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Friday, December 12, 2008

Fantome -- very rare

The surprise is here...just arrived at Forsyth and Rock Hill now..

Very limited.
Fantome flys in to St. Louis! - Very, very, rare...
The Fantome "Phantom" beer is as elusive as the name suggests. The importer, Shelton Brothers, have no idea when or what they will get from Fantome. They just take what shows up at their door. The brewer, Dany Prignon, is apparently one of the most eccentric brewers in the world. I have only had the chance to taste a beer from Fantome once before, and that was thanks to Dylan at "33" Wine Bar who had a bottle he bought in Florida (I think). It was a strange and intriguing brew that made you feel privileged to have a chance to taste. It is a beer you want to try with friends and be able to discuss.


"Fantôme’s brewer, Dany Prignon, is a lively character who breaks all the rules when it comes to brewing with special ingredients. (How many other brewers have made a mushroom beer?) In fact, not all of his experiments are a success, but every beer is at least interesting and recall the early days of Belgian brewing.
Fantôme Seasonal Beers – The mysterious Fantôme brewer is always at work cooking up another unique beer, often using secret herbs, spices, and fruits to evoke the current season. The recipes are never the same from year to year....The Winter beers are dark ruby red confections, with strong, malty flavors and are relatively straight-forward, without any notable trace of the phantom’s usual trickery." -- Shelton Brothers




Fantome Hiver...$12.99 / 750ml
"Fantome's winter offering, available December through March or so. Brewer Dany Prignon changes his recipes every year, so we can't so for sure what this year's beer will be like, but it is sure to please lovers of Dany's beers." -- importer


Fantome Noel...$12.99 / 750ml
"A very dark and entirely unique holiday seasonal beer, at a whopping 10% alc. by volume. Reportedly spiced with honey, caramel, coriander, black pepper, and other secret ingredients. “Beautifully warming with an amazing, almost overwhelming, depth of character. Well balanced bittersweet, fruity ale which must surely be the ultimate winter warmer.” (The Beers of Wallonia.) Both authors of The Beers of Wallonia also give this Noël beer perfect 10’s. The alcohol content probably goes a long way toward explaining that very warm and satisfied feeling one finds on the very first sip. A rich, dark-flavored beer with lots of deep-roasted chocolate malt, but still fairly dry, with a hint of sourness at the core. It is very spicy, with some winter spruce flavor in the bargain. The wild yeast sourness also adds to its welcoming character." -- importer

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Left Hand Winter, Karmeliet gift set...

New releases!
Seasonal and limited supply!
Left Hand Snow Bound Winter Ale...$5.69 / 22oz
"Brewed once a year to fight cabin fever, this spiced strong ale uses all natural ingredients, including crushed cinnamon, honey, chopped ginger, orange zest, cardamon, and cloves. Deep red in color, this medium-bodied beer is a winter warmer - enjoy on a cold night in front of the fireplace. Get it while it lasts!" -- Brewery




Karmeliet Tripel Gift Set....$24.99
Blond, robust, smooth, and fruity three grain top fermented beer, refermented in the bottle. Brewed with pride and patience after Karmeliet tradition with wheat, oat and barley. 100% natural. Has been brewed at Van Steenberge for Brewery Bosteels for some time until recently.

4 / 330ml bottles of Karmeliet
and a Karmeliet Glass (An amazing glass that holds 25oz , it is huge ! It is much bigger than the normal glass we sell separately)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Beer News.... BBQ Smokestack

Just a quick note...
Goose Island Bourbon Barrel is almost gone for the year.
About a case left at Rock Hill and Forsyth.
Anchor Christmas Ale
Just a little left at all stores for the year.



Exciting things coming up in the beer department...
Sold Out!
Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad...$11.99 / 750ml
Nickname: BBQ (acronym of the name)
Only 10,630 BOTTLES made
"Based loosely on the Smokestack Series Sixth Glass, this abbey-style quadrupel, after fermentation on cherries, was separated into a number of oak bourbon barrels, where it aged for varying lengths of time, in some cases as long as a year. Selected barrels were then blended for optimum flavor. The resulting beer retains only very subtle cherry characteristics, with toffee and vanilla notes coming to the fore." -- Boulevard

Rated 95 percentile on http://www.ratebeer.com/
"Saison-Brett will be released to the tune of less than 12,000 bottles and BBQ even more limited at approximately 7000. Each bottle will be individually numbered. The beers will be released into the same distribution channel as the other Smokestack beers. " -- BeerNews



Bell's Hopslam
Due third week of January
"A biting, bitter, tongue bruiser of an ale. With a name like Hopslam, what did you expect?" -- Bell's Brewery
One of the most anticipated Bell's release is not far off! It is their Double Imperial Pale Ale and one of the best DIPA you can get. Everybody wants this to be a year round brew! Hopslam falls in the same category as these other great DIPA (none of them available in St. Louis) -- Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA, Russian River Pliny the Elder, AleSmith YuleSmith, Stone Ruination IPA, Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA. Feel lucky we get the Bell's Hopslam, I think they only distribute in about 12 states.



