O'Fallon Hemp Hop Rye (Amber Ale)

O'Fallon Hemp Hop Rye

Amber Ale

So, there's a rather complex combination of ingredients involved in making this beer, which if done well will bring out the flavors of all the ingredients put in come out in perfect harmony.  On the extreme end of it, it could be a disaster where none of the flavors mesh well and leaving you with a cringed look on your face from your first and last sip....

Six packs are packaged with dark amber bottles and a high cardboard carrier to ensure the quality of the beer doesn't get affected by light.

A simple label describing the beer. 

Well, this actually is neither. I do taste some malty flavors but not really an hemp or hop; the spices are subtle and you may actually miss them if you drink it without leaving a little on your tongue.  It's not a bad beer, but it is a safe beer.  

The color is a nice amber color and the head is think and foamy. There's a good balance of carbonation, since you really want that smooth, drinkable taste in your mouth anyways.  I do like the beer, but not sure if I would call a Hemp Hop beer.  Give it a try, you may like the change from your traditional amber ales!!

Boulevard Pilsner (Boulevard Brewery)

I picked up this 6-pack of Boulevard Pislner the other week, just because!

Well, not exactly...I was looking for a nice pilsner to try out and since I've never tried Boulevard  (KC brewery) I wanted to see what it was like. The first thing I noticed is that it won a gold medal for the 2010 World Beer Cup. 

 "American-Style Specialty Lager/Classic & Pre-Prohibition Style Pilsner"

The bottles are packed in a nice dark amber glass and stamped with a "Best by" date.......

After opening the bottle, I poured it into an ice cold pilsner glass....Aaaahhhhh!

With the first taste, my lips and palate were greeted with an ice cold smooth taste of a really great pilsner. The finish was very flavorful with a nice hoppy taste, letting me want to savor the taste. I took my time drinking this beer, enjoying it's smooth and tasty goodness!

Strawberry Cider (Crown Valley Brewing)

I was at Schnuck's today and stopped by the "adult beverage" section to see what was available.  I came across this Strawberry Cider made by Crown Valley Brewing, a 6 pack was on sale so I said "Why not give it try!" This hard cider contains 5.0% alcohol by volume and is to be served between 32-39 F.  The packaging is a hard cardboard carrying case that is a rose pink in color.

I couldn't wait to give it a try, the heat outside was making me parched.....and this seemed like a good way to quench it!

After opening the top of the box, I saw that they included a location map and  information about the brewery.

The bottles are packed in like a 12 pack, no separators and in dark brown glass.  They take special care to prevent light from getting to the beer and ruining the taste.  After opening up the bottle, a nice strawberry bouquet arose from it.  I poured it into my ice cold glass and watched as the carbonated goodness rose. The first sip hitting my tongue was that of a semi-sweet strawberry with a refreshing, bubbly finish.  The cider leaves a wet feeling on the tongue to savor and appreciate before the next sip. I really enjoyed this cider, love the packaging and most of all the taste!

St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival 2012

Hi!  And welcome to my first blog!!
BEER BLOG!  My first post will be about the: 2012 St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival !
Although I was only able to attend one session (Saturday, 11am-3pm) I did get to taste a number of different beers from the festival brewers.  First, let me list the festival beer and the festival brewers:

2012 Festival Beer:
 SINGLE HOP IPA

2012 Festival Brewers:
2ND SHIFT
4 HANDS
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC.
AUGUSTA
BUFFALO
CATHEDRAL SQUARE
CHARLEVILLE
CIVIL LIFE
CROWN VALLEY
EXIT 6
FERGUSON
KIRKWOOD STATION
MORGAN STREET
O'FALLON
PERENNIAL
SCHLAFLY
SIX ROW
SQUARE ONE
TRAILHEAD
URBAN CHESTNUT

This year's festival was held at the Ballpark Village next to Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis.  I really like the location, with it's proximity to the stadium and easy access to the Metro. With ticket and beer glass in hand, I headed inside the village.  The venue included about three tents, the largest being the main beer tent. Two other tents included a merchandise tent and separate tent which had food available for purchase, I didn't make it over to that tent but it looked sparse compared to the beer tent.  An outdoor stage with live and DJ music was set up near the entrance along with outdoor seating and tables. Unfortunately, the weather was quite hot and being in the sun was not something I wanted to to do for the next couple of hours.

Got my ticket!

Once inside the tent, there was a plethora of beers to choose from with each festival brewer having one to fourteen beers being show cased.  I started out with the Cathedral Square Dubbel....YIKES!  I've had Belgian dubbels before in Holland and this did not taste anything like those. I'm not sure how to categorize it, except unknown!  It had a harsh initial taste of bitter hops that lingered well after drinking it. This was not for me and was not a great way to start this beer festival.

I made my way towards the east side of the tent and decided to work my way west!

 Here's the list of beers (in alphabetical brewer order) I tasted with my tasting notes at that time:
4 HANDS:
Herb and Spice beer 
Nice flavor, with a bitter finish
ANHEUSER-BUSCH: 
Spiced Belgian-Style Ale
Light with little flavor, but crisp
Field Beer
The new version of Clamato and beer; not what I want
Cave-Aged Lager
Only in Missouri can you get Cave-Aged stamped on your beer!! In any case, it was easy to drink with a lot of flavor
CATHEDRAL SQUARE:
Dubbel
As mentioned earlier, this did not taste like a true Belgian dubbel. Very disappointing :(
CHARLEVILLE:
APA
Fresh, crisp hops taste initially with a wet finish making me want to savor the taste. Yum!
CIVIL LIFE:
Weizen
Great summer beer, light with a bit of a buttery taste that makes it smooth.
CROWN VALLEY:
Brown Porter
Wow! Very good beer!! A rich and flavorful beer with sweet smooth finishing taste.
Raspberry Wheat
Nice aroma and flavor of raspberries, light, crisp and refreshing finish.

EXIT 6:
Vanilla Cream Ale
This reminds me of eating a cold bowl of oatmeal with vanilla and sugar added. It was very pleasant and comforting to drink.
















FERGUSON:
Single Hop IPA: Willamette
Great hop taste that is deep and strong to begin with and ends with a clean finish! Love it!!
MORGAN STREET:
Common
Heavy bitter hops taste with a light finish.
O'FALLON
Cream Ale
There was no flavor and had a bad aroma. Not sure if the line was dirty or what, but the beer lacked flavor.
SCHLAFLY
Coffer Stout + Chocolate Ale (see pic)
I was offered this one as a combo when I approached the taps, they ended up being very tasty together!

Imperial Stout
Rich, deep roasted flavor, strong stuff! Will put hair on your chest, LOL!!
Dopplebock
Heavy dark beer taste, strong. Felt full after drinking this one!
SIX ROW:
Robust Porter
This was disappointing; very flat and bland initial taste with a bitter finish.
SQUARE ONE:
Single Malt Scotch Ale
Whoah! The alcohol in this baby!! Very rich flavor with a bit of a harsh finish.
URBAN CHESTNUT:
Smoked Ale:
Ugh! This was like drinking liquid smoke combined with a cigarette!! Yuck!


So, there you have it! My tasting notes for the 2012 St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival!
I did stop by the Home Brewers table and tasted some of their non-alchol drinks, which were quite nice to have after all the beers!

There were a lot of volunteers at the event and I just wanted to give a shout out to them for giving their time to this event and helping making it happen!