St. Louis Craft Beer Week!

Charleville tap take over 10 year anniversary last night at itap chesterfield was great! Cherry cow, scotch ale aged with cherries in wine barrels, was very very tasty. Cant wait for wednesdays goose island take over!

 

the between the barrels event at perennial was so good - that BA abraxas was way better then i had remembered

 

Was it packed outta control or was it reasonable? How long before everything tapped out?

 

That 07 iris and 06 Lou pepe kriek were awesome. Glad HOTD has been hoarding them kegs since shelton left

 

it wasnt too bad, really. they would only allow you to get one beer at a time (if you had a ticket for other beers) which kind of made it seem more crowded than it actually was, somewhat. so you would get a beer and then have to wait about 35 min in line to get your next one.

once the 7pm releases were up, they served those at the bar instead of in the brewing area. it then became a little more out of control because there wasnt really a line, but wasnt too bad.

some did go faster than others like evilcatfish said - obviously the abraxas. all in all, great event - would attend again

 

I was in town visiting and I was able to hit Four Hands for the Volume 1 release and then Perennial for the barrel aged event. Both were fun places, but if I only had one stop I'd go to Perennial. I was surprised at how small the turnout was at Four Hands. When I left at 5 there were still about 14 cases of Vol. 1 sitting around and no line to speak of. I was able to try the Vol. 1 and was disappointed in the lack of barrel aroma and flavor even after I let it warm up. Definitely a good beer, but nothing to seek out. The Berliner Weisse was a disappointment as it lacked the tartness I was looking for.

The Perennial event was very smooth. They let you buy tickets for $5 a pop, which guaranteed you a pour. I picked up two of the 6 pm tappings and two of the 7 pm tappings. The line for the 6 pm tapping was a cluster so I sat at the bar to eat dinner and waited for the 7 pm tapping. The food was delicious! I would recommend going just for the food. I had the kriek and the BA Abraxus, which they poured at the same time. Then I went back to the cellar which was empty since the cluster moved to the bar and they poured the BA Sump and BA 17, again both at the same time. The BA Abraxus was like cinnamon toast crunch in a glass. It was nice, but not something I need to trade my first born for. I would gladly drink this locally if it were available.

Ranking the beers I had that night BA Abraxus>BA17>BA Sump>Vol. 1>Four Hands Berliner Weisse>Aria>Perennial Kriek (I had high hopes for this one, but it is not on the same tier as Cascade Kriek).

Thanks St. Louis for letting me try some of your awesome beers. Next time Civil Life, which many people were talking up at these events.

 

I couldn't disagree more about most of these statements. To say the beer lacked barrel aroma means you should've blown your nose or not snorted too much blow when you woke up. When I left at 5:00 there where about 4 cases left, some of which were not sopposed to be released. I guess your not familiar with the STL craft beer scene but this isn't a place where people normally line up by the thousands on a Tuesday for a release. So for STL standards them selling 1200 bottles in a matter of hours was one of the fastest selling releases we have had here. I also think this is probably the best barrel aged beer they have done, and thought it was amazing how well the coffee and chocolate were balanced, only complaint would be I wish it was thicker.

 

So Itaps 3rd annual firkin fest is tomorrow and after talking to Sean, have learned that one of the casks will indead be 4hands volume#. Ill be there, but seeing as they are tapping 1-2 casks every hour starting at noon, ill prolly be shitty.

Cheers
Tom

 

How much was the Volume 1 going for and will any of it see distro?

 

They were like 13.99, and limited amounts are going to distro. I bought one from the wine and cheese place the other day, they probably only had a case because they sold out in about 2-3 minutes 1 per person

 

Yeah and it was awesome!