Kind of late notice on this one, but if you’re free this evening Adam Avery brewer/owner Adam Avery of Avery Brewing out of Boulder, CO will be in St. Louis tonight.  This was kind of an impromptu  visit, which is why this is such late notice.

I’ve been told by Brian Dix of Major Brands Distributing that Adam and the Major Brands crew will be visiting Bridge Tap House at about 7PM tonight and then they’ll be heading over to the International Tap House in Soulard later this evening.

Sorry for the lack of specific times, but this is all being played fast and loose.  If you have a free evening, this is a wonderful chance to meet one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in all of brewing.

I don’t want to keep harping on these events as I think you guys may get tired of hearing about them, but I thought you may want to know a few extra details about the St. Louis Craft Beer Week events taking place tonight.

St. Louis Craft Beer Tweetup
Don’t have a Twitter account? No problem. Come on out to have some beers and meet some awesome people who love craft beer as much as you do. I’ve also been told that there will be some free snacks courtesy of Go! Magazine.

If you haven’t been yet, this is a great excuse to visit Bridge. Don’t be shy, just come on out.

IPA Night at The Good Pie
Right now this is the line up of IPAs that will be on draught:

• Bear Republic Racer 5
• New Belgium Ranger IPA
• HeBrew Bittersweet Lennys R.I.P.A
• Founders Centennial IPA
• Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor
• Odell IPA
• Southern Tier Iniquity
• New Holland Mad Hatter
• Schlafly American IPA

It also sounds like one of these beers (not sure which yet) will be run through a Randall of Amarillo and Simcoe hops.  There will be a menu designed around IPAs and a gift certificate provided to the person who brings the biggest IPA.  I don’t know how they’re quantifying “biggest” so your guess is as good as mine.

Grand Teton Beer & Cheese Event
Got a list of beers that will be available from Grand Teton tonight at Wine and Cheese Place. Chuck Nowicki, Sales and Marketing Director of Grand Teton, will be on hand to talk about and taste their reserve series:

• Grand Teton Pursuit of Hoppiness
• Grand Teton Sheepeater Scotch Ale
• Grand Teton Bitch Creek Double ESB
• Grand Teton Howling Wolf Weizenbock
• Grand Teton Lost Continent IPA

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Also, I guess this is mostly for my parents, over the weekend I had a chance to talk about St. Louis Craft Beer Week and STL Hops on KMOX. Actually I had a chance to talk about both, not once, but twice this weekend. You’re welcome to give them a listen. Hope to see everyone tonight.

If you made it out to the Duff’s Autumn Beer Dinner in November 2007 or a couple of events when she last visited in 2009, then you had a chance to meet New Belgium Brewer Lauren Salazar.

Well if you didn’t have a chance to meet her, she’s coming back into town this week to kick off the New Belgium’s newest year-round selection, the Ranger IPA.  Here’s a list of events she’ll be attending this week:

Tuesday, Feb. 9th

• STL Hops/New Belgium Party at Mattingly Brewing Co.

Wednesday, Feb. 10th

• Pi Restaurant (Delmar) Ranger IPA/Lips of Faith Tasting with Lauren Salazar 7-8:30 pm
• Ranger IPA/Lips of Faith Tasting at Dressel’s Pub with Lauren Salazar 9-11 pm

Thursday, Feb. 11th

• Ranger IPA/Lips of Faith Tasting at The Stable with Lauren Salazar 6-8 pm
• Ranger IPA/Lips of Faith Tasting at The Bridge 9-11 pm

Lauren is a great brewer and provides plenty of information about New Belgium beers, so make the time to go out and visit one of these events. Here’s Lauren’s bio from NB:

Lauren Salazar, New Belgium Brewing Company

Lauren is the Sensory Specialist and a Quality team member at New Belgium Brewing Company, where she has been employed for over eleven years and sensory-focused for over ten. She developed the sensory program from a basic production check to its present program and is responsible for all facets from design to implementation to re-engineering. Other areas of interest and fun at the brewery include brewery-wide flavor training, new product development, small/esoteric beer production and wood barrel project blender. Lauren is a judge at the World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival, has presented and taught short courses for the CBC, WBC, AHA, ASBC, MBAA and many others.

Salazar received her BSW from the University of Georgia a lifetime ago and holds a Certificate from UC Davis for Applied Sensory Science and Consumer Testing.

The Bridge tap house and wine bar is the newest venture from restaurateur Dave Bailey.  If Bailey’s name sounds familiar it’s because he’s also the owner of the hugely successful Bailey’s Chocolate Bar and breakfast/brunch/lunch spot, Rooster.

Not surprisingly, his newest location is just as hip as his last.  With a warm wood vibe including reclaimed tree branches being used as light fixtures, it will easily be one of the most popular bars in St. Louis.

But we’re here for the beer, so what does he have to offer?  How about 36 draught selections and soon over 150 bottled beers to choose from.  I’ve also been told that he’ll continue the tradition he started over at the Chocolate Bar by housing beers for aging.

The pricing on beers is very reasonable and growlers will be available for table consumption as well. Bridge isn’t open quite yet, but expect it to be open by February 10th at the latest.

The current draught list, which will be always changing, will be available after the photos and the break.

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