Now that I’ve finally got the last bit of mud off of my caked shoes, I’m finally able to sit down and pen my thoughts about this year’s festival. Long story short, I had a lot of fun. Yes, it was crowded in the tents because people couldn’t mingle in the mud, but you could still easily get a beer after you shoved your way past the people just standing in front of the servers (something I was even guilty of at times.) I’ve read some other thoughts at BeerAdvocate and even in the comments in this forum and everyone has some very good suggestions. Now here’s a couple of my thoughts:

Grass vs As(phalt)

My biggest complaint, which seems to be the majority opinion, was the complete destruction and mess of the festival field. It made getting around terrible, it made everything and everyone messy and it crowded the tents as people had no place else to go. A few people have suggested that for the sake of festivals to come maybe it should be moved to a parking lot. The argument for the asphalt is that no mess, no fuss and people less likely to trip and fall. The argument against the lot is that it would change the feel of the festival and to a certain extent I agree. I personally enjoy the natural aspect of the festival, but I don’t enjoy being crowded and messy. A better option may be to move the festival to Mid-May rather than early May to avoid some of the late spring rain.

Three Tents Are Better Than Two

I thought the addition of the third beer tent was a welcome addition to the festival as it allowed more beers to be showcased in a large environment. I found that the beers were pretty well spread out and provided a bit more elbow room. I will say I was thrown for a bit when I went into the Ale tent and didn’t see some of the Belgian Style beers, but saw Schlafly’s Imperial Stout and Barleywine in the Ale tent. But I guess “Specialty Beer” is in the eye of the beholder.

From what I’ve been told the homebrewers were supposed to be featured in the third tent as well, but unfortunately got relegated to B-Team status due to the weather. Hopefully next year the weather will let up and people will find out just how amazing some of the homebrewers around this area are.

More Cask Beers!

The best beer of the entire festival was the cask Rye Pale Ale. So floral and wonderful, I had two or three glasses of it. I know it’s a complete pain to bring these firkins out to the festival, but I think it would be nice to showcase more Real Ale at the festival next year. It would be a nice addition to the “Specialty Beer” tent.

New Festival Beer

It’s time for a new beer.  I don’t have the taste memory to remember last year’s Dark Lager so it personally doesn’t make much sense to me to see the same beer year after year.  It’s time to have the breweries try something different and then see just how different the take on the beer is.

More Education

This festival, in my mind, is first and foremost about showing St. Louis’ brewing talent, but one of the first things I heard walking into the festival was “I’m going to get your sister loaded too!” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some beer drinking prude that doesn’t believe beer should get you drunk. I was feeling just fine after the festival, but that wasn’t why I walked into the festival. I’d like to think there are more people interested in learning about beer and the differences in styles. Maybe included in the Friday Afternoon session (which sounded a bit light) should be a “tour guide” who walks people around talking about beer and sampling them.

Overall it’s a great event and I think it’s only going to get better as adjustments are made after years of tweaking.  I look forward to seeing how different it is in the years to come.

“You’re dressing up tonight,” were the first words out of Irene’s mouth when I got home. It was probably a good idea, as I soon found myself rubbing elbows with many of St. Louis’ elite. While there were plenty of white tablecloths and mayors to be had, importantly enough this still felt like a beer dinner. Granted it’s difficult for it not to feel like a beer dinner when you’re sitting next to a couple of brewers.

Left: Drew Huerter, Marc Gottfried, and Dave Johnson talk beer before the event.
Right: People mingling around the dinner tables.

Left: The menu from the “Ultimate Beer Dinner”

Left: Stephen and Sara Hale talking before we sit down to Sauce’s Allyson Mace and Catherine Neville.

Right: A close up of the wonderful (and expensive) table setting.

Left: Mayor Slay helps to kick off the Brewers Heritage Festival

Right: Co-host Dave Liberman describes what went into the Ultimate Beer Dinner

Marc Gottfried (Morgan Street) and Dr. John Witte (Square One, Augusta) discuss their beers while Stephen Hale demonstrates the finer points of dry hopping a beer.

