08/08/08. Fun. Anyway, I’m on may way to Madison, WI this weekend to attend Great Taste of the Midwest. I’ll try and take a lot of pictures and I will try to stay sober enough to remember all of the beers I plan on tasting. But that may be a tall order once you’ve seen the list of who’s coming and what they’re bringing. Anyway, it looks like St. Louis is in for a mild weekend, should be a nice one. On to the Round-Up:

Stuff from around the web

• Get out your sword and loin-cloth, and prepare for the Clash of the Beer Titans.
• Free beer coming to an end at AB?
• Ever interested in what crazy old people think about the AB/InBev Merger? Read Town Talk.

Beer Releases and News

• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • De Molen Rasputin
  • Just received a new batch. Only 380 bottles made.
  • De Molen Storm & Averij
  • Mikkeller It’s Alive
  • Mikkeller Monks Brew
  • Bieres-23 Biere de Mars
  • Cantillon Lou Pepe Gueuze 2005 Vintage
  • Duysters Loterbol Bruin
  • Weihenstaphaner Fest Bier
  • Schlafly Oktoberfest
  • Hofbrau Oktoberfest
  • Spaten Oktoberfest
  • Vapeur * En Folie (750)
  • Toren Ondineke * Triple (750)
  • La Rulles * Estavale (25.4)
• Mike at The Wine and Cheese Place in Rock Hill alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Mikkeller Draft Beer
  • Mikkeller Black Stout 17.5%
  • Mikkeller Monk’s Brew
  • Mikkeller It’s Alive
  • Bieres-23 Biere de Mars
  • Duyster’s Loterbol Brown (750)
  • Left Hand Twin Sisters IPA
• Dick Krekeler from Macklind Avenue Deli has some beers for you:
  • Avery Brewing - Collaboration Not Litigation Ale
  • Avery Brewing - Hog Heaven Barleywine
  • Avery Brewing - The Reverend
  • Avery Brewing - Salvation Ale
• Robin at Provisions Gourmet Market has some new beers as well:
  • La Rulles Estivale
  • Vapeur en Folie
  • Avery Karma
  • Mikkeller Draft Beer
  • Left Hand Twin Sisters
• 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:
  • Founder’s Brewing - Rubaeus
  • Two Brothers Brewing - Bitter End
  • Lagunitas Brewing - Gnarly Wine
  • Founders Brewing - Reds Rye
  • Victory Brewing - Hop Devil
  • Victory Brewing - Prima Pils
  • Dogfish Head Brewing - 90 Min IPA
  • Two Brother’s Brewing - Domaine DuPage French Country Ale
  • Pyramid Brewing - Apricot Hefe
  • Breckenridge Brewing - 471
  • Founder’s Brewing - Dirty Bastard
  • Stag
• Jerad also let me know about the most current draught selection at The Stable as well:
  • North Coast Brewing - Red Seal
  • North Coast Brewing - Old Rasputin
  • Bells Brewing - Oberon
  • Bells Brewing - Two Hearted
  • Sleeman Brewing - Cream Ale
  • Hoegaarden
  • Pabst
  • Riessdorf - Kolsch
  • Duechesse De Bourgonge
  • Lefthand Brewing - Twin Sisters
  • Lefthand Brewing - Milk Stout
  • Unibroue Brewing - Apple Ephemere
  • Schlafly Brewing - Barrel Aged Grand Cru
  • Charleville Brewing - Hoptimistic
  • Charleville Brewing - Half Wit
  • La Chouffe
  • Kasteel Rouge
  • Odells Brewing - 5 barrel Pale Ale
  • Kostriker Brewing - Schwartz
  • O’Fallon Brewing - Wheach
  • O’Fallon Brewing - Smoked Porter
  • Pilsner Urquell
  • Michelob
• Andy from Whole Foods let’s us know about some new beer he has in his stock (and remember if you don’t see it on the shelf, be sure to ask for it):
  • Left Hand Twin Sisters 22oz
  • Weihenstephaner Festbier 6pk
  • Lamar St. Organic Pale Ale 6pk (our house beer)
  • La Choulette Sans Coulottes 750ml
  • Duchesse De Bourgogne 4pk
• Kevin at The Wine and Cheese Place in West County has expanded his selection and has added these beers:
  • Mikkeller Black Stout
  • Mikkeller Monks Brew
  • Nils Oscar IPA
  • Loterbol Bruin
  • BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien 2007
  • BFM Le Meule
  • Nogne Porter
  • Haandbryggeriet Dark Force

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• Aug 14 - Whole Foods Belgian/Farmhouse/Sour Beer Tasting
• Aug 14 - St. Louis Brews August Meeting
• Aug 20 - Bell’s Beer Dinner at Newstead Pub

For you lucky people who may be attending the Great Taste of the Midwest this Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, Sales Manager Derrick Bean has put on an event just for you:

Just wanted to let you all know, for those of you heading up to Madison this weekend for The Great Taste of the Midwest Beer Festival, our local distributor has set up an O’Fallon bar promotion on Friday, August 8 from 6:30-8:30 at The Missouri Tavern in Waunakee, Wisconsin (about a 20 minute drive northwest from the festival site)! We can enjoy $2.75 bottles of Wheach, and possibly other O’Fallon beers as well while we’re there.

And, since this is a 20 minute drive from Madison, please make arrangements for a sober driver if you are attending.

For those of you in Madison this weekend and are interested in attending the address is 7071 Kickaboo Rd. (Hwy. 12) in Waunakee, WI.  Sounds like a lot of fun.

