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Welcome to the February 2009 edition of The Schlafly Growler Newsletter. This Edition:
Mark Your Calendars Stout & Oyster Festival Maplewood Green Day – Saturday, March 21 |
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Cod, Cod & More Cod! We’ve got cod more ways than you can shake a fishstick at! Icelandic Chef Hakon Orvarsson is flying in for the occasion.
Join us at local bars and restaurants as “athletes” compete in several feats of strength and agility. Events will include Coaster Tossing, Doubloons (a Mardi Gras-themed version of quarters) and Cup Stacking. The fun started on January 8th and will continue for seven Thursdays leading up to the Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday, February 21. After the parade, the “Alempic Finals” will be held in Soulard to crown the “Beer Alempians.” Gold medal winners in each category will compete for a chance to win a Custom Schlafly Draft System! Please check our website for times and locations.
Coming from an extensive gardening background, Jack has never gone to school to learn his trade; he learned from his grandfather and father in their small garden plot at home. After purchasing the family home in 2000, Jack became the third generation of his family to head up the family garden. Since then, his nephew, as well as his nephew’s son and daughter, have assisted in the family garden, making five generations of the Petrovic family to toil in the soil so far. Jack works closely with Bottleworks’ Kitchen Manager, Matt Bessler when deciding what to grow for the season. And, with the help of friends, family and co-workers, Jack grew more than 3,200 pounds of delicious produce in our 1/5 acre garden for the enjoyment of our restaurant customers (including a half-ton each of tomatoes and salad greens). They’ve been very pleased. In 2008, Bottleworks hosted a series of “Good Gardening” workshops, and from them Jack passionately embraced the concepts of Biodynamic and French-intensive gardening. He’s also been amending the soil with manure from local farmers and beautiful, rich compost and amendments from Route 66 Organics (and our own kitchen-scrap compost). The 2009 season looks very promising!> On your next visit to Bottleworks, check out Gardenworks on the east side of the building. We look forward to providing you with the healthiest and best tasting produce you will find anywhere.
English Brown (February 6) – A moderately sweet, malty brown ale with low hop bitterness and a gentle nutty character, like its creators. India Pale Ale (February 6) – Light amber in color, this medium-bodied ale is highly hopped in both aroma and bitterness, yet the maltiness is quite apparent. Bock (February 13) – An amber-colored, full-bodied, malty lager beer. The malt comes through in the aroma and flavor while the hop bitterness maintains a low profile. We brew more than 30 beer styles per year! Get the skinny on all our seasonal beers and our bottled beer releases.
Cod & Cask Festival – Friday & Saturday, February 6-7 The Continuohm & Friends – Thursday, February 19 February at Bottleworks Sunday Spin – Every Sunday Strange Brew: Cult Films at Bottleworks – Wednesday, February 4 St. Louis Green Drinks – Tuesday, February 17 Theology at Bottleworks – Wednesday, February 18 Maplewood Winter Farmers Market – Saturday, February 28 2nd Annual Maplewood Green Day – Saturday, March 21
Longtime ROTCs (readers of this column) are well aware of my ongoing advocacy for a Beer Drinkers Party. They are also aware that — apart from desultory fulminating in this space or at the bar at The Tap Room or Bottleworks — I haven’t done much of anything to organize such a party. Shame on me because the need is now greater than ever. For example, with all the talk about a middle class tax cut, why isn’t there a serious effort in Congress to lower the tax on beer? This is a regressive tax on beer drinkers, who are overwhelmingly members of the middle class. Why aren’t they entitled to some relief along with everyone else? How about directing some bailout money to breweries? Less than five percent of the beer sold in the United States is produced by American-owned breweries. Our market share is far more precarious than that of American car companies or financial institutions. In addition, I can say from personal experience that our executive compensation is a whole lot lower. If Congress isn’t going to grant us some relief from the beer tax, the least it could do would be to spend some of our tax money on this threatened sector of American manufacturing. The good news is that the nucleus of a Beer Drinkers Party may already exist in an organization called E Clampus Vitus (ECV), whose center of gravity is in California. It was started in what is now West Virginia in 1845, moved west with the gold rush in California and then languished before being revived in 1931. The name of the organization, which claims tens of thousands of members in 40 chapters across seven western states, is ersatz Latin, as are many of its offices such as Royal Gyascutis and Roisterous Iscutis. Perhaps the best description of ECV’s raison d’être comes from one of its members in San Francisco who said of his colleagues, “No one has been able to tell if they are historians who like to drink or drinkers who like history; and no one knows because no one has been in any condition to record the minutes.” In spite of these self-deprecating remarks, I would simply note that some members of ECV apparently have their act sufficiently together to sign up tens of thousands of members in seven states, which is more than I can say for the Beer Drinkers Party advocated by yours truly. On that note, I would encourage any alert readers (ARs) with enough gumption to start an ECV chapter in St. Louis to go ahead and do so. I promise to promote your effort in this space. |
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