Action Packed Weekend: St. Louis (Part 2 of 2)

With one full day of exploration behind us, we decided it might be best to start our second day in St. Louis at the brewery with the earliest opening hours. Luckily 4 Hands Brewery had recently begun a Saturday brunch program, so in addition to our beginning beers - the excellent Contact High summer wheat - we were served a ham steak with basil pesto and hearty swiss frittata that provided a foundation for the day ahead.

In addition to the excellent beers made by Will Johnston and Martin Toft, 4 Hands owner Kevin Lemp (the other 3 hands in 4 hands are his wife and two children) has put together an excellent space, with large windows to display the inner brewery workings, a large and comfortable bar, and a centerpiece table made from a recovered warehouse door. The vibe lies somewhere between Three Floyds and the Tomlinson Tap Room, with a lot more light let in.

When you're drinking beer, the next best thing is another beer. We headed south and continued our adventure at Perennial Artisan Ales, another recently opened St. Louis brewery. Perennial's focus is on local, seasonal, and organic ingredients - not an unusual path in better beer. But where Perennial succeeds is in using these ingredients not so much as a compliment, but in many cases, as a highlight.

While my favorite of the Perennial lineup is the excellent Saison de Lis - a beer made with chamomile flowers - what caught my eye this time was the Chocolate Ale - a slightly unusual take on chocolate beer that features an amber base (instead of the usual porter or stout) with cocoa nibs added to bring the chocolate favors forward.

Like many breweries, Perennial is housed in converted warehouse space. The tasting room is not unlike a combination of the space that houses Bearcats in Indianapolis' Stutz building, with the copper bars and tables from Brugge Brasserie. The interior is bright, refined, and inviting - a suitable compliment to the beer.

At this point in our day we had an empty space to fill, and after a short conversation I thought it might be best to show our guests the other side of St. Louis beer - with an Anheuser-Busch brewery tour.

The AB tour starts in a large lobby, filled with televisions displaying ads from the Ab lineup in addition to multiple display cases filled with ephemera from throughout the company's history. The early introduction makes a point of noting the free samples after the tour - in fact, you can make one stop on the tour and immediately return to the tasting room to collect your samples.

Despite the 100+ degree temperatures, we took the entire indoor/outdoor tour. A highlight was the fermentation room - a space stacked with 64 tanks producing 3600 barrels of beer every 21 -30 days. To compare volume to a successful local brewery - Flat12: This means that in just one month AB produces 57.6 times as much beer as Flat12 produced in total in 2011 - in just one room in a massive complex that is echoed by additional plants throughout the world.

After our tour we did take advantage of those free samples - Shock Top Wheat IPA and Lemon Shandy, Stella Artois (now an AB/Inbev beer), and something else forgettable made their way to our hands. None were particularly satisfying, but it's hard to argue with free.

Next up was a stop to 33, a wine bar in the Lafayette Square neighborhood. Though most folks might think of 33 as place for wine - a full cellar and extensive list are definitely defining elements of the menu - 33 also features features a great beer list, with well thought out and humorous descriptions and explanations of each beer. 33 is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it space - preferring to build a word-of-mouth business, the owners decided against any sort of outside signage. If you find yourself in a long white room with bubbles hanging from the ceiling, you're probably in the right place.

After dinner at the excellent (but non-noted) Pi, we finished our day at the City Museum. Opened in October 1997 by St. Louis artist Bob Cassilly, the museum isn't really a museum at all.

"(The City Museum is) an eclectic mixture of children’s playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects."

The end result is a complex housing anything and everything weird, a skatepark, a log cabin, a rooftop Ferris wheel, a giant praying mantis, and ten stories of tunnels/caverns that have the magical ability to trick full-grown adults into crawling around on their hands and knees in search of a ten-story slide.

