Stuff from around the web

• We’re number 8!  We’re number 8!
• Sam Adams and Jim Koch now the King of US beers.
• Schlafly Dry Hopped American Pale Ale reviewed by Brewski Guide.
• The Post-Dispatch’s Joe Bonwich reviews The Stable.
• The Kansas City Star talks fruit beer, specifically O’Fallon’s Wheach.

Beer Releases and News

• Andrew from Bon Vivant Wines informs me to some beers he has in his stock:
  • Schlafly Oktoberfest
  • Sam Adams Oktoberfest
  • Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale
  • Boulder Cold Hop Ale
• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Mikkeller All Others Pale
  • Jenlain Biere de Mars
  • Birolla Malthus Chestnut Ale
  • Blue Moon Pumpkin
  • Sam Adams Oktoberfest
  • Becks Oktoberfest
• Lukas Liquor posts on their blog some of the new and special selections they have in stock:
  • Left Hand Twin Sisters Double IPA
  • Weihenstephaner Festbier
  • Warsteiner Oktoberfest
  • Schlafly Oktoberfest
  • Sam Adams Octoberfest
  • Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest
  • Schneider Weisse Hopfen-Weisse
  • Breckenridge 471 Double IPA
• Charmaine at Randall’s Wine & Spirits alerts me to some new beers sets he has in stock at the St. Louis Randall’s:
  • Paulaner Oktoberfest
  • Weihenstephaner Festbeer
  • Sierra Nevada Porter
  • Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2007
  • Ommegang Rare VOS
  • Odell’s Imperial Stout
  • Bell’s Third Coast Old Ale
  • Bell’s Pale Ale
  • St. Ambroise Pale Ale
  • Pinkus Munster Alt
  • Pinkus Hefe
  • Cantillon Classic Gueuze
  • Traquair House Ale
  • Southern Tier Imperial Pumpking
  • Left Hand Twin Sister Dbl IPA
  • Dinkel Acker Pils
  • Dinkel Acker Dark
  • Sam Smith Pure Brewed Lager
  • Sam Smith Organic Apple Cider
• Mike at The Wine and Cheese Place in Rock Hill alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Mikkeller All Others Pale
  • Jenlain Biere de Mars
  • Birolla Malthus Chestnut Ale
• 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
  • Lefthand Brewing - Black Jack Porter
  • Two Brother’s Brewing - Domaine DuPage French Country Ale
  • Pyramid Brewing - Apricot Hefe
  • Breckenridge Brewing - 471
  • Founder’s Brewing - Dirty Bastard
• Kevin at The Wine and Cheese Place in West County has expanded his selection and has added these beers:
  • Baird Red Rose
  • Baird Angry Boy Brown
  • Avery 14er ESB
  • Achel Bruin
  • Achel Blonde
  • Toren Cuvee Angelique
  • Toren Jan de Lichte Imperial White Ale
  • Toren Saison d’Erpe-Mere

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• Aug 15 - Homebrewing Demonstration at St. Louis Wine and Beermaking
  
• Aug 20 - Bell’s Beer Dinner at Newstead Pub
• Sept 13 - Hop in the City
• Sept 24 - Trappist Beer Tasting

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

Irene and I made our way down to the newest Amalgamated Brewing venture, The Stable, for Saturday night’s grand opening. I’ve been to a few grand openings as of recent and for the most part they’re usually low-key events. The opening of The Stable was anything but. We walked in and the place was packed, filled to the brim with people either waiting to get a beer or waiting to get a table.

The Stable
1821 Cherokee Street (Map It)
St Louis, MO 63118
(314) 771-8500

Beer

If The Stable doesn’t win some sort of award next year for best beer selection in a restaurant in one of the local magazines, I may just have to give up hope for this town. The devotion to beer that everyone involved with The Stable has is just mindblowing. With over 20 hand-picked draught choices and another 15 in bottles, The Stable proves that having the largest selection doesn’t necessary mean you have the best selection. Two other extremely encouraging tidbits I picked up was that this will be a rotating selection, so that beer you had on your first visit may not be there on the second. Also, they’ve made the promise that you’ll see no beer with the word “Light” in the name.

Food:

Not content with just pizza and beer, The Stable offers a full line of sandwiches and also some interesting starters. I had the steak special and Irene tried the cajun carbonara. While my steak was cooked perfectly to temperature, I found it a bit tough and not very moist. But I was in the mood for beef so it satisfied my craving. Irene’s carbonara was the winning dish between our two. The spiciness of the andouille helped to balance the richness of the cream sauce. The pasta itself was also very well received as it still had a bit of chew to the noodles, almost just shy of al dente.

