This weekend I was tasked with hosting a bachelor party for my friend Laef. Now I’ve attended many bachelor parties in my time with varying degrees of debauchery but I’ve never had to plan one myself. I can have fun doing anything but making sure somebody is doing something they enjoy is not something I’m used to (I’m selfish like that). Laef opted for a chilled out weekend at Lake Tahoe – a place I’d never been but was looking forward to.
The trip to Reno took about 6 hours. This was complicated by the fact that I was seated next to a giant who needed a seat belt extension just to fit into his seat. He was ON me all flight. Awful. By the time I got a rental, drove the hour to Tahoe, and checked into the cabin I was ready for a beer. In fact it’s safe to say I’ve never been more ready for a beer in my entire life.
The first night we stayed in the Cabin. Drinking, playing Wii, smoking cigars, and relaxing in the hot tub. It was great.
The next day was even better. After waking with a blistering headache I still managed to drink a few beers with my eggs (Blue Moon truly is a breakfast beer). We played some Hold ‘em, BBQ’d lunch, smoked more cigars, and hit the Tub again before getting ready to head out.
We hit the Montbleau casino in Stateline first. This was based on a recommendation by our cab driver (who was either a millionaire or a compulsive liar). We hit the sportsbook and for the first time in my life every bet I placed came in. I took the Lakers and the Under and also bet on the Padres to beat the Cubs which they did. My winnings went a long way since they had drink specials of $7 pitchers and $3 Jäger Bombs.
Later that night Mike was DEALT this hand (there’s a reason this picture is blurry):
which paid for dinner and a round of beers.
…Skipping over some things for privacy/survival reasons (there’s a reason there aren’t more pictures)…..
Then we played blackjack until 4am. We headed back to the cabin played a little Wii and tried to choke down some Jalapeno Poppers (which were Nast!) then crashed out. Because I was with a few dipshits we had to wake up at 7am and drive the hour to Reno to catch their flight. 2 hours of sleep was not good times. I spent an additional 3 hours in the airport waiting for my flight then spent 6 hours on a plane until I made it home safely to STL.
All in all a good weekend. Fun was had, beer was consumed, and Laef had a good time. Now I’ll be spending the next week drinking water and eating vegetables.
May 26th, 2009
On Saturday I hosted what will hopefully become an annual tradition – the STL BreweryFest. In the 5 years that I’ve been back in St. Louis I’d never taken the Anheuser-Busch tour. That had to end. After mapping out a plan to hit some of the microbreweries in the area (3 at least, 9 at most) we were set.
Layla and I woke up early and rode down to AB with the Oldangerouses to take in some Clydesdales, Beechwood Aging, and free samples. I was a little surprised to see that Stella Artois was on tap but I guess it’s all part of the InBev family now. I had an American Ale and a Shocktop. Both were delicious.
The second stop was Square One Brewery in Lafayette Square. I hadn’t been here before since I never hang out in that neighborhood. We were joined by my cousin, his friend, and a very hungover Matt Smith. Now the party could start. The beer was actually very good. The Oatmeal Stout and Irish Red in particular were good. Some of the other participants recommended the Spicy Blonde but it wasn’t for me. Square One is also a distillery and they make their own Agave. TJ suggested we do a shot but I didn’t want to take a midday nap so we passed.
After some debate we decided to skip Morgan Street, The Stable, and Mattingly and head to a new place near SLU – Buffalo Brewing (nevermind that their website is terrible). I know bartenders hate making samplers but that’s what we were there for! We ordered 6 for the table. Even Matt sacked up and had a few. The Buffalo Gold was the lightest beer I’ve ever had and the Imperial IPA tasted like gasoline (100 IBU!) but the Belgian Dubbel and Extra Stout were holy delicious.
Our final stop was a place that I am all too familiar with – Schlafly Bottleworks. Considering I can walk there from my house it’s pretty safe to say I spend a significant amount of time there. The No. 15 and Kolsch did not disappoint. TJ managed to dump an entire beer on his wife and somehow my cousin got into a shouting match with a hippie while I wasn’t looking. Considering we’d been going for about 8 hours that was almost expected.
