Bheer. And Bheer

I knew there was something I forgot to post about last week. Last Tuesday, after doing enough work on the ConQuesT program book at work I could justify doing it, I met Carol Doms at Old Chicago for a Schlafly Brewery tasting. It was part of Old Chicago's "World Beer Tour," a free program that rewards the participant for drinking. Sign me up!

There were two flights offered, which provided samples of a fairly good variety of Schlafly's products. There weren't a lot of them I hadn't had before. The Raspberry Wheat was quite tasty, and the hefeweizen was decent (I am not a what beer fan, as I find them generally too thin fror my tastes).

The most interesting of the new (to me) brews was the Barleywine, which is part of their series of aged brews. It was very complex, with lots of fun tastes to it, and a nice kick, which the 10% alcohol content will do.

Carol and I had a nice chat with the brewery rep, who mentioned that they were seeing a big upswing in sales in their hometown of St. Louis, which had started last year when the InBev deal went dowm. He said that Schlafly had started two beers, a Pilsner and a Kolsch, to appeal to A-B patrons, and that both had sold so well they had gone from seasonals to regular releases. The highlight of the evening came with an extra beer, their Oak-aged Imperial Stout. It's aged in bourbon casks (Jim Beam casks, rumor has it), and it was very smooth indeed. Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout is stronger, but this was no slouch.

The best part of the evening came when I arrived, to find Carol had ordered the Jamaican Jerk wings, and then went to the buffet available to the tasting participants and brought back a plate full of wings, cheese sticks and chicken tenders, saying "I didn't bother getting any salad stuff." When did she and I get married, I wonder?

Last night, Tully and I got together for an evening of smoking and drinking. He was up from Wichita as part of a group going through seminars to help them get money for their boards. He was without wheels of his own, so I picked him up at the OP Doubletree, and we decamped to Barley's Brewhaus at 119th & Quivira, with 99 beers on tap and an outdoor patio where smoking was allowed. We started off with an Illusione and an order of duck wings (yeah, that's Daffy by the side of the road with the sign) to go with the In-Heat Wheat that was the special. I had the Don Corleone pizza, and he had a club sandwich, along with their "Dark Side" flight, followed by the local flight, featuring Free State, 75th St, Tallgrass, Boulevard and other Kamsas brewerys. Another round of cigars went with a Delerium Tremens (Tully) and a Yeti Imperial Stout (moi), with a pair of Hercules Double IPAs to finish a lovely evening.

Tonight I finished off the jug of Brinkley's Maibock* I picked up Saturday, and then Pulsifer came over with a Boulevard Smokestack Sixth Glass Quadrupel to enjoy as we watched the Royals come back from a 5-2 deficit in the bottom the ninth by going tater, tater, walk, triple, sac fly for the 6-5 win.

With luck, I will have Thursday off, and Pulsifer and I are planning on catching the Royals afternoon game with Greinke pitching. We'll be back in time for all the pre-con activties, and the it's ConQuesT, baby!


*Oops, almost forgot: if you are not familiar with the saga of "Goat Gland" Brinkley, do yourself a favor and google that name. One of the fascinating stories of the '20s, and the man who brought Wolfman Jack to the US ("ain't this XERB, baby!")

Bheer. And Bheer

I knew there was something I forgot to post about last week. Last Tuesday, after doing enough work on the ConQuesT program book at work I could justify doing it, I met Carol Doms at Old Chicago for a Schlafly Brewery tasting. It was part of Old Chicago's "World Beer Tour," a free program that rewards the participant for drinking. Sign me up!

There were two flights offered, which provided samples of a fairly good variety of Schlafly's products. There weren't a lot of them I hadn't had before. The Raspberry Wheat was quite tasty, and the hefeweizen was decent (I am not a what beer fan, as I find them generally too thin fror my tastes).

The most interesting of the new (to me) brews was the Barleywine, which is part of their series of aged brews. It was very complex, with lots of fun tastes to it, and a nice kick, which the 10% alcohol content will do.

Carol and I had a nice chat with the brewery rep, who mentioned that they were seeing a big upswing in sales in their hometown of St. Louis, which had started last year when the InBev deal went dowm. He said that Schlafly had started two beers, a Pilsner and a Kolsch, to appeal to A-B patrons, and that both had sold so well they had gone from seasonals to regular releases. The highlight of the evening came with an extra beer, their Oak-aged Imperial Stout. It's aged in bourbon casks (Jim Beam casks, rumor has it), and it was very smooth indeed. Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout is stronger, but this was no slouch.

The best part of the evening came when I arrived, to find Carol had ordered the Jamaican Jerk wings, and then went to the buffet available to the tasting participants and brought back a plate full of wings, cheese sticks and chicken tenders, saying "I didn't bother getting any salad stuff." When did she and I get married, I wonder?

Last night, Tully and I got together for an evening of smoking and drinking. He was up from Wichita as part of a group going through seminars to help them get money for their boards. He was without wheels of his own, so I picked him up at the OP Doubletree, and we decamped to Barley's Brewhaus at 119th & Quivira, with 99 beers on tap and an outdoor patio where smoking was allowed. We started off with an Illusione and an order of duck wings (yeah, that's Daffy by the side of the road with the sign) to go with the In-Heat Wheat that was the special. I had the Don Corleone pizza, and he had a club sandwich, along with their "Dark Side" flight, followed by the local flight, featuring Free State, 75th St, Tallgrass, Boulevard and other Kamsas brewerys. Another round of cigars went with a Delerium Tremens (Tully) and a Yeti Imperial Stout (moi), with a pair of Hercules Double IPAs to finish a lovely evening.

Tonight I finished off the jug of Brinkley's Maibock* I picked up Saturday, and then Pulsifer came over with a Boulevard Smokestack Sixth Glass Quadrupel to enjoy as we watched the Royals come back from a 5-2 deficit in the bottom the ninth by going tater, tater, walk, triple, sac fly for the 6-5 win.

With luck, I will have Thursday off, and Pulsifer and I are planning on catching the Royals afternoon game with Greinke pitching. We'll be back in time for all the pre-con activties, and the it's ConQuesT, baby!


*Oops, almost forgot: if you are not familiar with the saga of "Goat Gland" Brinkley, do yourself a favor and google that name. One of the fascinating stories of the '20s, and the man who brought Wolfman Jack to the US ("ain't this XERB, baby!")