Four of the five courses, for some reason I completely dropped the ball and forgot to take a photo of the 5th course.

Also not pictured:

• Me peeing next to Mayor Slay
• Tom Schlafly’s after-party
• The Alstrom Brothers

And after the break, video of Stephen Hale discussing the Biere de Garde en francias.

Read the rest…

Jon Billman emailed me to ask:

I’m doing some beer research for a book project. Do you know someone I should talk with regarding ale brewers in St. Louis in the 1830s? I’m interested in where they got their hops and yeast from, what kinds and what forms. Also, what styles of ales were predominant in STL at that time. Appreciate it.

I’m sure some of STL Hops readers can either provide Jon with this information or point him in the right direction.

Received an email recently from someone looking for a beer called Lion Stout:

I live in St. Louis, but I used to tend bar at a place in Wisconsin that housed a selection of over 450 beers. While there, I developed a love of a Sri Lankan beer called Lion Stout. I am desperately trying to locate some of this beer in St. Louis, but so far with no luck. I was hoping maybe you knew of a place that carries Lion stout, or at least knew of a place that might. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

Any help for this reader?

Don’t you absolutely adore alliteration? Anyway, Tuesday night was the release of O’Fallon Brewery’s newest beer, Pappy Van Winkle Smoked Porter. Riddle’s Penultimate celebrated the event by purchasing the only keg of the beer. Bill Burge, his lovely wife Ellie, and Mike Leahy joined me for a taste of the draught Pappy Porter on Tuesday evening. I don’t think there was a disappointed one of us, the beer smells of a deep bourbon with a lot of vanilla. In fact, I thought it had so much vanilla nose, that it reminded me a bit of cake batter.

While the price is a bit high ($12 for an 8oz pour?!) this is something to partake while you still have the chance.

One of my biggest peeves is the fact that beer isn’t given the same respect that wine is. Both are ancient beverages steeped in history and by in large lovingly produced by people passionate about their craft. So why does it always feel like beer is given the “swill of the working man” feel? After looking over the beer list from the Repeal of Prohibition Festival, Bill Burge has one idea why: Beer names can get a bit goofy.

Beer lovers are always trying to get beer to reach the wine plateau, but are names like Hoptimus Prime Imperial IPA, Rabbid Rabbit, or BORIS the Crusher hurting the cause?  For the most part wine is labeled by type of grape used or area of production, or in the case of wines produced outside of France, classic area of production they’re trying to reproduce.  But beer isn’t held by the same standards of labeling.  Breweries and brewers are given free reign to get creative with their names.

I’m not one to try and stifle creativity of brewers, it is after all the creativity of American brewers that provides us with all of the amazing things they produce.  But would beer benefit from going to a wine labeling style?  On a local level, I think Schlafly employs a labeling/naming style similar to wine: Schlafly Pale Ale or Schlafly Oatmeal Stout.  It’s a clear and concise advertisement (and let’s not forget, that’s what labels really are) of the product contained within.

But what about beers that don’t fall into a clear style (not to mention the argument of there is too much emphasis of style in beer)?  That’s where things get a bit tricky and at that point creative monikers may come into play.  It’s an interesting idea and I’d love to hear everyone else’s thoughts on it.

Brad Mock suggested this idea over in the forums, so I’m trying to gauge interest in it.  Would anyone here be interested in taking some Saturday in June, renting a bus and doing a beer tour around the St. Louis area?  I’m thinking we could visit a few breweries, a few excellent beer bars, talk and drink beer.

It looks like a few of us are interested, anyone else?  Also, do you have any suggestions for places we could visit?  Feel free to post a comment or email me with ideas or if you’re interested in attending.