Next time we’ll have to hit Alandale, Trailhead, and Ofallon. St. Louis truly is Beer City, USA!
Special thanks to Mrs. Oldani for getting herself knocked up so she could be our Designated Dave all day long.
April 15th, 2009
Tonight is the beginning of an annual tradition. A weekend when I get together with my old college roommate and we head down to the Scottrade Center to cheer on our alma mater Missouri State at Arch Madness.
While this should be an occasion to catch up, watch some mediocre basketball, and talk about the good old days it always ends up a belligerent drunkfest in which we curse, booze, and quite possibly violate some minor civil ordinances. Generally we act like we’re 19 years old instead of in our mid to late 20’s. This year I’m going to try to avoid the Boone’s Farm and Keystone Light.
Here’s a couple pictures I dredged up from MVC Tournaments past:
March 5th, 2009
For the first time in over 4 years I set foot in a place called School. Cicero’s Beer School to be exact and this was probably the best class I’ve ever taken. Timothy Suprise from Arcadia Brewing in Battle Creek, Michigan brought samples of four of his beers and discussed the ingredients and the process that went into making each. It was really interesting and fun. Plus the price was right: exactly zero dollars.
Here are the four beers we sampled last night:
Scotch Ale
This was my favorite beer of the night. It had a caramel taste and finished clean. Plus the website describes it as having “aroma of plums and toffee” so that’s good I guess. I had two more of these after class and got a pretty healthy buzz on thanks to the 7.5% alcohol content.
Coco Loco
I’ve had chocolate beer before and I’ve always thought it was disgusting but this was really good. I probably couldn’t drink a ton of it because it was sweet but a sample of it hit the spot. This would be a good desert beer.
London Porter
Meh. This one was kind of plain to me. It wasn’t bad it was just kind of there. I probably won’t be adding this to my rotation.
HopMouth
I do not like beers that are especially hoppy and bitter. To me an IPA usually tastes like gasoline. This was not an exception and it was bad, really bad.
I wish I had paid more attention to the food pairing advice Suprise gave. He had some good recommendations but they escape me now. Also I’m not a home brewer so I was a little lost when all the discussion of hops was going on but it was interesting. For the next 11 weeks I’ll be attending Cicero’s Beer School. I really need to “graduate” so I can get that dollar off beer card.
September 11th, 2008
When we were in college my roommate Jon and I could drink all night long. Beer, shots, vodka, whiskey – it didn’t matter. Sit it in front of us and we’d drink until 6am with you. This weekend Jon and I went to LA to visit our friends Laef and Allison and I realized something had changed. Maybe we’re getting older but we just couldn’t seem to party as long as we used to.
Here’s some action shots from separate nights in LA:
Jon starts fading (night 1)
Jon falls asleep with a beer in his hand (night 2)
Jon in the worlds most uncomfortable position (night 3)
Jon takes a time out at the bar and is oblivious to Allison
Not to be outdone Allison decided to hammer 8 bottles of sake and pass out in the sushi restaurant.
Which reminds me of her last visit to St. Louis (at Lumiere Place)
You’ll notice none of these include pictures of me. There is some rumor of me falling asleep with a full beer in my hand and then spilling it on myself but with no photographic evidence I doubt it happened.
Update: You can read Allison’s account on her blog.
August 21st, 2008
To honor the demise of Beer City, USA I’ve decided to rank the flavors of Anheuser-Busch beers. At least the flavors I’ve tried. The list is quite extensive and most of these I’ll assume are disgusting (Chelada — fucking sick!).
1. Bud Light Ah the old standby. Not too bad, fairly inexpensive, and much more flavorful than Miller Lite. Bud Light is a solid BBQ beer and the go to beer for any sporting event.
2. Shock Top One of the newer (if not the newest) beer in the A-B arsenal. I’ve long had a crush on wheat beers and this one is simply delicious. Perhaps even better than Blue Moon. This is a good beer if you’re out at a semi-classy bar and don’t want to look like an uncultured goof by ordering a Bud.
3. Bud Select Not bad tasting and a good beer if you’re watching your girlish figure as it only has 99 calories yet it doesn’t taste like the piss water that is Michelob Ultra (which won’t appear in these rankings).
