Capt Keith's Beer Blog

I remember my craft beer game changer was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. That beer is such a fine example of the classic American Pale Ale and from a true American Brewing Pioneer. I drank that beer with good friend Aaron Ledyard and it changed my life.

Since that day in 1991, I have served a lot of good beer to lot of good people (from Dallas’ first brewpub – Yegua Creek Brewing Company, Flying Saucers, Meddlesome Moth, Rodeo Goat w Sam  & Lark on the Park.) I owe a lot of my initial interest in craft beer to this man, Michael Jackson.

(Lauren Schlabs, Michael Jackson & Capt. Keith circa 1996)

I was asked a few weeks ago when I thought this bubble would burst. As I told my friend, this “trend” will not end. Craft Beer is here to stay. We know what it tastes like. We are never going backwards. We are eating better foods, drinking better wines and enjoying better beers with friends and family. Beer is forever…

This coming week is a time to celebrate the small and independent craft breweries that we have all grown to appreciate. The American Craft Beer Culture has changed forever and Beerknurds have all been a big part of that movement. We will continue to see small local breweries emerge all around the US.

Go to your local beer joint (Flying Saucer I hope) or market and drink some good American Craft Beer next week. Support the little guys that are working around the clock to produce the beers we truly enjoy.

Let’s raise one high to all of those American Craft Brewers responsible for bringing us great beer!

Captain Keith

Last night we scanned in brews 148,149 and 150 for Michael Springer, Nathan Menshew, Whitney Brown, Richard Haegele and Joe Hoffman that have all been in to our newest location every day since we opened.  This puts us over 75% of the way towards hanging our first plates in the Ring of Honor in St Louis.    Because of the stiff 5 way tie for plate #1, we have some special tricks up our sleeve to help us decide the final order of our first plates.  The warm reception we received in St Louis has been amazing.  Over 1,000 new Beerknurds signed up in our first month of business, thirsty for more knowledge and understanding of the world of craft beer.

The Royals vs Cardinals plate representatives are still in the battle as well.  For those baseball fans out there, go to www.saucershowdown.com for more information on the battle of I-70.   

MOTH Celebrates 3 years of pouring some exceptional craft beers. We would all like to thank you for your continuing support. If you are in town early April – come see us. We’ve been saving up some special beers for this list of events:

TAP TAKEOVER (ALL 40) with our cellared Wood Influenced beers starting April 9 – 14th

(Sneak Preview Monday, April 8^th  10pm for DG Members)

Green Flash Beer Dinner MONDAY April 8^th – 6pm

Owner Mike Hinkley and our good friend and BrewMaster Chuck Silva will present some very special beers with pairings by Chef David McMillan. SOLD OUT

Breckenridge Brewery Brew Master Session with THE MAN – Todd Usry

Wednesday, April 10^th 6:30

4 Beers with Paired Chef Specials – $25

Deschutes Brewery Art/Beer/Food Base Camp

Thursday, April 11^th 6:30

6 Beers including Abyss, Black Butte XXIV, Dissident (all draft)

Paired food and Art Show – $35 – Don’t miss this!

Sierra Nevada Flight

Saturday, April 13^th Noon-5pm

Brandy Barrel Aged Quad, White Wine Barrel aged Dubbel, Bourbon Barrel Aged Bigfoot, Vintage Bigfoot 2011, Pale Ale

Limited availability

We have finally opened our doors in St Louis at 900 Spruce St downtown, just a stones throw from the Third Base Entrance of Busch Stadium. This marks a very special opening for us, as it is the first time we have ignited a statewide rivalry for who gets the first plate.  New St Louis resident and Kansas City MOU, Joe Hoffman has set the town on fire with his promise to not only hang the first plate at the new location, but also to brand his plate with the name “Don Denkinger” with the quote “SAFE!”, a reference to a clearly blown call from game 6 of the 1985 World Series.  Forums on StlHops went wild and when the white smoke trickled from the chimney, Richard Haegele emerged as the chosen candidate to make the 67 day run for first plate, and defend the sacred spot for the city of St Louis.  More details .There are currently seven Knurds in the running for first plate.  I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.  With two months left to go, anything can happen.

Not only are we excited to have our second Missouri location, but the local beer scene in this town is amazing!  We knew we were moving into Schlafly’s backdoor, and are very excited by their large and diverse portfolio of excellently made brews, but we didn’t know how well the newer St Louis breweries were doing.  Breweries like 4 Hands, Urban Chestnut, Perennial Artisan Ales, Civil Life and 2nd Shift (just down the road in New Haven) are making some world class brews.  If you are a beer trader, do yourself a favor and do a quick and easy locals for locals trade and get your hands on beers by any of these guys and you wont be disappointed.

 While the Cardinals haven’t started playing yet, (they are electing a pope from what I hear) Baseball season is going to to be a wild one for us.  General Manager Brian Russel of Fort Worth fame leads our new St Louis crew with Becca Keiffer from the Lake and Colt Miller from Addison into the wild unknown of baseball season.  So make plans for a trip up to see the new store and catch a home game.  We already had a special visit from Lake regular Mark Thompson, who came up to visit Becca on her new home turf.  Cheers Mark!

We had a fun run with our election glass for 2012.  It’s always fun to poke some fun at both candidates with our caricatures and see how different markets voted in different ways.

With the grand total going to Obama with 7594 to Romney’s 7343, it was a very close race on the National level.  Individual stores varied greatly however.