The museum seems dangerous - it's an at-your-own-risk space - its "Enchanted Caves" have the ability to separate children from adults as the spaces get narrower and more difficult to navigate. It's the ultimate fix for the overbearing helicopter parent - every surface potentially dangerous, metal and wire and concert working together to provide endless entertainment. Visiting as we did - late on a Saturday night - the lights are turned low, the air was hot, and we sweated and crawled our way through the first five stories before jumping on a series of spiral slides in "the shoe shaft" area (click here for a panorama and imagine the entire area shrouded in darkness) in an effort to find our way back out.

It's a magic space, one that echoes what's happening in St. Louis these days - things that are surprising, fun, and grown up all at once. It was a perfect finish to our weekend - one we hope to repeat with more friends in the future.



Click here to read Part 1 of this 2 part series

Action Packed Weekend: St. Louis (Part 1 of 2)

Because we often head back to the St. Louis area to visit family and friends, it's not unusual for Gina and me to speak fondly of the city while in the company of friends. With a sunny summer weekend staring us in the eye, we decided it was time to share the city with some of our Indianapolis friends. Hoping to back up all our previous enthusiasm, we planned to pack as much in as possible.

Our first St. Louis stop was in the Soulard neighborhood, at Bogart's Smoke House, a "Memphis-style" BBQ joint opened in 2011 by former Supersmokers and Pappy's Smokehouse pit master Skip Steele. Picking Bogart's was a difficult decision - Pappy's Smokehouse does equally excellent BBQ - but a previous visit a couple months back convinced me that Bogart's was the right choice.

My first taste at Pappy's (and equally so at Bogart's) was a revelation - the jump in quality from my previous BBQ experiences to what the folks at Pappy's/Bogart's do was as eye-opening as the first time I had Chimay after a lifetime of drinking Miller Lite. While there are many foods that can amaze and satisfy, I've found that Bogart's side of ribs might be the most rewarding and genuinely tasty food I have ever eaten.

With a whole Friday afternoon in front of us, we headed west to the Midtown Alley neighborhood and settled into drinks at Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. Opened in early 2011 by former Anheuser-Busch brewmaster Florian Kuplent, the brewery occupies a former garage space and recently added an outdoor biergarten. Urban Chestnut divides their beer into two series: Revolution, focusing on "modern American" beers, and Reverence, focusing on "timeless European beer styles". Our group worked our way through five beers, including Old Tjikko, a spruce beer not unlike Sun King's Norwegian Blue, and a shared Thrale's bourbon barrel aged imperial stout.

Urban Chestnut is a brewery unlike any in Indiana, which might be interpreted as a strong German influence (the brewmaster is German, after all) showing up in all the beers we sampled. These were not beers that were light of body, but instead full, filling, and hearty. A few selections from the Urban Chestnut have recently made their way to Indianapolis - look for their Zwickel and Winged Nut in better beer bars such as Shallos or Tavern on South.

Hoping to eventually catch up with some friends, we headed back downtown for a quick pint or two at the Schlafly tap room. Visits to the tap room often feel like a homecoming for Gina and me, as we've made many friends in our many visits over the years. We were greeted at the door by Schlafly brewmaster Stephen Hale (he wasn't waiting for us, it was just dumb luck), who welcomed us back.

Schlafly has always been very good to Hoosier Beer Geek - not just with insider tours and hospitality, but also with consistently excellent beer. This visit was no exception, as we grabbed pints of their exceptional American IPA, a local favorite and fast-mover when available in Indianapolis. I also tried what was listed as "80", a full flavored Scottish 80 shilling style ale that came in below 4% ABV. My last sips were from a shared pour of a bourbon barrel aged doppelbock that I would have been more than happy to bring home with me.

Indianapolis has no brewery like Schlafly - a "face of St. Louis craft beer" brewery that's as almost as well known to Average Joe St. Louisian as it is to the dedicated craft beer drinker - though there are a few Indy breweries working their way towards that crown. Although Schlafly has been playing leader in St. Louis for over 20 years, they've continued to grow at a significant pace, and remain as relevant today - and perhaps even more so - than ever.

