Category Archives: Beer

Oct 03 2012
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Beer, Restaurant Review

Brewery Restaurant Review: Kirkwood Station Brewing Company

Last Friday night, after some 30th birthday (not mine) revelry, a group of us went down to the Kirkwood Station Brewing Company in… (wait for it) Kirkwood.

Do have a beer flight? Damned straight. Let’s line ‘em up.

Now that’s a flight of beers

Uh, these are 13 massive 4-5 ounce beers. The volume of beer blows away the portions in my earlier beer flights. They run the gamut from light to dark, with seasonals in between. I’m excited, even though I’ve already had dinner and a few drinks.

Here is the beer list, and I’ll review them in order:

That’s a lot of beers

Sugar Creek Lager – Meh… low carbonation for a light beer, mild and not very flavorful. Too watery for me.

Blackberry Wheat – Good blackberry flavors, but kind of flat. Fruitier than I typically care for in my berry beers. I’ll take a Framboise Lambic over this any day.

Belgian Witte – True Belgian beer flavors! Slightly bitter aftertaste lingers, but it’s a decent beer.

English Pale Ale – A nice English-style ale, with a strong hop aftertaste. The aroma and color are very appealing.

Altbier – Best beer so far. Nice fruity and spicy flavors and aromas, light and crisp with a good body. Smooth, enjoyable aftertaste. I want more of this one.

Brown Ale – Decent brown ale with strong (strong!) grain flavors, good color and aroma, clean taste. Nicely effervescent for a brown ale.

Pumpkin – Seriously major pumpkin pie aromas. Good mild effervescence and a nice appealing combination of color and aroma. I drink a lot of pumpkin beers, but this one is probably the closest thing I have ever drank (beer-wise) to a pumpkin pie.

Burst Hop Blonde – Very fruity aroma, very hoppy palate. This is a really good beer, certainly worth getting again as a stand alone pint.

Oatmeal Stout – Not good… not good at all. This beer tastes like horrifically charred BBQ. I don’t know what happened here. This may be, and I really hesitate to say this… the single worst beer I’ve ever had in my life. Some other people at the table took sips and I should have photographed their “Eww, Gross” faces.

IPA - A good choice to wash that nightmare Oatmeal Stout off of my palate. Super bitter, with a good hop aroma. Very heavy-handed on the hops. My taste buds are all messed up now, though, from that last beer.

Ryely Hoppy – In my notes for this beer, I wrote (at about 1:00 am after many beers) “SUPER HOPPY!”, blowing away the other hopped beers. I can’t pick up on any fruit or other flavors.

In summation, there were some stars (Burst Hop Blonde, Pumpkin, and Altbier), some less-than-stars (Ryely Hoppy, Sugar Creek Lager, and Blackberry Wheat), and a completely unmerciful abomination (Oatmeal Stout).

I didn’t get any food, since I had already eaten, it was midnight, and I was bloated from thirteen 4.5 oz beers and the drinks I had before getting to Kirkwood Station.

A solid brewery that has some good beers. I’ll be back for sure. Focus on kicking ass on the good beers, and improving the others. Scrap that bad one… I dare not speak its name again. Back to the ol’ drawing board on that one.

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Sep 30 2012
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Beef, Beer, Drink This Beer

Drink This Beer: Green Flash’s Rayon Vert

Google Translator confirms what my six years of French tutelage told me – Rayon Vert means Green Ray. No, I’m not talking about a Jules Verne novel. I’m referring to the fabulous Belgian Ale by the Greenflash Brewery, Rayon Vert.

Their IPA came across my radar a few months ago in this blog’s infancy, and now like a green laser beam the Rayon Vert greets me whilst out for a birthday dinner with my family at Tavolo V in the St. Louis Loop.

Hey, the mayor’s here!

How about a picture?

What a nice photogr… dammit.

My dad thought it would be oh so hilarious to “Fork Bomb” my photo of the beer and it’s glass just as the iPhone camera clicked. Thanks, Pop.

Take 2:

 

Ah, much better

At a hearty 7.0%, this is a perfect follow up to my  Goose Island Matilda Belgian Ale, of equally potent ABV.

