MicroFest 2013

Though we do love our wines, we also love craft beer.  Every year we seek out events that feature some of the best craft brews in the land.  MicroFest is just one of those events that we enjoy attending.  Why?  Because they have over 60 different breweries, each with their own distinct flavor and fun.

This year we volunteered to help out St. Louis Wine and Beer Making, a shop dedicated to helping the amateur and pro make their own brew/wine.  It was a privilege to be standing next to Dave, the President of the shop and getting to know his customers more (including ourselves).

While the rain on Friday May 3, 2013 kept us cold and wet, Saturday's weather proved to be far more enjoyable and dry.  We got the chance to try many, many beers and here are some of our favorites from the day's debacle!

Destihl Brewery was from Iowa and they featured a few of their beers, most notably their Strawberry Blonde. Admittedly, we went back for more than one sample of this delicious beer.  This fruit beer is made by adding generous quantities of strawberries to a blonde ale base beer, providing harmonious fruit qualities, golden-strawberry blonde color, crisp/dry palate, light body, low hop characters & bitterness and light malt & fruit sweetness.  World Beer Championships Award: Bronze Medal 2012. 

We just happened come upon the Samuel Adams table and almost shied away from it, but then the Porch Rocker caught our eye.  Perfect for any summer day, Samuel Adams® Porch Rocker™ is bright and citrusy with a fresh-squeezed lemon effervescence and a refreshing finish.  Crisp & tangy, with its combination of lager & tart lemonade this unique summer quencher is their take on the Bavarian Radler, named for cyclists that originated this drink.  Though there were not many lemony beers at this event, the Porch Rocker is one that we are definitely considering for our kegerator.

It was very nice to see Charleville at this event.  We love visiting their winery/brewery when we hit up the Southeast Missouri region, especially the Route Du Vin trail that we've created on our blog, but it was nice that they came close to us this time!  For some reason we had our tastes set on fruit beers today, perhaps it was because of the terribly, uncooperative weather or the hopes of summer, but Charleville aimed to please with this one.  It was definitely a rival to the previously mentioned Destihl's Strawberry Blonde.

We got a chance to interact with the bar manager of the new brewery in St. Louis, Alpha Brewing Company.  Their beers were very impressive and even more so their trophy!  Head downtown to check out this new brew spot close to the City Museum.  A beer we liked that they were offering was their Rye Indian Pale Ale.

Blue Moon is a pretty mainstream, good beer, but they had these amazing Vintage Ales and they were absolutely incredible.  They used the juices from Savignon Blanc and the Cabernet Savignon grapes to create these complex, very winey beers!  Curious were we can find a bottle of each for a celebration we're having soon.