Addison 350 Obama, 428 Romney

Austin 839 Obama, 390 Romney

Charlotte 230 Obama, 310 Romney

Columbia 283 Obama, 235 Romney

Cordova 222 Obama, 457 Romney

Fort Worth 554 Obama, 597 Romney

Houston 624 Obama, 706 Romney

Kansas City 423 Obama, 346 Romney

Lake 212 Obama, 406 Romney

Little Rock 515 Obama, 402 Romney

Memphis 235 Obama, 283 Romney

Nashville 349 Obama, 317 Romney

Raleigh 739 Obama, 615 Romney

San Antonio 853 Obama, 741 Romney

Sugar Land 1147 Obama, 1101 Romney

Thanks to all of you that played along.  I wonder who the candidates will be in 2016?

Today is the second annual Stout Day, (or Tempranillo Day, for the oenophile) and people all over the country have their smart phone in one hand and their pint glass in the other.  Just like IPA Day, Stout Day is a social media driven beer holiday and is focused on not only drinking a stout, but celebrating the stout and spreading its good word.  We have teamed up with Untappd to produce a special badge for those that use their great beer tracking app.  All you have to do is check into the Saucer and a Stout Beer and the badge is yours.  Our Saucers and Moth are all celebrating in different ways, and some are taking it to the next level by celebrating Stout Week and even Stout Month.  Check in with your local spot, everyone has great things planned.

Many people are getting fed up with these “National” holidays (eg. Talk Like a Pirate Day, National Cheeseburger Day, and plenty other even more rediculous made up holidays) but since our little Craft Beer thing represents barely over 5% of the national market, it is up to us to spread the word and get “Lite” Beer drinkers to drop their Macro products and pick up a craft beer.  The stout and the IPA are two of the most misunderstood styles, so to me it makes sense for these two styles to be the first to earn their own day.  How many times have you heard someone say “I don’t like dark beers” only to find out they have never even tried one?  So many people are too quick to judge books by their cover and don’t understand the versatility the stout can have.  Watching someones eyes light up the first time they sip a Milk Stout sweetened with unfermentable lactose, or even a thick and chewy Imperial Stout, perhaps aged in bourbon barrels or on a bed of cocoa nibs never gets old to me. That’s half the fun of craft beer.  Sharing our knowledge and understanding of this craft along with a couple ounces of our favorite beer we might have smuggled back from a vacation wrapped in a sweater we took to the beach simply for the padding.  There are so many people out there who do not understand what we hold so dear, and in some cases take for granted.

Remember, today is not only about the stout (or generating web traffic for the various websites built around capitalizing on this opportunity, most of which I think are spreading the good word for the greater cause) but is also about sharing.  Invite someone from your office who doesn’t drink good beer to your favorite beer joint for Happy Hour today.  Spread the word through your social media outlets that you live the good life and enjoy beer made by hands and not machines.  Proudly exclaim what you’re drinking, who your drinking it with, and where. Open the door for another to become as enlightened as you are.  Help those who are drinking rice/corn beer loaded with chemicals to find out there is more out there.  And as always, tip your server well for letting you have all the fun.

At The Flying Saucer – Sugar Land, Jake “the Snake” and his team have been collecting an incredible line up of beer for your sampling pleasure. See the list below.

Tickets will be on sell at the door. This event is in TOWN SQUARE and is open to the public at 1 PM. The VIP session starts at NOON. Town Square is a short walk away from Flying Saucer – 15929 City Walk Sugar Land TX

In addition to this incredible line up of craft brew, there will be RARE TAPPINGS at the Festival every hour. Those beers will be announce inside the festival and on twitter – just listen for the cowbell and bullhorn. Follow us @SaucerSugarLand to learn more.

Oh, and this is what they have in store for you on the Saucer’s patio:

Avery Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest – part of Adam’s Dictator Series

Southern Star Simcoe Dry Hopped Pro-Am – BIG HOPPY Double IPA

No Label Saison – WORLD PREMIERE for this BIERE

Troubadour Sorachi Ace - Imperial IPA 

Clown Shoes Let My People Go – English Pale Ale

Troubadour Westkust  – Black IPA

I think it is BEER DRINKING WEATHER tomorrow – 68 degrees and clear skies. Come see us!

We will be raffling off a New Belgium Cruiser tomorrow – all money benefits Pints for Prostates!

Capt Keith

Come out to the Lake Flying Saucer on Friday, October 26th @ 7pm for our Brews for Boob’s Custom glass night and Breast Cancer Awareness Event

(October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!)

We will release a custom made glass at 7:00 pm with your choice of either Southern Star Blonde Bombshell or Ska True Blonde Dubbel! The proceeds from the glass will go to The Save the Ta-Ta’s Foundation. THIS GLASS WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE AT THE LAKE SAUCER!

We will have pink themed dessert table for your sweet tooth – it is $3.00 for a plate that you can fill with what you wish – that money will also be donated to the Save the Ta-Ta’s Foundation.

Wear Pink and come support the fight against breast cancer!”

“Save Second Base!”

Every four years, the Saucer produces two glasses – one for each presidential candidate. Romney and Obama glasses will arrive in stores tomorrow. However early voting has begun and you may purchase a voucher today for a glass tomorrow.

As of this morning the voting shows Romney in a slight lead: 336 Romney to 303 Obama. Bring your group in and help push for your candidate.

Curious how the voting will turn out after tonight’s debate. Updates to follow…..