This just in: Heritage Festival? More like Heritage BESTival!

Hey gang! I hope everyone's been having a great weekend so far. My weekend has been FULL of beer (and beer accessories). 

Featured: Civil Life Porter

I just got home from this month's OG Workshop, where we welcomed some new members and talked about the usage of fruit in beer. We sampled a variety of fruit-infused beers, including Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss (a very sweet and carbonated elderberry/blackberry delight), and local favorite (as well as my go-to concert beer) Contact High from 4 Hands! This dry-zested citrusy wheat beer just screams summertime, and I plan to pick up a 6-pack for a float trip I'm going on next weekend.
We also discussed recent charity events we've worked on, future collaborations and festivals, and our impending change of venue! Beginning with our July workshop, we will be meeting at Flying Saucer, just steps from Busch Stadium! 
Speaking of great places in downtown Saint Louis to get beer, I was fortunate enough to take a VIP tour of the Schlafly Tap Room, located at 2100 Locust. Myself and a few of my Sabres teammates learned a bit about Schlafly's history as a company as well as the history of the Tap Room. For example, did you know that the Tap Room location makes an appearance in the classic John Carpenter film Escape From New York? Because it does. As a shameless Kurt Russell fangirl, this was probably the most exciting part of the tour. 

Schlafly has even brewed a special saison to honor the appearance- the Plissken Saison, a collab with Right Proper Brewing.

The tour also included a trip into the cellar for a tasting and even some backstory behind the company's logo, as well as the logos used on some of Schlafly's 750ml offerings.

All of the Fleur-de-Lis variations were designed by local tattoo artists!

All in all, it was a very informative tour! Even though all of the ladies had different levels of beer experience (ex-BEER-ience? Eh?), I think we were all able to learn something new about the brewing process, the drinking process, and Schlafly as a company! Special shout-out to our tour guide, Chris, for being such a great tour guide, fielding all of our questions, and making the day amazing (Schlafly higher-ups, if you're reading this, toss the kid a raise).

That, of course, brings us to the other big event of the weekend- Heritage Fest! I was there Friday evening representing The OG and pouring a White IPA and an Oatmeal Porter in Homebrew Village, where we were surrounded by other homebrew clubs such as Garage Brewers and STL Brews. In addition to pouring beer and answering questions about The OG, I got to enjoy some awesome music, nibble on some delicious local nitro ice cream made with Square One Brewery's Maple Brown Ale, and soak up some sunset breezes in Forest Park! I don't think it's an exaggeration to say this was definitely the best beer festival I have ever attended, and I loved getting to try new beers from all of the member breweries, as well as some tasty homebrews. I learned that a coworker of mine is a member of STL Brews, and he brough an English Pale that ended up being one of my favorite beers of the evening.

It's safe to say that beer monopolized my weekend, and that brings me to this week's historical topic- monopoly. Specifically, Monopoly, and the history and scandals behind this classic board game. For example, did you know that Monopoly contains one of the most-printed typos of all time? It's true. Other shocking true facts about Monopoly include the following: it was invented by a woman,  it was originally designed to teach single-tax principles, and it was the subject of a decades-long lawsuit that resulted in over 35,000 copies of a "rival" board game being buried in rural Minnesota. I know, it sounds too crazy to be true- but it is. I read all about it in Mary Pilon's The Monopolists, an award-winning book that is at times infuriating, at times hilarious, but always informative. I was fortunate enough to attend a book signing this week with Pilon, and it was awesome to hear about her research experiences while working on the book! I haven't ever talked about board games, so you might be surprised to know that in addition to reading, board games are a big hobby of mine. As is, apparently, reading about board games. 

I think that does it for this blog post. This week, I'll be taking a math exam and getting all of my schoolwork and work-work done in an impossibly short amount of time to gear up for my weekend float trip vacation! I'll have another post up next Sunday about the tasty canned beers I'll be sipping on the river.

Hot Town, Summer in the City

Um... hey guys. It's me, Caroline. You know, your friendly local history buff and beer geek. I know, I put the blog on the backburner for a few months.
It was a stressful semester, but there were one or two fun things! So let's recap.