Hoping to catch up with some St. Louis legends - Mike Sweeney, Eric Hildebrandt, and Andrew Mark Veety, we scurried back to Soulard to make a visit to the International Tap House (ITap), where we also sort of met/looked at Bill Burge - 3 of the 4 being responsible for the excellent podcast StewedSTL.

ITap is sort of like what would happen if you combined Indy's Twenty Tap with the Tomlinson Tap Room and a more extensive version of Shallos bottle selection - a very large space with a ton of taps and bottles that also allows for outside food to be carried in. Of course the highlight to any ITap visit is finding something you haven't had before - a regular occurrence with a menu this large. Having had a beer and after catching up, we made our way to dinner.

Our fifth stop of the day brought us to Bailey's Range, a "burger and shake restaurant where everything is made from scratch using only 100% grass fed Missouri range beer" (their copy). We were met at the door by the soothing sounds of a blaring fire alarm - staff promised that nothing was on fire and that it would be turned off as soon as they found out how - so we took a seat at the end of the long communal table that fills the first floor.

Range's commitment to local carries through in their beer menu - 30 taps filled with an almost 100% local selection (the lone outlier on our visit was Deschutes Twilight), as well as an extensive cane sugar soda selection featuring the likes of Fitzs Root Beer and Ski (a staple of my youth).

Taking a short break from the beer (but not the alcohol), I ordered up the Bailey's Horchata, a shake made with cinnamon ice cream, RumChata, and vanilla vodka. Others at the table ordered from Bailey's Boozy Ice Tea and Lemonade menus, and all of us were happy with our selections. Paired with a collection of burgers ranging from the Buzzed (an espresso rubbed burger topped with apples, diced onions, bacon, and blue cheese) to a temporary selection called The American (beef, grilled cheese patty, I forget what else), we left with our bellies over-full and happy about it.

Slightly unable to walk now (thanks to our full bellies) and teased by a tweet, we attempted to catch up with the namesake behind the beer known as Carlbock at the Civil Life Brewing Company.

Civil Life was opened during the great St. Louis brewery explosion of 2011 (they're happening everywhere) in a warehouse/garage type space formerly used as a newspaper distribution center. The space was divided in half, allowing the back room to serve as the brewing area while adding a very accommodating pub space to the front. It's one of the more unusual spaces I've been to, looking almost as if an old English-style brewpub suddenly appeared in the middle of a garage. But it's an impressive and cozy space, with multiple levels, a biergarten, and an indoor balcony overlooking a game area. Civil Life focuses on close-to-session ales (around 5% ABV), with a lineup that leans more toward the traditional side of brewing. While we didn't find Carl, we did find tasty beer and comfortable chairs.

Being pretty exhausted from a full day, we headed back to our hotel in the Central West End, for a quick rest before a reasonably forgettable nightcap at a neighborhood bar. Then to bed - another day calling.

Michigan Road Trip

This past week we took a trip to Traverse City, Michigan. I've wanted to head up there for a while and just get away from things for a week.  The area around Traverse City is a great location to get a cabin for the week, and not really do much, or do as much as you want.  Traverse City has an exploding food culture, at least 33 wineries in the area,(I think many more than that) fantastic hiking, boating, beaches, and they even had great beer on top of that!

Our first beer related stop was at Jolly Pumkin. I've always been a big fan of them, and this location did not disappoint.  It is set on a beautiful piece of land that is just a short drive up the peninsula from Traverse City.  The Jolly Pumkin location is a restaurant, brewery, and distillery that is very warm and comfortable.  The food was fantastic as well.  One of the best meals I've ever had at a brewery.  It was so much more than "pub" food, and is something I would love to eat at again.

I started out with a pint of Bam Biere.  It was 90 degrees the first day we were there and this hit the spot.  I then went through a flight from North Peak Brewing Company.

Fresh Bam Biere.

The four beer available on draft from JP.

North Peak tap handles.

