In the St. Louis exurb of O'Fallon there is a brewery that bears the town's name. As of late, this small brewery has been building a reputation for producing truly exceptional beers. For a party that we recently held, we acquired a keg of their delectable India Pale Ale, through a very handy connection at Gomer's Midtown. This was officially the shortest keg we've ever had. It was delicious and it poured well for its entire service, but it only lasted about ten hours from tap to blow. In short, it was a big hit. Unfortunately, that means that all the people that would otherwise be dissuaded from drinking it down were not. At the height of the party, the tap was more or less constantly flowing.

We'll have to get it again sometime.

Yeah, yeah, I know it was our first beer, but I don't care. The opportunity arose to get it again, and with nothing on the brain, draught-wise, we decided on the tried and true. This time, however, we'll drink it all ourselves. Screw anybody else.

We decided that the keg we had wouldn't last through the party, so we arranged for a reserve keg to be in place in case of the need to rearm the kegerator. I went to Gomer's on Thursday and picked up a half-barrel of New Belgium's delicious Brussels-style Black Ale, 1554.

Jeff hooked up the keg of Bob's 47 over Labor day weekend. We finally killed it at the big party, this past Friday. It was about time, we thought, and it was great to put something else on. We had been keeping the keg of 1554 on the back deck to keep it cool. Unfortunately, it's not very cold out yet, so at best, the beer was probably about 55 degrees when we tapped it. That is way too warm. It poured mostly head for the next hour or so, and I fear that a lot of the uninitiated beer drinkers were pouring the head off the beer onto our floor. This not only wastes beer, but it also turns our floor into the surface of fly paper.

Nevertheless, the beer is delicious, and now that it's all calmed down, maybe there's enough left in there for Jeff and me to have some of our own. We'll see.

Since the unfortunate Schlafly episiode, Jeff and I have been pretty bummed, regarding draught beer at home. Bummed because we have been unable to find the beers we really want among the many scales of Kansas City's seamy beer distribution underbelly, and also from indecision. We don't really know what we want, so we keep saying, "you choose."

As we procrastinated the choice away, the first speckles of autumn descended upon us. We regarded with joy the lower temperatures, the harbinger of beer season. We procrastinated right into beer season. With this in mind, we decided that what we really wanted was a heaping keg of Kansas City's hometown fall seasonal from Boulevard Brewing Company: Bob's 47. The daytime temperatures have calmed down to the 70s and 80s, bringing a decidedly pleasant crispness to the air, compared to the offensive sweat-through-your-clothes-sitting-still heat of July.

Oktoberfest is in the air. Geoff and company are headed to Munich in a couple weeks, and since I blew my traveling wad on a crappy trip all the way up the American West Coast, the best I can do is secure a keg of a Munich-style lager. Jeff and I were trying to get a hold of a keg of this delicious seasonal beer for some weeks, as August signals the beginning of beer season. Gomer's, our customary keg supplier in midtown, did just a little better than stonewalling us, regarding the procurement of the kraut-inspired ferment.

"Call Boulevard, and ask them where you can get it on tap," they told Jeff on the phone. Flabbergasted, Jeff decided(and I agreed) that if Gomer's wasn't going to help us out, then we'd find a liquor store that would. Jeff had to go to Kansas, to a place called Lukas Liquors, to roll a keg of the Fall's finest into the back of his PT Cruiser. I received this text from him when I was in Seattle, last week:

"There is a keg of bobs 47 in the 'rator"

I hurried up and finished my vacation, came home, and tapped the mutha. It's delicious.

It took forever, but we finally killed the keg of Boulevard Pale Ale. This makes me very excited, because I picked up the next keg at Gomer's this afternoon.

I first tried this excellent beer last year, when Schlafly came to town for "Hop in the City," a self-promoting beer festival down in Waldo. Josh joined me, and we both decided that the APA was just wonderful, got drunk from it, and rooted raucously as Notre Dame almost beat USC.

Today, I walked into Midtown's finest liquor store, and Mark helped me out. He even filled out the keg form for me, ensuring that all I have to do is sign and pay. He rang the keg up as $133, and this surprised me. Last week, I was informed on the phone that it'd be $110, so I said so. Without even a blink, he voided the $133 number from the register and punched in $110, saying, "OK, I trust you."

My beer consigliere trusts me.

Anyway, come on over, perhaps tomorrow night, and have some.

I wish I had thought of inventing this section on the ole' website when we got our first keg, but we'll make do, and you, having no choice, will have to take it and like it.

I have decided to keep a running section of this website to chronicle which beers are being pumped at any given time, from the kegerator in my kitchen. For reference, the first keg was Bell's delectable Two Hearted Ale. The last of it was consumed after only two weeks of service, last night, at our awesome party.

So, with an empty barrel and slight headaches, Jeff and I motored down to Gomer's in Midtown, and chose, from the selection they had in stock, a keg of Boulevard's delicious Pale Ale. We brought it home this afternoon, and put it in the kegerator, making sure to let it sit for a while before tapping it. Then we went for some errands and a joyride around the the Historic Northeast.

We tapped the keg when we got home, and found that the first pour was almost perfect. Here's to happiness!