Its not like any of us live here, or close to it. Far from it. But it was relatively central location (between Indiana, Ohio, Memphis TN, and Minnesota), and there is plenty to do. So here we are.

As you probably know, St Louis is the headquarters of Budweiser manufacturer, Anheuser-Busch. And I’m not exactly proud to say it, but we went on the tour. I dove in, right into the belly of the beast.

How was it? Did I end up finding anything else in St Louis actually worthing drinking?

First, was the tour great? Naw, nothing amazing, but it was okay. The right company (my family) made it fun, but if you want to see beer being made, go somewhere smaller (my favorite brewery tour was at Goose Island in Chicago).

On the plus side, I got one of these free at the end of the tour:

Other highlights include my brother and sister-in-law being dorks:

and some pretty cool old buildings and architecture in the A-B complex:

So due to flooding on the Mississippi River, our riverboat dinner cruise was cancelled, so we ended up hanging out at the hotel. After (a nap for me) dinner and a dip in the pool, everyone else was going to bed. And naturally, I wasn’t tired.

So I head down to the lobby, and order a beer at the bar. This is where I finally found a truly fantastic beer here in St Louis.
This is Schlafly Pale Ale. Nothing revolutionary by any means, but far more impressive than the beers they make at Anheuser-Busch, and solid by any hardened craft beer drinker’s standards.

Its refreshing, but hoppy, and bears a particular flavor, due to the pH and mineral content of the local water.

The only detractor is that there is smoking in the lobby, albeit on the other side. Its getting to my eyes, and to my sense of smell, and my enjoyment of the beer.

But get yourself a Schlafly if you’re in St Louis. You won’t regret it.

We will see what the next two days turn up, and I’ll keep you up to date on anything I might find.

Ian!

We decided to go to the Detroit Institute of Arts, and stop by some breweries on the way. Awesomeness ensued.

We chose to hit up Warren, Michigan, for both Dragonmead and Kuhnhenn, since they are in such close proximity to one another.

If you didn’t know already, Brian and I have been on Twitter a lot lately, and you can follow us @BeerandComics. You can also see our latest tweets over on the right side of the website. See? –>

So, I Tweeted the hell out of our trip. Check out details after the jump:

We started our day at the DIA, and saw some awesome art. Not much of it directly comic-related, some pieces that you see the influences:

A collection of busts by J. Michallon the Younger. Top center is titled “Bust of a Man (Hans Christian Andersen?), 1830-1840″.

Wharhol.

“Alphabet – Good Humor” by Claes Oldenburg.

Then, it was on to the beer!

First, Dragonmead. Jo and I both love Final Absolution, so we wanted to try their other belgian-style ales.

The nicest thing about Dragonmead is that they let you build a custom flight of beers. Five half-pints of whatever beers you choose. Its really nice.

We drank them (and thus reviewed them) in order, from left to right. Check the (rather poor) picture for some indication of color.

My reviews went like this – forgive the format, it was Twitter, so short blurbs is about all you can get out:
“Dead Monk Abbey Ale: 7%. pleasent mouthfeel. Surprising amount of bittering hops. Subtle notes of banana, maybe a little citrus. Delicious.”

“Dubbel Dragon: 6.1% sweet nose. Somewhat esthery. Tasty but tough to pin down.”

“Breath of the Dragon Bitter: 4.2% smells kind of musty, with a bit of berries, strangely. Interesting sweetness, kind of nutty.”

“Broken Paddle IPA: 5.8% nothing great going on in the nose. But tastey. A lot of bitter, not a lot of hop flavor. Malt is pleasant though.”

“Copper Shield Bitter Harvest Barleywine: 8% isn’t really a barleywine is it? poured w a ton of head. Maple nose. Syrupy like you might expect. But hoppy. Sweet but very bitter finish. A nice surprise.”

“All in all, I have to say that Dragonmead’s pub is as awesome as their beer. ”

Then it was on to Kuhnhenn.

Kuhnhenn made our favorite beer of the day at last year’s MBG Winter Beer Festival, so my hopes were high.

The pub itself is weird in that its well-lit, open, and basically unlike any other brewpub I’ve ever been in. This isn’t a bad thing, just kind of unusual.

The night started with some drunk a-hole getting kicked out, but after that, it was nothing but awesome.

Personally, I started light, with the Classic American Pale Ale. May have been a bad choice.

I tweeted thusly:
“Classic American: 4.8% nothing remarkable here. Highly drinkable, light, but probably wouldn’t get it again. Good training wheel beer.”

The girlfriend, however, dove in head-first, and got an amazing wheat beer called White Devil.

“White Devil: 8% wheat beer. Michigan wheat. Grapefruit, Ginger. Amazing beer. Girlfriend may be getting a growler.”

As you can see on the left, Jo gives it a thumbs-up.

After that, she got herself one of her new favorite beers, Winter Wonder Lager.

“WinterWonder Lager 13.5% small nose. Big flavor. Fruity and deceptive alcohol content. Awesome.”

Jo ended up not with a growler of this, but a six-pack. Better deal, and easier to cellar. They are now hiding in the dark beneath her basement stairs.

I had the American IPA. While not as good as their Firkin of Dry-Hopped American Extreme IPA from the MBG Winter Beer Fest, it was really, really good.

“American IPA 6.5% floral aroma and – get this – FLAVOR. Weird but amazing. Great dry hopping, really well balanced. A+”

Yeah, it was kind of strange to actually have an IPA taste as floral as it smells, but this one did. Great beer, obviously.

I finished my night off with loads of water as I had to drive. But while Jo finished her Winter Wonder Lager, I had time to drink a rootbeer. It is amazing. Probably the best in Michigan, and that’s saying something, since that’s going up against MBC‘s Miner’s Brew.

All in all, Kuhnhenn was wonderful. The beer, the staff… I can’t say enough. I bought the t-shirt, and I will be going back.

Thanks, Detroit, for the wonderful time, wonderful art, and wonderful beer.

Ian! (and Jo)

There is a beautiful piney, citrus nose that is unmistakable as an American Pale Ale. Can’t go wrong with Lagunitas and hops, right?

Pours with a nice head that dissipates fairly quickly. Nice familiar malt profile for those familiar with Maximus, for example, but noticeably more subtle, if you can call anything Lagunitas makes subtle.

Wonderful pale color, and a mouthfeel to match. A good hoppy session ale.

So many of their beers are great. I’d not had any before we got them in at the store, and I’m glad that I didn’t judge them on the rep they sent out – he didn’t really seem to know much about the beer he was selling, except what sold well.

In any case, we’re here to talk about beer. My favorite of theirs would have to be Jackman’s American Pale Ale.

What struck me immediately is a uniqueness in the hop character. Not only is it more prominent than what you expect in what people usually call a regular ol’ pale ale, but it was different. I couldn’t put my finger on it until we saw the info sheet on it. Its dry hopped with Mt Hood hops. This alone gives this beer such a great unique flavor that I’m in love with it. So much that the next IPA I brew will be dry-hopped in the same way.

Somewhat bitter in a very good way, an almost brown malt note in the aroma, and a tiny note of alcohol (its only 5.2%).

I really enjoy this beer a lot. It would make a great session beer, or something that’s good if you just want to change it up a bit without doing anything too radical.

No, I don’t just really enjoy this beer, I love this beer.

8/10