4. Budweiser “The Great American Lager” is an ironic title now that the brewery is owned by a Belgian company. If you smoke Marlboro Reds, work in construction, or like to drink on the porch then this is the beer for you.
5. Bud Light Lime A little effeminate but this one goes good with Margaritas and Mexican Food. You can’t drink more than 2 though. Trust me I’ve tried. You’ll get nauseaus.
6. Rolling Rock Not a real fan. The website says it pairs thusly: “Serve Rolling Rock in a tall thin tumbler and pair it with citrus grilled chicken, ceviche with lime, pork tenderloin with mango chutney and pepper jack cheese.” I don’t even know what 40% of those things are. Skip it.
7. Natural Ice Now we’re getting to the good stuff. A little known secret to college kids as they usually default to Natty Light. Don’t get me wrong they both taste like shit but Ice has 5.9% alcohol content to Light’s 4.2%. Translation: Natural Ice will get you drunker, faster, and cheaper.
8. Busch/Busch Light/Busch Ice(?) The Busch line. The only reason to drink this is if you beat your wife. The white trash neighborhood of the 7-11 Cooler.
9. Tequiza Sick, sick, sick. Corona this is not.
10. Bud Extra Do they even make this anymore? It’s like an energy drink with beer in it. Or something. Avoid at all costs.
11. King Cobra Perfect malt beverage for drinking from a paper bag on the street or poring one out for your fallen homies.
I avoided the imports and focused on the American beers but the good ones include Bass and Kirin Ichiban. Stella Artois isn’t bad either but it comes from the InBev bastardization. Avoid Boddington’s, Beck’s, and Grolsch. Hoegaarden is so-so but fairly sweet.
I’m planning a farewell to A-B party where we can celebrate the beers of this once proud American company. Stay tuned.
July 24th, 2008
75 years ago our long national nightmare finally ended. It was now legal again to sip a beer in public. Prohibition in it’s strictest form ended with the passage of the Cullen-Harrison Act and all kinds of Alcohol were legalized on Dec 5, 1933 with the passage of the 21st Amendment. Imagine that – an amendment to the United States Constitution which banned alcohol! We can thank the buzzkills at the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union for that skidmark on our Nation’s most important document.
To celebrate our nation’s return to sanity I headed over to the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood for the Repeal of Prohibition Beer Festival 2008 . For $30 you got a tasting glass and all the samples you could handle from five microbreweries – Schlafly, New Albanian Brewing Co., Mad Anthony Brewing Co., Brugge Brasserie/Wabash Valley, and Three Floyds.
Now as a general rule I operate under the assumption that all microbrews taste like a smelly old boot so I came into this event with no expectations. I figured I’d try a few beers and if nothing moved me I’d stick with the old standby – Schlafly Hefeweizen.
Surprisingly this beerfest delivered! For the first time I tried Schlafly’s Coffee Stout which is just as delicious as it sounds. I felt like I should be eating eggs with this beer. It would be perfect with breakfast! The Irish Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Maplewood Ale, and Summer Kolsch were all outstanding. Schlafly really came through on this one. Sadly there was no Pumpkin Ale – my favorite of the Schlafly seasonals. I guess I’ll just have to wait until September. Fall means football and Pumpkin Beer and that always gives me something to look forward to.
The other breweries, however, disappointed as expected. I honestly think NABC’s goal is to give people alcohol poisoning. Their Imperial Pilsner (8%) was just ass. I managed to choke it down but it gave me flashbacks to the night I went round for round with a case of La Fin Du Monde (9%) which I later realized translates to "The End of the World" and from what I remember – which is nothing – the title is well deserved. Not an experience I would want to repeat. Imperial didn’t stand a chance with me. The Thunderfoot (10%) was equally potent and just as gross. I lost feeling in my tongue after trying this one. I think I’ll steer clear of New Albanian the next time I’m in New Albany, IN.
Mad Anthony’s Black Squirrel Stout, Three Floyd’s Rabbid Rabbit, and Brugge’s Tripel de Ripple all disappointed. Maybe next year Schlafly can just showcase it’s own beers – and put some Pumpkin on tap!
April 16th, 2008
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