2012: A Year of Beer

KC Beer Blog inspired me to write up a brief year in review of the CoMo beer scene. 2012 was a busy year for us! I'm sure I'm leaving some things out, but I'm going by my Facebook timeline.

January: 

• Deschutes' arrival in Missouri! After almost a year, it's easy to take it for granted we can buy it off the shelves, but they have so many good regular and seasonal choices. Gumbo Bottoms in Jefferson City had the first tasting opportunity, then the Columbia release party included 44 Stone, 1839 Taphouse, and Uprise. The Columbia Tribune did a great spread on this in the Food section, too (featuring: my arm!). Here' a photo at the end of the night with all the Deschutes gang. 
• Our monthly tasting was the Blind Paper Bag tasting at 1839 Taphouse. I also wrote a post about a beer pairing class (with Mike Odette) and dinner by Inside Columbia magazine. 
• And how can we forget the annual Bell's beer dinner at Sycamore? Hopslam on tap and cask, plus the unforgettable Black Note Stout. Next year's is on sale today at noon! 

February: 

• 1839 Taphouse had their 173 Anniversary Party, featuring the last keg of Boulevard's Chocolate Ale in CoMo.
• Jason and I went to the Big Chill, a beer and chili festival at 75th Street Brewery in KC. It was in a freezing, partially outdoor beer garden including Schlafly, Blind Tiger, Boulevard, Free State, among others, and 75th brought out their cellared collection. 
• "Beer and a Movie" series presented "Blazing Saddles" at our house. Bigfoot vertical 09-11 was a highlight. 
• True/False film festival was fantastic as always, sponsored by Schlafly and featuring appearances by James Franco and Morgan Spurlock. 

March: 

• 44 Stone had a Stone beer dinner, LeprechaunArchy pub crawl happened, CBE did another Beer and a Movie. 
• 44 Stone had their 1 year anniversary party in conjunction with St. Patrick's Day. There was even a fancy cake! 
• Another new brewery was Six Row, from St. Louis, which had a release at 44 Stone and another at Sycamore. 

April:

• A group of us formed a team to play Geeks Who Drink trivia at Roxy's on Monday nights. Arrogant Bastards are still going strong (mostly). 
• Attended Parkville Microfest, which had a mobile app this year to help navigate your beer itinerary for the day. FYI, beef brisket bourbon beer isn't a good idea in reality. 
• We can't forget the Avery Tap Takeovers!! Split between Uprise, 1839 Taphouse and 44 Stone, we got some samples of some heavy hitters. Thank goodness 44 Stone had just implemented their small pour option! 
• The 2nd annual Missouri Beer Festival featured the debut of Columbia's Rock Bridge Brewery and Mother's Brewing out of Springfield (which finally made it to our market the end of this year.)

May:

• I visited a friend in Lawrence, stopping by Free State, Blind Tiger, and bringing home a growler with a collaboration by those two, plus 23rd Street Brewing. 
• local Rock Bridge Brewery released a firkin of their summer seasonal, Lizard Pale Ale at Taphouse. 
• I visited a little beer town known as Denver for a conference. Stops included Cheeky Monk, Falling Rock, Wynkoop, and a huge beer haul was made. 
• 44 Stone's live Tap cams made their debut.
• Our tastings included a blind IPA/DIPA tasting at our house, where Phil's blackberry lambic blew everyone's mind, and an impromptu tasting at Jonathan's to unload some beer buys. 
• More press: The Missourian visited brew day with Holly and Jeff's crew. Como Collective went social with the craft beer scene. 

June:

• We had the fabulous CBE Summer Picnic. We also provided the Top 10 Reasons to attend, as if you didn't already know. Rock Bridge donated a firkin and a keg, which was awesome. 
• June-July I was moving into a new house, so things got a bit busy. But, the new fridge was stocked with summer beers, and many beers were shared on moving day. 

July:

• Deschutes' Chainbreaker White IPA was released at Sycamore. Also at Sycamore was the Off the Vine tasting with lambics, sours, and fruit beers. 

August: 

• 1839 Taphouse hosted the Best of Summer tasting, which spilled over into the opening party for the new Shakespeare's pizza south location for some of us. 

September:

• 44 Stone had us for the Aged to Perfection tasting. This was an epic event! Beast Vertical, and a Bigfoot Vertical. 