I picked up on some very fruity hoppy flavors, reminiscent of a classic Belgian Ale. I dare say that I prefer this to the Matilda, but that might be considered heresy. The flavor is very distinct and enjoyable, with a crisp bubbly palate. More aromatic and flavorful than hoppy, but the hops shine though and provide flowery fruity tastes that complement the robust flavors of the grains. Complex yet simple… a damned fine beer.

What did I have for dinner? It was so friggin’ good that I forgot to take a picture until it was half gone. I present the bistro filet (a tenderloin of beef shoulder), atop a medley of sauteed potatoes, brussels sprouts, pork belly, garlic, and onions. Butter was also present, I believe.

Hey, who likes beef?

Medium rare, of course. A spectacular meal accompanied by wonderful beers in the presence of my loving and caring family, including my father, who picked up the tab.

My recommendation for Greenflash Brewery’s Rayon Vert beer, especially when someone else is paying: Drink This Beer

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Sep 27 2012
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Beer, Drink This Beer

Drink This Beer: O’Fallon Kite Tail

It’s been a while since I demanded that you Drink This Beer… how about O’Fallon Kite Tail?

O’Fallon Kite Tail

Esquire magazine thought enough of this beer to name it one of the top “mellow beers” for summer 2012. Unfortunately, the Rate Beer people didn’t think as highly of it, and Beer Advocate only has rather middling reviews. Still, it’s worth a shot for me.

O’Fallon Brewery calls it a Cream Ale, something suitable for summer. Though summer passed into fall last week, this is still readily available on the grocery store shelves.

Kite Tail… still in a bottle?

Time to crack this beer and get it in a glass for sampling.

Less than 5% ABV?! Better be tasty…

Kind of light for a Simpson BBQ beer

I see where they get “cream ale” as I sip the beer. You get a very faint hint of cream soda. Perhaps it’s suggestive, but I think that I pick it up. Very smooth… far smoother than most ales or even lagers.

It’s nice and crisp, certainly something that should be in a can after I cut the grass or pull weeds. This is a particularly drinkable beer with a pleasant aroma. You can’t really say that there’s any distinguishing about this beer other than it is a tasty, easy drinkin’ session beer with local ties. At $7.99 per sixer (at both Schnuck’s and Target), it’s not like you are taking a hit in the pocketbook.

My recommendation for O’Fallon Kite Tail: Drink This Beer

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Sep 25 2012
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Beer, Restaurant Review

Brewery Restaurant Review: Trailhead Brewing Co

In the second installment of my Brewery Restaurant Reviews, I went with my father for lunch last week to the Trailhead Brewing Co in historic downtown old St. Charles, MO.

Let’s take a look at the ol’ beer menu:

Variety! (damn camera glare)

So much to choose from… well, what’s the Brewer’s Selection Seasonal Beer?

Oktoberfest in September?! Amazing!

Well, dammit I love Oktoberfest beer. So hard to choose. How about a sampler? Sure, twist my dad’s arm.

Six pretty little beers all in a row

This can only turn out better than our last beer flight during a working lunch.

Let me run down the list and give my general thoughts (left to right) as my lunch cooks:

Oktoberfest – Cloudy, hoppy, smooth. A very nice beer, but much milder than many other popular Oktoberfests (Schlafly, Samuel Adams, etc.). One of my favorite styles of beers, so I might be biased, but this did not disappoint.

Trailblazer Blond Ale – Tart, a little sweet. Not my favorite, but a middle of the road beer for Trailhead. Very drinkable, but lighter than my typical beer purchases.

Riverboat Raspberry – A little too sweet, but good berry flavor. It takes a few sips to really get into this beer.

Red Amber Ale – Mine was a little bit flat at first taste, but there was a strong solid flavor. I consider this a great red ale, though I don’t get them that often. I had a few in the past and didn’t really care for red ales amongst other styles, so I shied away. Now that I see how complex and drinkable they can be, perhaps I need to reconsider. That’s something to say about a beer – yours made me want to buy more of that beer style. Impressive effort. If I was buying a growler, it would be this one.

