Niche Taps Mike Sweeney for Beer Consulting
Oct 8, 2009 St. Louis, beer, chefs, missouri, restaurants
As the craft beer market has expanded, so to have the requests that top-tier restaurants take as much care in assembling their beer lists as they do for their wines. In an effort to address this and expand the beer selections in his restaurants, Gerard Craft of Niche has today tapped Mike Sweeney to consult on the beer lists for Niche, Niche Taste Bar, and the soon to open BRASSERIE by Niche. Most know Sweeney as the owner of the popular St. Louis beer blog and forum, STL Hops. In speaking with Sweeney this morning, he was excited about the news and stated that the goal is for each space to have its own list of beers to complement the food coming from each restaurant’s kitchen. As one might imagine, at BRASSERIE this will mean a strong focus on French and Belgian styles. For those looking for more esoteric selections, however, Sweeney also stated that Craft’s vision is that Niche Taste Bar will be the one place where the rules are “anything goes”.
Full Disclosure: As most know, Mike Sweeney is one of my closest, personal, friends.
Tags: BRASSERIE by Niche, Gerard Craft, Michael Sweeney, Mike Sweeney, Niche, Niche Taste Bar, stlhops.com STL Hops
33 Wine Bar is Officially Sold, Finally
Jan 27, 2009 St. Louis, beer, missouri, restaurants, wine
Here it is, the day the rumors have subsided, the news is finally official, and I’m late to the game. Thing is, I have this thing called a day job. Courtesy of stlbites.com forum regular Wine Lover, however, the whole website wasn’t without the news that 33 Wine Bar sold thanks to his post congratulating new owner, Jeff Stettner.
For those of you interested in learning more, the full letter in which former owner Jack Hafner broke the news to his customers can be found in Wine Lover’s post.
Tags: 33 Wine Bar, Jake Hafner, Jeff Stettner
Just a Thought
Nov 1, 2008 St. Louis, beer, missouri, restaurants
If you were Hubert Keller, and you were trying to get the people of St. Louis to embrace you and your fancy-pants high-dollar restaurants, would you have a beer dinner with the craft brewery from across the state or the local joint brewing up–if not better–equally good beer?
And that’s not a slight at Boulevard. I simply just don’t get the reasoning–unless, that is, I’ve missed some previous beer dinner that used Schlafly.
Tags: Boulevard Brewery, Hubert Keller, Schlafly, SLeeK
Two-Hearted Ale Sighting
Sep 26, 2008 St. Louis, beer, missouri, restaurants
Back to back nights of eating dinner at Pi before concerts means that along with a Lincoln Park, a Berkeley, and a K2, I’ve downed quite a bit of beer because their new 5-Day replacement is a tap handle for Two Hearted Ale.
Back to back nights also means I was around long enough to notice that during their Green Hour (aka Happy Hour) from 11AM-7PM they offer a beer a day at two bucks per pint and Saturday’s selection still read “5 Day.” It will, in fact, now be Two Hearted Ale.
That’s a reason for an early Saturday dinner if ever I saw one.
Tags: Pi, Pizza, Two Hearted Ale
Rant: Craft is a Product, Micro is a Business
Jul 1, 2008 beer
One of my Google Alerts scrounged up a Java Journal article about beer in which there was the following:
Dan Chivetta, also a brewer at Trailhead, explained the difference between craft brewing and microbrewing. “In craft brewing, there is a love, a passion for brewing. It’s an art form, where quality, taste and presentation matter more than the bottom line and quantity. Quality ingredients and perfection of process and technique make craft beer superior to its bigger counterparts.
I seem to have missed the explanation, and probably it should have read “craft brewing and macro-brewing.” Beyond that, however, a beer rant
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Boulevard Brewery, craft beer, microbreweries, microbrewery, Odell Brewing Co. Boston Beer Co. Brewers Association, Yuengling
Beer Availability in Kentucky
Jun 24, 2008 beer
Though there will be a few Kentucky posts to come I thought I’d slap this one out first because it’s the easy one.
There is a lot of beer that is distributed in Kentucky that is not in Missouri. Some of it is in Illinois but not as widely and as easy to get as I found it to be in Kentucky. Most important of those is Stone brewery. I’d had a few Stone beers at Mike’s but this was my first opportunity to pick some up for my own stock. They make big beers that freak out non-big beer drinkers (the ones I bought anyway).
