When the 13th Annual St. Louis Microfest opens there June 6-7, the upper Muny parking lot will become zymurgy ground zero.
Now, for the benefit of those not ... ahem ... intoxicated by weird words, "zymurgy" describes the branch of applied chemistry devoted to fermentation — and Microfest showcases just that devotion. More specifically, says co-director Marshall Cohen, it features dozens of beer-makers of all sizes, from home-brewers to Anheuser-Busch.
The festival supports Lift For Life, the near-North Side nonprofit gym serving inner-city youth. Cohen, the gym's founder/executive director, estimates that 2,500 attendees enjoyed the hops-and-barley bounty at last year's Microfest, which raised $35,000. "It's a great event where you can come and just sample a bunch of stuff," he notes.
Among other things, this year's festival will include various competitions, a VIP area, a silent auction and musical entertainment ranging from local rockers Earl to New Orleans jazzman Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, a smokin' 22-year-old who's earned accolades from Wynton Marsalis and Allen Toussaint.
Want to further whet your appetite for wetting your whistle? Then ponder the following quartet of local quaffs coming to the 2008 Microfest.
Brian Owens laughs and says, "Some of my buddies come in sometimes and say, 'Oh, so this is what you do—well, I'll just stick to drinkin' it.'" Owens, the head brewer at St. Charles County's O'Fallon Brewery, continues, "We were voted best beer in St. Louis in the Riverfront Times last year for our summer seasonal, and that's our Wheach, or our peach wheat. It's just really taken off over the past couple of years." Microfest attendees will have a chance to learn why.
Daran Churovich, brewmaster at Kirkwood's Alandale Brewing Company, mentions five beers headed for the event. Perhaps Alandale's most enticing offering: a blackberry ale. "It's a little bit sweet, but it's not a syrupy-sweet beer, and it's also not overpowering with the blackberries," Churovich says. "It's filtered, rather than unfiltered, which I think adds not only clarity, but it also provides a cleanness to the beer that people find refreshing."
Brewmaster Marc Gottfried reports that Morgan Street Brewery will spotlight a Mexican-style lager flavored with blue agave nectar, the substance that makes premium tequila ... well ... premium. "That ought to be really interesting, because I don't know of anyone in St. Louis doing that," Gottfried remarks from the Laclede's Landing brewpub. "It should be real light, though—people who don't like tequila shouldn't be scared away by it."
In addition to its resplendent raspberry Hefeweizen, Schlafly Beer (our "macro micro") will introduce a biére de garde, a French-style farmhouse ale similar to a Belgian ale, with heightened alcohol by volume and a robust taste. "It's a brand-new package for us that we're only bottling in 750-milliliter bottles," reports Mitch Turner, Schlafly's brand manager. "It's the first bottle-conditioned product we've ever made, so we're pretty excited about that."
For times, prices and other details about the 13th Annual St. Louis Microfest, visit stlmicrofest.com or call 314-588-0007.
