Showing posts with label St. Louis Breweries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Louis Breweries. Show all posts

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Charleville Brewing Company Opens First St. Louis Location

Yeah, we are the Brick City. We are also becoming the Beer City of the Midwest. The history is certainly there, but the influx of microbreweries since Schlafly broke the mold in 1991 has been amazing to witness.

1991, the year STL malt broke!

Usually we look back at our past and pine for the good old days (World's Fair and Riverboats, I'm looking at you). Fact is, when it comes to beer, the past was indeed great...but the present and future is better. 

St. Louis' beer scene is on the rise and getting more and more diverse. I thought we could only sustain maybe five breweries in St. Louis (a city of ~310,000). Boy was I wrong. 

The latest trend is small town Missouri breweries opening locations in St. Louis...they want to join the scene and man, are they welcome.

First, 2nd Shift Brewery moved it's operations from New Haven, Missouri to an industrial section of the Hill Neighborhood at 1601 Sublette Avenue...adding a place...you know, place making in a spot you usually wouldn't visit.

"We're so excited to be located on the Hill," 2nd Shift co-owner Libby Crider said in a release. "Not only to be able to provide beer more locally to St. Louis, but also to be part of this amazing neighborhood."
Welcome, welcome, welcome 2nd Shift. I love off the beaten path locations, and you've done a great job with your space and of course the beer.

Then, yesterday I was driving home after visiting the new Kiener Plaza and noticed Charleville Brewing was open.

They are the newest brewery to open a St. Louis location from their winery/brewery in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri.

Per the bartender,  the rehabbed building was a former truck parts manufacturing facility. The nice one-story building is at 2101 Chouteau Avenue right across the street from Lafayette Square in the Downtown West Neighborhood. The pulley's and beams are still visible providing a nod to the past.

before
after

So we stopped in for a quick sample and will be back Fo-Chouteau. 

I'm not here to rank beers or talk up one brewery vs. the other, I'll leave that to the experts. To me, all St. Louis breweries add to our city vibe and Charleville is a welcome addition.

I will say one thing, though: I'm a pilsner fan and their offering is...um, way up there. I'll leave it at that.

“The whole idea is to connect with the (St. Louis) community,” says Tait Russell, director of operations for Charleville...

For the new brewery and restaurant, Charleville is partnering with Paul and Wendy Hamilton, owners of Eleven Eleven Mississippi, Vin de Set, PW Pizza and 21st Street Brewers Bar.

Russell says Charleville reached out to the Hamiltons about the new brewery's restaurant operation while still searching for a location. During that discussion, