The many faces of Faust.

Photo credit: Linked article in RFT

Thanks to a Twitter exchange between Stan Hieronymus and Mitch Steele, I was made aware of this excellent article about Faust -- a St. Louis restaurateur and lager of olden times, and either of two Anheuser-Busch (now AB InBev) revivals of the beer -- not of the man, even if AB InBev is the Great Satan and the original Faust made a pact with the devil.

Here's the link, and permit me to say that the the rooftop beer garden of Faust's was badass.

Anheuser-Busch Resurrects Faust, the 130-Year-Old Beer Named for a St. Louis Legend, By Nancy Stiles (Riverfront Times)

... Apparently, even non-St. Louisans are instinctively drawn to the man on the postcard: Anthony (or Tony) Faust, Oyster King. Faust was a restaurateur, not a brewer, but he, the Anheuser-Busch family and the history of St. Louis itself became inextricably linked in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1884, Adolphus Busch himself brewed a beer named Faust Pale Lager after his favorite drinking buddy. For many years, it existed only in the documentation in A-B's massive archives.

Mitch Steele was at AB in 1998, when Faust was brought back the first time. I've always enjoyed telling this story (below), most recently last year prior to the beer writing symposium at the University of Kentucky. Mitch was to have been a speaker along with Stan and me, but couldn't make it. Maybe he'll be nearby next year, when Stone opens Gravity Head 2016.

I'm no fan of what AB has become, and yet 130 years might as well be the age of the pyramids. I'd try the latest revived Faust. Wouldn't pay for it, because I don't want my money being recycled to fight House Bill 168 in Kentucky.

But if you gave me one for free ...

Mitch Steele at Rich O’s in 1998 – Part One

 ... One of the American Originals series was Faust, the purported recreation of a 19th-century golden lager, named for a St. Louis restaurateur, and brewed as a house brand for him by pre-1900 AB. I ordered four kegs of Faust from the puzzled wholesaler, yanked the Budweiser, scattered P-O-S materials around the pizzeria, and instructed our employees to pitch the new beer as an AB product just like regular Budweiser, and better than regular Budweiser; furthermore, we were prepared to sell Faust at the very same price point as regular Budweiser even though the cost per keg was higher.

As it turned out, turkeys still couldn’t fly.

Sales of bottled Bud promptly skyrocketed. It took more than a month to sell the first two kegs of Faust, and by the time the third was ready for tapping, the “sell-by” dates already had expired. More confused than ever, the wholesaler bought back the unused kegs.

Brand-loyal Budweiser drinkers wouldn’t touch Faust, even at the same price point, precisely because it wasn’t their totemic Budweiser. Conversely, although it was a good product, and far more interesting a lager than the norm, those aficionados hanging out at Rich O’s wouldn’t drink it, either, because it was suspiciously inexpensive — and emanated from the hated multinational monolith.

(Part Two)

On belonging: Stan Hieronymus has the last word (for now) about craft writing.

Maybe the time has come for me let go of the Craft Writing symposium, and so I will, reserving the final recap slot for Stan Hieronymus.

Now, cue the valedictory.

It's true that I have strong opinions about pretty much any topic. After all, you are entitled to them. My contrarian instincts can be a daily annoyance, even to me. Controversy and outspokenness ... well, my childhood baseball hero was Reggie Jackson, and my favorite writer remains HL Mencken. It is an undisputed highlight of my life that Michael "Beer Hunter" Jackson commended me for skill in polemics.

None of these comments are to be construed as self-congratulatory. They merely are intended to illustrate that whatever else might happen, I know myself fairly well in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Usually this recognition is enough, but at times, when work is a grind and play is fleeting, one needs a bit of reaffirmation.

Jeff Rice provided such by inviting me to participate in the symposium, and I cannot thank him enough. I'm 53, and I've been doing "this" -- good beer for a living; writing because it scratches an itch -- for a very long time, and yet there are moments when I'm James Stockdale incarnate, asking "Who am I? Why am I here?"

The symposium made me feel like I belong somewhere, perhaps not so far away in remote left field as sometimes seems the case. Thanks again, Jeff. It was a priceless experience for me.

How many brewers does it take to open a bottle of beer?, by Stan Hieronymus (Appellation Beer)

... As I said at the outset of my presentation, when I get up in front of a bunch of hung over faces on a Saturday morning, a screen loaded with charts at my back, I’m usually talking to homebrewers about the length of a ferulic acid rest and resulting production of 4-vinyl guaicol. But, with full credit to Jeff Rice, I think this conference was unique beyond giving me something different to ramble on about. The discussion about beer and writing began at 10 in the morning, continued officially for seven hours and, not surprisingly, beyond. Yet somehow it didn’t spiral into navel gazing. Hallelujah (I have already used my quota for exclamation points in a post, that being one, or I would place one here).

The life of a beer writer.

I told Stan Hieronymus that this photo would not be published on social media, but fortunately, this is a blog. We placed Stan in back by the beer samples. Jeremy Cowan contemplates the possibilities.

Along with Teri Fahrendorf and Julie Johnson (Mitch Steele couldn't make it), and of course Jeff Rice and the hosts, these guys helped make the craft writing weekend a blast.

Craft Writing symposium: It's fine by me if craft beer gets all introspective.

This is going to be fun. I've lost 15 lbs since January 1, and quite possibly will gain all of it back this weekend alone. I'm also looking forward to the possibility of pre-symposium time with Stan Hieronymus; the last time was in 2006 in Albuquerque, right?

Business: Craft beer gets introspective with UK symposium, by Janet Patton (Lexington Herald-Leader)

The craft beer movement isn't built on hops alone: Writing and social media have played a major role in promoting craft beer, according to a University of Kentucky professor.

"Craft Writing: Beer, the Digital, and Craft Culture" is the brainchild of UK writing, rhetoric and digital studies professor Jeff Rice, who will host a one-day symposium Feb. 15.

On the event's website, Rice lays out the case for craft beer as an academic topic ...

For those contemplating attendance, here are the plain facts.

If you go

Craft Writing: Beer, the Digital, and Craft Culture

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Feb. 15

Where: Center Theater, University of Kentucky Student Center

Cost: Free. Register online at http://craftwriting.as.uky.edu/

Get-together 9-10 p.m., Feb. 14, Country Boy Brewing, 436 Chair Ave.

Beer crawl after symposium to visit The Beer Trappe, 811 Euclid Ave.; Lexington Beerworks, 213 N. Limestone; West Sixth Brewing, 501 W. Sixth; and Blue Stallion Brewing, 610 W. Third St