Intangibles:

This place is pretty gorgeous. If you’ve ever been to the Lemp Mansion you’ll know that it’s almost like stepping back in time to when the mansion was full of Lemps. The Stable does a good job of taking a lot of the feel from the Lemp Mansion and continuing it in this new spot. The updated wood features along with some of the other features keeps you in a very particular mindset. Irene couldn’t stop looking around and saying “wow.” They also feature a “patio” area featuring a second bar which seems less finished and much more sparse. I’ll be interested to see if it gets updated as well.

I’m really excited about the future of The Stable, some time to work out some opening kinks I think it could quickly become the best beer restaurant in St. Louis. Let’s hope that the crowds I saw on opening night think the same as me and keep filling the place up.

Sorry for the small Round-Up today, everything just seems relatively quiet on the beer front in St. Louis.

Stuff from around the web

• Neat write-up about the Rotten Apple.
• Don over at OatSoda reviews the Export IPA from Schlafly.
• If you’re Green and like beer, Schlafly is the place for you.
• More information on the upcoming Stable opening.
• CraftBrewRadio interviews Tom Schlafly.

Beer Releases and News

• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock at the Clayton and Rock Hill locations:
  • Hitachino Nest XH Matured in Sake Casks
  • Hitachino Nest Commemorative Ale
  • Thiriez Extra Dry Hopped French Farmhouse Ale
  • Inveralmond Brewery Blackfriar
  • Orkney Dragonhead Orcadian Stout
  • Mendocino White Summer Ale

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• June 21 - Hermann’s Rhythm and Brews
• June 21 - Wine Stein and Dine
• June 28 - Westport Beer and Brat Festival
• July 16 - Newstead Tower Public House Boulevard Beer Dinner

I shouldn’t have been shocked when Jared Gardner, the beverage manager for the Rotten Apple, sent me over an another beer list for The Stable that also included bottles, but I was pretty bowled over. Not only will they have an impressive draught list, but some great bottle beers as well. The Stable is open for bar service now and will be opening full service either Friday or Saturday from what I’ve been hearing. Give them a call to find out for sure. Oh and Jared also let me in on a little surprise, see if you can find it in this new list:

Draught

• Schlafly Schwarzbier
• North Coast Scrimshaw Pils
• Reissdorf Kolsch
• North Coast Red Seal Ale
• Hoegaarden
• Duchesse De Bourgogne
• Lefthand Milk Stout
• North Coast Old Rasputin
• Sleeman Cream Ale
• Unibroue Maudite
• O’Fallon 5 Day
• La Chouffe
• Kasteel Rouge
• Bell’s Two Hearted
• Arcadia Hopmouth
• Ayinger Brau-weisse
• Bell’s Oberon
• Schalfly Hefe
• Kostritzer Black Lager

Bottles

• Great Divide Hercules
• Great Divide Yeti
• Chimay Grande Reserve
• Southern Tier Unearthly Imperial IPA
• Hebrew Brewing Lenny’s RIPA
• Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
• Weihenstephan Brewing Hefe
• Rogue Brewing Shakespeare Stout
• Rogue Brewing Imperial Pale Ale
• New Belgium Fat Tire
• Cantillion Iris
• Boulevard Brewing Double Wide IPA
• Budweiser
• Miller High Life
• Stag

The Stable the newest location from the people who brought you the Rotten Apple will be opening in just a few weeks.  Not only will they be brewing their own beer and distilling their own alcohol but they’ll also have a fine selection of draught beer as well.  I was just given the list and I have to say I’m pretty excited:

Reissdorf Kolsch
O’Fallon 5 Day ipa
Old Rasputin
Michelob
Schlafly Hefe
Red Seal
Stag
La Chouffe
Kasteel Rouge
Scrimshaw Pils
Hopmouth
Hoegarden
Maudite
Schlafly Export IPA
Duchesse De Bourgogne
Left Hand Milk Stout
Charleville Half Wit Wheat

This is a pretty exciting list with a couple of beers I’ve personally never seen draught in St. Louis.  Nice to see another place in the area that is giving beer the love it deserves.

You may remember me mentioning The Stable some time ago, well it looks like they’re very close to opening and Kelly Schmickle has a sneak preview of the new restaurant/brewery/distillery up. Looks like they’ll be specializing in pizza and beer (always a great combo.)