North Peak flight: Dark Angel Cherry Porter, Dubious Chocolate Stout, Wander Session IPA, Sinuous Celtic Ale, Furry Black IPA, Vicious Wheat IPA.
The session IPA was just fantastic.  Huge hop aroma and very refreshing for the heat of the day.  The Sinuous Celtic Ale was really a wonderful mash-up of a scotch ale and a red ale.  Crisp and refreshing while still being malty and roasty.  The Vicious wheat IPA was another winner.  I thought it to be in the same arena as Gumballhead, and very good.

Front door of Jolly Pumpkin

The next night we went to Mackinaw Brewing Company in downtown Traverse City.  They are a full service restaurant and brewery downtown.  I got another flight here and I really liked their seasonal brown ale.  It was very full and robust, but it was finished with honey and provided a nice sweetness to the beer. They had a cider and a mead on the menu that were also highlights of the the flight.

Left to right: G.T. Golden, Peninsula Pale Ale, Red 8 Ale, downtown brown, oatmeal stout

Left to right: oatmeal stout, West Bay IPA, Hard Apple Cider, and a mead.

 I've got some more beer trip photos I will share in the next couple of days.

Cheers!

Matt

Road Trip / Beer Diary: Scenes from the Illiana Mayfest

This year marked the second annual Illiana Mayfest, put on by Crown Brewing, and located at the Lake County fairgrounds. The festival was a fantastic closer to American Craft Beer Week and it was awesome to see many local faces as well as new faces and breweries from Northern Illinois for a crowd of over 1000 beer-loving folks.



Crown Brewing’s table serving up a variety of beers including their Alkoholica.

Awesome GNR shirt at the Upland table.

Shoreline Brewing serving up samples; Baby Strupeck was nowhere to be found.

Chris from People's showing off some new bottles!

Sun King showing off their house lineup to a future market.

Cask of 85 - nice!

Flossmoor Station brought some outstanding sour brews.

Limestone Brewery from Plainfield, IL served up an India Brown Ale and a Pale Ale.

Back Road – Front and Center


Mike Hess, relaxing behind the Barley Island taps.


Rock Bottom Orland Park – proving once again that the number one commodity at Rock Bottom locations are the brewers and their unique brews, not a standardized corporate menu.


Figure 8

Brickstone had a really nice Cherry Ale, looking forward to more from this brewery.

Harrison’s apricot beer was enjoyable


Flat 12 brought a big crew and a lot of beer.



The lager from Argus Brewery was clean yet malty.

No photos of Brugge or Brewpub as they didn't make it up despite seeing them on the lineup list. They would have been a great addition to the rest of the Indiana crew. Hopefully we'll see them and many other Indiana brewers up there next year.
Chris, from Crown Brewing, put on a great show this year and we thank him for inviting us up to Crown Point to enjoy the festival. We look forward to next year!


Click to enlarge

The Beer Geeks Take Madison: Madison and Great Taste of the Midwest

I went to Madison looking for hookers and meth.

The brewers kept the hookers busy all weekend, so that was a no go.

And I found something worse than meth:

Cheese curds.

Given that I was in Madison for the Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival, you would think I would have gotten sick on the massive consumption of beer that I was destined to participate in. On the contrary, it was the massive amount of cheese that I consumed on Friday that left me in pain Friday night. I warn you, if you plan on making a trip to Madison, beware the squeaky cheese.

(For the record, the best deep fried cheese curds that I had were at the Old Fashioned bar and restaurant. Add some Sriracha sauce on top of them, and you will have a flavor explosion in your mouth.)


If you are able to control your consumption of cheese, the next thing you should be warned of is the massive amount of quality beer that you have available for you. And I’m not just talking about the Great Taste. Our drinking explorations consisted of downtown Madison and the stretch of State Street that connects to the University of Wisconsin.

Every establishment in that area has good beer. EVERY ESTABLISHMENT. You don’t have to search out good beer; good beer finds you. Good beer is the Chuck Norris of Madison.