The second most important was Brooklyn Brewery
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bell's Brewery, brooklyn brewery, Dogfish Head, garrett oliver, Jolly Pumpkin, Kentucky, Louisville, New Holland Brewery, Stone Brewery
Repeal Festival Pictures
May 9, 2008 St. Louis, beer, missouri
I took a bunch of pics of Schlafly’s Repeal of Beer Prohibition Festival and I forgot to mention that fact when it was, you know, topical.
Never the less, you can see them
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Schlafly
Mmm…Pork Butt
Apr 30, 2008 St. Louis, beer, events, missouri
I may not have the St. Louisian affinity for provel but I have embraced the pork steak.
Though when they’re cooked the way they’re supposed to be, or at least my understanding of it, and they’ve simmered in bbq sauce (and beer) for a while after grilling, they’re just pretty good.
When I cook them up, instead of simmering them and ruining the char, I like to omit that step to let the fat — the great heaping lot of it — get a little burnt and crispy so that the juicy charred hog butt just melts in your mouth.
So I might just be a little excited for the Brew & Q event Schlafly is hosting.
- What: BREW & Q 2008 – Amateur BBQ Competition with winners for Best Pork Steak, Best Appetizer with Matching Schlafly Beer, and Best Booth
- When: Friday, May 23 • 5:00-10:00 p.m. & Competition on Saturday, May 24 • Noon-10:00 p.m.
- Where: Schlafly Bottleworks
Tags: barbecue, bbq, Pork Steaks, Schlafy
Better Restaurant Beer
Mar 17, 2008 beer, restaurants
Dear restaurants,
When I go to your restaurant, even though I’m not the beer snob some people are, sometimes I want beer instead of wine; and by beer I mean good beer; and by good beer I do not mean Stella Artois.
I mention this because even if you’re not super interested in researching the beers on your menu, or even carrying an extensive list, after listening to Mike rant more than a few times about restaurants and beer menus, he has convinced me there is a disparity between restaurants with good wine lists and that same restaurant’s beer selections.
Rather than simply complaining, however, Mike has come up with a solution by putting together sample beer lists that not only recognize the need for profit and the demand for certain brands, but also of better than average beer that while maybe not the ultimate showing of love to the beer snob would at least tread a middle ground where the Bud Select drinkers of the world can clink their ice cold bottles with the same joy that those of us with a Two Hearted Ale or O’Fallon 5 Day IPA obsession could experience as we poor it perfectly into appropriate glassware.
Which is another point by the way — if you care about service ware enough to not serve white and red wine in the same glass, than is it to much to ask that you might also not serve something like pale ale in a hefeweizen glass?
In all seriousness though, please look at Mike’s lists as he suggests several options to spruce up your beer list. In doing so I think you will find that you might just drum up a little more business because there really is a segment of diners that won’t frequent a place where they can’t get good beer.
Bill
Tags: 5 Day IPA, beer, beer lists, Bell's Brewery, O'Fallon Brewery, Two Hearted Ale stlhops.com
Beer Madness
Mar 11, 2008 beer
The Washington Post’s Beer Madness is upon us once again (apparently).
Modeled after the NCAA’s March Madness, with 32 beers the tournament represents four divisions (lagers, ales, specialty & fruit, dark beers) as they go head to head to see who will remain.
At casa Burge we’ll be pulling for Avery Brewing Companies Ellie’s Brown Ale and not just for the obvious reason. It really is Ellie’s favorite beer and one of the Final Four last year.
The winner was the King of the Beer Dudes, Garrett Oliver brewmastered, Brooklyn Brewery brewed, Brooklyn Lager.
Unfortunately that’s not available in our area, but we can get the Brooklyn Brewery joint brewed Schering & Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse which I’ve picked up at Lukas Liquor in the past.
Bring it home with the St. Louis connection, Anheuser-Busch will have a hard time eeking out some wins with their player, Michelob Lager…but not as hard as poor Miller with their cede: Miller Chill — Light American Lager “chelada style.” Yikes!
Visit the Beer Madness site, print out your bracket, and get bettin’.
Tags: Anheuser-Busch, Avery Brewing Company, beer madness, brooklyn brewery, Ellie's Brown Ale, garrett oliver, Lukas Liquor, miller chill, washington post
From the mountains of Panama and Ethiopia, to the urban-jungles of Portland and Chicago, journalist Michaele Weissman takes us behind the scenes for a look at the world of third-wave specialty coffee. How did we get to Starbucks, and where we go from here?