I joined a rugby team! Joining the St. Louis Sabres has been literally the scariest, most challenging thing I've ever done- I am NOT a naturally athletic individual. In the past few months, though, I've learned so much about myself and the incredible things I can do as long as I try my hardest. I'm so excited for fall! 

Here's a shot of me getting tackled at Ruggerfest. Yes, my headband does match my mouthguard and shoelaces. I'm very accessory-conscious.

The OG/6 Row collab, Fraise Cassee was released, and it was delicious!

I got to do a lot of bonding with my mom in the month of May. First, we got to see Rush in concert, which was a dream come true for me. We also went on a road trip to Columbus, Indiana (which you might remember from this previous post) to take in the architecture! We also made a detour to Evansville's Tin Man Brewing, which was AMAZING.

Academically, the past few months were okay. I ended up with an A in my history class, a B in my law in film class, and a C in art. I was also invited by my history professor to take a position as a Supplemental Instructor for a history class this fall- Basically a TA for the class I took in fall of 2014. I'm so excited!

As always, I've been drinking and eating some amazing things, and with the onset of summer, I've really ramped up my reading schedule.

Be sure to check back on Sunday, June 14th for a new blog post! I'll be pouring with other members of The OG at Heritage Fest this Friday and I'm sure I'll have lots to say!

Spring Break Brews!

Brr! Woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow on my back porch! Not cool. This week, I figured I would do a little reminiscing about the beers I got to enjoy while I was having a relaxing Spring Break in Minnesota :) It was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of my everyday life- I managed to read five books, and I started watching a tv series I had been hoping to check out- cult classic Twin Peaks!

 I also made friends with the friendly cat that roams my boyfriend's neighborhood.

The first noteworthy beer I enjoyed was Edmund Fitzgerald, a tasty porter from Great Lakes brewing! The dark coffee taste was not overpowering, and it was an excellent choice to sip on while I enjoyed my first Juicy Lucy in Saint Paul!

My boyfriend and I traveled to Stillwater to visit his cousin, and she picked up some very local beer for me to sample! I tried Hop Dish (a play on words inspired by the traditional Minnesota "Hot Dish"), a wonderfully bitter beer made with seven different kinds of hops! I also enjoyed the Farm Girl Saison, which paired beautifully with our dinner- handmade gnocchi with chicken and steamed green beans! I can't wait to go back to Stillwater to explore more of their quaint downtown area and stop by Lift Bridge's brewery!

And now for some local business... The OG/6 Row Fraise Cassee collab will be hitting shelves within the next couple of weeks! Stop by 6 Row this Wednesday for the official release party- yes, it's April 1st, but I promise I'm not foolin! You can find release party details here!

In other news, the Washington Post has been hosting a US craft beer bracket all month long, and we're down to the final round of voting. Schlafly's Kolsch is facing off against home-state rival Boulevard's Tank 7. As of this writing, the Kolsch is in the lead with about 300 votes, but let's extend that margin!! You can vote at the Washington Post's website. In fact, if you go vote for Schlafly's Kolsch and send me a screencap on Twitter, I'll put your name in a drawing to win a prize pack of craft beer goodies! The bracket winner will be announced Monday, so go vote ASAP!!

Brew Day Bottle Share!

It's true- yesterday, The OG and Six Row finally came together to brew our Fraise Cassee! I'll have a recap of our brew day up later in the week (with photos from both myself and our resident real photographer, Kara!), but I did want to type out a quick recap of the second most important part of the day- bottle share!
The ladies all brought some fabulous beers. We started our Sunday off with New Holland's Blue Sunday, a delicious sour ale. This tart beer was delicious!

Next, we tried The Saint, a yummy cider made with Trappist Yeast! I'm not much of a cider fan, but I loved the balance of tart apples and sweet maple syrup in this cider. I plan to grab a couple of bottles in preparation for some late-spring Sunday brunch. 