Left Hand Smoke Jumper Porter - very soon
Left Hand Snowbound Ale - very soon

Left Hand Oak Aged Imperial Stout 22oz
Due in March 2009
We are looking forward to receiving this in St. Louis. Left Hand has a program of producing 8 seasonals, 4 every other year. This Oak Aged Imperial Stout comes around every 2 years. This is one to stock up on and enjoy. They have changed the oak program for the 2008. It is aged in BRANDY barrels, which I do not think I have seen before, at least not in St. Louis. I know I have not tasted one yet. Of course we have seen beer aged in Bourbon Barrels, Scotch Barrels and wine barrels.
"Our limited edition Oak-Aged Imperial Stout is back for the 1st time in 2 years, but with a couple of new twists--instead of being aged in French Oak Wine Barrels, we opted to age it this year in Heaven Hill brandy barrels from the hills of Kentucky. (And like all of our Big MO Limited Edition releases, it's available in 22oz bombers now instead of the 750ml caged & corked Belgian beer bottle). We racked Imperial Stout into the barrels back in June of this year, and will blend it with un-aged Imperial Stout to woody perfection. At 22 degree plato adn 10.4% ABV, it's the perfect warmer for thos cold February, early March nights. Enjoy the complex flavors revealing hints of raisin, black licorice, coffee, dark chocolate, and, of course a hint of brandy. Order quickly--we've decided on our blend already, and we'll only be packaging about 150 barrels of it this time around. So, first come, first serve. Once it's sold out, it's gone until 2011." -- Left Hand

Last year -- A+ on http://www.beeradvocate.com/
“the best beer ever brewed if you love chocolate flavors” -- by Modern Brewery Age magazine.


Winebats! Uncork for a cause.

Baseball and wine lovers -- your holiday shopping starts here...

We have a customer and friend of the store that is working with some great baseball players and charities to create some unbelievalbe gifts. We are hoping to get some to sell at the store next year, but Missouri red tape did not allow it this year. They are expecting more great players to sign up for the program next year. This year, you can go to Uncorked for a Cause website to order.

Some great baseball players are lending their names and their bats for charity: Luis Gonazalez, Bronson Arroyo, and Tom Glavine. They are very limited edition wine boxes that include three bottles of custom wine, signed baseball bat and stunning wood box.

Luis Gonzalez
"Don't miss the debut of Luis Gonzalez's 2006 Hill Family Cabernet Sauvignon and beautiful wine box set. This unique gift pack includes three bottles of limited edition 2006 Luis Gonzalez Cabernet Sauvignon and the WineBat™, Luis’ game model baseball bat hand-stained with "Hill Harvest Red" wine stain and signed by Luis, all enclosed in a commemorative wooden wine box, each individually numbered for authenticity. Very limited collectible, only 200 numbered units of the wine box are available." -- Uncorked for a Cause








Bronson Arroyo

"Don't miss the debut of Bronson Arroyo's 2006 Napa Valley Baseball Blend red wine and beautiful wine box set. This unique gift pack includes three bottles of limited edition 2006 Bronson Arroyo Hill family Baseball Blend red wine and the WineBat™, Bronson’s game model baseball bat hand-stained with "Hill Harvest Red" wine stain and signed by Bronson, all enclosed in a commemorative wooden wine box, each individually numbered for authenticity. Very limited collectible, only 100 numbered units of the wine box are available." -- Uncorked for a cause




Go to Uncork for a Cause to order
click here to order

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Know your styles -- Barleywine

Like to learn more about beer?
The St. Louis Beer blog, www.stlhops.com, is doing a style of the week.
What should you be smelling?
What should you be seeing?
What should you be tasting?
How should you be drinking it?

Click here to read about Barleywine on STL Hops.

Here are a few Barleywine style beer we have in stock now...
Nils Oscar Barleywine - Sweden
Norrebro Bryghus Little Korkny Barleywine - Denmark
Ridgeway Seriously Bad Elf - England
2005 Xyauyu - Italy

Nogne #100 Barleywine - Norway
Klein Erik de Noorman - Netherlands
J.W. Lees Vintage Harvest Ale - England
American Barleywine--
Anchor Old Foghorn - California
2008 Schlafly Oak Aged Barleywine - St. Louis
Pyramid Pugsleys Barleywine - Maine
Avery Hog Heaven Barleywine - Colorado
Great Divide Old Ruffian - Colorado