Stuff from around the web

• Dave at Beer Wine and Whisky wisely ponders the environmental impact of Bud American Ale.
• Eating Well in STL wonders where to find the best beer in St. Louis.
• The Wine and Cheese Place apparently now ships beer!
• Schlafly Pumpkin competes in Hoosier Beer Geek’s Pumpkin Beer Challenge.

Beer Releases and News

• Andrew from Bon Vivant Wines informs me to some beers he has in his stock:
  • Avery Old Jubilation
  • Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor
  • Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence
  • Three Floyd’s Alpha King
  • Two Brothers Heavy Handed IPA
  • Victory Moonglow Weisenbock
• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Batemans Combined Harvest
  • Hebrew Jewbelation Twelve
  • Southern Tier Cuvee #1
  • De Proef Lozen
  • Flying Dog K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale
  • Unibroue Variety Gift Pack
• Lukas Liquor posts on their blog some of the new and special selections they have in stock:
  • Avery- Old Jubilation
  • Southern Tier- Oaked aged Cuvee #1
  • JW Dundee- Pale Ale
  • Schlafly- Coffee Stout
  • Sam Adams - Imperial Pilsner
  • Westmalle- Tripel
  • Grimbergen- Dubbel
  • Rogue Imperial Stout 2006
• Robin at Provisions Gourmet Market has some new beers as well:
  • Great Divide Fresh Hop
  • Sam Adams Hallertau Imperial Pils
  • De Proef Signature with Lost Abbey
  • De Proef Signature Les Deux Brasseurs (Allagash)
  • Batemans XXXB
  • Meantime Coffee Porter
  • Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti
  • Boulevard Variety 12 pack
  • Leinenkugels Oktoberfest
  • Pendel Witch’s Brew
  • Wychcraft
  • Hob Goblin
• Charmaine at Randall’s Wine & Spirits alerts me to some new beers she has in stock at the St. Louis Randall’s:
  • De Proef Les Deux Brasseurs
  • St Peters Winter Ale
  • Meantime Coffee Porter
  • Samuel Smith Winter Welcome
  • De Dolle Special Reserve Oerbier
  • Eggenberg Doppelbock Dunkel
  • Batemans XXXB Pale Ale
  • Batemans Combined Harvest
  • Southern Tier Cuvee Series One
  • Rogue Chocolate Stout
  • Lefthand Blackjack Porter
  • Avery Out of Bounds Stout
  • Avery Old Jubilation Ale
• Mike at The Wine and Cheese Place in Rock Hill alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Southern Tier Cuvee #1
  • Great Divide Fresh Hop
  • Sam Adams Hallertau Imperial Pils
  • De Proef Signature with Lost Abbey
  • De Proef Signature Les Deux Brasseurs (Allagash)
  • Batemans XXXB
  • Meantime Coffee Porter
• Kevin at The Wine and Cheese Place in West County has expanded his selection and has added these beers:
  • Southern Tier Cuvee #1
  • De Proef Signature with Lost Abbey
  • De Proef Signature Les Deux Brasseurs (Allagash)
  • Batemans XXXB
  • Great Divide Fresh Hop

Local Restaurant Beer List Updates

• Ben Dressel of Dressel’s Pub dropped me a line to let me know about their current draught highlights:
  • Guinness
  • Tripple Karmeliet
  • Maudite
  • Tucher Hefeweizen
  • Radeburger Royal Pilsner
  • Strongbow Hard Cider
  • Left Hand Milk Stout
  • O’Fallon Cask Conditioned Ale
  • 5 Day IPA
  • Arcadia India Pale Ale
  • Fat Tire
  • Lips of Faith Seasonal
  • Bob’s 47 Oktoberfest Munich Lager

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• Oct 22 - O’Fallon Beer Dinner at Newstead
• Oct 24 - STL Hops Anniversary Party
• Oct 25 - Monster of Beer Party at The Stable
• Oct 29 - Schlafly Tasting at Maya’s Cafe

Readers of STL Hops probably have figured out by now that I’m pretty obsessed with Three Floyds Brewing out of Munster, IN. If you’ve ever had some of their beers you’ll quickly realize why my obsession took root. Because of my sickness, I decided to attend Dark Lord Day 2008. If you’re unaware of what Dark Lord Day is, once a year Three Floyds brews a Russian Imperial Stout named Dark Lord and it’s only sold on Dark Lord Day. People (like me) travel from miles around to buy the beer.

