Day 81, March 22 / Schlafly American Pale Ale

Day 81 / March 22, 2011

Schlafly American Pale Ale

The Saint Louis Brewery  /  St. Louis, MO

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Beer and Potato Chips.

Beer and Potato Chips.  Sure, they go great together, but they have something else in common.  They are a couple of the remaining food or beverage items that still have a strong regional distinction.  By that, I mean that there are certain brands that you can only get in certain areas of the country.  And you may look forward to visiting that part of the country just to sample these brands or enjoy them again.

I grew up on Wise and Terrell’s chips in Syracuse, New York.  And the Charles Chip delivery man.  Here in the DC area, we’ve got our Utz (and you don’t).  And Pennsylvania must have at least a dozen regional brands, including Herr’s, Gibble’s, Martin’s, Synder’s of Hanover and Snyder’s of Berlin.

Country Living Magazine has published a list of some of the best regional chips, and there’s even a Chip of the Month Club specializing in regional chips.

Despite this country’s grand farm-to-mega-market distribution system, there are some beers (and chips) that never venture too far from home.  And thank God for that.  Beers that make us come to them.  But every now and then, one escapes.  And courtesy of frequent commenter HHH, a Schlafly American Pale Ale made its way to my house.

Schalfly Beers are made by The Saint Louis Brewery in St. Louis, MO.  They claim to brew around 50 different style of beer each year, most of which are only available within 300 miles of St. Louis.  Actually, a couple styles are distributed in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions.  I’ll have to see if I can wrangle a business trip to St. Louis to try me some fresh Schalfly.

The Schlafly Dry Hopped American Pale Ale was quite tasty, and had just about the right amount of bitterness for my liking.  Strong candidate for Beer of the Week!