What ya Drinkin'??

john mills · Post by **john mills** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:24 pm

I hope the Shafly's better in pub. I've only tried 1 (or was it a 6 pack?), and I don't remember which one it was, but what I do remember is nothing special. I'll have to make a point of trying it again. If this time, it turns out better, I might have to try it again, and again, and again until it turns back into something I don't remember.

I haven't even left yet, and a simple 2 week help seems to have already streched into 4-6 weeks now. The last time I helped out for a couple of weeks turned into a 2 month ordeal...Hmmm strange how that happens!!!

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:14 pm

Don't feel bad about your experience and comment with Schlafly. I have a long history with them, and am underwhelmed with the product they are bottling. It is better on tap at their brewery, but it is nothing like it was back when they started. Let's hope the hotel at the two month ordeal is close to a good pub!

Dwayne_Delaney · Post by **Dwayne_Delaney** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:48 pm

Tried the two Sam Adams Longshot winners last night.

The Weizenbock was the best of the two by a longshot........sorry I couldn't resist.
It has lots of banana and clove, some chocolate, a heavy body with lively carbonation and some alcohol.

The Grape Pale Ale wasn't too bad, just nothing spectacular. A decent well-balanced pale ale with maybe a little extra complexity. Kinda dry.

Sam Adams is saying that they may release the other winner, a double IPA, sometime next year if they can source the hops.

john mills · Post by **john mills** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:44 pm

Well I got to do some company paid drinking. I'll be spending some time in St. Louis, and the hotel is only about 4 blocks from Schlafly tap room!
I only had 1 night so far, but I made the best of it. I managed to enjoy 5 full pints, and sample taste another 2 or was it 3? I just missed out on their smoked porter. They ran out a couple of days ago.
I sampled their No. 15. A 15th anniversary ale. It was a spiced wheat. It had the common wheat yeast clove, banana flavors, in addition of orange peel, and coriander. Good but not what I wanted to drink a whole pint of first off.
The first full pint I tried (the dry Irish Stout) I liked the most. For reference, I'll have to try it again, but make it not the first try. It was nitrogen poured like Guinness but was much smoother. The pour had a great head, it was nice and roasty, but lacked the burnt flavors common with the black stout, making it very nice in balance for me.
I moved on to their Scotch ale. They were advertising it as a big, malty ale. It was good, had the alcohol for sure, but not as big malty as I was hoping, and had no peat flavor to me.
Their dry hopped American Pale Ale was good. I'll be drinking this one again. Nice hop nose, and not bitter.
The oatmeal stout was sweet. It certainly had the oats. No hops that I could really discern.
The coffee stout was like a shot of expresso with alcohol. I wish the hotel had this for breakfast. If you like coffee, try this.
I'll post my next samplings coming up this week. I'm actually looking forward to work this week.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:00 pm

Gotta agree with DD on the critique of the Longshot winners. I love theWeizenbock, lots of flavors, good mouthfeel. The GPA was OK, very dry, almost wine-like. I have to throw in a plug for Jack's Bourbon Barrel Porter, he nailed that one. So many of these are too heavy on the bourbon, not this one.
Also, his Monk Double is very good as well.

john mills · Post by **john mills** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:33 pm

I was back at Schlafly's or St. Louis Brewery again last night. I started with their IPA. It was a good beer. Had some nice hop aroma, and bitterness. Wasn't quite as hoppy as I was expecting.
I then tried a full pint this time of their No 15. The 15th anniversary brew. By the end of this pint my tongue was numbed from the heavy clove taste.
I moved on to their ESB. This is their best beer. From their beer menu, this is a leftover from their seasonal brews. This should have been tapped out in January, but they still have some left. I'll be bringing a growler of this back home if I don't drink it all before then. Nice and bitter! Great body, nice amber color. I wanted to order another, but opted to continue and sample more of their beer menu.
I then ordered their pale ale. I know I ordered these ales in the wrong order, from IPA, ESB, and pale, but I was hoping that I could judge more fairly if I quenched my alcohol lust a bit... but I was wrong. The pale was by this point, thin and did not have much flavor. It was getting late, and I had to get up early, so I quickly threw the pint back in a couple of pulls.
I finished the night with a sample of their pilsner. My next time there, I'll have to sample this as a full pint. It was crisp, and had a nice bitterness to it that came through after putting the glass to the table. Might be the best pilsner in St. Louis. Much better than the King of beers brewed up the street.

john mills · Post by **john mills** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:29 pm

It's a shame that one of the nearest eating establishments to my hotel is Schlafly's tap room, but I got to frequent their beers again on Good Friday. They had a new beer up on the board, their Vienna. It was a good, some what malty beer, advertised similar to their Octoberfest, but lighter. I was indeed a spring version of the familar fall beer. But enough about Schlafly.

Went to lunch Saturday at Morgan Street Brewery located very near the swollen Mississippi. They had 5 beers on tap. All are lagers. I tried their "steam" lager. Very much an Anchor clone, but their lager version. I'm not by nature a lover of lagers, but this one was decent. Had a nice dry hop aroma, and flavor. I also tried their "IPA" lager version. This beer did not fare as well as their "steam" beer. It contained the hop bitterness to a lesser degree than a standard IPA, but was missing the balancing sweetness, and alcohol notes. My wife had their "wheat" beer. It was very near a common hefe with what appeared to also have the yeast suspension. My tastings of her brew was "ehhh nothing to write home about". I don't think she would have finished it if it wasn't for me ordering her the lemon wedge to put in it. She then ordered their "Vienna", and again it wasn't anything special. What was really good, was their food. I would eat there again. I'm used to the food being just OK, in order to get the good beer, but this was the opposite. Oh well, can't please everyone.

john mills · Post by **john mills** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:29 am

I tried the Monk's Caf

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 8:01 pm

Rodenbach Grand Cru Flemish Red ON TAP at Rich O's Public House in New Albany. We've got to take a club trip over there. The FOSSILS club invited us last year...

