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.

Mmmmm Brettanomyces. It’s the little yeasty beasty that scares vinters and brewers alike.  But some brewers embrace the Brett.  In fact, the not only embrace it, the love it.  One of those brewers is New Belgium Brewery and their newest beer in the Lips of Faith series is the Fall Wild Ale.  I’ll let them describe it for you:

This chestnut hued ale has a deep tawny haze that mimics the colors of fall itself. The brew unfolds with notes of banana, clove and pink bubblegum- quintessential aroma qualities of the Trappist yeast strain used. The rich malt bill brings to mind toffee, caramel, brown sugar and bittersweet chocolate. The twist- what makes this Belgian so special? We spice our Dubbel with Schisandra berries, known as “five flavor fruit, ” because it tantalizes the taste buds with four tastes – sweet, sour, salty and bitter – plus pungency.

Then we finish the brew with our house wild yeast strain of Brettanomyces with yields farmhouse flavors and tropical fruit notes- developing further as this beer ages. Fall Wild Ale is a full-bodied brew that opens sweet & creamy but finishes warm and peppery- asking for another sip. This deceivingly refreshing ale is 8%ABV so imbibe but beware.

If you’re read to get a little Wild, I’m told it’s currently available at these locations:

• Cicero’s
• Dressel’s
• Hair Of The Dog
• Pi
• The Red Lion

Newstead Tower Public House is hosting another in their line of monthly beer dinners with this dinner featuring New Belgium Brewery’s Lips of Faith series. The date of the dinner is September 16th at 7PM. The cost of this event is $40 and reservations are required. You can make reservations by calling 314-535-7771.

The summer months are usually a quiet time for craft beer drinkers.  It’s not that there isn’t new beer coming in, but the Summer just doesn’t seem to get people into the same frenzy that beers coming out in the Winter and Fall do.

Well, it’s still officially still Summer and we’re going through a beer bonanza this week.  Here’s a list of beers that have begun hitting stores this week:

• New Belgium Lips of Faith Folie
• New Belgium Transatlantique Kriek
• New Belgium Lips of Faith Biere de Mars
• New Belgium Lips of Faith La Fleur Misseur
• Schlafly Pumpkin
• Koningshoeven Le Trappe Isid’or Trappist
• Laughing Dog Imperial IPA
• Avery The Kaiser

Word has it that Founders Breakfast Stout makes its way into the city next week.  As always, make sure to check out the STL Hops Twitter for the quickest new beers news in St. Louis. It may not yet be Fall, but we’re getting a large amount of great beer now.

Cicero’s Italian Restaurant continues their Winter 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 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 Lauren Salazar from New Belgium Brewing. Lauren will be on hand to discuss Fat Tire, Mighty Arrow Pale Ale, Trippel, and their Lips of Faith Dunkel Weiss.. 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.

You may remember me mentioning talking about La Fleur Misseur a while back, but it looks like the day has finally arrived and La Fleur Misseur is available in St. Louis. This beer is part of New Beligum’s new Lips of Faith series of sour/funky beers. Each couple of months will bring about a new beer for our tasting pleasure. For instance, La Fleur will give way to a Grand Cru by early August.

The catch to these beers is that they’re limited release small batches, which means you’re going to have to seek them out. Luckily for you they’re easy to find at Bailey’s Chocolate Bar and Cicero’s.

(As a completely separate, yet related side note, during my visit to The Flying Saucer in KC this weekend I noticed that La Fleur was available so I immediately ordered up a glass. Imagine my surprise when the beer arrived and after one whiff I knew I had the wrong thing. A manager walked by and noticed a puzzled look on my face and I explained that I didn’t think that they gave me La Fleur because I didn’t smell or taste any Brett. He told me that it wasn’t a sour ale and that it was made with Wormwood. I didn’t feel like fighting it so I just drank what I was given.

This same manager told me that Schlafly had a sour ale.)