Missouri Brown – Malty, a good brown ale. Quite smooth. Nice beer, but not among their best.

Old Courthouse Stout – Super smooth but effervescent for a stout! Great roasted flavor, rich and creamy. Well played, Trailhead!

For lunch, I ordered the avocado bacon turkey burger. If I am going to cut out 400 calories switching from beef to turkey, then I can add some bacon, six little beers, and a bunch of fries on the side, right?

Lunch

The sandwich was good, though they put on so much avocado that it overpowered the turkey patty flavors. The fries were bigger than shoestring or typical fries though smaller than steak fries. Good effort and a solid sandwich. Too bad they didn’t have a Cuban on the menu, though.

Dad offered some feedback on his beer preferences by making a handy little bar graph out of his beer flight place mat:

Dad’s beer rankings

As you can see, he is way down on the Stout and Blond Ale, but smitten by the Red Amber Ale.

I countered with my own ranks, using his (soon to be patented) system:

My beer ranks

I agree that the Red Ale is superb, probably their best beer. I am not normally a red ale guy, but Trailhead’s is phenomenal.

Their stout is solid. I think it has the right body, flavors, consistency, effervescence of a proper stout.

The raspberry didn’t do it do me, but that’s only because Schlafly spoiled me with their raspberry beer. Nothing has been comparable.

I’m not much of a brown ale guy… Trailhead’s is good for a brown ale, but their other beers outshine.

I have to say that these are six solid beers, with some real stars among them. The food is good, having never been disappointed. They make a nice BBQ chicken pizza and respectable fish & chips for the Lent crowd. Return visits and repeat beer flights are in order (and I can’t say the same for Granite City Brewery).

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Sep 04 2012
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BBQ, Beer, Chicken, Dog

Beer Can Chicken

When I told my two older kids (ages 6 and 4) that I was going to make chicken on the BBQ by sticking a PBR up a chicken’s butt, they thought one of two things: “Dad is lying” or “That is awesome”. Either way, they were super-psyched to see me finally put one of my BBQ-themed Fathers’ Day gifts to good use.

Such a simple design

I went with a super simple rub of brown sugar, paprika, garlic salt, seasoned salt, sage, rosemary, and cayenne pepper.

Sweet, savory, and spicy

I cracked open one of my Schlafly Pumpkin Ales to help me along. It’s like drinking a pumpkin pie, if the baker had a very heavy hand with the pumpkin pie spice and he also made it high alcohol. Yet another fancy sippin’ beer from Schlafly.

Download the Schlafly beer app

I discarded the neck and guts, then coated the chicken in and out with the rub. Before the bad beer anal probe, I tossed in some garlic cloves that could sautee and add a little extra flavor.

Ready for chicken

On went Mrs. Cluck.

Don’t mind this. This is doctor’s orders.

And then promptly onto the BBQ pit over semi-direct heat, breast side to the coals.

Chicken and corn… simple yet satisfying

After 30 minutes, I had charred the hell out of the breast skin. No matter, since I don’t eat the skin. Perhaps a more controlled burn next time. I rotated 180 degrees and continued.

Beer can juices steaming nicely

Why let a healthy corn and chicken meal go unchecked? I made up some Brussels sprouts on the stove top… quartered and sauteed with a pound of chopped bacon, half stick of butter, and half a diced onion of course. It cooks in less than an hour and makes an amazing side dish.

An exceptionally unhealthy veggie

Finally, the chicken was ready to come off the grill for service after about an hour and 15 minutes or so, having been verified with a few thermometer readings in the breast meat.

PBR suppository – not FDA approved

This is as simple as it gets. You don’t really even need a chicken can rack. You can just jam the can up there and make a tripod with the chicken legs and the can, but I prefer the stability.

What a wonderful dinner, another hit with the kids. It was super moist throughout, and the meat was tender and flavorful. Hopefully they don’t think sticking beer cans up butts is acceptable in any other animal application.

