COULD BE OUR CITY MOTTO

Some countries have official mottoes:  Dieu et Mon Droit; Liberté, égalité, fraternité; E Pluribus Unum. Some cities do, too. I've always been amused by Chicago's, Urbs In Horto, City In A Garden. Right. The beloved late columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, Mike Royko, maintained it should be Ubi Est Mea? or, Where's Mine?

I don't think St. Louis has one but this would do. We went to one last holiday lights drive-through on Saturday, this time at the big Anheuser-Busch brewery. This town has its single malt Scotch fanciers and some who can tell one vintage of Bordeaux from another. However, if we all collectively raise a glass this could be our cry.           

Beer Rocket

Schlafly Beer promotes itself as the second biggest brewery in St. Louis. It follows, of course, the one that makes Budweiser and related brands, which is larger by some orders of magnitude. Schlafly has two restaurant-pubs. This is the one on the edge of downtown. I'm sure this is some kind of brewing tank but it looks like a rocket about to launch a sudsy attack on the Illinois suburbs.

BTW, I like Schlafly's products way more than those of the local behemoth. I'm particularly fond of their Kölsch, beer made in the style of Cologne, Germany.

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Big Suds

A few years ago when Mrs. C and I visited Tibet, our plane landed outside Lhasa. Our group went to lunch at a little restaurant nearby. The first advertising sign I saw in the Tibetan countryside was for Budweiser. The picture of a beer can said "Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis MO USA." 

Not sure why I've posted few pictures of one of The Lou's most famous institutions. Maybe because I don't drink much beer (and when I do it's usually the main local microbrew, not the maxibrew). Maybe it's because the place isn't that photogenic except for this iconic sign. Management recently tore down the decades-old neon sign and replaced it with an energy-efficient LED version.

There are some bizarre decorative details scattered around. The beast below looks like a wolf in German garb, gnawing a bone with a stein of Bud at the ready. Does this say something about the taste of the designers and perhaps the taste of the beer?