Schlafly didn't bother me at all

The Schlafly brews were the local St. Louis brews that John recommended to me. I got 4 of them in total. Three of them I drank in St. Louis, and the fourth I drank after we got back. The first one I drank was the octoberfest beer. I am really not sure what makes a beer an octoberfest beer, but it sounded "wintery" to me. This beer had a good complex fruity taste. I definately would have called it an Ale if I had to label it by taste alone. Not too much hops, but I am pretty sure there were some hops there on the finish.
Next up was the stout. I really don't remember much about this one. I want to say it tasted like a classic dark beer, but really I don't remember. I will certainly have to give this one another try if I get a chance.
The third Schlafly, and last one that I had in St. Louis, was the APA. Once again, a classic ale taste, but much fruitier than the dogfish head and stone beers I am used to. The character was very complex at the begining and hoppy at the finish. I am probably getting all these mixed up, but I can say for certain that this was another good beer.
The last beer, the ESB, I had at home. I had this while Melissa was in Atlanta on a rotation and I was fending for myself. I made some good stake and potatoes, and had the ESB to cap it off. The entire meal was very good, and the beer certainly held its own. Again, very complex and fruity, much like the other two ales from Schlafly.
I realized while drinking these and compairing this with the Siera Nevada Celebration Ale that I had previously, I really enjoyed the complex flavors these ales had to offer. In addition, I noticed that the hops in these ales were not the piney styled hops that I am accustome to. I beleive that one of these beers, the APA I think, had hops that were distinctly more grapefruity than piney. I would have really liked to try an IPA from Schlafly to see how it compaired to the celebration ale and to the IPAs that I am more familiar with, especially in how the hops taste. I would like to have a highly hopped brew that also contains the complexities and initial sweetness that these ales had along with the less harsh, but still promanent hoppy finish. I think that the more I experience in the ale/IPA catagories, the more I appreciate a well balanced brew. I think that this is the reason that I have always enjoyed the double IPAs like the 90 minute IPA from digfish head. That beer has alot better balance of malts to hops, which really allows the beer to shine. I also like the smooth finish of the DIPAs. These Schlafly ales seemed to have alot of those characteristics, which made them very enjoyable to drink. They were not has heavy and creamy as a double IPA, but still had a good balance. Maybe some day we will have time to go tour the Schafly brewery and get some samples on tap. That would be a really neat experience.

Anyhow, to sum up, if you see Schlafly around, get some!