It’s National Lager Day, and we’re celebrating in style with a liquid lunch here at the COED offices–especially since the fine folks at Budweiser have sent us some bottles of Faust. That’s one legendary lager amongst beer fans. It really took a lot of discipline for certain COED staffers to wait until National Lager Day to break into these bottles, too.
We’re happy to report that Faust lives up to its reputation, too. Now we’re just sad that Tony Faust’s St. Louis Oyster House and Restaurant is long gone. That place was a real big deal in St. Louis for over 40 years. It was also a big deal to Adolphus Busch, who frequented the place for lunch every day. It must have been a really big day for old Adolphus when his daughter Anna married Tony Faust’s son. We would’ve liked to have been at that wedding party.
Anyway, Tony Faust’s St. Louis Oyster House ended up with its very own lager. That brought in lots of people–including baseball player Frank “Ping” Bodie. The outfielder for the Chicago White Sox helped to make Faust legendary when he got caught drinking the lager by the team’s manager. Bodie had been promised a $600 bonus (well, maybe it was more like a bet) if the guy would give up drinking. That was back in 1913. Bodie lived to be 74 years old, which was pretty ancient back then. We’re going to assume that Faust is really good for you.
Sadly, the original Faust’s Oyster House was torn down in 1933. There’s an Original Oyster House in Pittsburgh that’s also run by a Faust family, but they aren’t related to Tony Faust–and they sure don’t have the legendary Faust lager. That’s still hidden away on draught at the Anheuser-Busch brewery, where they brought back the brand in time for the 250th anniversary of the city of St. Louis.
We know it’s been a rough year for St. Louis, so we’ll toast the citizenry there today. We won’t share our Faust with them, though. It’s still a good idea to enjoy some kind of fine lager during lunch today. It’s National Lager Day, so your boss will be totally cool with it.