October:

• English and Brown Ales tasting at Ryan's house. I was at Oktoberfest, so I missed this! But here's Tin Mill Brewery in Hermann. 
• Broadway Brewery had a Stone takeover with 2012 RIS and 16th Anniversary. 
• In the Kind of a Big Deal department, we found out we're getting an iTAP in CoMO! 

November:

• CBE hosted the Farmer's Bounty tasting at Ragtag. I wasn't at this one, either. 

December:

• We hosted the CBE Christmas Party and gift exchange at our house. Here's some highlights. 
• Heard of the Santacon pub crawl? You should go. It's fun. 

Whew! We had a lot of beer and a lot of fun. Jonathan has already scheduled many 2013 CBE events. They will soon all be on the CBE calendar, which you can find here, along with other beer dinners and special events as we hear of them. 

Thanks again to Sycamore, Broadway Brewery, Uprise, 44 Stone, 1839 Taphouse for supporting us and hosting our events! 

Three New Tastings!

The Columbia Beer Enthusiasts (CBE) have come out of hiding to schedule three upcoming tastings. As always, participants are asked to show up with a beer or two that fit the tasting's theme to share. Typically, two 12 oz. bottles or one bomber (22 oz. or 750 mL) do the trick. If you don't have beer to share, you can join in by paying $5, but where's the fun in that?

The three tastings are as follows...

On Sunday, July 22nd at Sycamore, the CBE will hold an "Off the Vine" tasting. Beer enthusiasts are to bring lambics, sours, and fruit beers to share. A nice list of lambicscan be found on Beer Advocate's site. Technically, lambics fall under the category of sour ales, but sour beers include many more styles such as Berliner Weisse, Flanders red and brown ales, and gueuze. Of course, one could also peruse BA's list of fruit beers for more choices.

The Best of Summer tasting on August 25th will celebrate the beers of summer. This event will happen at 4PM on 1839 Taphouse's patio. What defines a "summer beer" is left up to interpretation, but the club suggests summer seasonals, cream ales, golden ales, and blondes as possible styles to enjoy.

Finally, 44 Stone is hosting the "Aged to Perfection" tasting. For this tasting, participants are asked to unearth beers they have been saving for a year or more. Verticals where several vintages of the same beer are tasted in chronological order are encouraged. The tasting will start around 3PM. Then, hang around for dinner afterward. If you don't have any beers that are over a year old, you can always search local shelves and coolers for older vintages or beers that we can use in a vertical tasting. 

For more on these events and all-things-beer-related in CoMo, join the Columbia Beer Enthusiasts on Facebook. Also, be sure to RSVP to these events and participate in the discussion so that members can coordinate beers to share. Also, homebrews are welcome. There's no better place to get feedback on your homemade brew than a CBE meeting.

Top Ten Reasons to Attend the CBE Summer Picnic

The Columbia Beer Enthusiasts are holding their annual summer picnic this Saturday at Albert-Oakland Park, off of Blue Ridge Road. Everyone is welcome, even if you have never been to a CBE event before. Spouses, friends, children, and dogs are all welcome. (However, anyone expecting to consume beer should be 21+, of course.)

The picnic will take place in Shelter #3, located near a playground, restrooms and an aquatic facility. Here's the map. There is a Family Aquatic Center with a children's play area which costs $3.75 for adults and $2.50 for kids. The picnic starts at noon, but all are welcome to come any time throughout the afternoon.

The CBE provides burgers and dogs, but please bring a side or dessert and beers to share. This is a great opportunity to come meet and greet fellow beer enthusiasts and provide input about the kind of craft and homebrew beer events you'd like to have.

In case you're still debating whether or not to come, CBE president Jade Elwess provided the following top-ten reasons to attend this weekend's picnic:

10. Swimming - As mentioned above, the family aquatics center provides families a chance to cool off...or to sober up.

9. Food - The CBE provides burgers and hotdogs, but many CBE members like to bring foods that pair well with various beers. Of course, for many of us, beer is just liquid bread.

8. Games (washers, frisbee golf, volleyball...) - Depending on what equipment people bring with them, friendly games have been known to break out during the picnic. They're even more challenging after a beer or two.

