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Craft Beer in Downtown St Louis

Northern Brewer General
#1

The craft beer scene is really hopping in St Louis. In one relatively small area you’ll find Schlaflys Tap Room, Buffalo Brewing, the Urban Chestnut, and Square One Brewery and Distillery. There are probably others, I just haven’t hit them yet. Of course Schlaflys is the original StL craft beer in my mind and has a wide and ever-changing selection. I discovered Buffalo a while back, good food and a killer rye pale ale, plus they are right next to a really great BBQ joint. Square One had a large selection, upscale pub food and hops schnapps among others. Plus you can sit in the bar and look at the stills which is cool. I just made it to Urban Chestnut last weekend. They have a signature chestnut ale called Winged Nut that is really tasty, plus a great rotating stable of brews that include lagers. You don’t always find those in a brewpub since there is a slower turnaround.

Just thought I’d share that bit of info. If I left any good ones out, please add so I can go explore. I know there are a lot of other brewpubs in StL and the surrounding area, I haven’t tried them all yet but intend to eventually.

#2

Its definitely no Schlafly, but Granite City Brewery is fairly close by.

#3

My father has enjoyed a couple of beers from Six Row brewing. I need to get over there and give them a try the next time I am in town. They are over by SLU, south of Forest Park. I think they have food too, but I am not 100% on that.

#4

I’ve been to Granite City, its what I’d call “out in the county” but the place was really nice and the beer was first rate.

Six Row looks to qualify for downtown status, I’ve heard of it but haven’t been. Will definitely add that one to the list.

I know one of the guys who brews at Buffalo and Kirkwood Station, he knows his stuff but he’s a real friendly person and always willing to talk beer.

#5

Not to sound like a snob but can Granite City, Gordon Biersch, and those guys really qualify as a local brewery? Don’t most the places like that simply truck in the wort and ferment it on site? Where’s the creativity of a local brewer?

#6

I recommend going during the day and the service is just so so, but have you been to Morgan Street Brewery?

#7

Didn’t know Granite City was part of a chain. It was upscale and a bit pricey, not my favorite combination for a brewpub.

Been to Morgan Street a few times, they would count as another downtown possibility. None of their beers has ever excited me that much, but it is nice to have a microbrew at the Blues Festival thats put on down at the Landing (Muddy Water or something like that).

And speaking of blues, there are a few good bues clubs on down south of the landing, next to Busch Stadium. At least one of them has a really nice keg beer selection.

#8

Not a fan of Morgan Street. Their beers are decent, but I’ve never gotten good service. I’d also invite you to try Perennial Artisan Ales - http://www.perennialbeer.com/ - on Michigan… technically South County, but it’s still worth it. Mattingly’s and The Stable also offer decent brews; The Stable is also a microdistillery.

#9

Since this post piqued my interest, I did some more research and found two more new breweries - Civil Life and 4 Hands. Both opened in the past couple of months.

#10

my opinion: Buffalo Brewing- been there 3 times and never liked their beers much. Schlafly Taproom- good solid brews, and quite a selection; food is great. A bit noisy though for my taste (bad accoustics with wood an metal around). Recommend “Optic Golden Ale.” !!! Urban Chestnut- a cozy pub in a slightly questionable neighborhood, that brews excellent and interesting beer. Food is limited to meat/cheese fare. Square One Brewery is nice too. Great food and great beer, but sometimes a bit crowded. Morgan Street Brewery is so so. I agree the service is kinda crappy, but it’s in a neat part of town. The beers are decent - I think they won a high award last year with their Bohemian Pilsner. To rank 'em, I’d go: Urban Chestnut (9/10), Schafly (8.5/10), Square One (7/10), Morgan Street (5/10), Bufallo (4/10). There ARE several others I’ve not been to or that’ve recently just opened. Exciting quaffing times in St Louis.

#11

Mattingly’s closed a couple years ago. The head brewer moved to Texas to brew for a place called Deep Ellum.

