On tap at Blue Grasshopper, soft-tongued pilsner brings honeyed lemon sweetness to floral-daubed earthen hop astringency, getting a tad soapy at the musky maize-dried citrus finish.
BRICKTOWN BREWERY
OWASSA, OKLAHOMA
In a freestanding red brick edifice in the Green Country ‘Cherokee Nation’ of Owassa, 15 miles northeast of Tulsa, lies BRICKTOWN BREWERY, opened 2014. A slick traditional American sportsbar with eight locations spread across Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas, Owassa’s Bricktown franchise brews off premise and serves better-than-generic fare that takes no stylistic chances with each specific offering.
A big American flag on the wall and exposed pipes at the high ceiling mark the spacious dining hall. A 20-stool bar with centralized refrigerator, large TV and Beer Board services several tables and features 20-plus tap handles plus bottled fare. Burgers and pizza went well with the seven proprietary draught beers available on my March 2016 visit with college pals, Jeff and Dana.
For openers, dry golden ale, Old King Kolsch, brought lemony Cascade hop zest and salty brine to its wheat cracker spine.
Wiley One-Eyed Wheat allowed tart lemon-wedged orange peel sweetness to its wispy white wheat base.
Blues Berry Ale offered light-bodied perfume-hopped blueberry tartness to carbolic lemon-dropped spritz.
Sessionable Three Guardsman India Pale Ale maintained a soft citric flow as its subtly spiced lemon and grapefruit tang gained resonance.
Softly creamed Millie Mc Fadden Red Rye contrasted dry-hopped citrus tones against delicate rye-toasted cereal malts.
On the dark side, mediocre Bricktown Brown plied muddled nutty tones to citric-soured tea drear. Somewhat better, Single String Stout placed cocoa-powdered coffee sourness above cola nuttiness.
www.bricktownbrewery.com
FLYING SAUCER DRAUGHT EMPORIUM
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
It’s hard to find fault with forward-thinking FLYING SAUCER DRAUGHT EMPORIUM, despite the fact such large-scale beer pub endeavors merely scratch the surface promoting local independent brewers’ true obsession crafting off-center hybrids, hard-to-find limited editions, daringly ambitious seasonals and obscure one-offs. While bigger beerpub chains such as Yard House and World Of Beer offer hundreds of great microbrew choices, there’s barely any specialty brews amongst the obvious best-selling fare. Ultimately, this standard predictability led to the future demise of Bud-Coors-Miller, three boring macrobrewers scrambling to find a cool niche while selling watered-down versions of timid mainstream recipes to vapid sycophantic dilettantes.
Originating in Fort Worth, Texas, during 1995, the mighty Flying Saucer now operates 16 locations scattered through Missouri, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and the Lone Star State as of my April Fools Day 2016 sojourn.
Taking up the entire first floor space and large outdoor deck of a red brick downtown Industrial edifice within walking distance of Busch Stadium (home to the historic St. Louis Cardinals), this vibrant craft beer mecca sports exquisite wood tone elegance, high-ceilinged exposed ducts and prominent recessed columns. The 20-stool central bar services multiple interior tables and the open-air deck. The copper-topped bar matches the acrylic penny-medallion keg taps (featuring 1oo draughts). Silver plates adorn the walls alongside cool Chimay, Petrus, Duvel and 4 Hands souvenir saucers. 100-plus bottled beers and a fine liquor selection also get scattered across an exhausting menu boasting “famous make your own pizzas” and good pub food.
Stopping by lunchtime on a crisp springtime jaunt thru the Gateway to the West, my friend Dennis and I quaff nine previously untried libations (reviewed fully in Beer Index). From Missouri came Modern Arkham’s Finest Stout, O’Fallon King Louie Toffee Stout and Charleville Down With OGP English Porter. Illinois offered Excel Flash Bang Wheat Ale and Old Bakery Porter. Kansas brought forth Tallgrass Wooden Rooster Tripel and Tallgrass Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat Cream Stout while Colorado kicked in New Belgium Blackberry Barleywine and California tossed off Ballast Point Victory At Sea – Peppermint. This veritable cornucopia of stylistic intrigue cannot, at this time, be matched by Flying Saucer’s larger competitors.
Perfect for local businessmen, die-hard Cardinals fans and curious beer seekers, Flying Saucer seems to have all corners covered as a truly iconic large-scale American beer pub.
www.beerknurd.com/locations/st–louis–flying–saucer
BALLAST POINT VICTORY AT SEA IMPERIAL PORTER – PEPPERMINT
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, “festive” robust porter fused with Caffe Calabria coffee and sugared vanilla gains upfront peppermint adjunct to amplify its fudgy black chocolate malting. Like a Peppermint Pattie, its evergreen-fresh peppermint bark confection drapes the dry cocoa bean insistence and chewy mocha-enriched cookie dough spine.
TALLGRASS VANILLA BEAN BUFFALO SWEAT STOUT
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, creamily smooth stout utilizes lactose-sugared Ugandan vanilla beans to further sweeten milky black chocolate resonance as well as cocoa, marshmallow and molasses undertones in contrast to astringent hop roast.
MODERN ARKHAM’S FINEST STOUT
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, soft-toned Imperial Stout utilizes cold-brewed Cafe Peru Chilchos coffee to invigorate bittersweet Baker’s chocolate, dark chocolate, cacao nibs and vanilla dalliances above its moderate earthen hop char.
O’FALLON KING LOUIE TOFFEE STOUT
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, velvety winter ale utilizes toffee-sugared malts to further sweeten syrupy black chocolate frontage as ancillary roasted coffee, burnt caramel and creamy vanilla illusions gain rich access over sturdy molasses oats spine.
OLD BAKERY PORTER
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, smoothly off-dry English-styled porter contrasts dark cocoa-powdered black chocolate bittering, ashen walnut roast and acrid hop-charred astringency with sweet cookie dough malts. Latent coffee roast reinforces mocha bitterness.
CHARLEVILLE DOWN WITH O.G.P. OATMEAL PORTER
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, dry English-styled porter brings nutty coffee overtones to mild molasses murk, light citric hop bittering and oats-toasted caramel malt spine.
4 HANDS CAST IRON OATMEAL BROWN ALE
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, creamily rich oatmeal-sugared brown ale loads black chocolate-malted affluence, nutty coffee resilience, black-breaded rye graining and burnt walnut singe into aggressive dry-roasted hop bittering.
TALLGRASS WOODEN ROOSTER TRIPEL
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, ambitious rye whiskey barrel-aged tripel recasts brewers’ expressive Velvet Rooster with considerable success. Its dry whiskey alcohol warmth affects the glistening fruited bourbon sweetness, tripel-styled peppery hop spicing and light pilsner malting, finishing with an oaken vanilla veneer. Along the way, tangy cane-sugared banana daiquiri, bruised orange, pineapple, peach, tangerine and apricot illusions as well as lesser almond-coconut-pecan snips contrast vinous Lambrusco champagne esters and distant phenolic astringency.
NEW BELGIUM BLACKBERRY BARLEYWINE
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, attractive mahogany-bronzed English-styled barleywine integrates sweet ‘n sour blackberry adjunct with Belgian candi-sugared honey malts. With just enough blackberry splendor, its tertiary raspberry, cherry, sugarplum and fig illusions help reinforce the floral fruited frontage.