Some of the other highlights include that they’ll be serving a Helles-style beer as well as a Marzen to start and will be featuring 16(!) taps of Belgian and “big bad American microbrews.” (Have I ever mentioned that I hate the word “microbrew” or “microbeer”?)  I look forward at what’s to come and we’ll see what these brewers have up their sleeve.

Jared Gardner, the Bar Manager at the Rotten Apple, emailed to let me know that they’ll be hosting a Lagunitas Beer Tasting on Thursday, May 22nd from 6:30PM to 9PM. These are the Lagunitas beers they’ll be sampling:

• Lagunitas Pils
• Lagunitas IPA
• Lagunitas Censored (aka the kronic)
• Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
• Lagunitas Old Gnarly Wine

Along with the fantastic Lagunitas beers they’ll also be offering an amuse bouche present by the new chef of Rotten Apple’s sister location, The Stable:

• 1st Course - Orange - Sherry Roasted Crimini Mushrooms Stuffed with Goat Cheese
• 2nd Course - Jumbo Shrimp Wrapped in Bacon with Ale Mustard Glaze
• 3rd Course - Beef Tenderloin Brochette with Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce
• 4th Course - Campfire Caramel and Chocolate Smores

The cost of the event is $25 which includes 5 pints of beer and the appetizers. Only 30 tickets are available and you can make your reservation by calling (618) 786-2798.

• Drew Huerter, who you may remember from my wintry Homebrew With Drew post a while back, has told me that he’s been brought onto the Schlafly Tap Room to help out Stephen Hale and Brennan Greene a few days a week. He’s also informed me that he’ll be taking over the helm for the Mattingly Brewing Company that I mentioned last week. So congrats to him!
• Dave Johnson and Charlie Berger of O’Fallon Brewery were interviewed last week by The Beer Report in anticipation for the 2008 Peoria Beerfest. Listen to the podcast here.
• Jerad Gardner has taken over the position of Bar Manager at the Rotten Apple in Grafton, IL. He’ll also be involved with The Stable as it moves closer to opening. Oh, did I also mention that Rotten Apple currently has some Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout available?
• Derrick Bean and Dave Johnson of O’Fallon also let me know that the Pappy Van Winkle O’Fallon Smoked Porter should be seeing the store shelves as soon as April 21st.
• Schlafly and the Repeal of Prohibition Festival get a small shout-out on CNN.

It looks like next year’s St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival may be getting a bit bigger as it looks like St. Louis will be introducing two new local breweries this year.

The Stable

I mentioned that this one would spring up during my rundown of the Rotten Apple a while back, but now Sauce Magazine has provided some additional information on the new brewery/distillery:

The old Lemp stables will soon be home to the hard stuff, when the Amalgamated Brewing Co., which also owns The Rotten Apple in Grafton, debuts The Stable, a microbrewery, distillery and pizzeria, at Cherokee Street and Lemp Avenue next month. Owners Jesse Jones and Paul Pointer will brew a lager and distill absinthe, grappa, vodka, rum, gin and moonshine (a corn-based liquor) under the brand name Hytest; the spirits will be served at The Stable, and the pair intend to distribute the hard stuff eventually. But Hytest won’t be the only brand at the Benton Park spot; Jones said that other spirits and brews, including local suds, will be available, including a large Belgian selection. There’ll be items for teetotalers, too: handcrafted Neapolitan-style pizza, sandwiches and salads.

Mattingly Brewing Company

Continuing on the St. Louis city brewing trend, it looks like we’ll have another brewery near the old Lemp Brewery:

Both of the Mattinglys have a strong interest in the microbrewery and started with home brewing about seven years ago. The two, who are engineers by trade, started talking about starting a microbrewery around 2003.

“A hobby became a business,” said Doug Mattingly.

They’ve hired a manager for the brewery, Matt McMullen, and are hiring a brewmaster.

When they open, their microbrewery will have the capacity of making batches of 124 gallons at a time. They plan to brew a variety of craft ales, including India pale ale and a stout. Pizza will be a specialty in the microbrewery, which will have a capacity of 50.

“St. Louis some time ago used to be the capital of craft brewing. We think it’s well on its way to being so (again),” Douglas Mattingly said.

Exciting time to be a beer lover in St. Louis.

^{_{Thanks to Jim for reminding me about these articles.}}