Dashing through the snow with beer throughout the day

We spent this past weekend in St Louis for another homebrew competition. This time, it was St Louis Brews’ annual “Happy Holiday” competition. Judging was held Wednesday & Friday at the Schlafly Taproom, while Saturday’s sessions were at the relatively new Hill Brewing Company (soon to become Ferguson Brewing Company). We tried a few beers at Hill: Classic American Pilsner, Vanilla Bourbon Imperial Porter, and Chocolate Stout.  

If you’re interested in checking out a pre-prohibition pils, theirs is a good one to try. It’s a style that isn’t very easy to find, but is interesting, moderately complex, flavorful, and refreshing. It’s made with barley and flaked corn, so there’s a decent amount of sweetness, but it’s balanced by hop flavor and bitterness and kept light in body by the corn.

In the KC area, if you’re lucky, you’ll find John Barleycorn at Free State. And if you’re in Nebraska, a trek over to Lucky Bucket will land you yet another Pre-Prohibition pils simply called the Lucky Bucket Lager. There aren’t many around, but this is a style that seems to be gaining some interest with craft brewers; keep your eye out for it.

On our way back to KC, we stopped for brunch at Broadway Brewing. We’re probably some of the last craft beer people in KC to go to Broadway, but I’m glad we finally did. There was a live band playing folk music in the back corner, which was perfect ambiance for the cold, snowy day. Broadway's known for focusing on local ingredients, and their menu is a welcome change from your standard pub fare; I had a chorizo & roasted red pepper quiche and Mr Wort Hog enjoyed some lamb hash. On tap was an APA, a Rye Pale Ale, a winter strong ale, and something else that escapes me. 

While we were there, they put on their cream ale – replacing the He’Brew Vertical Jewbelation, a blend of the past 7 years of Jewbelations, aged in Sazerac rye barrels. In fact, they had all seven Jewbelations on tap in addition to the Vertical Jewbelation! I was a bit disappointed to find out that these were kegs of *re-brewed* Jewbelations - instead of kegs that had been tucked away for years - but quickly forgot my disappointment in my glass of the Vertical Jewbelation. 

If you want any of them on tap, you’ll need to drive to Columbia or Omaha, as those are the closest cities with one of the 88 “chosen” bars. Or, find a gift pack (which has all the beers, an empty bottle as the shamash, and a glass) and drink your way to your own beer menorah!

Mattingly Closes its Doors

Damn it. Mattingly Brewing Company's blog post today reports that they're closing up shop; according to STL Hops' note about the closure, they've chosen not to renew their liquor license. Whether they'll reopen at some point or sell the place is unknown. These guys were one of our favorite stops in St Louis, as they offered some interesting and high-quality brews.

You can get two of their beers at the Schlafly taproom - a wheat on tap and an old ale in bottles. I suspect this isn't the last we've seen of their brewer, Drew Huerter, as he's clearly a skilled brewer and should find no lack of interest in his abilities.

Goodbye, Mattingly, and cheers to new opportunities.

NOTE - Thanks to responders for clarifying that Huerter currently works at Schlafly Bottleworks full time.

On the Road Again: St Louis

This post is part 2 of our our homebrew judging adventures this spring. Our trip to the other side of the state was probably one of my favorite visits to date. The weather was perfect (upper 70s and blue sky!), the beer was excellent, and we found some great new places for food. The main purpose of our trip was to judge homebrew at the Garage Brewers Society (GBS) Champion of the Pint competition, but we made a full weekend out of it.

Our arrival in town on that Friday evening was initiated by a small trip to Trader Joes in Chesterfield to pick up some snacks (and mesquite honey to make mead), then a hop over to the International Tap House for some beers. I was exhausted but mustered enough strength and stamina to drink a few beers, including the spectacular Avery Black Tot. Take note - this will be available in bottles at the Flying Saucer's 2nd anniversary bash this Sunday. It's a stout aged in rum barrels that really impressed me - sweet but not cloying, boozy without being hot, and lots of complex fruit character (is that raisin? Prune? No wait, fig?).

Saturday was the competition, and we worked up a hunger judging a bunch of homebrews. We're both big fans of traditional Neapolitan pizza, but it's unfortunately relatively hard to find in most parts of the country. The Good Pie in St Louis brings the style to the Midwest, and with competence.

We arrived around 7pm, made a bee-line for the bar, and ordered the cured meat plate and a couple of beers. The plate came with a good assortment of prosciutto, salami, pancetta, and a couple other items I can't recall. It was served with a piece of olive-oil-brushed pizza crust which was a wonderfully thin, charred, crispy-chewy authentic Neapolitan crust. I'm talking "baked in a wood oven at 900 degrees Fahrenheit for less than two minutes" kind of awesome.

I washed that down with the O'Fallon Wee Heavy that I thoroughly enjoyed, but I wish I'd at least taken a few notes as I don't really remember the specific qualities of the beer (hey, it was a long day). Our main dish was the Pizza Napoli:  anchovies, mozzarella, chili, and basil. Simple, fresh, and delicious. It was my first pizza I've ever had with anchovies, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it - and I would definitely recommend it, even if you're hesitant about fish on pizza. While the tap and bottle lists aren't extensive and their website's out of date, what's on is very thoughtful and current. And if you're dying to know what they do have, it looks like they frequently tweet tap announcements.

