Schlafly Brewery

by Kevin

A quick post on one of our almost local breweries: Schlafly of St. Louis. Michelle and I had the chance to stop in here on our way through Missouri and enjoyed the visit. On tap were two cask conditioned alternate versions of the 80/- (80 Schilling) and the Golden Ale.

I sat down with the cask conditioned 80 schilling. Cask conditioning allows a secondary fermentation to occur within the storage container. In this case it added an extra layer of smokiness that I usually don’t find in the normal Schlafly offering. AbV was in line at 4.7 to create a very enjoyable drink.

I also tried a small sample of the Pumpkin Ale from draft and found a pumpkin-pie flavor along with a very noticeable sweetness. This was pumpkin pie filling with a touch of whipped cream. The 8% alcohol was not apparent.

The food was also impressive. I had a pulled pork sandwich along with a side of the Beer Cheese soup. Michelle had a ham and egg sandwich. We could have easily split either entree between the two of us. The portions were generous and the food itself was well prepared and matched the beer.

Overall, I would give a to the Schlafly brewery experience. We did not have time to take the tour at the Bottleworks location, but if any readers have been on that tour, let us know in the comments. For anyone visiting the St. Louis area, I recommend a quick stop by the brewery to split a meal and try something from their large selection.

You can always follow me on Untappd to see what I am enjoying.

No Turning Back

By: Cresta

Hope you all don’t mind me writing about beer…

It’s been a fun, busy summer for me.  Seems like I’ve had a lot of social events to attend, which is always exciting.  In the midst of all of these events, I became re-acquainted with one of my favorite beers…and now there’s no turning back.

I’ve always been a “light” beer drinker, but tasting Hoegaarden changed that.  I first tried Hoegaarden about a year ago at The Pub in Crestview Hills Town Center.  And I fell in love with it.  Lately I’ve been buying it to enjoy at home.

Hoegaarden is a wheat beer from Belgium.  I think this beer has a very different taste. With a touch of coriander and a hint of orange peel, the flavor is sweet and spicy at the same time. It is an unfiltered beer and therefore a bit cloudy in appearance.  If you get it out on tap, Hoegaarden is served in its traditional hexagonal glass with an orange slice.

Hoegaarden is very refreshing so it’s one of those beers that’s perfect for a warm summer day. Wonder if we’ll have any more of those.

When I first started buying Hoegaarden, it was not widely available. But I’ve noticed it more in area liquor stores and even in some grocery stores. The downside is I’ve never seen this beer on sale. It’s typically $9.99 a six-pack.

This is not really a review, but I’m gonna give it a big HAPPY face anyway!

Anheuser-Busch Buys Goose Island

For those of you who have been reading the blog for a long time, you know that I’m a huge fan of Goose Island. Whenever we go to Chicago, we make a special point of heading out to the brewery for seasonals and dinner. I even co-hosted an event last year with the Dilly Cafe, the Hoperatives, and Goose Island. They make my favorite beers.

It was announced today that Anheuser-Busch has purchased Goose Island. Now remember, Anheuser-Busch itself is owned by global conglomerate InBev, so in essence, InBev now owns Goose Island.

I know this is probably a good thing for Goose Island, and the deal was worth a lot of beer: $38.8 million. According to WBEZ Chicago, not much will change:

In a statement, the head of Goose Island, John Hall, said the Chicago company has grown so rapidly in the last five years that demand for Goose Island beers has outgrown the capacity of its brewery. Hall said the company has had to limit production of some of the beers. Hall said the deal with Anheuser-Busch will help Goose Island continue to grow.

“This agreement helps us achieve our goals with an ideal partner who helped fuel our growth, appreciates our products and supports their success,” Hall said in a statement.

In announcing the acquisition, Goose Island said Hall will continue to be responsible for the Chicago brewery, which the company says will remain in operation.

So I have my fingers crossed I won’t see a Matilda Select or Fleur Lime anytime in the near future.

Learning to Home Brew

One of the best holiday presents I have received in the past few years has been a homebrew kit.  This has allowed me to combine my love of beer with me learning my way around the kitchen.  By the time I had my own kit, I had already made three batches of beer with my college roommate (not on campus, don’t worry), so I felt pretty seasoned and ready to take on brewing by myself.

The kit that I have is from an Australian outfit called Coopers.  The rad thing about the kit (aside from the hilarious Australian instructional video) is that it comes with some of the bells and whistles that I did not have before like a hydrometer and a sticker thermometer.  Being from Australia, all the temperatures are in Celsius, so I may look into a Fahrenheit one as well.  But if you can deal with some metric conversions, this is a solid kit to have.

My favorite thing about this kit is how easy it is to use.  Everything is streamlined and simplified from the instructions to the malty goodness in the can.  With that in mind, this kit is perfect for beginning brewers who are just looking to try it out.  However, one of the best parts about homebrewing is tampering with recipes and trying new ideas.  I would recommend a gift certificate to Listermann Brewing Company for an intermediate or advanced home brewer in the Greater Cincinnati Area.

The first part of the process from the kit is the mix.  Mixing beer is very similar to baking or cooking.  You have ingredients, temperatures, and methods to mix them all together.  The kit makes this process super easy by premixing your hops and malt.  You essentially boil some water then dump it in the fermenter, add in the can of malt and hops, add in the pre-measured amount of sugar, stir, add more water, wait until the fermenter reaches a certain temperature, throw in the yeast, jam in the air lock, and seal it up.  It is that easy.

The hardest part about this whole process may be the waiting involved!  Soon, I’ll complete the second and third steps in the process, brewing and bottling.

Cheers to your good health!
Steve

New Tasting Schedule at DEPs

In the world of tastings, DEP’s is going to switch to only having wine tastings on Fridays. The good news is the Fort Thomas store is going to have a weekly beer tasting on Saturdays. In order to try all wines of the week, plan to hit both stores on Friday.

I got a chance to talk with Corey on Saturday during the first tasting this past weekend. The cost for the selection of beers will be $2. This week featured recent closeout acquisitions on sale for 11.99 a case or $1-3 for a 22 oz bottle. Overall a solid first outing for the new beer tasting format.

Upcoming Wine tastings can be seen over on the DEP’s tasting page. Beer tastings will be announced weekly.