I’m pleased to announce that the winners of the VIP Tour the Schlafly Tap Room is Clarissa Gaff, John Schmitt, Timmy R, Rusty Groth, Paul Buske, and Jaron Rose!
Congrats to everyone and thanks everyone for entering. If you didn’t win, don’t be too upset, once again I have some cool stuff to give away soon.
What’s that? You’ve been to the Schlafly Tap Room a number of times, but you’ve never taken a tour? Well, to be fair, they don’t actually offer public tours of the Tap Room. But, I’m now going to be offering you a chance on May 8th at 5PM to attend a special VIP tour of this historic building, with me as your tour guide.
What does this VIP tour entail? First, you’ll get to listen to me talk for about 20 minutes about the history of Schlafly, the history of the building, and then we talk a bit about the brewing process. I promise, it’s about to get better. Then we’ll have a chance to taste some unfinished beer directly off one of the fermentation tanks. I’ll show you around the cellar, and then you’ll enjoy a final tasting of a number of different Schlafly beers along with a complimentary meat and cheese platter.
So, how do you get invited to enjoy this special tour? Well, we’ll make this a contest. You’ll need to email contest@stlhops.com with Schlafly VIP Tour as the subject. I’ll pick six winners (which will include a pass for the winner, plus a guest) on Monday, April 19th at 9AM. A couple of quick notes:
If you don’t win this one, don’t worry I will be holding more contests like this in the future, so you’ll have another chance then. Good luck!
Last year was a year of firsts for the St. Louis beer scene. For instance, it brought us the inaugural St. Louis Centennial Beer Festival. Well, the creators of last year’s festival have up the ante this year with an entire weekend of events all centered around beer.
Here’s a look at what’s going on for the 2010 St. Louis Centennial Beer Festival which will be taking place the weekend of January 29th-January 31st:
Friday 1/29/10
Brewmaster Dinner - 6-9pm (Tickets $59)
Includes beer, food and service.
Join George Reisch, fifth generation brewmaster, president of Master Brewers Association of America and director of brewmaster outreach for Anheuser Busch as we taste a wide portfolio of beers paired with our meal.
Working together with Mr. Reisch, the Moulin chefs will prepare a phenomenal five course meal that will inspire and inform. This is an encore event and sold out quickly last time.
Saturday 1/30/10
Beer Tasting - 6-9pm (Tickets $25)
The second year will feature more than 60 beers to taste, live entertainment by Swing Cat Swing and food to purchase. Guests will receive a complimentary tasting glass and be treated to some of the best selection and widest variety of beers from around the world.
VIP Tasting Room – 6-7:15pm or 7:45-9pm ( Tickets Additional $10)
You have probably noticed that there are more and more ultra-premium beers hitting the market and for the price of a couple of bottles, you can enjoy a seventy five minute open tasting. The number of tickets are limited so that everyone will have an opportunity to taste and discuss the portfolio of high end specialty beers. Please indicate session 1 or 2 when purchasing your ticket.
Beer Makers Discussions – 6-9pm (Included with standard ticket)
New this year, throughout the evening we will invite beer experts to discuss a wide variety of topics with a question and answer period. It is a great way to introduce your self to the like minded beer aficionados and pick their brain on a wide variety of topics. Schedule and topics to be announced.
Sunday 1/31/10
Brunch and Pub Bus - 12-4:30pm (Tickets $70)
No better way to follow up Saturday then with a strong cup of coffee, brunch and a trip to the breweries.
Your day begins with brunch at Vin de Set. Once you eat your fill, you will board transportation that will visit three local breweries and get the inside tour from the local operators.
As an added bonus, our on bus tour guide will be Donald Roussin, who has visited every known brewery site within 150 miles, is co-author of St. Louis Brews – 200 Years of Brewing, and an avid collector of St. Louis area brewery collectibles. Specialty beer from the night before will be available for sale in mixed six packs. This is a must for the local brewery lover. Tickets are limited so purchase them soon. Brunch, transportation and beer tastings at three breweries are included
Tickets for all of the events are available by calling 314-241-4949 or by visiting the Moulin Events website. Sounds like a great way to spend a weekend in St. Louis.
Way back in June, Irene and I headed up to Kansas City to take in the Cardinals/Royals series. While we were up there, Laura Dale of Boulevard Brewing was kind enough to set us up a tour with John Bryan, the Artisanal Director of Boulevard. John is the guy behind the Smokestack Series.
I have to say that at the time while I was quite aware of Boulevard, I was unaware just how big Boulevard is. It’s huge. Boulevard produced 132,000 barrels of beer last year. Just by comparison, Schlafly produced about 24,000. This new facility has the capacity to produce 700,000 barrels of beer a year. That’s a lot of beer. If you’re ever in KC, you need to make the trip and check out this facility. It’s pretty amazing.
