Mark from Bigelo’s Bistro Mark from Bigelo’s Bistro is putting on another of his fabulous beer dinners, this time Mark will be hosting Boulevard Brewing. Each of the five courses will be paired with a Boulevard beer, which will be described by Boulevard’s own Laura Dale.

The dinner will be taking place on Sunday, August 29th at 4PM. Tickets, which must be purchased in advance, will be $40 each, not including gratuity. You can make reservations by calling 618-655-1471. Here’s a look at the dinner:

How does this differ from the Friday Round-Up?  I guess it doesn’t really, but all of this news seems rather important, so I thought I’d give it to you now. Here’s just a few stories that you may be interested in:

• Schlafly will be putting Summer Lager into cans, it’ll be brewed at Stevens Point in Wisconsin.  This is a perfect addition for the upcoming summer.

• For those of you looking to enjoy Boulevard’s Tank 7 at home, it is now available in bottles in the St. Louis area.

• Schlafly is doing another collaboration, this time with Stuttgart, Germany’s smallest brewery.  The beer will be a dry-hopped Märzen.

• Bottles of O’Fallon’s Hemp Hop Rye will be available this spring.

• Cathedral Square beers are now available in bottles.  In related news, I just realized I accidentally left Cathedral Square off of the STL Hops St. Louis Beer Challenge.

• Want the fame and glory of naming a beer without the hassle of actually having to brew and distribute it?  Well, the Wine and Cheese Place and O’Fallon Brewery have a contest for you.

Your news has now been shotgunned, I’d say you’re about four beers deep at this point.

Molly’s in Soulard and Boulevard Brewing will be hosting a Beer Dinner on Tuesday, February 16rd starting at 6:30 that is in celebration of Fat Tuesday.

This six course meal pairs unique beer selections with a Louisiana Creole cuisine inspired meal. The cost of the meal, which includes six different beers, is $50 per person (excluding tax and gratuity). I’ve also been informed that Boulevard founder John McDonald will also be in attendance.

Reservations are required and can be made by calling 314-241-5100 or by emailing info@mollysinsoulard.com. The full menu including pairings is available after the break.

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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.

I know people have been asking about it and looking for it, your wait is almost over.  Starting next week, we should begin seeing Boulevard Brewing’s Boulevard Pilsner hitting the shelves.  Also, if you haven’t read it, visit KC Beer Blog for an awesome review of this beer.

What about the some of the sought after Smokestack beers?  Well, SeeYouLator Dopplebock is now available on store shelves and I’ve been told that 48 cases of  the Limited Release Saison-Brett should be arriving in October.

But the news I was most exciting about getting yesterday was that of a new kid on the Smokestack block.  In November, we should see the release of Harvest Dance Wheat Wine.  If you don’t know what a wheat wine is, think Barleywine, but with wheat.  I’m a big fan of these beers because the wheat adds a wonderful viscosity to the beer.

Maybe it’s just the weather these past two days, but I’m really looking forward to fall.

I’m pleased to announce that the winner for the two tickets to the Newstead Boulevard Dinner is Brian Schrumpf!  Brian’s favorite Smokestack beer is the Double Wide, but he’s a fan of all of them!

Congrats to Brian and thank you everyone for entering. If you didn’t win, don’t be too upset, once again I have some cool stuff to give away soon.

I once again want to thank Laura Dale from Boulevard Brewery for providing one of the tickets for this event. This looks like a great line up of beer and food, there are still spaces available so get your reservation in today!

I’m giving away two tickets to the August Boulevard Smokestack Dinner at Newstead.  The dinner is on August 26th at 7PM.

If you’re interested in winning two tickets that include a four courses being paired with four different Boulevard Smokestack beers (you will be required to pay the gratuity) email contest@stlhops.com with a subject of “Newstead Boulevard Dinner” and tell me what your favorite Smokestack Series Beer is.

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. The winner will be drawn on Monday, August 24th at 9AM.