Third Time's the Charm

At long last, and after multiple fails (some more epic than others), I finally got to tour Schlafly's Bottleworks. Having been to the huge Anheuser-Busch facility earlier in the year, I went in expecting to be slightly disappointed and was proven very wrong. In fact, if you are choosing a beer tour, I recommend Schlafly's over A-B.

The tour guide won my heart almost immediately. Besides being amused by the brewery's use of Shop-and-Save carts left over from the building's previous owners, he actually explained what malt is! Ever since I discovered "malted milkshakes" on the Red Robin menu, I have wanted to know what this mysterious "malt" might be, and no one has ever given me a decent explanation. Until today!

[Side Note in case you care: Malt (in this case barely malt) is a grain that has partially germinated and been dried. Translated, that means you let it start to sprout, then you roast it, so that it doesn't grow anymore. In beer and milkshakes, this malt grain is further processes to create a sugar.]

The tour continued in the same quality as the beginning. We got a very brief introduction to Schlafly's as a company, but most of the tour focused on the actual process of beer making and the chemistry of it. This is why we do this and what effect it has on the finished product. Example : two types of beer, lager and ale. Main difference: lager ferments longer. Most beers are filtered to get the yeast out. If you are drinking a cloudy beer, that means there is dormant yeast in it -- it hasn't been filtered. Things that people who know beer might know, but that your every-day-member-of-a-6-pack might not.

At the end of the tour, we had a beer tasting. Also a thumbs-up over A-B. Rather than handing us two free beers, we learned how to taste beer. Our tour guide explained body, clarity, color, and flavor. As we tried 4 different beers, he explained what made each one what it was. For example, he explained the "body" of a beer as being like milk. As we sampled the Pale Ale, he described it as the "2% milk" of beer. The next beer was lighter, and so we could learn the difference.

We tried Pale Ale, Hefeweizen, Oatmeal Stout, and Dried-Hopped APA -- all very different. I don't know if I liked the pale ale or the oatmeal one the best, but I do know I prefer beer with some body and bitterness, quite the opposite of the rest of my community.

It's nice to feel like I know a little more about something. Now, I suppose, to be classy, I should find a wine tour.