Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for February 11, 2009 CHEERS

Hoookay, let's try this again...

Had almost finished the post below, was reaching for the save button - BAM! - the power went off...lost it!

Actually, I REALLY "lost it" when I realized that not only did the story vanish into cyberspace (no real big deal since my "intro" was a shorty, easily recreated)...I REALLY lost it when it dawned on me that I had been listening to the lovely thumps and bumps of my sump pump running for the past hour...my no-battery-back-up sump pump! This untimely event brought back to memory an old saying...that "It's better to be p'ed off than to be p'ed on." The vision of water flooding my basement fit easily into the latter category.

Anyway, back to the post...

It was a story of redemption...a lite at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. The purrfect tonic for what ales ya!

In the two previous posts, I had subtly revealed my "mood of irritation"...that I was somewhat pi...., uh, perturbed!

Then, as I relaxed with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports page...about to read an article about St. Louis Cardinal (pitcher-turned-outfielder) Rick Ankiel going to arbitration because of his desire for $950,000 more than the team wanted to pay him (a paltry $2.35 million)...lo and behold, an item caught my eye. It was the Post's "top e-mailed story of yesterday."

It was proof positive...100 proof...that "I am not alone!"

Without further "digression", the original post...

House of beer opens in Chesterfield

By Adam Jadhav
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Many of my friends share a common dream. We talk longingly of one day owning a bar. We admire and judge the people who do.

After all, we know what kind of bar we would have. We know what it would be called. We know the ambience we'd create. We know the clientele we'd serve. And we know what we'd serve them.

We almost always come up with these dreams when we are sitting at a bar. So it was with the guys behind the International Tap House, the mega beer bar that opened Super Bowl Sunday in Chesterfield.

Brad Lobdell and a buddy or two were drinking beers at a pub when the conversation turned to if-onlys. If only the bar had this. If only they could serve me that. If only they had this glassware. If only there was that music.

Last summer, the wishful thinking ended and the planning began. Lobdell and a silent partner found space east of the Spirit of St. Louis Airport, near the corner of Long Road and Edison Avenue. They began concocting a beer list.

Their bar, iTAP for short, was born.

"We pride ourselves on knowing beer, the atmosphere, the glasses it should be poured in," Lobdell said. "That's what we know."

They have 40 beers on tap and another 460 in bottles, housed in a 2,100-cubic-foot cooler. I'll do the math for you: 500 beers under one roof. Beer geeks, wipe the drool from your chins. Use this newspaper if need be.

This menu is not just a compilation of the beers you see in a grocery store. You won't find dozens of mass-produced brews. No Budweiser, no Miller Lite. The closest is Blue Moon, a Coors product, although Bud Light and Bud Select will be available from a separate cooler for the non-adventurous.

The bottle menu is filled with uncommon microbrews and imports, running the gamut of styles — from tripels to maibocks to imperial pilsners. And that includes 39 India Pale ales, my favorite style.

While I'm no beer ninja, I rarely find a bar with beers I've never tried. iTAP's bottle list has about 100 beers, mostly German and Belgium, that I've yet to crack open.

They also have seven HD TVs for the sports enthusiasts and have hired a bartender out of the Flying Saucer in Memphis, a chain beer bar that boasts an impressive menu of its own.

The bar is smoke-free, and they're serving each beer in the glassware recommended by the brewer. Bottles can be packaged for takeout. They have a system to order food from three nearby restaurants (Surf Dogs, Foodies and East Coast Pizza), which lets the crew focus on beer.

"Besides, unless it's making a turkey sandwich, you don't really want me dealing with food," Lobdell said.

He'll have other hurdles. Keeping a wait staff up to speed on 500 beers won't be easy. General manager Ryan Northcutt studies Beeradvocate.com regularly. The bar is planning to eventually launch a beer school for staffers and the public.

Another challenge will be keeping all 500 beers in stock without some bottles sitting for months and growing stale. Lobdell is pledging near constant inventory inspection and refunds on package beer that turns out to be skunked.

"We're just really aiming for the best beer experience we can create," Lobdell said.