After constantly saying, “I really need to make my way down there.” Irene and I finally had the chance to visit Buffalo Brewing a couple of weeks ago, so I though I’d share some of my thoughts and some photos.

Buffalo Brewing Co.
3100 Olive St. (Map It)
St. Louis, MO 63103
314-534-BEER (534-2337)

Beers:

Obviously Buffalo Brewing’s biggest draw is the fact that they provide hand-crafted fresh micro-brewed beer on premises. Their current line-up is Buffalo Gold (a pale-colored ale), Chili Beer, Buffalo Drool (a brown ale), Buffalo Red, Hefeweizen and a Rye IPA. Since the Gold was currently out, I decided to go with a sampler line-up of the five remaining beers. I’m happy to say that they were all clean-well made beers.

Judging by the menu, the Chili beers looks to be the same base recipe as the Buffalo Gold but with chili added to the beer after primary fermentation. I don’t have much experience with chili beers, but I was pleasantly surprised by the subtle chili flavor. You would just catch a hit of the heat in the back of your tongue, but it was never overpowering. It always left you wanting more.

The Drool and the Red were both solid session beers, perfect for someone who’s looking to either bring someone into the craft beer fold or for the times you want to have 2 or 3 pints without having to worry about getting fall-down drunk. The stand out beer of the evening for me was the Rye IPA. It had a wonderful floral aroma and the hops matched well with the spiciness of the rye malt.

If I had one qualm with the beer it’s with the “hefeweizen.” True hefes feature a spicy clove and banana aroma which this beer had neither of. This is just another American wheat beer. There isn’t anything wrong with it, but it’s not a hefe. (And Buffalo, you’re not the only one guilty of this, you’re just the first for me to nitpick on this detail***.)

Food:

One of the things I couldn’t quite get over when reading through the menu was just how inexpensive things were. Irene and I had two beers, a five beer sampler, an appetizer and also two entrees and I don’t think we dropped more than 35 bucks. That’s a nice little respite over some of the prices we’ve been paying for food and beer recently. While the menu offers a lot of typical bar fare they also offer a lot of buffalo based choices if you’re looking for the taste of beef without all of the fat.

Intangibles:

Buffalo Brewing offers a large dining room with a western motif. One issue we noticed with the indoor dining was that because of the high ceilings it can get a bit noisy at times. Buffalo also offers a nice outdoor covered patio if eating alfresco is your thing. They also have a very large bar if you’re looking to just belly up and have a few beers.

One last quick note, I stopped by Buffalo last Wednesday for a beer and was disappointed to find out that a few beers were out and were temporarily replaced with a few O’Fallon beers. Hopefully the next time I show up I’ll be able to have another pint of that tasty Rye IPA.

*** So according to Dave Johnson, he used a true German hefe yeast, the banana and clove just didn’t come through.  He’s going to try using a different yeast next time.

With the 4th of July Holiday fast approaching I’ve begun deliberating about what beer I want to take to our annual event.  While this year it looks like we’re going to have mild (and maybe rainy) weather, you always need to consider the fact you’re going to be outside in the sun.  So usually things like stouts, porters and a lot of imperial beers are out of the running for me.

For the most part I’m not a big fan of American-style wheat beers like Schlafly “Hefe” and Boulevard Wheat.  Sure they make a fine lawnmower beer for some folks, but I still want a bit more flavor.   I think Dave and I are the same wavelength about wheat beers.  If I’m going for something cloudy and yellow, I want something with another depth of flavor, be it the spice of a Wit or clove/banana of a Weiss.

Fruit beers are another option.  I think too many beer nerds are too quick to dismiss fruit beers. Sure when they’re bad, they’re usually really bad.  But when they’re good, they can hold their own with some of the best beers out there.   The one concern about some fruit beers is that they can fall into the upper tier of the alcohol range sometimes.  Just something to consider.

What about the old stand-by beers, like Pale Ales, APAs or IPAs? Those are always decent choices, but I’ve never been a huge fan of bitter beers in the hot sun.  Beer should be refreshing in that environment and shouldn’t weigh you down too much with flavor.  That being said, I’ve become much more of a hophead in the past year so I may have to give them another go this year.

