for you to sample so you can see what’s in store for Mattingly.

Mattingly is being extremely generous opening their doors upand even allowing us to bring some of our own beer. So I’m asking for just three things: first, buy a lot of beer on Tuesday night (and please be responsible about it, I’ll have a DD and so should you). Second, if you could drop me an email or even leave a comment for this post if you’re attending to give me a good idea of how many people are planning to attend it helps Mattingly get idea of how much space and help will be needed. Third, don’t make this your only visit to Mattingly. They’re opening their place up for us, we need to show the love back. Irene and I had dinner last night and found the pizza to be very good and were very happy with our visit.

If you have any comments, questions, requests, ideas please make sure to post a comment. Can’t wait to see you all in two weeks.

As I’m sure most of you are aware of the upcoming St. Louis Microfest being held on June 6th and 7th, I’m just going to get straight to the meat and give you the tentative beer list for both nights of the event:

Friday:

Bottles

Belhaven Scottish Ale
Duvel Belgian Beer
Lindeman’s Framboise
Lindeman’s Pomme
Moretti Lager
Newcastle Brown Ale
Orval Trappist
Paulander Hefe-Weizen
Samuel Smith Imperial Stout
Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
Singha
Strongbow Cider
Warsteiner Pilsner
Warsteiner Dunkel
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
Peroni Pilsner
Negra Modelo
Tsing Tao
Sapporo
Estrella Damm
Tooheys
Barons Black Wattle
Sol
Tona

Draught

Stella Artois
Smithwick
Harp
Guinness
Beamish Irish

Read the rest…

Sorry about the really late notice on this one, but for some reason it slipped off my radar. Maggiano’s Little Italy in Richmond Heights will be hosting a beer dinner featuring Schlafly beers tonight, May 20th at 6PM. Here’s the menu for tonight’s dinner:

“Fish and Chips”
Pilsner

Crispy pork shanks, frisee, spring radish, green goddess dressing
Pale Ale

Grilled squab, braised ramps, sorrel mustard sauce
Summer Kölsch

Ballotine of rabbit, quinoa, morels, spiced game jus
Number 15

Chocolate stout souffle, espresso semi-freddo, caramel sauce
Oatmeal Stout

The cost for tonight’s event is $50 per person plus tax and gratuity. Reservations can be made by calling 314-824-2402.

Jared Gardner, the Bar Manager at the Rotten Apple, emailed to let me know that they’ll be hosting a Lagunitas Beer Tasting on Thursday, May 22nd from 6:30PM to 9PM. These are the Lagunitas beers they’ll be sampling:

• Lagunitas Pils
• Lagunitas IPA
• Lagunitas Censored (aka the kronic)
• Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
• Lagunitas Old Gnarly Wine

Along with the fantastic Lagunitas beers they’ll also be offering an amuse bouche present by the new chef of Rotten Apple’s sister location, The Stable:

• 1st Course - Orange - Sherry Roasted Crimini Mushrooms Stuffed with Goat Cheese
• 2nd Course - Jumbo Shrimp Wrapped in Bacon with Ale Mustard Glaze
• 3rd Course - Beef Tenderloin Brochette with Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce
• 4th Course - Campfire Caramel and Chocolate Smores

The cost of the event is $25 which includes 5 pints of beer and the appetizers. Only 30 tickets are available and you can make your reservation by calling (618) 786-2798.

Nick Vickery of Schlafly Beer, sent me over the menu for the Schlafly beer dinner on Wednesday, May 14th at 7PM at the Newstead Tower Public House. Reservations are required and the cost is $40. You can make reservations by calling 314-535-7771.

In the continuing series of beer classes put on by Andy Snead and Ric Syberg from Whole Foods, this month brings us a tasting of some of the best IPAs the world has to offer:

Come in tonight for some devilishly good India Pale Ales, otherwise known as IPA’s. First brewed in England, IPA’s were exported for the British troops in India during the late 1700s. To withstand the voyage, pale ales were “tweaked” to become IPA’s. The resulting brew was much more “malty”, boasted higher alcohol content and was well-hopped, as hops are a natural preservative. Historians believe that the IPA was then watered down for the troops, while officers and the elite would savor the full strength version. To try some brew and learn more, sign up now, this one sells out quick!

These are always extremely fun events with plenty of knowledge along with plenty of great beer. This event will be held on May 15th at Whole Foods in Brentwood from 6:30-8PM. The cost of the event is $20 and tickets can be purchased here.