I brought a bottle of Blacklist's Rhubarb Wit, which I was fortunate enough to snag while in Duluth for Valentine's Day. This tart, balanced beer was incredibly interesting! I would love to try it again and pair it with a dinner of grilled chicken and veggies (with rhubarb pie for dessert, of course).

We also sampled Blushing Monk, the first non-stout Founders beer to grace my palate. Just beautiful! I would love to try it again paired with some cheesecake. 

Immediately after Blushing Monk, we all sipped on a 2014 bottle of Big Lushious, to taste the opposite end of the raspberry beer spectrum. 

Other sampled beers included Dual Artisanship (fitting for a collab brew day!), Cigar City's Invasion, and the Honey Pear Ale from local(ish) favorites Scratch.

Later this week I'll have a technical brew day post up, as well as a giveaway post!

Ermagerd, Herps

Last night, I sipped on some truly delicious IPAs! Friar Tuck on Watson has numerous bottles of Stone's Green Tea IPA, so I snagged a bottle as a treat to myself for passing my first history exam!

This delicious collaboration had a very prominent floral nose and balanced the IPA qualities and the green tea flavors masterfully! I also noticed some fruity flavors, mostly peach and mango. I'm planning on buying a few more bottles and pairing them with a sushi dinner!

I also enjoyed Bent Paddle's Bent Hop, part of a six-pack sample I bought when I was in Duluth for Valentine's Day. This was a resiny, bitter IPA that would taste great on a camping trip! I'm really looking forward to trying the other beers that came in the 6-pack.

That does it for this post. Coming up in March, The OG will be brewing with Six Row and I'll be doing a beer goodie giveaway!

A Hopeful Note.

You guys, I am so, so sorry for the unintended 3-week hiatus. I had the flu, so I wasn't really drinking, and then I was out of town for Valentine's and supremely stressed out with school and work. But I had a few beers over the past couple of days, and I'm here to talk about them.
First, Sunday evening I had another fabulous beer from North Peak Brewing- specifically, Berserker, an offering from their Grizzly Peak Series.

 This tasty Winter Imperial Stout featured some mild dark fruit and chocolate notes and even some coffee. I loved it!

Last night, I enjoyed an Eos Hefeweizen. A solid example of the style, this Hefe had prominent banana and clove flavors and reminded me how much I love the Public House Hefeweizen.

This leads me into today's "story" topic. I've got to admit, I have no love for the state of Nebraska. I dated a guy from Nebraska once, and he was horrible, so now the whole state is kind of ruined for me. I know, it's petty, but Ron Swanson feels the same way about blondes thanks to his first ex-wife. Speaking of Ron Swanson, the series finale of Parks and Recreation aired last night. I don't normally get too attached to television shows, but I was absolutely in love with the town of Pawnee. So, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge some of my favorite episodes, one from each season, of this beautiful show.

Season One

Not gonna lie, season one is the weakest, an opinion that's shared by most media outlets and even the cast and crew of the show. It's still important, though, and my favorite episode of the season is episode three, The Reporter. The episode does a wonderful job of highlighting Andy and Ann's ultimate incompatibility, introduces recurring character Shauna Malwae-Tweep, and spotlights one of my favorite underrated P&R friendships "workplace proximity associate"-ships: Ron and Tom. Two fundamentally different people who grow together and mentor each other in their own special way. In this episode, we learn that Tom and Ron play online Scrabble with each other while at work, and Ron always beats Tom. It's a beautiful little subplot.

Season Two

Season two may have been the hardest season to pick only one favorite episode. The obvious choice is The Hunting Trip (episode 10), due to the hilarious antics of Leslie and the gan in the woods, as well as April and Andy's B-plot, but that's not the episode I'm going to pick. My choice is episode 22, Telethon, which is the first episode I saw. The episode has so much going on that it serves as a wonderful introduction to the show. We see Mark propose to Ann. We see Tom chaperone for a local celebrity. The episode is also the second appearance of recurring character Barney Varmn (my second-favorite recurring character after Ethel Beavers).