It’s 2008, which means it’s time for yet another Reader’s Choice Poll from Sauce Magazine. I think as beer lovers, it’s our duty to try and bestow recognition on places that go above and beyond the standard beer selections of most restaurants. That being said, let’s look at last year’s selection:

2007 Best Beer Selection

1. Growlers (two locations)
2. The Schlafly Tap Room
3. Cicero’s
4. Tin Can Tavern and Grille

Let’s be honest, it’s a pretty terrible selection of beer restaurants. Growlers list of a lot of light lagers from around the world. The Tap Room makes many fine beers, but they’re all Schlafly beers, and in my opinion one brewery does not a good selection make. Cicero’s is about the only one I can truly support, they also have a very large list, but there seems to be a bit more thought put into it. Lastly, Tin Can is kitsch and more light lagers.

I think this year we can do better, I think we can really promote some of the best beer lists in St. Louis. Let me offer some of my suggestions (in no particular order):

Erato on Main: Oh sure, I’ve sung their love song for quite some time, but honestly this is one of the best lists in St. Louis. Not only do they carry a lot of truly great beer, but they carry a lot of beer you can’t get on this side of the river. Just look at this list from January, wouldn’t you kill to see this list at more local restaurants? Not only that, that’s not the same list that you’ll find if you head over there this weekend. It’s constantly changing, the sign of a place that really loves beer.

33 Wine Shop and Tasting Bar: Maybe one of these days I can convince Dylan or Jake to send a copy of their beer list so I can convince those who haven’t yet gone to make the trip to 33. Not only do they offer a large variety of fantastic craft beers, but they also age beers as well. For instance, I enjoyed a bottle of 2006 Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René on Friday evening. They’ve recently upgraded their draught selection from two beers to six, which allows them to offer even more interesting selections like Aecht Schlenkerla Fastenbier. If that’s not enough, they even sell beer to you to take home at retail prices. No need for paying a premium for something you want to enjoy at home.

Bailey’s Chocolate Bar: You’ll need to look no further than Bailey’s drink list (pdf) to realize why they’re consistently one of my favorite places to get a beer in St. Louis. Sure people go there for the dessert, but I’d argue there are no better desserts than having something like a glass of draught St. Bernadus Abt 12. Not unlike 33 Wine Shop, Bailey’s also goes through the special effort of aging beer, something that sets them apart from any other beer restaurant in St. Louis.

Really there are a number of places that could easily make the list as well, Iron Barley, Harvest, and Mangia Italian come immediately to mind. So take the time, go vote and let’s see a better selection of places that truly love beer and give them the recognition the deserve.

I received an email from Dan Kopman, the VP of St. Louis Brewery last week and I thought it posed an interested thought, what’s my ultimate list of local beers? Here’s the email:

Just a quick thought (run on sentence to follow). I saw a posting about your perfect beer list or something like that. Moving on from that idea and as a big believer (instilled in my beer DNA from my early days at Young’s in London) that freshness is the key and that locally made is the key to freshness, what would be your perfect list for a bar with say 4 to 6 taps and then some bottles, of locally made beer including what AB makes in StL? I ask this with Heritage Fest approaching and many retailers looking to feature local beers during that week.

I thought this was a clever idea and really gave me something to ponder. Unfortunately a lot of my local favorites are seasonal so I’ll actually be making two lists, the first list will be of beers that are available year round and the other list will be comprised of my favorite local beers. Also remember, I made these choices based on beers that are actually distributed in St. Louis just so people don’t think I was looking to shun local craft brewpubs. The lists are after the jump. Read the rest…

With the addition of Three Floyds to the Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition Festival, it got me to thinking. If you were to put on a beer festival, what would you want to see? I think the first thing I’d like to see is more variety. It seems like most of the festivals around here are very locally oriented. I do not think this is a bad thing, I think it’s important to highlight our local brewers.

But I’d love to see more festivals offering up beers from around the nation; beers we can’t normally get in St. Louis. Which is why I found the Repeal of Prohibition Festival so exciting. I think it’s great that we’re going to be able to taste beers from brewers from around the nation. When you look at the number of different breweries at events like the Craft Beer Festival in Boston and I can’t say that I’m not a bit jealous.

I guess my next question is something like that Craft Beer Festival even feasible in St. Louis? The popularity of the St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival makes me think it could be pulled off with the right backing. But anyway, what are some of the things that would be part of your perfect festival?