Drew Huerter, brewer extraordinaire, emailed to let me in on a couple of news beers in the area that are very worthy of your attention. Since Drew not only works for Morgan Street, but also Schlafly and Mattingly Brothers, he has his finger on the pulse for all of the cool releases in St. Louis.

Oak Aged Cask Oatmeal Stout at Schlafly Tap Room - That just sounds awesome, doesn’t it? I know I was pretty excited when he first told me about this beer about a month ago, but now it’s finally on cask. Here’s a few words from him about it:

Brennan and I are experimenting with differing toast/char levels and methods with miniature oak staves from Missouri World Cooperage. We are yet to even try it, but are excited nonetheless.

Dark Wheat at Morgan Street - Drew tells me that this beer is back after a seven year hiatus. Sadly, I haven’t made my way down to Morgan Street in quite some time, it looks like I have a great excuse now:

45 IBUs of Mt. Hood and Sterling with wheat, pilsner, crystal and chocolate malts add up to a hoppy, hazy, brown lager. Out of the fermenter is was unlike anything I’ve tasted.

The subject pretty much says it all. If you’re a hophead then you need to get down to the Schlafly Tap Room this weekend and try a pint of the Simcoe Dry Hopped APA. Like most of their casks, I’m sure it won’t last long.

If you’re looking at wanting to start judging beers or if you just want to have a greater understanding of the process of making and tasting beer, the Beer Judge Certification Program offers a great amount of information on the art of brewing. The St. Louis Brews homebrewing club will be offering a class to prepare you for the BJCP exam next January. If you have any questions about the classes, please contact Bob Beckmann “bbeckmann@missourienterprise.org” 314-608-7590, or Dan Stauder “president@sltbrews.org” 314-517-1121. Here’s the information about the classes:

BJCP Exam Class - This class is for anyone who is interested in studying and preparing for the BJCP exam. The class is open to anyone of any skill level (member of the Brews or not), as long as you have an interest in beer and would like to take the exam.

The class is taught by the students. As a student, you will be assigned a beer topic or two which you will research and present to the rest of the class. This will be something like “hops” or “mashing” or “recipe development”, etc.

Each student will also be assigned one or two beer styles. Again, the student will need to research that style in depth and present the information to the rest of the class. Included in this presentation will be samples of classic commercial examples which the class will taste and comment on.

More…If you take this class, it is assumed that you will be present to “teach” your topics, and it is assumed that you will take the exam.

Each class meeting will be supervised by someone who is an experienced brewer with substantial knowledge in the areas of discussion and who has already passed the BJCP exam. Read the rest…

Tags: beer, beer styles, bjcp, Homebrewing, judging, tap room

Schlafly’s Belgian Beer and Mussel Mania is not so much a “festival” as it is an excuse to get together and drink some beer.  I don’t really need an excuse to visit the Tap Room, but having one is always nice.  We didn’t arrive until about 8PM on Friday evening, so not surprisingly a lot of the neat-o beers were depleted.  But, never one to complain, I just enjoyed things like the Wit and the Tripel instead.

I did get to sample the cask Biere de Garde and I have to admit, I’m not a fan.  Part of the reason I enjoy Belgian beers so much is because of their spritzy effervescent nature and the cask just kills that.  It’s missing some of things that make a “Belgian” beer in my mind.  Interesting experiment, but not something I would want to see back.  What did you think of the festival?