Season Three

By contrast, season three's choice was the easiest to make: Episode thirteen, The Fight. In this episode, Tom invites everyone to the Snakehole Lounge for the release of his new, high-end, alcoholic beverage Snake Juice. We get to see everyone get drunk and sloppy (including Ron dancing in a tiny hat), we see Ann and Leslie have their first fight, and this episode is the birth of Burt Macklin and Janet Snakehole. This episode also led me to discover one of my favorite books- Leslie gives Ann a copy of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, and one day while I was in a used bookstore, I found a copy and bought it solely because it was mentioned on the show.

Season Four

Season four was one of the best for the series, full of amazing episodes, but few are better than the season's fourth episode, Pawnee Rangers. This episode may be one of the most widely-known due to Tom and Donna's (and Ben's) B-plot revolving around "the best day of the year," Treat Yo Self day. However, Ron and Leslie's camp-group face-off is just as wonderful. Maybe I'm biased since I'm a former girl scout, but the entire plot line, from crafts and merit badges to puppy parties and Ann pretending to fish was just solid gold.

Season Five

Season five saw Ben and Leslie get married in one of the best episodes of the show (with Ethel Beavers' best appearance), but that's not the episode I've chosen to focus on. Instead, I'd like to briefly talk about the seasons' tenth episode, Two Parties. In this episode, we see Ben's bachelor party turn into something amazingly beautiful and we get to see Leslie's bachelorette party go horribly wrong. I don't want to spoil too much of the episode, so I'll just throw out some of the key buzzwords:

• Wamapoke Indian Artifacts
• Paunch Burger
• Settlers of Catan
• Indianapolis Colts
• April Ludgate makes a male stripper feel insecure

Simply put, it's a great episode featuring some cool locales and many wonderful recurring characters.

Season Six

It was hard for me to pick a favorite episode of season six. They're all solid episodes, but none really stand out. I've chosen episode 20, One in 8,000. In this episode we learn that Leslie is pregnant.... with triplets (an excellent nod to an earlier episode in which Leslie goes on a date with a doctor, played by Poehler's then-husband, Will Arnett). We also watch Ron give Donna some valuable relationship advice and see Andy struggle to keep a secret from April. The episode also features an appearance by Keegan Michael-Key and.

Season Seven

It's really hard for me to pick one episode (of the twelve in season seven) to talk about. The critically-acclaimed fourth episode, Leslie and Ron, served as our link between 2014 and the 2017 Pawnee in which season seven is set. Episode five, Gryzzlbox, dips its toe into the data mining debate. In episode seven, Donna even gets married, in the show's least-hyped wedding. The finale, One Last Ride, is absolute gold but I don't think I can talk about it in a dignified way. So, I'll discuss episode nine: Pie-mary. Pie-mary has some of the most sentimental value of the season, with April and Ron going on a scavenger hunt and Donna and Garry taking a trip down memory lane. The real highlight is Leslie and Ben's story line, which tackles the issue of gender norms and spousal roles in the political spotlight. In a masterful show of self-awareness, the episode evens calls back to season two episode Woman of the Year.

It's possible that Parks and Recreation affected me more than any other show- perhaps even more than my junior high obsession, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It taught me a lot about enthusiasm, Ginuwine, and waffles. It gave me hope that someday, I would find my own lovable band of weirdos to call a family.

In other, more pertinent news, the OG/Six Row collaboration label has officially been approved! We're brewing together very soon and I will keep you updated on when you can find Fraise Cassee on shelves or taps near you!

Just some Superbowl Afterthoughts.

I'm sure y'all can figure out the topic of today's brief impromptu post. Not the results of the football game. Not the halftime show (although I will admit to flailing and squealing a bit as soon as the opening notes to "Get Your Freak On" came through the speakers). Yeah. That Budweiser ad. 

In their 2015 SuperBowl spot, Budweiser asserts that their lager is "brewed the hard way" and that the people who drink Budweiser are "people who like to drink beer." These claims are accompanied by a montage of the brewing process, Budweiser fans having fun at crowded bars, and shots of stereotypical hipsters ordering flights of many-colored beers and swirling them, sniffing them, and sampling them. Maybe it's because I happened to catch the commercial while relaxing at Flying Saucer, one of Saint Louis's many amazing craft beer bars, while surrounded by fellow craft beer enthusiasts, but I found the commercial instantly alienating.

