This Saturday, February 6th, is the official birthday party for the International Tap House.  To thank STL Hops for helping this past year, the let us pick 35 tap handles to be served on Saturday.

A couple of notes before I present the list.  One, we didn’t quite fill up the 35 tap handles.  That’s to be expected though.  People asked for a lot, but some of the stuff they asked for just wasn’t available at the time.  Brad promises to fill out the rest with some cool stuff.

Two, I don’t think anyone would be upset with this list though, it’s pretty awesome.  Three, one of the most requested beers for draught was Lagunitas Hop Stoopid and while they couldn’t get it in time for this party, they are bringing in a keg of this for a future party.  So stay tuned for that info.

Without further ado, here’s the list:

• Boulevard Orval Collaboration
• Rogue John John
• Rogue Imperial Porter
• Schlafly C-1
• Bourbon County Stout
• Bell’s Two Hearted
• Chimay Tripel
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine
• Pilgrims Dole
• Hop Rod Rye
• Lagunitas IPA
• Duchesse
• Avery Czar
• Hopslam
• Founders Dirty Bastard
• So Tier Choklat
• Old Rasputin
• So Tier Iniquity
• Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast
• Odell IPA
• Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti
• New Belgium Ranger
• New Belgium Dark Heather Saison
• Founders Breakfast
• O’Fallon Whiskey Barrel Smoked Porter
• Boulevard Tank 7
• Boulevard Single Wide

I know there are a lot of events happening this weeked, and I understand that not everyone can make it to every event.  But if you can make it out, I know Brad and Sean would be excited to see you.  Also, everyone needs to be careful this weekend.  Don’t drive if you shouldn’t be.

The International Tap House celebrates it’s first anniversary all next week by throwing a series of events. Take a look at this line-up:

Monday

• 1/2 off 1/2 of the taps

Tuesday

• Chimay and Schlafly keep the glass night…

Wednesday

• Homebrew Bash – Bring your best brew in one container and share it with the masses

Thursday

• Passport Member Appreciation Party –
• New Belgium Ranger IPA:  iTAP will be the first in St. Louis to have this beer on Draught
• $1 off everything and a free T-shirt for Passport Members

Friday

• $3.65 select draughts all day long

Saturday

• STL Hops Select Party – 35 of our drafts picked by the STL Hops blog members. We’ve been securing some excellent draught beers for this event. There is a really good chance that Hopslam will be on draught once again.  With help from Mike from STL Hops the crew from Schlafly is also setting us up with a very special keg…
• Free food 4-7pm,
• Live Music 8-Midnight,
• We’ll also have a birthday cake and we are going to break open the Big 1.6 Gallon Bottle of Val Dieu Grand Cru!

Sunday

• Superbowl Chili cook off – Cook it and have the customers pick the best. Winner gets an iTAP gift certificate! The cook off will start at 5pm…where else would you rather spend Superbowl Sunday? We are also getting a cask of O’Fallon Irish Red.

You may be wondering what 35 taps will be available for the STL Hops Select Party. Well, I’ve been told they’re still working on the final list and I should have it available soon. You better clear your calendar next week because this looks like a great time. Happy birthday iTap!

I know how it is, the present are opened, the tinsel has lost its luster and you may be feeling the post X-Mas blues. Well, I know how to perk you up: cheap beer. Schlafly is celebrating it’s 18th Anniversary party on Saturday, December 26th by serving beer at 1991 prices all day long.

If that’s not enough to pique your interest how about a discounted SIP Club membership as well? The standard SIP Club price is $25 for an annual membership, but on Friday only, you can purchase a membership for $18. Here are just a few things a SIP Club membership gets you:

• A custom SIP Club stein for home
• A Schlafly discount card: present to server or bartender and receive a 20 oz. beer for the price of a 16 oz. (excluding beers over 8% alcohol)
• 10% discount in our retail shops
• Invitation to special in-house member-only tastings and events

That last one is well worth the price to me, because as long as Andy White is putting it on, there is no way you should miss the SIP Club Dinner.

First of all, big thanks to Schlafly, Stephen Hale, Andy White and Brennan Greene for helping out with this event. It couldn’t have nearly as successful without their help.

Second, thanks to Clayton for selling raffle tickets, we raised a ton of money because of his help. Third, thanks to Sean Thompson for taking photos of the event, I wish I would have taken some myself, but honestly (and I say this with absolutely no hyperbole) I was having so much fun I forgot.

But if you didn’t attend this is a small gallery of what you missed:

[View with PicLens]

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I once again want to thank all of the breweries and distributors, O’Fallon, Schlafly, Morgan Street, Buffalo Brewing Company, Missouri Beverage, New Belgium Brewing and Boulevard, that participated in donating time and beer.