Speaking of other animals, I’m sorry to report that Samantha moved on to Doggie Heaven in mid-June, way ahead of her time. It was a very sad time for us, something I didn’t really feel like mourning publicly when it happened. She could no longer negotiate steps, puked after she ate, couldn’t squat to pee, etc. and was just miserable. She was the only dog I ever had and the best dog I’ve ever known.

It took two months, but the kids finally broke my resolve and we picked another puppy up from the pound. Meet the newest Simpson, Buddy the Dog.

Woof

Buddy isn’t just doing a Jeffrey Leonard impression for the photo. He really does always have one ear perked up and the other folded down. One Labrador ear and one Shepherd ear… perfect for a mutt born to a stray mom who we found at the Humane Society. We are trying to hold off on people food (as in BBQ scraps) for as long as possible. The kids seem to have taken a shine to him, though.

Someone loves their new puppy

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Aug 20 2012
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Beer, Drink This Beer

Drink This Beer: Schlafly Raspberry Coffee Stout

In a rare treat for my parents, all five Simpsons were together in town this past weekend. We took in a Cardinal game together, had a BBQ (prepared by others, though I had to step in a few times), and played a little poker.

Dad’s not about to let a total lack of knowledge of the rules of poker stop him from playing…

On my way over to the BBQ, I thought I would treat anyone interested in some special edition beer. How about a couple big bottles of Schlafly Raspberry Coffee Stout?

$9.50 a bottle is a lot to live up to.

I’ve been waiting to buy this beer since I saw it announced on the Facebook website. Yes, I am an official fan.

Surprisingly, my NYC police officer brother doesn’t like “fruity” beers (High Life fan), and the political cog / D.C. food blogger brother doesn’t like stouts (IPA fan). Jeez… are we really related? My father wanted nothing to do with it, either, once I told him my impression of the beer (see below). Only my unrelated-by-blood brother-in-law was interested. Thank goodness someone has taste in that house.

Pro Tip: The guy at the Schlafly Bottleworks retail desk told me that some early reviews of the beer were that serving it cold knocked out much of the rich, stout flavor and left them with just raspberries. He suggested letting the beer sit out for a little while and get cool (as opposed to cold), near room temperature, before pouring.

Yes, I know. Wrong glass. It’s all they had.

When you want to pour a beer into a glass at the Simpson parents’ house, your options are usually relegated to a pint glass that may or may not have been legitimately-acquired. Citizen Kane’s, I apologize on their behalf in case this glass is merely being borrowed long term.

I should apparently be using a snifter glass, but it was a pint glass or swigging straight from the bottle. I chose glassware.

Right out of the bottle, I can tell you it smells amazing. Rich, chocolaty, malty. Since it had had warmed up a little bit, we got plenty of frothy head on the beer.

Give that beer any more head and it will feel obliged to buy you dinner!

The beer runs over your tongue very smoothly with minimal effervescence, and you definitely get a ton of hearty chocolate malt flavor, with only a hint of raspberry.

The fruitiness is so subtle and the flavor is so rich, I can only compare this to eating a dark chocolate truffle that has the whipped raspberry mousse inside, but in beer form. That in mind, one can certainly understand that this may not be the beer for your average Budweiser or Coors guzzler. This is a fancy, sippin’ beer. Nonetheless, when it comes to Schlafly Raspberry Coffee Stout: Drink This Beer

Epilogue: Since my reverse-beer-snob family didn’t want any of this stuff, I took the second bottle home with me for later enjoyment. Enjoy it I will.

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Jul 07 2012
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Beer, Drink This Beer

Drink This Beer: Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat

Sitting here in the banks of the picturesque Gasconade River, casting my line out in a futile exercise, I am sipping on my breakfast: Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat

20120707-100736.jpg

Leine’s

(Note: I am posting this from an iPhone, down by the river, so the formatting will be off.)

Seeing as how I am tasting the beer version of Fruity Pebbles instead of my usual river beer of PBR or Miller High Life, it’s a good thing it’s breakfast time. Seriously, this is a very sweet beer… probably too sweet for many wheat beer drinkers.

But, who can complain from this vantage?