If the beer dinner trend was a train, it would almost seem out of control by now. I’m just glad I’m a passenger on this train. Neruda is hosting another beer dinner with O’Fallon as this month’s featured brewery. The dinner is Thursday, July 31st at 7PM. The cost for the dinner is $55 and reservations can be made by calling 618-659-9866. Here’s the menu for this month’s dinner:

Deep-fried Asiago and Gourmandise on grilled flatbread with microgreens, paired with O’Fallon Wheach

Chicago-style Spinach Salad (tangy ketchup dressing, bacon, hard-boiled egg and baby spinach), paired with O’Fallon Wheat

Orange Barbecue Pork Steak served with sweet coleslaw, paired with O’Fallon 5-Day IPA

Coffee-Rubbed Lamb Chop with Dijon-style potato salad, paired with O’Fallon Smoked Porter

Beer Float with O’Fallon Goat’s Breath Bock Ale

Sorry about the delay, had to head out to Champaign, IL again on business and wasn’t back until late. Anyway, a whole bunch of new beer came into the area, go out to your favorite retailer and buy some! Help the economy! Here’s the Friday Saturday Round-Up:

Stuff from around the web

• Songs and more over the AB/Inv deal.
• Joe Bonwich reviews Mattingly’s.
• Stan Hieronymus wonders if the big boys have your favorite brewer’s numbers.
• KC Beer Blog wanted to punch Schlafly’s moose.

Beer Releases and News

• Andrew from Bon Vivant Wines informs me to some beers he has in his stock:
  • Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA,
  • Bear Republic Hop Rod Ry
  • Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale
  • Boulevard Double-wide IPA
  • Boulevard Saison
  • Liefmans Kriek
  • Liefmans Lambic
• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Mikkeller Black Stout 17.5% alcohol
  • Mikkeller Draft Beer Imperial Pilsner
  • De Molen Rasputin Imperial Stout
  • De Molen Storm and Averij Imperial Double IPA
  • Unibroue Quatre-Centième 400th Anniversary Quebec
  • Southern Tier Creme Brulee
  • Ellezelloise Hercule Stout
  • Ellezelloise Quintine Blonde
  • Ellezelloise Saison
  • Duysters Loterbol Blond
  • Baird Angry Boy Brown
  • Baird Red Rose Amber
  • Baird Rising Son Ale
  • Baird Kurofone Porter
  • Pyramid Curve Ball Kolsch
  • Pyramid Crystal Wheat
• Mike Cherre, Beer Consultant at Lukas Liquor posts on their blog some of the new and special selections they have in stock:
  • Unibroue Quatre-Centième Brassin Commémoratif (750ml)
  • J.W. Dundee’s Hefe Weizen (6 pack)
  • Spanish Peaks Crystal Weiss (6 pack)
  • Avery’s Collaboration Not Litigation Ale (22oz)
  • Avery’s Samael’s Ale
  • Gouden Carolus Cuvée Van De Keizer vintage 2007 (750ml)
  • Goose Island Imperial IPA (4 packs)
• Ben Dressel let me know of the current draught line-up at Dressel’s Pub:
  • Guinness
  • Felinfoel ESB
  • Left Hand Milk Stout
  • Left Hand Sawtooth ESB
  • O’Fallon 5 Day IPA
  • O”Fallon Cask
  • Boulevard Pale
  • New Belgium Fat Tire
  • New Belgium Mothership Whit
  • Unibroue Maudite
  • Stella
  • Tuecher Hefe
  • Strongbow Cider
• Robin at Provisions Gourmet Market has some new beers as well:
  • Baird Brewery Red Rose Amber
  • Baird Brewery Angry Boy Brown
  • Baird Brewery Kurofune Porter
  • Ellezelles Hercule Stout
• 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:
  • Founder’s Brewing - Rubaeus
  • Lagunitas Brewing - IPA
  • Lagunitas Brewing - Gnarly Wine
  • Lagunitas Brewing Lucky 13
  • Allagash Brewing - Allagash White
  • Victory Brewing - Prima Pils
  • Dogfish Head Brewing - 90 min IPA
  • Two Brother’s Brewing - Domaine DuPage French Country Ale
  • Three Floyd’s - Alpha King APA
  • Lefthand Brewing - Chainsaw
  • Founder’s Brewing - Dirty Bastard
  • Stag
• Joe Billhartz of Specialty Import Distributing Co. let me know of some beer over in Illinois. Contact your favorite beer store to see if these are available:
  • Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
  • Bear Republic Racer 5
  • Liefmans Kriek
  • Liefmans Framboise
  • Dogfish Head Black & Blue
  • Victory Saison

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• July 30 - Beer vs Wine Dinner at Sheraton Clayton
• July 31 - O’Fallon Beer Dinner at Neruda in Edwardsville
• Aug 20 - Bell’s Beer Dinner at Newstead Pub

Maybe the guys at CAMRA have finally gotten to me and programed my brain in my sleep to really believe it, but I’m pretty obsessed with cask beer. The slightly warm, slightly flat that always brings more than a slight smile to my face. One of the problems with cask is that it’s pretty hard to find in St. Louis. For the longest time it was basically available at either the Tap Room or Iron Barley (and from what I gathered Square One on rare occasions.) But now it looks like we have another location for “true” ale:

Dave Johnson from O’Fallon Brewery emailed me to let me know that cask 5-Day IPA is now available at Dressel’s Pub. Cask beer at a Welsh pub? Sounds like a winning combination to me.

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!