December 14, 2008`

December 14, 2008

The weather report is calling for a strong chance of freezing rain and arctic temperatures so we punt, cancel the rest of our tour, and head north from Little Rock, AR via the interstate. By the time we make it to St Louis we are tired of driving, so we stop at the Anheuser-Busch brewery for free beer. We have to suffer thru an hour-long tour before we get escorted to the hospitality room.

On the plus side, the vintage six-story brewhouse still has its antique cast-iron catwalk and the Bevo bottling plant has a beautiful Art Deco foyer. Totally different from the typically modern breweries we have toured. Interestingly Bevo was the near-beer they brewed to survive Prohibition. A Belgian conglomerate recently bought Busch so they now have the famous Belgian brew, Stella Artois, on tap. It is not as good as I remember, probably because the keg spent a month on a slow boat from Europe coming here. Now rested, we cover the last leg of the trip and pull into my parent’s home in Godfrey, IL ready for a home-cooked meal.