I also once again want to thank the following places for donating items for raffles and giveaways:

• Bigelo’s Bistro
• Bon Vivant Wines
• Boulevard Brewing
• Cicero’s
• City Gourmet
• DeVine Wines
• Pi Restaurant
• Major Brands
• Missouri Beverage
• New Belgium Brewing
• Randall’s Wines and Spirits
• Riddle’s Penultimate Café & Wine Bar
• Salon 231
• Wine and Cheese Place
• Whole Foods Galleria

After everything has been paid for, we raised an amazing $2141.65 for Stray Rescue of St. Louis. I was flabbergasted by the generosity of everyone involved and this money is going to a great cause. This is a huge gain over last year’s $800.

Thank you all, once again for a fantastic event and a fantastic year of beer in St. Louis. I’m looking forward to planning next year’s event already.

So I’ve teased it in the forums a bit, but I thought I’d let you’d know what to expect tomorrow at the STL Hops Anniversary Party!

While I plan on bringing a few tasting glasses, it would be best if you brought your own tasting glass.  Also as you’re going to see in a second, we’re going to have a lot of beer.  A lot of beer. First thing, be safe.  If you need a ride, let someone know.

Second, bring along an empty, sanitized growler for the end of the night.  Once again, I plan on bringing a few extra growlers, but not a lot.  I can’t promise you’ll fill the growler, but I’m thinking it’s going to be pretty likely.

We received a ton of swag this year, in fact, it’s not all in the photo.  If you see a single beer glass in the photo, you can automatically assume we have multiples. Oh, and I couldn’t even fit everything into the photo.

Some of the items in the photo will be raffles, some will be silent auctions. So bring some money along (a check book wouldn’t hurt for the silent auction) with you as this is for a great cause, Stray Rescue of St. Louis.

Now, here’s a list of the beers/breweries that I know are confirmed for the party at this point:

• Schlafly Cask (Not sure what cask yet, but I think we can assume something hoppy.)
• Founders Old Curmudgeon courtesy of Missouri Beverage
• Boulevard Single Wide IPA
• Bell’s Two Hearted 1/2 bbl, courtesy of Bell’s.
• A case of each, La Folie and Transatlantique Kriek courtesy of New Belgium Brewery
• Morgan Street Brewing
• Buffalo Brewing
• Highlands Brewery
• Maybe More?

Here’s a list of the places that have provided prizes for tomorrow night’s event:

• Bigelo’s Bistro
• Bon Vivant Wines
• Boulevard Brewing
• Cicero’s
• City Gourmet
• DeVine Wines
• Pi Restaurant
• Major Brands
• Missouri Beverage
• New Belgium Brewing
• Niche
• Randall’s Wines and Spirits
• Riddle’s Penultimate Café & Wine Bar
• Salon 231
• Wine and Cheese Place
• Whole Foods Galleria

If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an email (my email address is in the Contact page), I’ll try and answer it when I free up some time. Can’t wait to see everyone tomorrow night.

Sorry about the delay on this, I’ve been literally driving around all afternoon to pick up beer and prizes for tomorrow night’s party.

So, I’m pleased to announce that the winner for the two tickets to the STL Hops 2nd Anniversary Party is Jill Koehler! Congrats to Jill and thank you everyone for entering.

I once again want to thank everyone for selling out this event. It’s very exciting to see how passionate people are about beer in St. Louis and this event is proof that people care not only about beer, but also about helping stray animals. Thank you all once again.

Coming later today, I’m going to list all of the prizes we’ll have to offer for the raffles and silent auctions for the party.

As you may have found out if you’ve gone to buy tickets over the weekend, the STL Hops Second Anniversary Party is now SOLD OUT. If you weren’t able to get your tickets in time, here’s your last chance to attend the party. I’m going to be giving away two tickets to this Friday’s Anniversary Party.

If you’re interested in winning two tickets send an email to contest@stlhops.com with the subject of “Anniversary Party Tickets”. I’ll pick the winner on Thursday, November 19th at 2PM. If you’ve already got tickets I’d ask that you’d be kind enough to let those who didn’t get tickets have a chance of winning. A couple of quick notes:

• If you’ve won something from STL Hops in the past 6 months, please be cool and let someone else enter.
• You much be 21 or older to enter.
• No multiple entries.
• If you don’t think you’ll be able to attend, please don’t enter. I’d like to make sure that people available to attend have a chance to win.

Later this week I’ll be showing off some of the prizes that are going to be up for raffle and silent auction. So stay tuned.