St. Louis now a Boulevard town?

Interesting article from the Kansas City Star in yesterday's paper about Boulevard (and Schlafly - a St. Louis based microbrewer) gaining market share in St. Louis. Most of the market share increase is attributed to backlash against the new foreign ownership of Anheuser-Busch by Belgian based InBev. Not a coincidence that Boulevard rolled out a new pilsner beer that in addition to being distributed in K.C. also was distributed in St. Louis. Also, the recent additions of fermentors at the plant in K.C. is rumored to help in stepping up the pilsner production which is rapidly becoming a best seller for Boulevard. InBev states they are not too concerned with a 3-4% decline in sales since their market share is so huge, it doesn't impact the overall bottom line. But for the little guys like Boulevard and Schlafly that 3-4% accounts for a 38% increase in sales in the St. Louis market. Chalk one up for the little guy!

This bud's for you, man

I'm a guy who likes to multi-task, even when it comes to food—why eat a meal of individual meat, bread and vegetables when I can just have a pizza?—so I can appreciate the motivation behind combining beer and weed. If you could just drink your THC and alcohol simultaneously rather than alternating drinking and toking, imagine how much time you'd have to listen to Phish albums! Alas, according to this Homebrewer's Hints piece (scroll down past the picture for the article), it's not so easy; even though cannabis and hops are from the same family, hops impart a desirable aroma and flavor, whereas cannabis does not. Worse, adding pot to the boil has the effect of boiling off the THC, so you're left with dry-hopping (which requires a fair amount of the substance and leaves your beer tasting like pot) or adding it to individual bottles at bottling time (which also leaves your beer tasting like pot). Bummer.

I'll take a Whopper, large fries, and a beer.

Have it your way may now take on a new meaning! Burger King looks to be the first fast food joint to start offering beer - that's right, I said beer! - at select outlets. This is nothing new for Europe as Burger King already sells beer at locations in Germany, but this certainly will be a first for the states (and the beginning of a new trend?). Reports are that Burger King will be serving beer at a location in Miami Beach. Check out the article here to read more!

Put on your thinking caps!

My dad, who is clearly familiar with my history of drinking swill throughout most of the 9os, directed me to this quiz. How much do you know about cheap beer? Test your remaining brain cells to find out!

Yes, January IS a good time to brew beer!

Wow!

Matt is right in that there seems to have been a drought of posts here on the blog since the New Year. I wish there was some monumental excuse or event I could blame the lack of keeping all four of you informed on the happenings in the world of beer, but alas it is not the case. Just plan laziness on my part. Although, on the up side, even though our posts have been anemic, our beer consumption (especially new beers!) has been quite healthy.

So much to write about, where to begin? I guess the most important is to let you all know Matt and I are brewing Monday MLK day. Yes, we know it is January, and that this winter in K.C. has been on the slightly frigid side but we are willing to brave the cold all in the name of brewing great beer (and perhaps the greater driving force, in desperate need of re-stocking our homebrew fridge). We are getting back to our homebrew roots by brewing our Inaugural Belgian Ale - the first beer brewed by M&B. An excellent example of the Belgian style using an authentic Belgian Ale yeast strain and the use of candied sugar to boost the alcohol. Slightly less heavy than a true Belgian double, but a good tasting session beer. Our two other beers will be from the same base grain bill but will turn into two distinctly different beers, one will use a Belgain Saison yeast strain the other our first ever lager - a Czech Pilsner. Both should be quite tasty and Matt and I are very excited at the opportunity to stretch our brewing skills with the Pils!

As I noted earlier, Matt and I have been busy expanding our beer tasting horizons over the Holiday break. Mostly with Lagunitas Brewing Company offerings, all quite tasty (and becoming one of our favorite brewers). We also made a nice little pilgrimage to Freestate Brewery down the road in Lawrence sampling many of their fine brews. If you have the chance to get over there, right now they have Cape of Good Hope IPA on tap - absolutely phenomenal!

Of course being the New Year, we all have new resolutions that we are rapidly breaking. Hoever, one I hope to maintain is to be a little more faithful in posting to the blog. So keep tuned for all things beer!

Cheers!

-Ben

Ask and Ye Shall Receive (Hopefully)

First off, happy new year! I'd like to say I was in a coma, or volunteering at a Romanian orphanage for the past month, but the truth is I haven't posted since before Christmas because I've been busy and/or lazy. A little of the post-holiday blahs, maybe? That's the nice thing about beer, though—there's nothing like a depressant to chase the blues away! and that's why we're here. Which segues nicely into this…

I got an e-mail from my old boss, who just sold his company and probably made a jillion dollars, and he's in Florida, where Dogfish Head beers are ubiquitous. It got me thinking: why can't I get a Dogfish Head here? Instead, I have to drive to another state. How can I get Dogfish Head to distribute here in the heart of America's breadbasket? Then I read this article, which contained this sensible advice: if you want a brewer to distribute here, write or e-mail them and say so. Makes sense. The piece referenced Lagunitas, which became widely available in Missouri last year (and noticeably so; that stuff's great and apparently is everywhere, which is fantastic).

So, if you are a fan of Dogfish Head, or Stone, or whatever great beer you want but can't get where you live, send an e-mail! It may not work (or it may work veeeeeeery slowly), but if you don't ask, you shouldn't complain when it doesn' t happen.