But what makes the event so much fun is that it’s a huge gather of beer nerds that get together to not only buy the beer, but bring beer to taste and trade. You can’t swing a dead cat without having someone offer you something from around the country to taste that you’ve never had before.

This is the front of the line, people were mingling, sharing some beer and trying to stay warm. It was about a balmy 45 degrees on Saturday morning.

Read the rest…

I got the opportunity to interview Mike Atwood of the blog Hoosier Beer Geek. Mike, and the rest of the Knights of the Beer Roundtable, are doing for Indiana what I’m trying do for St. Louis; promote beer and the culture surrounding it. In a bit of a cross promotional event, think Marvel/DC, he also asked me a few questions about STL Hops, feel free to read his interview with me here.

So I see there are 7 Knights of the Beer Roundtable, is there a King? Do you have a full knighting ceremony?

If there was a king, it was Chris Maples, who started the whole Hoosier Beer Geek thing. He started inviting others along pretty early on, and recently he’s been so busy with work that we never see him. We’ve all kind of taken over for him in the meantime. All decisions, from what we’re drinking on a particular evening to the design of the web site are voted on by all seven members.

The knighting ceremony is highly secretive and if I told you about it I’d have to kill you.

How does it feel to live in Three Floyds country and have the rest of the US extremely jealous of you? (Oh and who do I have to kill to get some Dark Lord?)

None of us are currently beer traders, but it’s definitely nice to know that if we were, we’ve got an ace up our sleeve.

We’re all well aware of Three Floyds (or at least you should be STL Hops readers, if you’re not already) but what other Indiana breweries are you proud to call your own?

We’re really blessed in that there’s a wide variety of brewers in Indiana doing all sort of different things. In Indianapolis and now Terre Haute we’ve got Ted Miller at Brugge Beer doing really fantastic work in a Belgian style. Also in Indy we’ve got the Broad Ripple Brewpub, which is pretty much where craft beer got its start in Indiana. Just outside of Indy in Noblesville we’ve got Barley Island, who won silver for their Black Majic Java Stout at the 2006 GABF. In Fort Wayne we’ve got Dave Holmes at Warbird doing really fantastically drinkable and wonderfully tasty “entry level” sort of craft beer. Down in Bloomington we’ve got Upland, another brewery that’s won gold and silver at GABF, and bronze at the World Beer Cup. We’ve got New Albanian down in New Albany, who currently have us head over heels in love with their Hoptimus. And that’s really just the tip of the Indiana beer iceberg.

You all call yourself “beer geeks,” how do you feel about the term “beer snob?”

Right off the bat we want to let people know we’re geeks, not snobs, hence the name Hoosier Beer Geek. I think we all consider it our mission to include as many people in this wonderful thing that is craft beer, and that’s not a snobby thing at all, is it? The way we see it, the more people that know about craft beer, the better the chances that we’ll be able to find it in restaurants and bars all over the state.

Were you aware that the term “hoosier” has a completely different connotation in St. Louis?

For the first twenty-three years of my life, I lived in a little town called Trenton Illinois, ten or so miles from Scott AFB. When I moved to Indy, I couldn’t get over how often the word Hoosier was used in everyday speech - the news reports: “Five Hoosiers Killed In An Eastside Car Crash”, the words “Hoosier Hospitality”, the IU basketball team… Hoosier this, Hoosier that…

Of course growing up just outside of St. Louis, I was thinking the same thing you are:

Peach fuzz moustache, butt cut
El Camino pick-up truck
Aerosmith, Loverboy, Motley Crue
Holding hands just me and you

We don’t need no high school
I think we’re too cool
We’ll have kids at seventeen
Getting laid at Dairy Queen

Hoosier love, Hoosier love
South Side City Hoosier love

“Hoosier Love” - St. Louis’ own MU330

After a while, Hoosier grows on you though. Like a fungus.

How far have any of you knights traveled because of your beer obsession?

Though it wasn’t a beer-only trip, Gina (my girlfriend and fellow Knight) and I recently returned from DC, where we took in the Brickskeller and one of Dogfish’s brewpubs. We’ve been to Cincinnati on a trip that was basically built around buying beer. I was just at the Tap Room in St. Louis. I think once you’re into beer, every trip becomes a beer buying opportunity.