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.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the 2nd Annual St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival takes place this weekend. This festival was started last year to not only honor the longstanding brewing traditions of St. Louis but to also gather together the area’s brewers and showcase all of the talent we have in the area.

• The kick-off to this Festival begins this evening with a 5-course VIP dinner co-hosted by The Food Network celebrity chef Dave Lieberman and festival brewmasters.
• Friday begins with a new session, the “Business Man’s Special” which runs from Noon-4PM. This $50 event will not only allow you first crack at all of the festival beers, but the price also includes food as well.
• The grounds re-open on Friday for a session that runs from 6 - 10 p.m. and again Saturday, May 10, from noon - 4 p.m. and 6 - 10 p.m. Tickets for the Friday evening session and Saturday events cost $30 per person ($35 day of the events, so get your tickets now).
• This year will see a slight change (for the better in my opinion) of three tasting tents, instead of last year’s two. The three tents will be devoted to Ales, Lagers and also Specialty Beers.
• Restaurants participating in this year’s Festival are all from the St. Louis Originals group. Companion Bakery, Harvest, LoRusso’s Cucina, SqWires and Vin de Set have all created dishes designed to compliment the more than 70 beer styles available at the event.
• Not only will you be able to taste beer from 8 local breweries, but this year you’ll also have the chance to sample beers from a number of area homebrewers.
• The Heritage Festival Dark Lager recipe is back again this year, but we’re also privy to try Augie Altenbaumer’s Rye American Pale Ale recipe this year as well. The Suburban Journal recently featured an article on Augie and his beer, be sure to check it out.

The weather is looking wonderful for the weekend (a change over the last few weekends) with clear skies and 70°. It’s seriously looking like this year will be even better than last year. I’ll be attending tonight’s dinner, the Saturday Afternoon Session and maybe be attending part of the Friday Afternoon and Evening Session as well. I promise to provide plenty of pictures and hopefully a few interviews as well.

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.