20120707-101109.jpg

One of the few rivers easy of the continental divide that flows south to north

So far today, I have caught two sticks, a rock, and this pathetic large mouth bass.

20120707-101158.jpg

A trophy fish… in five years

I promise to rededicate myself to hard drinking an diligent fishing the rest of the day. In the meantime, my recommendation for Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat: Drink This Beer

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Jul 04 2012
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Beer, Drink This Beer

Drink This Beer: Bell’s Oberon Ale

Happy 4th of July, America!

Well, being that I am self-employed and my family is out of town, it’s still a work day. That doesn’t mean we can’t spice things up and add some delicious Bell’s Oberon Ale.

Consume this beer!

I have a little experience with Bell’s beer. At a fantasy draft party in suburban Chicago a few years back, the host picked up a keg of Bell’s (not Oberon, though) and we floated the keg in three hours.

I love these little mini-kegs. The art on the keglet is pretty cool, too. I went to an art fair recently where some guy was selling light fixtures made out of mini-keg containers like this. Instead of shelling out $40 for one of these lights, I have changed enough electrical fixtures in my house that I have enough spare light fixture guts that I can readily build one of those for $0. Sorry, Mr. Starving Artist…

Beer me!

It pours very nicely and immediately I pick up on some orange / citrus aromas. There is a distinct amber haze in the beer, distinctive of a wheat ale (a Whale, right?). Looks great in the beer stein, though I know I should be using a tulip glass instead of the generic beer glass.

Drink me!

Yet another fabulous beer you can safely put into the Refreshing Beer category. I pick up on next to no hops, but plenty of richness. At a mild 5.8% ABV, this is a nice session beer that won’t cause too many problems… unless you crush the 1.32 gallons in one sitting. (Lawyerly Note: Don’t do that)

This is going to be a repeat purchase… possibly later this week. Crisp, refreshing, not overpowering, exceptionally drinkable, wonderful flavor and aroma… have I found the perfect beer?

Just another day at the office for me, though Bell’s helped me spruce things up on this Independence Day.

Oberon at work

George Washington drank applejack  all the time, so he can respect a working holiday full of fine brew.

My recommendation for July 4th and for Bell’s Oberon Ale: Drink This Beer

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Jun 03 2012
1 Comment
Beer, Drink This Beer

Drink This Beer: Six Row Whale

As is becoming tradition during the first weekend in June, that being the weekend nearest to our wedding anniversary, the wife and I headed out yesterday evening to Art & Air, an outdoor art, music, and food festival in Webster Groves.

The longest line among food trucks or booths was for Milagro Modern Mexican. Having already made our modest art purchases and seen every exhibitor, we decided to bypass that line and just head to the restaurant itself. We had never been and it’s only about a mile from the art show, so why not give it a shot?

While we split some guacamole, Wifey ordered the mahi-mahi and a specialty margarita. I chose the pork shoulder with corn and potatoes, along with a new beer for me: Six Row Whale

5.5…. price, ABV, what?

What is a Whale? A wheat ale, of course. (The waiter had to tell me.)

I’ve had some Six Row beer before, but not the Whale. I am encouraged by the recent proliferation of STL area craft breweries, Six Row among them.

Whale

How nice does that look? Before even taking a sip, I enjoyed the color, haze, and light head of this beer in its tulip glass.

It has a light honey aroma that’s very inviting. Whatever hops they use gives the beer a fruity flavor with minimal bitterness, while providing a crisp & fresh flavor profile. Only after swallowing each sip do you get the hoppy flavor on your tongue, and even that is fairly subtle. I was very impressed with the balance and drinkability, impressed enough to have a second when my entree arrived. Incidentally, they brought me the wrong entree (marlin), which was delicious, and then right entree (shoulder) which was even better. We will be back, Milagro.

In addition to encouraging you to go eat dinner (or Sunday brunch) at Milagro in Webster Groves, when it comes to Six Row Whale: Drink This Beer

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May 30 2012
2 Comments
Beer, Restaurant Review

Brewery Restaurant Review: Granite City Brewery

Why not spend a hot St. Louis late-May Wednesday lunch with my father, especially when he likes food and beer about as much as I do?