Well, enough babbling, what have I decided on?   Well, I’m still trying to decide and maybe some of you can throw out some things I may have forgotten about.  But at this point:

• Bell’s Two Hearte
• O’Fallon Wheach?  (I love it with a hot dog)
• Unibroue Apple Éphémère
• Hitachino Nest White Ale

What are your choices for celebrating this holiday?

Mark Gustafson from Wisconsin (and with a name like that, you just knew he’d be from Wisconsin!) wrote in to ask:

Mike, I am hoping you can help me out in locating a decent liquor store that carries New Belgium beers on the east side of St. Louis. I am going to be in the O’Fallon area in a few weeks, and am hoping to stock up (no, not just Fat Tire, but all the other goodies that we can’t get up here in Wisconsin). I appreciate any help you can give me, as I have some friends back here in Milwaukee that I would like to treat to some beers as well.

After talking to Ryan Beach from New Belgium Brewery, he confirmed to me that Fat Tire, 1554 and Mothership Wit are now available in Southern Illinois.  But I’m not very familiar with O’Fallon, IL.  I realize he could take a short trip over to Corral Liquor in Granite City, but maybe someone knows of some place in O’Fallon?

For those of you that didn’t get a chance to make it down to the Brewers Heritage Festival, but still want to try Augie’s Rye Pale Ale, you’re in luck. Dereck Bean from O’Fallon Brewery sent me over a list of restaurants that will have Augie’s beer on draught:

• Riddle’s
• Cicero’s
• Rumple’s Pub (Main Street, St. Charles)
• Bottoms Up Brewhouse (Hwy. K, O’Fallon)
• Syberg’s (Gravois)
• Tin Can Morgan Ford
• Tin Can Downtown

Charlie Berger, a long time brewer at O’Fallon Brewery, is leaving St. Louis and is moving to Denver. Charlie’s wife is an aspiring doctor and her residency is taking them both to the land of craft beer in Colorado. Charlie is a great brewer and a great guy, I’m sorry to see him going but I have no doubt that he’ll be brewing in Denver in no time. Good luck Charlie!

What is it about beer events on Saturdays that means, “Hey! It’s time to freeze your butt off!” It’s May, I shouldn’t have to worry about frostbite. But on the plus side, there was always beer to make the event tolerable. Irene and I headed out to O’Fallon Brewery on Saturday morning to begin the day with the Garage Brewing Society. When we arrive at about 11:30, things were in full swing.

Many different kinds of brewing systems. The photo in the lower right is Drew Huerter sparging his American English Barleywine.

You can always count on two thing to warm you up, fire and beer. In this case this beer is Augie Altenbaumer’s Rye Pale Ale that was brewed for the upcoming Heritage Festival.

We then celebrated the worldwide toast at Noon. This was a touching toast that not only celebrated homebrewing but to honor Beer Hunter Michael Jackson as well.

Homebrewers weren’t the only ones brewing on Saturday. Brian Owens, the head brewer at O’Fallon, was brewing up a batch of the O’Fallon Pumpkin Ale. Brian accidentally forgot the rice hulls in this batch until he had sparged about six barrels. Whoops! We then made our way to Worm’s Way to visit the St. Louis Brew’s event.

Read the rest…

Well, it looks like we have another cool Saturday in store just in time for another beer event. But that never keeps us beer nerds down, we always persevere. Here’s the Round-Up:

Stuff from around the web

• The Los Angeles Times discusses the high price of beer costs and gets Stephen Hale’s good side in the process.
• Kevin Adams from the blog Spectre’s Sayings provides his thoughts on Schlafly 15.
• Granite City Food & Brewery keeps opening stores and losses keep getting bigger.
• The Beer Evangelists review one of my favorite local beers, the Schlafly APA.

