Picks for the week

I was driving down Hosea Williams and saw that the sign for Kirkwood Vinocity seemed to be down and that "Kirkwood Public House" is now painted above the door.  My girlfriend and I gave up on Vinocity months ago after trying a few times because the food was so bad.  I just read that they got a new chef in November (formerly at Rathbun's) and now it looks like maybe it's going to be more of a beer place.  Possibly just wishful thinking (it's about a mile from my house), but it's an awesome spot that I think would thrive as a beer bar and I want to check it out.

Elsewhere, not a lot new to report, though it didn't interest me much last week, the Smuttynose takeover at The Porter looks good now.  A lot of it is still there and they have a few sour offerings, Brett & I, and Strawberry Weiss (a Berlinnerweisse, which tend to be mildly sour).

An even more interesting sounding sour beer is at The Brick Store, a collaboration between Bell's Brewery in Michigan and De Proeff in Belgium called Van Twee.  Beers can get their sour flavor from sour fruits, a bacteria (usually lactobacillus or pediococcus), or a yeast (generally Brettanomyces).  Van Twee gets its sourness from sour Michigan cherries and Brett yeast.  Only 1,000 liters were kegged, so this will probably be your only shot to get it.

Finally, a crew from the great Canadian brewery Unibroue will be at The Grange in Decatur January 26th with some of their beers on tap.  They must have been the first brewery on this side of the Atlantic making Belgian style ales.  They released their first beer in 1992 and Ommegang, in New York, didn't open until 1997.