Yet even though sales from the state’s largest craft brewer, New Glarus Brewing Co., trail one of the state’s largest brewers, MillerCoors, by millions of barrels of beer annually — 92,000 compared to more than 5 million — a motion slipped into Gov. Scott Walker’s budget would treat brewers of all sizes equally by preventing them from owning or operating a wholesale distributor.

“Everything in this bill is designed to make it harder for small craft brewers to grow,” says Deb Carey, a co-owner of New Glarus Brewing and a member of the Wisconsin Brewers Guild. “It is a slimy piece of legislation.”

International Tap House (Soulard) 8:30PM-?
Total Tap Takeover (Stone CEO and Co-founder Greg Koch will be in attendance.)
This is the event many have you have been waiting for. Stone Brewing is invading iTap and taking over 24 taps of beer. This will, no doubt, be one of the premiere beer events this year. Do not miss this list:

• Stone IPA
• Stone Pale Ale
• Stone Levitation Ale
• Stone Smoked Porter
• Arrogant Bastard Ale
• OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale
• Stone Cali-Belgique IPA
• Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale
• Stone Ruination IPA
• Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine 2011
• Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine 2010
• Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine 2009
• Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine 2007
• Stone Old Guardina BELGO Barley Wine
• Stone Imperial Russian Stout 2010
• Stone 14th Anniversary Ale
• Double Bastard Ale 2010
• DDH Stone IPA
• DDH Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale
• Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean
• Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle
• Stone Smoked Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels
• Arrogant Bastard Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels
• Stone Imperial Russian Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels 2008

So tomorrow, when I’m gathered around family trying desperately to protect my newborn daughter from the germs of relatives, I’m turning to Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale – in my humble opinion, the king of all seasonal beers.

So raise a glass and toast sanity – and Sierra Nevada. After all, they’re doing all the hard work!

A lot of people rag on Budweiser and Bud Light for being, for lack of a better term, “swill.”  I’ll admit that I was one of those people, but that was before enjoing delicous same-day Budweiser in the hospitality room at the end of the tour.  When I asked our tour guide what made it so damn tasty, he replied – “it’s the water.”

It’s a fact that St. Louis has the best water in the country (kiss it, New York!), so it only makes sense that Anheuser-Busch’s overall quality is directly tied to the fluids that quench the gateway city’s thirst.

As an aside, I thought that it was interesting that the tour guide kept bringing up Anheuser-Busch’s sustainability efforts.  I was unaware that Anheuser-Busch recycles 5 cans for every 4 they produce and that by using alternative energy sources, they are able to power roughly 10% of U.S. production.  It’s a far cry from the sustainability efforts of New Belgium Brewing, but it’s a great start.

You can view 47 photos of the St. Louis brewery as a Flickr photoset here.  Enjoy!

Answer: MetroLink.

Here are some photos I snapped with my blackberry — enjoy!