Kenny Lucas · Post by **Kenny Lucas** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:49 pm

Speaking of Rich O's, I was there Friday night. Had a Hoptimus and an Elector then polished it off with a Two hearted Ale on tap (can't resist that one when it's on tap). Ate a pizza to sober up, then I had to go finish the rest of my trip home.

I did get a business card from the lady that handles the reservations. She said we are more than welcome to party with the fossils.

The place was packed with all of the Ryder Cup traffic, but after I explained that I had been trying to get there for a couple of years and was a homebrewer from the OVHA, they found a table for me, and I still got excellent service!

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:32 am

Trying to research the trip and came across this site. Thought some of you might be interested. Ton of info.

http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/hollbrw1.htm

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:04 am

Well here is the best I was able to get the list together from the Belgium/Netherlands trip. We were able to find a specialty beer shop with Westvleteren trappists (6, 8, and 12). This stuff has a waiting list for locals who are limited to two cases a year and the local governments "hassle" the stores and pubs who are reported selling it so we were lucky to come across it and enjoyed all the varieties, as well as bringing some home.

We did our best to only drink from taps when available but had to make due on trains and smaller town cafe's. I have tried not to list the same beers twice so if they are, it is likely a different alcohol or blonde vs. a brune / double vs. tripple sort of thing. One bar had nearly 40 taps on-line and were mostly all 5 gallon cornies from the local breweries. We also toured 2 breweries, including a traditional Lambic (Cantillon Brewery) which was an amazing experience, I think. Amsterdam sort of makes you forget things but there are pictures.

All these beers each came in their own specialty glasses with logos and all were served in the proper way for a crafted beer. Some places had over 2000 varieties of beer.

Hoegaarden Wit
Beck's Gold
Westvleteren Ten (Uh, yeah, wow!)
Triple Karmeliet (Holy crap is this good! Found it on tap a couple times)
Grisatte
Lindeman's Fero
Lindeman's Framboise
Limdeman's Kriek
Leffe Blu 9
Duvel Tripel
Ciney Blonde
Jupiler (Belgian Budweiser but that's all they had)
Orval Trappist

Val-dieu Blonde
La Gauloise Blonde
Grimbergen Triple
Westmalle Double Trappist
Pink Killer - Grapefruit
? Wit
Larvlle
Saison Dupont
Forestine Mysteria
Bellevue Kriek
? Kriek (beer museum tour they do not say what it is)
Verdett Wit
Maredsous 8
Hapkin
Orval Trappist 6?
Kasteel Rouge
Waterloo (this one was in a ceramic mug)
Ramee

Whiskey bar (break from beer)
Glenn Farclass 15

Back to beer
Floris Mirabelle
Choufe Houblon
Cantillon Gueuze
Cantillon Kriek
Cantillon Saint Lambinus (grapes from Bourdeaux region)

Cantillon Faro
Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus
Hapkin
Another Mardesous ?
Cuvee Des Trolls
Quinatine Ambree
?
Circus Bio Triple (brewed special for this pub) yeah! yum!
Westvleteren 6 (this one was blonde and VERY good)
Mystic Lemon lime Lambic
Brugee Zot Blonde (toured the brewery)
Brugee Zot Double (this was the best)
Cimay Rood
St. Bernardus 8
Garre Triple Blonde (another brewed for this pub only) Very good
Tangerlo Brune
Celis Wit
Boon Framboise
Barbar
Kossaat
Brigand IPA (very good)
Dragon Green (Puke, yeah it was green)
Artisanale
Blanche de Namur
Couffe Bock
Rodenback
Floreffe Abbeye 8%
Witte Trappist 5.5%
Zeebonck 6.5
Agrumborg Orange 3.1
Jupenboch
La Trappe Bockbier
La Trappe Witte
La Trappe Dubbel
Affingem Blonde
Maredsous Abbaye 6
Witleap Pater Stimulo

Whiskey bar
Talisker 15
Imperial 11

Guiness

Cigar bar
Cohiba
Hoyo de Montera

Hertog Jan Amber Lager
Snab Pale Ale (also very good)
Wiegelier Apricot
Skuumkoppe Dunkelweizen
Jopen Extra Stout
Otter Strong Bitter
De Drie Koningen Kriek
Poperings Hommel 7.5
Saison Dupont 5.5
Westvleteren 8
Zatte 8

If anyone knows of a good AA clinic, I could use it.

Dwayne_Delaney · Post by **Dwayne_Delaney** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:58 pm

I'm speechless

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:26 am

wow...just...wow....

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:13 am

If it is of interest and you give me enough time ahead of when you would want it done, I can put a slide show together or something. Might be fun if we all volunteered to pick up a different belgian style (couple bottles each) to share around the table while I showed some cool pics. I've got some better quality and less quality pics of lots of beer glasses and brewery stuff. I can tell you that drinking that much Artisanal Belgian is going to have a drastic effect on my brewing. There is just so much freedom with them. Not to mention that the higher alcohol beers just gave me a nicer feeling of appreciating something unique. From the way the beers are crafted, to how they were served; it was truely a once in a lifetime experience.