I wish I was the first person to point this out, but it is a pretty funny coincidence that the same week that a Belgian brewing conglomerate buys Anheuser-Busch is also host to a Belgian beer festival at the Schlafly Tap Room.  If you’ve never had some of Schlafly’s Belgian offerings, this weekend gives you the perfect opportunity to try them.  Brennan Green sent me over a list of some of the treats Schlafly has in store for this weekend:

• Grand Cru: 9% abv and made with four different belgian yeast strains and left to age in tank for over four months
• Witbier: brewed with locally grown Alhambra unmalted wheat (harvested on July 8th) as well as lots of coriander and orange peel
• ‘07 Tripel
• Biere De Garde
• Casks of Grand Cru and Biere de Garde

He also let me know that just for this festival they’ll be serving their new Barrel aged Grand Cru, They aged this beer for two and a half months in the bourbon barrels previously used for the Imperial Stout.  Oh, I hear there will be some mussels too.  This “festival” runs on Friday, July 18 and Saturday, July 19th from 5:00 p.m.-Midnight  both days.  There is no cost for the event, just show up and buy some mussels and beer!

Schlafly brewers get a very special present from Schlafly when they get married, they get to brew a wedding beer.  Brennan Greene celebrated his wedding over the weekend to his lovely fiance Natasha.  In celebration of this even Brennan designed a India Brown Ale.  It was in his hopes that the beer would pair the nuttiness of a brown ale with the floral bitterness of an IPA.  In my opinion, I think he really succeeded.

It’s a 5.5% beer (so a bit low for a true IPA) but the brown ale really works well with the bitterness and makes for a delicious session beer.  I had 5 or 6 glasses of this on Friday night alone.  Stop in at the Schlafly Tap Room and get this beer as soon as you can (I think they even have a few casks of it as well!) because when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Who’s ready for rain and cold and Indiana beer tomorrow?! When this event was announced a few months ago I thought to myself, “Finally, a nice warm month to enjoy some great beer with other beer enthusiasts.” And of course Mother Nature decided to give us another Cabin Fever but with the added bonus of rain. But we’ll get the last laugh, all of that CO2 from the beer has to go somewhere! Take that Nature!

Stuff from around the web

• In case you missed the Repeal of Prohibition Toast at the Tap Room because you wanted to sleep, there’s video here.
• You may or may not have seen the list of Top 50 Breweries in America by sales for 2007.
• Here are some other very interesting stats about craft brewing in the US.
• A review of the Schlafly Pilsner has been added to Beer Review Online.
• Sam Adams recalled a boatload of beer due to glass shards in some of the bottles.

Beer Releases and News

• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Bass Pub Cans
  • Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
  • Left Hand Polestar Pilsner (Bottled on 04/09/08!)
  • Left Hand Jackman’s Pale Ale
  • Left Hand Deep Cover Brown Ale
• Ric at Sybergs on Gravois alerts me to some new beers he’s carrying for your drinking enjoyment:
  • Rogue - Hazelnut Brown Nectar
  • Paulaner - Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• April 12 - Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition Festival
• April 16 - “Tripel” Around the World at Whole Foods
• April 23 - Beer Tasting with Ray Hill at Rendezvous Cafe & Wine Bar
• April 26 - 2008 Beerfest at Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton
• April 30 - Starr’s Beer Dinner

Warning: The following is long and a bit rambling. Read at your own caution.

Thursday Night:

OK, well technically this isn’t the weekend, but it’s close enough. Irene and I had a meeting at the Schlafly Tap Room to discuss the upcoming Convivial Pursuit Trivia Night (if you’re a trivia nut, come on out and play some food trivia). After the meeting had ended, Stephen invited us to the Cod and Cask VIP opening night. We were treated to not only cask IPA and Brennan’s Brown Ale, but a smorgasboard of seafood. From cod cakes and scallops to plokkfiskur (a fish and potato casserole) and of course fish and chips. We also got to enjoy music from Pétur Ben, a signer-songwriter from Iceland.

The event also allowed me to see some people I haven’t seen in quite some, like Ryan Beach from New Belgium. It also gave me a chance to bounce my ideas for a Randal the Enamel Animal off of James “Otto” Ottolini, the Chief Brewer/Chief Engineer for Schlafly Bottleworks. And to top it off I got the opportunity to meet Tom Schlafly, the owner of St. Louis Brewery. Cask beers flowed, fish was eaten and good times were had. Now you know why I was complaining in Friday morning’s Round-Up.

