DO YOU WANT ORANGE IN YOUR BEER?

Running a bit low on material. There was an art fair in the pleasant suburb where we live, Webster Groves, last weekend. There wasn't much to photograph but this bright beer truck caught my eye. This brand is made by Anheuser-Busch, the local megabrewer. It's a Belgian wheat ale with orange, lemon and lime peel added. I've never tried it but it doesn't sound appealing. Somebody buys it.

New images soon. We are taking our granddaughter to the circus tonight and they welcome photography.           

JUST WHAT SPORTS FANS NEED

As with any American pro sports venue, the new CityPark has plenty of places to get a drink. The local behemoth, Anheuser-Busch (actually Anheuser-Busch Inbev) is a major sponsor. The products of some of our excellent local breweries are on sale. As I walked around the stadium, I saw a wine and cocktail bar. You can get a buzz any way you want.     

Actually, there is another choice directly across the street. One of Missouri's newly licensed cannabis dispensaries is opening. Using that term for the business seems like a euphemism to me. Competitors that call themselves liquor stores are so much more candid and honest.   

OUR IDEA OF FUN

I've noted here several times that St. Louis, or at least a lot of it, likes an excuse to drink in public. This band, setting up before the pet parade, was sponsored by a bar in our Soulard neighborhood where this takes place. Note the golden glass of beer on the stage floor. This was at about 12:30 PM.

The consumption on the streets Sunday will be trivial compared to the Mardi Gras Grand Parade this Saturday. And since we just got legal recreational cannabis in Missouri, I expect the air will be redolent with an aroma richer than Budweiser.             

I THINK THEY WANT MORE THAN BEER

I didn't smell anything distinctive in the air, though. Limited medical marijuana is permitted in Missouri. Recreational sale and use is legal just across the river in Illinois. I assume there is a fair amount of interstate smuggling.                   

 

THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA

The Mardi Gras parade returned to STL yesterday after a two year absence. I've never been to the big event in New Orleans but my impression is that their parades (they have more than one) have, um, higher esthetic values. Ours is a great opportunity for street photography, though. More to come.            

BEER FOR DESSERT

The window of a downtown restaurant. Some jurisdictions (we are politically fragmented) have allowed them to remain open with much-reduced seating. Mrs. C and I wouldn't cross the threshold of any and it's too cold for outdoor dining, no matter how many gas heaters are around. We do take away, Thai last night.

I'm tempted by this combination, though. Schlafly is one of our excellent small breweries. Anyone up for a pilsner float?        

COULD BE OUR CITY MOTTO

Some countries have official mottoes:  Dieu et Mon Droit; Liberté, égalité, fraternité; E Pluribus Unum. Some cities do, too. I've always been amused by Chicago's, Urbs In Horto, City In A Garden. Right. The beloved late columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, Mike Royko, maintained it should be Ubi Est Mea? or, Where's Mine?

I don't think St. Louis has one but this would do. We went to one last holiday lights drive-through on Saturday, this time at the big Anheuser-Busch brewery. This town has its single malt Scotch fanciers and some who can tell one vintage of Bordeaux from another. However, if we all collectively raise a glass this could be our cry.           

THERE IS HOPE

Closed today but not forever. Like most cities, we have a number of small breweries, some with enough volume to sell in stores, some just restaurant-sized. This is part of one of my favorites, Urban Chestnut. As a matter of fact, I am sipping one of their products as I write this. They call it Zwickel, described as Bavarian lager. Mmmm mmmm.         

PANDEMIC IN SPRINGTIME 3 - ESSENTIAL BUSINESS

Is there a more essential business in St. Louis these days, other than, perhaps the Washington University and St. Louis University Medical Centers? Yes, this is the headquarters of Budweiser, or sort of, since it was sucked up by a Brazilian-Belgian conglomerate. It chases you everywhere in the world (except, I think, the Czech Republic). The brand was on the first advertising sign we saw when our little group got off the plane in Tibet years ago. https://flic.kr/p/71dTXFhttps://flic.kr/p/71dTXF . I guarantee you this place is still open for business.            

CAJUN AND CREOLE GONE UPRIVER

The patio of the Broadway Oyster Bar downtown. It serves food in the style of southern Louisiana with its Cajun and Creole traditions, brought up the Mississippi to St. Louis. The difference between the two can be subtle. Cajuns are the descendants of Catholic French Canadians from Acadia who relocated to warmer climes after the British took over. Creole means native born to the area and could refer to people of African, French and Spanish descent. The food traditions are interwoven.

Preparing this post reminded me of the now partly demolished building a half block to camera right. Way back 12 years ago, it was the subject of what I think is my best post of all time.          

