BUSCH MOBILE BEER SCHOOL TO PRESENT CLASSES AT FAIR

Thousands of Americans brew their own beer at home.Home brew became legal in most states in 1979 when federal law made it legal to brew up to 200 gallons at home for home consumption.However, a dozen or so states still prohibit home brewing.Home brewing has become a $200 million industry, and the American Home Brewers' Association (AHBA) has more than 22,000 members.Missouri is one of the legal states, and in some homes, you'll find a basement filled with buckets, glass jugs, hoses, beer bottles and malty fumes. The public's interest in brewing beer has never been higher, says Tim Schoen, vice president of marketing at Anheuser-Busch Inc. of St. Louis.The story of Busch is a familiar one in Missouri. More than a century ago, in 1876, Adolphus Busch made his mark on the beer scene, creating his own special taste that eventually led to the Anheuser-Busch company.Today, Anheuser-Busch offers beer aficionados, brew masters and beer drinkers a chance to see what goes on inside a brewery, via the Budweiser Mobile Beer School.The mobile school, a pair of 53-foot-long tractor-trailers that unfold to create a 1,400-square-foot classroom, will be in Cape Girardeau next week at the Southeast Missouri District Fair where consumer classes will be conducted Tuesday through Saturday evenings."The Budweiser Mobile Beer School program lets us get closer to our customers and teach them about the great care we take in brewing our beers," said Schoen.The classes are taught by Anheuser-Busch brewmasters.Four of the Budweiser Beer Schools travel throughout the nation.Each class, which can seat 48 people, includes a three-dimensional model of the brewing process and showcases every step of the operation, from the mill to the mash tank to the brew kettle to the fermentation tanks to the final filler.Once people complete the course, they will receive a "Certified Beer Master" certificate.The replica of the brewing process is one of the highlights of the exhibit, said Mark Greenspahn, manager of beer educational programs at Anheuser-Busch.The school program -- for people 21 and older -- runs about 40 minutes for consumers, and 90 minutes for retailers and wholesalers. And it's all free.The first Budweiser Mobile Beer School debuted for the public in St. Louis in 1996. Two years later, the school visited more than 120 markets around the nation.Since the program started, more than 180,000 adults have attended classes in more than 200 cities in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The school actually started a year earlier as a seminar for retailers and wholesalers, held at Anheuser-Busch's 12 domestic breweries.

BEER CLASSES

Tuesday: 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.Wednesday: 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.Thursday: 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.Friday: 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.Saturday: 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.