Simpson BBQ, circa 1978ish

Not sure if including that photo will annoy him or make him laugh. Whatever.

Today we ventured into Creve Coeur, Missouri (French for broken heart, but which we all pronounce Creeve Core) to visit our local Granite City Brewery for lunch and a sampler of craft beers.

First order of business is to peruse the menu. Whoops, they have a Cuban sandwich. Obviously that’s what I order. Pops ordered a large Greek salad (healthy) and a heaping ton of onion rings (not so healthy).

It looked pretty good, though there’s more bread than stuff between the bread.

The sandwich that may force me to change one of my Life Rules

They used turkey instead of ham, and the bread was a very soft white ciabatta with too much flour on it instead of a crispier panini, sourdough, or rye bread. Decent amount of pickles, cheese, and yellow mustard. Significantly more pork was needed. It was good, but not great. In hindsight, I should have paid the buck fifty and stepped up to the waffle fries instead of the shoestring fries.

For the first time I can recall, a Cuban sandwich left me underwhelmed. Hopefully the beer is much better.

Eight little beers

I’m sure as heck not sharing eight little beers with my dad, so we each got our own. As he drank his, he told me that he considered just heading home and finishing the day drinking that we started. Sorry, but I have to get back to the office.

Here’s my quick hits on these beers:

Northern Lights Lager – Light is right. Not much to this beer, either in terms of color, flavor, etc. It needed to be colder or the restaurant needed to be much hotter for me to want a second on this one.

Brother Benedict’s Bock – Mine was kind of flat, even for a bock. Super strong toasted malt flavor, but left quite a bit to be desired. Not something I would buy again.

Two Pull – Basically a half and half of the aforementioned Lager and Bock. All it did was water down the Bock.

Broad Axe Stout – One note stout. Milky, but not too flavorful. Nothing complex going on, like you see with other more popular stouts.  What’s going on with these beers? Augh. Has to get better.

Specialty Beer #1: Some kind of berry fruity wheat beer. Meh. Schlafly’s Raspberry Hefeweizen blows it out of the water.

Specialty Beer #2: A Belgian ale. I hesitate to say this, because it’s a horrible critique of a craft beer, but this was… kind of reminiscent of tongue-tingling medicine. Completely unattractive and I regretted taking my second swig to confirm the unpalatable nature of the first drink.

Finally, I saved what I anticipated to be the best for last. Briefly, though, let me tell you this: I planned to go to this place and lay down good money to buy a growler of beer and put it in the office fridge and then work the rest of the day with full knowledge that fresh craft beer waited for me in the communal kitchen. This has been a frustrating event to say the least.

Higher view of the beers

Wag’s Wheat – Cloudy, but really flat. I was hoping for a little effervescence here! I picked up on the citrus flavor, but it is super faint. I could sit down and drink this cold on a hot day, but it’s not much to speak of by itself in an air conditioned restaurant. I don’t like putting lemon in beer, but this beer needed a lemon. Easily the best of the lot so far, but it’s been a mediocre lot.

Duke of Wellington IPA – Please, please, please don’t let me down IPA, I implored my little two-to-three ounce serving of beer! [sips beer] Doggone it. Well, it tastes like a super-basic IPA. Minimal bitterness, minimal fruitiness, negligible flowery or fruity aromas. It comes off as a building foundation upon which a robust, complex IPA could be built, but the laborers just went on strike and I have to live in a framed-out house of a beer. Frustration!

Here are the two things you need to know about our visit to Granite City Brewery: (1) I bought no to-go beer even though I fully intended to do so before showing up, and (2) not only did my father allow the waitress to bus multiple glasses half full of non-consumed beer, but he also got no to-go beers, even though I was the one buying lunch!

Maybe it was an off day across the board for this place. I went a few months ago with some friends and their flatbread pizzas were great. I had one beer and don’t remember disliking it. Either way, I don’t expect to be laying hard cash there anytime soon, and that’s a damned shame. I bought some Shift on the way home.

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