Interested in local brewing history?
Check out the new Brewery History section. Kevin Kious, local beer memorabia collector and author, gave us permission to republish a few articles that he co-wrote along with Donald Roussin. These were originally published in the American Breweriana Journal. 

Current articles cover the following locations:

• Alton
• Granite City
• Highland
• Mascoutah
• Possibly more to come...

Kevin is also one of the authors of St. Louis Brews: 200 Years of Brewing in St. Louis, 1809 - 2009, and the office manager at the international headquarters of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America in Fenton, MO. Here is a link to a recent article from the Metro St. Louis Suburban Journals on the BCCA.  http://bit.ly/BCCA20100824

-Cheers!

Every year my friends Geoff and Val Seitz (Seitz Violin) have a party (Dogfest) at their 25 acre farm in Bonne Terre, MO. They invite many of their friends and customers to bring their camping gear, instruments, and dogs, to play in the wild. There is no electricity or running water, just a lot of beautiful trees, spring fed brook, and wildlife. Geoff invited me for the first time three years ago. Generally speaking only musicians get an invite. I told Geoff "I can't play, but , I can brew" So the tradition was started. I brew a really big brew that will age nicely for a year and bring it back the following year for us all to enjoy. The first brew was a killer Russian Imperial Stout. Year number two produced an amazing Eisbock. This year I brewed an amped up Sticke Alt. This has become a really fun tradition that has turned out some of my best beers to date. There is something to be said for "brewing in the wild". Enjoy the video.

Cheers,
Greg Bridwell
Founder, East Side Brewers 

There have been quit a few events over the past few months… brew days, demos, festivals, and awards. Here is a quick recap of those activities.

Mascoutah Brew Day (5/23/10)

On May 23rd at Scheve Park in Mascoutah Glenn Forneris hosted a brew day.  He made a cream ale (for a friends wedding) with corn and rice adjuncts and used hallertau hops.  Had some familiar faces show up and a few new people, so the club is growing.  The quality of homebrew was encouraging. Glenn said, all-in-all, it was a beautiful day, and the beer turned out great!

St Jacobs BBQ – ESB Brewing Demo (6/5/10)

Rick Goforth, along with Steve Long, and Glenn Preuter hosted a brewing demo in conjunction with the St. Jacob BBQ competition. Two beers were brewed and three beers were available for sampling; a coffee stout and Irish red donated by Jeff Harbaugh and a pale ale donated by Steve Long. Rick said they had a lot of people ask questions about the beer and process. There was also a lot of trading BBQ for brew. Rick said, I think it went very well and have no doubt we will be invited back next year. Additional note; Steve had three beautiful banners made for the club. Looks great!

Hey Gang,

We are trying - and I think we will be quite happy with, this Picasa-Based photo gallery. I'm just learning it - but I know there are members that understand Picasa and really like it. Go take a look under "Gallery". Thanks!