Schlafly Christmas Ale - The Saint Louis Brewery, Saint Louis

The Schlafly Christmas Ale pours with a short dense head. The body is reddish copper and clear. Cloves and malt leap into your nose as soon as the bottle is opened. Some closer inspection reveals a bit of orange in the nose. The flavor of the beer begins with an average malt/hops balance and a pleasant earthiness. This give way to the cloves and a hint of tang from the orange peel. Cloves finish and linger with hops.
 
Saint Louis Brewery - Schlafly Beers
The Saint Louis Brewery, Inc. was incorporated in 1989. It was founded by Dan Kopman and Tom Schlafly, a lawyer and nephew of political activist Phyllis Schlafly, although she is not involved with the brewery in any way. Their goal was to create quality local microbrew beer.

The brewery was built in the former Swift Printing Company building in downtown St. Louis. the Swift Company moved out in 1969, and the building remained vacant until renovated for the St. Louis Brewery in 1991. The brewery produced its first beers in 1991, with the official public opening on December 26, 1991. The first batches of pale ale and wheat beer were available only in draft form for purchase at a pub on the premises.

In 1993, Schlafly expanded to bottled beer, and began selling to local grocery chains, restaurants, and bars. The bottled beer was contract-brewed by August Schell Brewery in New Ulm, Minnesota, as the St. Louis Brewery had limited brewing capacity and no bottling operation of its own.

In 2003, the brewery opened "The Schlafly Bottleworks" in a former Shop-n-Save supermarket building in the St. Louis suburb of Maplewood. This facility includes a brewery and bottling plant in addition to a restaurant, beer garden and produce garden. With the addition of this facility, the St. Louis Brewery now brews and bottles all the beer sold under the Schlafly brand. This facility was cited by the Saint Louis Business Journal in its naming the Saint Louis Brewery its 2008 Sustainable Operations Winner. The Schlafly brand has since expanded to seven styles available year-round, as well as over 25 seasonal brews.