Urban Chestnut, Perennial Artisan Ales, and the Civil Life are the newest breweries in town and they are all fantastic.

The Civil Life specializes in session beers and has a very English Pub feel to the place. Awesome brown ale, probably one of the best I’ve ever had. Their bitters are really great as well.

Perennial specializes in saisons and other Belgian ales and they have a nice barrel room started. I was there for a sour beer tasting a few weeks back and we dumped the dregs from all the great sours into the barrel of their first Flanders attempt. We will be drinking that beer next year at the next Funkfest. Their signature beer is called Hommelbier which is basically an American Pale Ale fermented with a saison yeast. It’s very tasty.

Urban Chestnut is run by a guy who used to brew for AB under the Michelob brand. He and another ex AB employee started that place together. They make a very wide variety of styles and probably have the best selection of different styles in the city. They make some fantastic German lagers and ales and also some great stouts and American ales.

There is another new one opening in the next couple weeks call 4 Hands that I think will be another great addition to the city. I was able to taste a few of their beers already and they were very promising. From what I understand the brewer used to manage the barrel program at Goose Island so you know they’ll be cranking out some great barrel aged stouts (Bourbon County anyone?).

St. Louis really has an awesome beer scene going on right now.

This website will give you all the information you could possibly need about the beer scene in St. Louis. If you check out the forum it’s a whole bunch of us beer nerds talking about everything beer.

www.stlhops.com
#12

Maybe I should relocate to the other side of the state? The Kansas City beer scene kinda blows.
My wife and I have a friend that lives in St Louis I’ll have to remember these places the next time I’m on that side of the state. I’ve not made it to Schlafly tap room but the bottle works was fun. When we were there they had their Bavarian Weissbier on and oh god was it good. I also got to try a helles lager for the first time. Thats one thing I’ve always loved about Schlafly their variety is awesome.

#13

[quote=“Deadeye”]Maybe I should relocate to the other side of the state? The Kansas City beer scene kinda blows.
My wife and I have a friend that lives in St Louis I’ll have to remember these places the next time I’m on that side of the state. I’ve not made it to Schlafly tap room but the bottle works was fun. When we were there they had their Bavarian Weissbier on and oh god was it good. I also got to try a helles lager for the first time. Thats one thing I’ve always loved about Schlafly their variety is awesome.[/quote]
Columbia has a couple of nice breweries now, Flat Branch and Broadway Brewery.

#14

I’ve been to one other brew pub in the St. Louis area. Trailhead Brewing is in St. Charles. Not exactly downtown St. Louis, but in the neighborhood.

#15

Been there too, nice basic beers and good food. Very nice location and venue.

#16

[quote=“Deadeye”]Maybe I should relocate to the other side of the state? The Kansas City beer scene kinda blows.
My wife and I have a friend that lives in St Louis I’ll have to remember these places the next time I’m on that side of the state. I’ve not made it to Schlafly tap room but the bottle works was fun. When we were there they had their Bavarian Weissbier on and oh god was it good. I also got to try a helles lager for the first time. Thats one thing I’ve always loved about Schlafly their variety is awesome.[/quote]

FYI, the Kansas City Bier Meisters club is planning a weekend bus trip pub crawl next spring to sample the St. Louis beer scene (and hopefully catch a Cardinals game). It would be great if some of you forum members could meet up with us in St. Louie. I’ll post the dates and times as we firm up the schedule.

#17

I’ve seen them drink, they’ll literally be crawling on/off the bus.

Let me know if you want to buy some cheap malt, our local buy can probably have something available for you. Surely you could get a ton of malt on that bus.

#18

Not really close But I like the Augusta brewery, its probably an hr or so from downtown depending on traffic, I like their food better than Schafly even and that is one of the better places to eat in STL. Its nice in the summer time, the bar and seating area is covered and all open air, good beer drinking environment. Also on another note Griesedieck bros. is comming back to town and Kraftig a new brew by one of the bush’s is comming down the pipe. Both currently brewed out of state, but plan on eventually brewing in stl.

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