Beer Releases and News

• Andrew from Bon Vivant Wines informs me to some new beers he has in his stock:
  • Founder’s Rubaeus
  • DFH Aprihop
  • Jolly Pumkin Calabaza Blanca
  • Two Brother’s Monarch White
  • Hofbrau Maibock
• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Boulevard Smokestack Series
  • Bud Light Lime
  • Schlafly Export IPA
  • Mahr’s Weisse
  • Hopback Summer Lightning
  • Wychwood Scarecrow
  • Nethergate Old Growler
• Ric at Sybergs on Gravois alerts me to some new beers he’s carrying for your drinking enjoyment:
  • O’Fallon - Wheach
  • O’Fallon - 5 Day IPA
• Jerad Gardner, of the Rotten Apple lets me know about his most current draught selection. If you haven’t been to the Rotten Apple, take the time to visit:
  • Lagunitas Brewing - IPA
  • Dogfish Head Brewing - 60 min IPA
  • Founders Brewing - Centennial IPA
  • Two Brothers Brewing - Cane and Ebel
• Chris at Randall’s Wine & Spirits alerts me to some new beers sets he has in stock at the Fairview Heights Randall’s:
  • Fort Collins Double Choc.Stout
  • Pyramid Curveball
  • Lost Coast Indica IPA
  • Boulder Sweaty Betty Blonde
  • Left Hand Sawtooth ESB
  • Avery Collabaration Not Litigation
  • Avery Maharaja IPA
  • De Ranke Xx Bitter
  • Schlafly Export IPA
• Chris is also expecting these beers in today at the St. Louis Randall’s:
  • Boulevard Smokestack Series
  • Schlafly Export IPA
  • Southern Tier Un-Earthly IPA
  • Southern Tier Uber Sun
  • Southern Tier Hoppe
  • Wittekerke Beer
  • Fort Collins Mix 12 pk

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• May 3 - National Homebrew Day
• May 8, 9, 10 - St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival

If you’re one of those people who’s always wanted to get their homebrew on, but never knew where to start tomorrow is your best opportunity to learn how to turn grains and hops into beer. May 3rd marks the 29th anniversary of National Homebrew Day and to celebrate homebrewers are going to do what the do best, brew beer!

Each year on the first Saturday in May, homebrewers unite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to celebrate National Homebrew Day, joining with thousands of homebrewers from around the world in brewing the same recipes and sharing a simultaneous toast at noon Central Time.

Locally the two biggest homebrew clubs will be celebrating in two different locations. The Garage Brewers Society will be celebrating the event at O’Fallon Brewery while the St. Louis Brews will be brewing up a storm at Worm’s Way. Both locations will be offering up great food, great discussion and of course plenty of homebrew.

I’ve had a few people that are still on the lookout for O’Fallon’s Pappy Van Winkle Smoked Porter so I though I’d share an email Derrick Bean from O’Fallon sent over to me.

Just an FYI, I have noticed a few places so far this week who still have some Pappy Van Winkle Whiskey Smoked Porter left on their shelves:
Hampton House of Liquors–12 Bottles
Dierbergs Brentwood–4 bottles

In addition, Randall’s in Fairview, Corral in Granite City and Plaza Liquors in O’Fallon, Illinois won’t be getting their cases until sometime this week

Also, the 4 Friar Tuck stores in Champaign, Bloomington, Peoria and Springfield, Illinois should all be getting theirs next Tuesday.

Lastly, the local Friar Tuck store opening in Crestwood will have 1 case to sell once they open in a couple of weeks.

I was also told by Andy Sneed from Whole Foods, that they will begin selling it on May 5th, so that’s another place you can check. We have a thread in the forum devoted to where you can find this beer.  Pop on over and check it out.

Don’t you absolutely adore alliteration? Anyway, Tuesday night was the release of O’Fallon Brewery’s newest beer, Pappy Van Winkle Smoked Porter. Riddle’s Penultimate celebrated the event by purchasing the only keg of the beer. Bill Burge, his lovely wife Ellie, and Mike Leahy joined me for a taste of the draught Pappy Porter on Tuesday evening. I don’t think there was a disappointed one of us, the beer smells of a deep bourbon with a lot of vanilla. In fact, I thought it had so much vanilla nose, that it reminded me a bit of cake batter.

While the price is a bit high ($12 for an 8oz pour?!) this is something to partake while you still have the chance.