Breakfast at Marigold Kitchen? Good beer was there!

Late night at a hole in the wall dive bar called Paradise? Good beer was there!


Wasting time in the hotel bar? GOOD BEER WAS THERE!

You would have to look hard in Madison to find a bar that serves nothing but the swill you find at most bars in Indianapolis and the rest of Indiana. To me, that is just impressive.

And many places have beer menus that are longer than their wine lists, which is a nice change. The Old Fashioned, aside from making great old fashioneds, has dozens of taps of Wisconsin beers plus a hundred or more bottled beers. The Coopers Tavern, aside from having an excellent gastropub food menu, also has plenty of beers for your enjoyment. And the Great Dane makes some stellar English-style ales for their four locations.


Madison can definitely be enjoyed on non-Great Taste weekends.

But if you are up for Great Taste, make sure you go out and enjoy the Friday night brewery events. These mini-beer festivals give you the opportunity to try different breweries and the variety of beers they bring. Drinking the bourbon barrel beers from Central Waters and the Key Lime Pie beer from Short's stands out in my mind.

There is a lot to enjoy in and around Madison and I would recommend it to everyone. Even if you don’t have Great Taste tickets, going up that weekend would be entertaining with the pre- and post-festival parties.

Plus, you might find an old Englishman selling tickets right outside the festival gate.



I've been looking forward to the Great Taste for so long. I've tried for three years before this year to get tickets in the online ticket lottery, but I never had any luck. I was just so focused on the beer fest, and I didn't expect anything from the city of Madison. That was a huge mistake on my part.

The city of Madison has such a great vibe. We stayed right on the square overlooking the beautiful state capital building. My first experience was at the Great Dane pub just off of downtown. I've never seen another brewpub brew so many beers. I think they had somewhere near 12-15 of their own beers on tap! I tend to gravitate toward English style ales if I am drinking with friends, and the Great Dane's brews fit the bill perfectly. I loved that they served their beer in 20 oz. pints, they were all 5 bucks, and they were all served at cellar temperature. I probably had four of the Black Earth porters while I was there over two days. It was rich and robust with plenty of roasted malt and a gentle smokiness.


I had a chance to walk around the farmers market on Saturday morning as well. The farmers market completely wrapped around all four sides of the town square. The market just had an amazing feel of community. The prices were fantastic and I was able to grab a cup of coffee and a freshly baked blueberry scone and just wander around for over an hour. I wish I had been able to load up on all that fresh veg, but the car was already packed with beer. We have our priorities straight here at HBG.

The beer fest itself was also a really great experience. As Gina already stated, the feel of the people coming to the festival was something I've never really been able to encounter before. Most patrons of the fest really had a great knowledge of craft beer and styles, and they knew what they wanted. I was floored at all the intelligent questions I was getting when I was pouring for Brugge. I kept waiting for someone to walk up and ask me which beer had the most alcohol content, and then they wanted two of those. It never happened.



My personal highlights of the day:

Short's: S'mores Stout. I don't know how they do it, but I'll be damned if this beer didn't taste like a s'more. It wasn't cloying or overly sweet, but was really nice.

Short's: Black Cherry Porter. I like my porters and this one was a little smoky with a cherry sweetness.


New Glarus: Gueuze. It was fantastic and one of the best American examples of the style I've ever tasted. I would have guessed it came from Belgium if I didn't know it was from New Glarus.

Brugge: Pooka. It was so freaking hot under the tents pouring beer. The acidity was really what I needed while pouring. It was as refreshing as lemonade on a hot day, but with booze and boysenberries.

Revolution: Gomorrah. This was the small beer runoff of a bigger Russian imperial stout collaboration with Three Floyds. This beer was only 3.4% abv, but had a ton of roasted grain and an earthy hoppiness that I enjoyed.

I just had a fantastic time, and I honestly could go back to Madison without the beer fest and be very happy, but I hope I get to make it back again next year for Madison and the Great Taste.