7. Free to attend - There are few things one can do for free in CoMo. The CBE picnic is one of those things.

6. Hopefully good weather, no monsoons/heat waves in June - We've had this picnic in a rain storm as well as 100-degree  weather. Luckily, there's a shelter and cold beer to keep you dry and cool.

5. Be an active voice in planning future events, tastings, give us feedback - We'd like to hear from you all as to what kinds of events you'd like to see in the future. This is a great opportunity to get your voice heard. Who knows? Maybe you'll decide to be an officer...

4. See the latest in Cabana wear, Hawaiian shirts, plaid shorts, etc. worn by CBE members - There are hints at a mankini, but I'll believe it when I see it.

3. Families are welcome - Just because it's a beer event doesn't mean kids and spouses can't come. Besides, you may need someone to drive you home.

2. People--come mix and mingle with the CBE and get to know us - Stop lurking online. Come, meet, and talk to real human beings.

1. Beer, beer, beer. -  There is always a great mix of all kinds of beer. Bring any kind. CBE members often bring homebrews, that special bottle in the back of their cellar, or just a tried and true favorite from the store. Just don't forget to drink water, too.

Craft Beer Events

Long time, no blog! I know. That doesn't mean there hasn't been a ton of craft beer events going on in the area. I mean, Deschutes Brewery is here! They hosted events at Gumbo Bottoms in Jeff City, and recently in Columbia at 44 Stone, 1839 Taphouse and Uprise Bar. In fact, Abyss just hit town today and many stores are sold out. Supposedly, only 5 cases of the limited releases are allocated between Columbia, Jeff City and Fulton. I am pursuing Jeff City, but Abiy's had not gotten the Abyss, XXIII or Stoic as of today. I got a bottle of everything but the Abyss (HyVee on Nifong), plus an unexpected Chocolate Ale (Abiy's). Anyway, we had a great time meeting the Deschutes fellows and look forward to seeing them for a future beer dinner. There should be something in next week's Tribune food section about our little party.

Mike Odette opens a Goose Island Sofie to add to the fondue.

Last night, I attended Chef Mike Odette's Brewmaster's Dinner: Pairing Beer With Food. The new Culinary Adventures program located in the old Grindstone Brewery has cooking classes, and this is one I didn't want to miss. This place has one main kitchen/classroom with monitors where you can watch the cooking demo. We listened to Mike give an overview of tips on pairing beer and food while we enjoyed snacking on spicy caramel corn with Tallgrass Ale. We were given recipes and put into groups to each try one recipe together. My group got fondue, but there were so many people crowded around the one stove that people had to take turns. Then we retired to the dining room for the tasting of the food and beer pairings.

• Goose Island Sofie with Cheese Fondue
• Deschutes Mirror Pond with BBQ Pork Belly Sliders
• Southern Tier Jahva with Coffee Anglaise over a chocolate brownie

There was then more of an informal discussion, when Fred Parry asked Mike about Sycamore and then Paul Wissman of the local Scheppers distributor, spoke some about the beers and breweries. It was opened up for an audience Q &A. Then we got to take home a goody bag: the BBQ sauce and rub made in the class, which is Sycamore's recipe used for their BBQ pork belly sliders. Score! I can't wait to try these. We took away the recipes for everything we ate, too.

Fred, Mike and Paul talk beer and food

dessert! 

Another cooking class involving beer may be appearing on the schedule in the coming months, so check back. These are filling up very fast as word gets out. 

Craft beer coming attractions: 

• Schlafly Beer Dinner at 44 Stone, Tuesday, January 24th. Last I heard there were a few tickets left on Brown Paper Tickets. The cask of Winter ESB will be the special treat of the evening. 
• Columbia Beer Enthusiasts Paper Bag Tasting, 1839 Taphouse, Wednesday, January 25th. This is a twist on the blind tasting, and it should be very interesting. More info here. 
• Bell's Beer Dinner, Sycamore, Tuesday, January 31st. This event sold out in record time, but you can still come try the beer:

Winter White Belgian style Wheat 
Hell Hath No Fury Belgian style Dubbel
Sparkling Belgian style Tripel with Pacific NW hops
Two Hearted IPA 
Black Note Bourbon barrel-aged Imperial stout

and...a cask of Hopslam Imperial IPA

• Boulevard Beer Dinner: Feb. 22nd. Tickets for this are on sale January 22nd. Hurry!