Shep: They have a beer here called "Fat Tire Pale Ale." sounds interesting
Me: Fat Tire is a @NewBelgium beer, and when I was living in the midwest is was one of my favorites, hard to find on the East Coast.
Shep: I've seen Fat Tire listed as the brewery many times but never the wrong style too
Me: Sounds like Fat Tire is a victim of the brewery's own branding, which pushes the style's name above their own brewery
New Belgium rep: I wouldn't call Fat Tire a victim of anything except being awesome. Twenty years and still a top 10 #craftbeer And just to clarify, Fat Tire is a Belgian Pale Ale. Always has been.
Shep: I disagree.
Eric: That was Joel's reverse sarcasm.
New Belgium rep: If we're getting really technical Fat Tire is an Ameri-Belgo Pale Ale that is Amber in color. An Amber Ale.
Shep: always thought it was a west coast Yuengling style
New Belgium rep: Not much in common other than the color. Dry hopped with Willamette hops its our take on a Belgian. I'm not sure if our founder, Jeff Lebesch, ever tasted Yuengling before he brewed Fat Tire. Good question...
Shep: just being sarcastic again. People west of the Mississippi river want Yuengling, east want Fat Tire
New Belgium rep: Haha!! You got me. I think it's a tasty beer, though. Still curious if Jeff ever tried it pre Fat Tire.
Evan: not a week goes by that I don't hear about how much ppl in stl coveted Coors b4 it was here... that fat tire brewery in infinitely more enjoyable
Dave: My grandpa used to send drivers to CO for a supply of Coors before duck season.
New Belgium rep: I'm sure there are still people 'bootlegging' Fat Tire into states where we actually sell it
Me: I know a place here in Brooklyn that bootlegs Fat Tire, but it'll cost ya...
My favorite pumpkin ale is the one pictured here, Schlafly’s Pumpkin Ale, which has a balanced amont of cinnamon and nutmug, and a malty charecter to its taste.
The great pumpkin • Beer guy Evan Benn rates this year’s crop of pumpkin beers, on a scale of one to four jack-o’-lanterns. The local contenders: Schlafly Pumpkin Ale (seen above), Kirkwood Station Pumpkin Ale, Ferguson Pumpkin Ale and O’Fallon Pumpkin Beer.
Taking a tour of St. Louis’ craft beer scene, at notable brew pubs and bars, this ex-pat discovers A-B is no longer the only name in town anymore. “Some have hopes for a back-to-the-future recasting of the early 20th century, when German immigrant-owned brewpubs and beer gardens dotted the city,” they observe (if only we could be so lucky).
Dirt Cheap is a local discount chain of Liquor and tobacco stores in the St. Louis metro area that serves as “the last refuge of the persecuted smoker”. Their memorable low-budget ads featuring owner Fred and the Dirt Cheap Chicken (the mascot seen in this ad) were a regular fixture on the TV airwaves growing up in the area.
To me the store seemed ubiquitous, and with taglines like “Cheap-cheap! Fun-fun!” from their mascot and slogans like “the more she drinks the better you look”, hardly adding glamor to this young adult’s impression of beer drinkers. Indeed, the store carried their own line of Dirt Cheap Beer, presumably to compete alongside St. Louis mainstays like Nattie Light and Busch beer.
In retrospect, it’s kind of a small wonder I gained a taste for craft beer at all, growing up in the macro-brew capital and consistently exposed to ads like these for Dirt Cheap.
Generations of local loyalty is eroding in the wake of InBev’s 2008 hostile takeover of Anheuser-Busch — a St. Louis tradition since 1852, when it was called Bavarian. For Schlafly and other small breweries in the city, it’s an opportunity to exploit the increased interest in craft beers nationwide.