I'm not here to speak on the quality of Budweiser or the other AB-InBev products. I've never toured their brewery. In fact, I respect AB and the other lager giants for having the business savvy and brewing experience to brew a consistent beer, year-round, for decades. But I really think their marketing department really missed the mark on this ad! 

Paste does an excellent job breaking down the various hypocrisies in the 60-second ad, from their potentially questionable casting choices to the specific snubbery of "pumpkin peach ale" (seriously), a shot that's even more confusing when you take into account the fact that InBev's most recent acquisition, Elysian, brews a pumpkin-peach ale. Not to mention that, now that I've got that sensory idea stuck in my noggin, I'll certainly be pushing for The OG to brew a pumpkin-peach ale near the late summer and early fall.

Local breweries have so far posted admirable responses to the ad, with Civil Life and Schlafly tweeting excellent remarks!

O'Fallon Brewery, who I'm fairly certain are the largest local purveyors of both pumpkin and peach ales had the following to say.

The response from local beer lovers on the Saint Louis Area Beer Enthusiasts Facebook page, however, was less gracious, with one user even commenting "Next up Boones Farm mocks sommeliers." This raises a pretty interesting point. Sniffing, swirling.. Those are all time-tested tasting and judging techniques BJCP judges use to classify and rate beer. 

This article from the Phoenix New Times claims that the ad wasn't meant to be offensive, and I'm sure it may not have been. But the ad sends a message that all craft beer enthusiasts are uptight snobs, and many of Budweiser's die-hard fans will wind up believing that. Of course, in craft beer, there will always be certain pretentious individuals. The craft beer community has even self-effacingly embraced the following sketch from YouTube's Nacho Punch, about hipsters and craft beer.

The difference, though, is just like the difference between an overweight comedian making a self-deprecating joke and someone like Perez Hilton criticizing celebrities who may be overweight or may just be having an "off" day. Instead of using their status to poke fun at craft breweries (who, by the way, do their work the hard way. Just check out Civil Life's twitter feed), they should maybe engage in positive promotion efforts, or take a page from fellow national giants Sam Adams in sharing hops during a national shortage. Instead, they budgeted a classless and inaccurate ad that left a decidedly skunky taste in my mouth.

Birthday Beer? Birthday Beer!

Hi readers! I'd like to share something really special with you today- it's my twin's birthday!
You might be thinking, "Caroline's birthday is in September. She doesn't even have a twin." While you are technically correct, I have, through the powers of the internet, adopted myself a twinny- and she turns 24 today!
In honor of this momentous occasion (she has endured her mandatory one year of being told "Nobody likes you when you're 23"), I drank Shiner's Birthday Beer last night, a chocolate stout celebrating the 106-year-old brewery.

I chose to pair it with some sriracha-maple crackers and honey bbq boneless wings, to provide a nice contrast to the bitter chocolate flavor (and also because I love carbs. Like, looooooove them). While this wasn't my favorite chocolate stout, it was certainly alright. I would drink a free one, but I don't think I'd pluck it off the shelf again.
In honor of my twinny's birthday, I thought I'd spotlight a bit of the history and culture of her hometown, Port Elgin, Ontario. This small town (pop: 8,000) has spawned numerous NHL players. Port Elgin also holds a yearly Pumpkinfest, a competition to grow outlandishly large pumpkins and other crops. Port Elgin is also home to some breathtaking white sand beaches, and after conducting some research, I'm pleased to report that "white sand" isn't just a clever way of saying "snow." There's actual white sand! 
I kid, of course. Port Elgin has many amenities, including a Tim Horton's, McDonald's, a sushi restaurant, numerous hotels and campgrounds, and many attractions and trails! I'd like to spend some time in various parts of Ontario someday (specifically, Toronto and Thunder Bay), and just might have to stop in Port Elgin, just for fun!

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into life in the Great White North! I'll have another post up Friday, probably discussing school scheduling woes and anxieties.