I’m pleased to announce that the winner for the two tickets to the The Stable’s Second Anniversary Party is James Barnett! Congrats to James and thank you everyone for entering.

I want to thank Brad Wheeling from Amalgamated Brewing for providing the tickets to this event and congrats to them on their second anniversary. Don’t forget, if you don’t win this one, don’t worry I will be holding more contests like this in the future, so you’ll have another chance then.

Today is your lucky day as STL Hops is giving away two passes to this week’s Second Anniversary Party at The Stable. This $50 value will allow you to enjoy over 36 different draught  beers and unlimited snacks at one of the coolest venues in town.

All you need to do is email contest@stlhops.com with the subject of “Stable Second Anniversary”. 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.
• If you won passes for the Wine and Cheese Place Beerfest, you can still enter, that doesn’t count.
• You must be 21 or older to enter.
• No multiple entries.

I want to thank Brad Wheeling from Amalgamated Brewing for providing the tickets to this event. This contest will end on Thursday, June 17th at 9AM CDT when I will pick a winner at random. If you don’t win this one, don’t worry I will be holding more contests like this in the future, so you’ll have another chance then. Good luck!

The Stable is here to remind you, they’re still here. In fact, they’ve been here for two years. In fact, to celebrate two years of being one of the best beer bars in St. Louis, they’re throwing a party.

On Saturday, June 19th from 2PM-5PM will be hosting their “We’re Not Dead Yet!” Anniversary Party. $25 ($30 day of) will get you a chance to sample their 36 different draught beers and also some munchies as well.

Stay tuned as STL Hops will be offering up some complimentary tickets next week for this event.

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.