Friday Night:

I wish I had some exciting beer adventure for you, but I don’t. We hit up Rich and Charlie’s for a birthday dinner, where I had AB’s new Shock Top (that came from what I suspect to be an infected draught line) and Amber Bock. We all then headed back to my house for some Friday night drunken Rock Band hijinks. If it makes you feel better, I did enjoy some Two Hearted Ale and Bourbon County Stout while singing Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz.

Read the rest…

Do you ever wonder if you’re getting too old to be drinking mid-week? I’m by no means “old” it’s just that my head this morning is telling me differently. On to this week’s Round-Up:

Stuff from around the web

• Cod and Cask and Icelandic Culture at the Tap Room this weekend.
• Year of Beer tries O’Fallon’s Whiskey Smoked Porter.
• Granite City Food and Brewing opens a location in Fort-Wayne Indiana.
• About.com puts Schlafly Saison to the taste test.
• Is AB having a problem keeping US distributors?

Beer Releases and News

• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Avery Brewing - Ellie’s Brown Ale
  • Avery Brewing - IPA
  • Avery Brewing - The Reverend Quadruple
  • Avery Brewing - Hog Heaven Barleywine
  • Avery Brewing - Salvation Belgian Strong
  • Sierra Nevada Brewing - ESB
  • Sierra Nevada Brewing - Bigfoot Barleywine
  • St. Louis Brewery - Schlafly Irish Stout
  • Boulevard Brewing Company - Boulevard Irish Stout
  • Bell’s Brewery, Inc. - Bell’s Consecrator Doppelbock
  • Brasserie Duyck - Saint Druon De Sebourg
  • New Belgium Brewing - 12 Pack Sampler including Mighty Arrow Pale ale
• Mike at The Wine and Cheese Place in Rock Hill let me to some new beers at his location:
  • Sierra Nevada Brewing - ESB
  • Sierra Nevada Brewing - Bigfoot Barleywine
  • St. Louis Brewery - Schlafly Irish Stout
  • Boulevard Brewing Company - Boulevard Irish Stout
  • Bell’s Brewery, Inc. - Bell’s Consecrator Doppelbock
  • New Belgium Brewing - New Belgium Springboard
  • Boston Brewing Company - Sam Adams Double Bock
• Mike Cherre, Beer Consultant at Lukas Liquor posts on their blog some of the new selections they have in stock:
  • Avery Brewing - Ellie’s Brown Ale
  • Avery Brewing - IPA
  • Avery Brewing - The Reverend Quadruple
  • Avery Brewing - Hog Heaven Barleywine
  • Avery Brewing - Salvation Belgian Strong
• Jerad from Piasa Winery lets me know about some beer beers he has to offer you:
  • Sierra Nevada Brewing - ESB
  • Sierra Nevada Brewing - Bigfoot Barleywine
  • Victory Brewing - Hop Wallop
  • Victory Brewing - Old Horizontal Barleywine

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• Feb 4 - Beer on the Bayou with Schlafly Beer
• Feb 8 & 9 - Cod and Cask Festival at Schlafly Tap Room
• Feb 13 - Amber Beer Tasting at Whole Foods
• Feb 14 - Valentines Beer Dinner at Newstead Tower Public House
• Feb 23 - Beer Lovers Anonymous
• Feb 29 - New Belgium Beer Dinner at Whole Foods

Next week is going to see me talking about two restaurants and showing off a couple of new homebrewing gadgets.  Stay tuned!

schlafly.jpg”>Had a chance to try a style from Schlafly I’ve never had from them before last night, the Smoked Porter. I was very impressed with the beer, it has a more subtle smoked flavor than a lot of other smoked beers that I had.

This beer is very well balanced and that leads to it being very drinkable. I think you’ll find that you could drink a few of these without the smoke causing too much palate fatigue. Head on down there and give it a try.