THE GEOMETRY OF THIRST

This is in the current revision of St. Louis Union Station. You can get water or fizzy flavored sugar water here, but mostly it's about Anheuser-Busch products. Or, more recently, Anheuser-Busch-Inbev, the merged Belgian-Brazilian-American beer behemoth that took over one of our largest employers. Never a shortage of customers.

The photo was taken from the Saint Louis Wheel, the new Ferris wheel installed here. Much more about that soon.

             

NEW BIG WHEEL

We have a grand old railway station that, like so many in this country, fell into disuse and decay. There have been some attempts to resurrect it over the last couple of decades. The headhouse was converted into a grand hotel, which is apparently doing well. The large area under the train shed was filled by restaurants, a food court and quite a number of shops where I wouldn't spend money. All that failed. 

Now another developer is moving forward with a new plan. A big Ferris wheel, covered with colored LEDs at night, opened a few weeks ago. A fair sized aquarium will be ready by the end of the year. There is a lagoon that, on the half hour, has a music show punctuated by explosive fireballs. (I'll have a post about that some day.) There will be mini golf and I don't know what else. Hope this version makes it.

New York late this afternoon. If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.         

I SEE BEER

A change of scene to the big art fair at Laumeier Sculpture Park. Tony Tasset's Eye must be looking for something other than the beer truck. I'd take a left.          

Here Comes The King

Oops. I'm a bit uncomfortable some days and I'm prone to overlook things. Left my briefcase with my laptop inside sitting on the garage floor behind my car this morning. I was going to upload this as soon as I got to the office. Well, try again.

These are the Budweiser Clydesdale horses, universally known in the US and frequently seen in St. Louis. They pull an old beer wagon to the music of a Bud ad jingle called "Here Comes The King," as in king of beers. Personally, I think Budweiser is more of the handyman or janitor of beers. There is so much more that is so much more interesting.                   

Taps

One of the vendors in Soulard Market, ready to pour you some of the awful (IMHO) products of Anheuser Busch Inbev, while grilling hot dogs or sausages behind. Anheuser Busch used to own this town until it got sucked into the Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate Inbev. Budweiser was everywhere, even all over the world. The first advertising sign I saw in Tibet at a little airport restaurant was for Bud. The sign was in English, Tibetan and Chinese. The picture of the can said Anheuser Busch, St. Louis, Missouri.

I'm not fond of Budweiser. I'm sipping a Cotes du Rhone as I write this.        

Beer And Politics

Very late post. I forgot my laptop at the office yesterday. Anyway, Mrs. C and I attended a fundraiser last night for Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who is up for re-election this year. Claire is a blue beacon in an increasingly red state and we support her strongly. (On the other hand, our super right wing Republican governor, who makes our skin crawl, may be about to be forced out of office over a sex scandal and/or indicted for a couple of things. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.)

We had hopes Claire would be there but, of course, she was stuck in Washington with the shutdown nonsense. Her sister, Ann McCaskill, spoke passionately on her behalf. The venue was STL's most popular Irish pub, McGurk's. Guiness and Smithwick's flowed freely. People paid close attention. Certainly Samuel Beckett did. Oscar Wilde, maybe not so much.     

Shall We Dance?

These two were consuming generous amounts of the official beverage of Oktoberfest. They insisted that I take their picture and get both shirts clearly. Aren't they sweet?            

Another Place To Stay Warm

Cicero's pub at the west end of the Delmar Loop (which is actually a straight line, but there's a backstory) is another cozy place on a cold day. We stopped in for a beer to kill some time before a restaurant reservation. They have 55 brews on tap and 200 in bottles. I ordered a Schlafly, as on the billboard on the right. My favorite is the Kölsch.

The framed decorations on the back wall are all beer tap handles.

The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is
"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House.”

                   

On Tap

There is a restaurant in Citygarden with an odd name, more about which presently. You can't find a Budweiser at the bar. 4 Hands, Urban Chestnut, Ferguson and Schlafly are local breweries. (No idea about Sofie and the generic wood handles.) The variety of beer in this country is so much more interesting with microbreweries springing up everywhere. We don't drink a lot of beer but we think mass-produced American lager (like, say, the whole Anheuser-Busch lineup) is swill. Our favorite is Schlafly's Kölsch, made in the style of Cologne (Köln), Germany.                        

Irishmen Behaving Badly

Well, except for the last chap, but you get the idea. We have a big St. Patrick's Day parade on the Saturday before (six years out of seven), two hours long this time. As I have noted before, St. Louis loves an excuse to drink in public and this is a prime example. And boys will be boys, or some of them will. Which came first, the blessed saint or Guinness?