Dear Beer

Beer has been ghettoized as the blue-collar beverage for too long. There's nothing wrong with that — blue-collar workers are the backbone of the world. But plenty of artists, statesmen and high-culture types love beer as well. Napoleon enjoyed a long draught of Berliner Weiss after a hard-fought victory, and he was quite the bantam dandy. Václav Havel, the poet and former president of Czechoslovakia, loves beer as only a man who once worked in a brewery can. And one of our own Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, was renowned for his fondness for a nice mug of the stuff. Love of beer knows no boundaries — geographic, economic or social. And so beer lovers of many and diverse backgrounds converge on the annual Cabin Fever, Schlafly's celebration of the delicious conviviality of fine beer. From 1 to 5 p.m. at the Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood; 314-241-2337 or www.schlafly.com), you can enjoy the music of Cumberland Gap while sampling various Schlafly brews in the great outdoors. Tickets are $17.50 to $20 and include a commemorative tasting glass, which will be most useful when you go to collect your eighteen free beer samples (settle down, they're two ounces each — but that does work out to three full beers worth of beer). It's a fine way to while away your day off from whatever your job may be.
Sat., Jan. 19, 2008