First the good news, Greg Koch of the Stone Brewing Company out of San Diego, California will be visiting St. Louis this Thursday, April 15th.  Now, the bad news, he’s not here to announce Stone’s arrival in St. Louis.

Greg will be in town for the local Master Brewers Association meeting (which is not open for the public).  Because he’ll be in town, he’ll be swinging by the Schlafly Tap Room around 10PM, after the meeting lets out.

Now, I know that’s kind of late and it’s a school night, but it would be awesome if a ton of us were to show up to show him just how passionate the St. Louis beer scene is.  I don’t know if it will get it here any faster, but if you’re interested in bringing Stone to St. Louis, I think showing him that we’re a group of diehard beer lovers is only going to help.

At minimum, you may get a Gregface picture taken with him.

News today from Stone Brewing Company that they may be interested in opening a brewery in Europe.  I’m warning everyone right now that this is a completely reactionary post.

What the hell Stone?  I know, you want to come to Missouri, but the time just isn’t right.  You know that we want you, but you can’t support us.  But you keep dangling that carrot in front of us, “We’ll be there one day, we promise!”

But then we all hear about this new idea. It feels like a real kick in the gut for those of us that want Stone in St. Louis.  You can’t even keep up with demand in the US, but you’re looking at opening a brewery outside of the US?  That just doesn’t make sense to me.

I think I’m about tired of chasing that carrot. There are plenty of great breweries that actually made the effort to come to St. Louis and I’ll keep happily drinking them.  Have fun in Finland.

This package was originally supposed to arrive on Friday, but unfortunately the FedEx guy showed up before my lunch time and I wasn’t able to be home to accepted the package.  So my poor beer had to sit in a hot truck all day on Friday and then in a hot warehouse overnight.  Sure one more day of heat probably doesn’t mean much after sitting in a truck coming all the way from California, but it still hurts a bit.  As for the beer, we drank the Pliny and the Blind Pig the night they arrived.  Both lived up to their reputation and were fantastic beers.  What did you enjoy this weekend?

Unless you’re a duck, it’s pretty miserable outside.  I’m pretty busy right now, so I’ll put a few pictures up that I think you’ll enjoy.

You may remember the package of pure pleasure I received a few weeks ago thanks to my lovely girlfriend.  Never one to leave well enough alone or to even be satisfied with what I have, I went ahead and bought some more beer shipped in from California.  What you see there is:

• Firestone Walker – Double Barrel Ale
• Stone – Ruination IPA
• Alesmith – Decadence Anniversary Ale
• Lost Abbey – Red Barn Ale
• Lost Abbey – Lost & Found
• Alesmith – Horny Devil

I’m also supposed to be receiving another very special package from Lost Abbey in this week, two 375ml bottles of Red Poppy.   You may be asking yourself, “Mike, what the hell do you do with all of this beer?”  Let me show you:

Well, I drink what I can and I cellar a lot of it for special and not so special occasions.  Bill and Ellie saw this a couple of weeks ago and Bill proclaimed that I was becoming one of those “crazy beer guys.”  The ones that will never be able to finish all of the beer they collect.  He may be very well right about that, because I sometimes I have a hard time bringing myself to drink some of this.  I especially don’t enjoy drinking it by myself, these are the kind of things you enjoy with friends that will really appreciate it.

I love alliteration, though this title sounds slightly erotic. It sounds like the kind of package that arrives in a nondescript box from the ABC Company. That being said, this picture is nothing more than beer porn.  Besides a minor shipping mishap, Irene did real good.

• Stone Brewing – Double Bastard
• Alaskan Brewing – Smoked Porter
• Stone Brewing – Ruination IPA
• Lost Abbey – 10 Commandments
• Alesmith – Yulesmith

My girlfriend Irene is taking a trip out to rainy Southern California to visit some family this weekend.  Being the wonderful beer nerd girlfriend she is, she’s going to try and pick up some beers for me and bring them home.  I made her a little list, I hope she pulls through.

• Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi
• Lost Abbey Devotion
• Alesmith Yulesmith
• Stone Double Bastard Ale
• Stone Ruination Double IPA
• Alaskan Smoked Porter 2007
• Lost Abbey Judgment Day
• Ballast Point Seamonster Stout

You ever notice how much I love bullet points?