Beer Masters

As is typical I am blogging more that a week after said blog worthy events. Last Friday we went to Peoria to visit the Barkers. Both Scott and Tara work for Maui Jim (sunglasses) so we were able to join them at the Maui Jim Luau on Friday night, since each employee is allowed to invite a guest. The Luau is very similar to a company holiday party. We has a great time eating free food and enjoying free drinks, taking free photos and getting air brushed tattoos.

On Saturday both families head to St. Louis. The Barkers were headed to the stadium so Kira could go to the Cardinals Kids Crew event, then the game. The Noyds were headed to where else, a brewery!

After a stop for lunch Eric and headed into STL and made a quick stop at "The Stable". It was a neat restaurant/bar in the historic Lemp/Cherokee district very near Anheiser-Busch Brewery. They are affiliated with Amalgamated Brewery, but they have a few of their beers on tap, but also offer a wide variety of other beers, many being craft brews.

We then went to Anheiser-Busch Brewery to take their "Beer Masters" Tour. I have taken the free tour many times, so I was intrigued as to what the "Beer Masters" Tour has to offer since it cost $25. I think both Eric and I agreed that is was worth the money, especially if you are into beer, definite worth the money at least once.

Our tour started in a private room with a couple of high-top tables and sever leather chairs and couches. There were approximately 10 in our group and we each received a hat, safety glasses, and headphones that connected to a little radio like thing that clipped on our belts. Our tour guide had a headset with a microphone so everything he said we could clearly hear in our headphones. We started out with some brewery history, very much like the free tour. We toured the beechwood aging facility, and got to take a beechwood chip home. We then headed across the street to the brew house. We got to see the wort/mash tanks up close, and were able to see them adding the hops. We also were able to see the various computer monitors in the control room. It was much more in depth and up close than the free tour. From there we went to the bottling and canning building and we were able to tour a bottling line, getting up close and personal with many bottles of Bud Light. We were very close to the action and got to take home a couple of souvenir labels and bottle caps. It was amazing how fast the beer is bottled. Then we stopped at the stable where we were able to go right up to the stalls and pet the horses. The free tour does not get that close. We were able to go in to the tack room, then out the back of the stable where we were able to meet one of the Dalmatian dogs that rides atop the wagon. We walked down to the finishing house, and were able to go inside where it was a chilly 34 degrees. There we were given a free souvenir tasting glass and then able to fill it up with beer directly from the finisher. We drank Bud Light that would be bottled/canned the next day... the freshest Bud Light we would every have. Neither Eric & I are huge Bud Light fans, as we generally prefer ales or stouts to lagers... but right out of the finishing tank at that cold temperature even Bud Light tasted darn good. It was lots of fun, and we both filled our glass a second time. Our tour concluded back in our private room where we had free reign over the refrigerator which was stocked with just about every A-B product. Eric enjoyed a couple of Budweiser American Ales, while I tried a Shock-Top and a Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale.... all of them were very good.

All in all it was a great tour, and we think definitely worth the money. Heck the beer, hat and glass were at least $25. We happened to hear our guide telling another couple about a bar/restaurant that his buddy's parents owned that was nearby so we headed there for dinner. It was a great relatively authentic Irish pub, known as John D. McQurks. The food was delicious, Eric had a steak and I had the lamb. They also had more traditional Irish fare as well. Eric enjoyed a black & tan, and I had a Bass. It was just a cool place.

After dinner we headed downtown to check into our hotel, making sure to get there before the baseball game was over and we had to deal with traffic. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza for $50 on Priceline. Our room was huge, and we had a balcony with a view of the Arch and we could even see a little bit of the stadium.

In Sunday we were headed out to St. Louis Bread Company to meet Nikki and her Dad for breakfast... ironically they were at the game the night before and in STL as well, when we ran into Eric's Uncle Dave and his cousin Lisa and their family in our hotel lobby. What a small world. After breakfast we headed to the Cards game. It was Adam Wainwright bobblehead day so we have another to add to our collection. One day when we get the basement fixed up for entertaining we hope to display all of them. The weather for the game was amazing for August in STL. The high was 68, and I was actually a tiny bit cool! The Cards won and all was good. After the Cards struggled when we went to see them last season, Eric found a winning combination for this season. He wears his new blue jersey (that his thoughtful wife got him for his birthday) and his old standby, the STL floppy hat. The Cards win, and Eric looks cute so I am good with it.

We headed home after the game, and that is when I started to feel a cold coming on. I had a nasty head, then chest cold for most of the week. Then Friday Eric started to get it. I am more or less better, but poor Eric is still suffering from "floating head". Today I got ambitious and started tackling some outdoor work. Our lawn looks pretty good, but we have weeds that are out of control in most every planting bed around our house. Today I tackled the west side of the house, and the bed to the west of our patio. That bed has an incline and is lined with river rock... which is a tumble down the hill waiting to happen. Thankfully I maintained my footing. I am sure I will be plenty sore in the morning because pulling weeds on a hillside uses muscles I didn't even know I had... but it looks much better.