We crossed the street to Buffalo Brewing, where we enjoyed very good versions of a double IPA and a sweet stout. Incidentally, the sweet stout was the gold-medal winner of a GBS chili-cookoff competition - thereby earning the right to be brewed & served at Buffalo. Way to support local home brewers, Buffalo! These guys are kind of in a strange location for a brewpub, as there are a few night clubs immediately near by and - as a result - lots of people in fancy clubber garb standing alongside red velvet ropes. Despite that, I recommend checking this place out if you're ever in STL. Every time we've gone, we've had good beer and the staff is always friendly.

We then we took the car back to our hotel before heading off to Schlafly's taproom to close the night. Schlafly was great, as always, and I've written about them before so I won't go into it again here. I sure do love their Kölsch, though, and always enjoy having it on tap.

The next morning, we enjoyed a wonderful brunch at Bridge, another fine beer establishment in St Louis. Owned by David Bailey, who also owns Bailey's Chocolate Bar and Rooster, Bridge offers over 45 craft beers on tap and over 100 from a bottle. What I really liked about Bridge was that they offered any tap beer in a 4oz glass. It's a perfect size for getting a full impression of a beer without growing tired of it - alternately, it provides a great way to sample a handful of strong beers without getting completely wasted.

As for food, we stuffed ourselves silly. We ordered smoked paprika popcorn (good, but not amazing) and a plate of mixed house pickles to start. The pickled grapes were a lot of fun and I was surprised when our bartender said some people get pissed that they include them. We also ordered a board of roasted duck breast on focaccia with cassis conserve as well as a small side of salt & vinegar potato salad. The board of duck breast was HUGE (8 pieces I think) and we didn't finish it, but it was wonderful. The potato salad was neither as salty or vinegary as I expected, which led to a bit of disappointment. I was expecting something like salt & vinegar chips (which I adore), but it was more like cold German potato salad that needed more salt.

Finally, for our main and final course, we ordered a plate of mixed cheese with more focaccia:  Methusela from Heartland Creamery, Comté Marcel Petite, and Rogue Creamery Smoked Blue (which turned out to be their regular Oregon Blue, not the smoked-over-hazelnut-shells variety. Bummer.).

Overall, we had a great time in St Louis and no doubt brought home a few thousand well-earned calories to boot. Regardless, I look forward to our next trip out there to explore more of the city's beer destinations. New places seem to be popping up pretty frequently and the craft beer scene is really taking off.

And so this post ends with a nod to St Louis Craft Beer Week. After our last visit, we look forward to yet another one of our own St Louis Craft Beer Weekends.

I got the St Louis Blues

... because I'd have liked to spend more time there! Last weekend, John and I trekked out to Hermann and St Louis for a mini-beercation. We hadn't been out of town overnight since October, so it was nice to get away.

We went to the Tin Mill in Hermann and sampled all of their beers. Their Pilsner and Maibock were our favorites, so we bought 12 bottles of each. All of their beer is good (though the doppelbock had much more of a roasted flavor than I'd expect for the style) and they're worth a detour if you're driving through the area. Hermann's only 15 miles south of I-70 and about 90 miles from downtown St Louis.

We spent Saturday in St Louis, but we hopped over the state line to Illinois before starting our day in the city. We went to Corral Liquors in Granite City to pick up some brews we can't get in KS or MO. We ended up with two cases of various bottles from Lagunitas, Dogfish Head, Rogue, Green Flash, Victory, Three Floyds, and a host of others. I highly recommend taking a detour any time you're in St Louis and picking up some beer not distributed to this side of Illinois. The staff was friendly and the store had a great selection.

After loading up the car with beer, we headed back into STL to the Schlafly Tap Room for some lunch. Their food selection is intriguing, and I couldn't pass up a tilapia reuben! Much to my surprise, the tilapia was battered and fried. I loved it, and if you can handle a giant grease bomb, I highly recommend it! We enjoyed a handful of pints, all of which were very good - but the APA on cask was my favorite. This goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway - the tap room is a must-visit for any beer lover in St Louis.

While we chatted over lunch and our beers, I perused one of the free weekly mags (River Front Times) and saw an ad for a beer bar named The Stable. Brewhouse, distillery, and pizzeria? I'm there!

The bar's great - well-stocked with a large variety of beer including stuff from Bells, Southern Tier, New Belgium (Lips of Faith Dunkelweiss), Rogue (Brutal Bitter), Charleville, Duchesse du Bourgogne, Sammiclaus (Helles), Ommegang.... They had about 30 beers on tap and great variety. They said they rotate taps quite frequently, and I believe it. The place was busy. They are not, however, brewing yet - but that didn't matter; their beer selection is fantastic.

We had a great time and I'm looking forward to returning to St Louis for a longer visit. Schlafly has a packed event calendar that I'm going to keep my eye on. You should too.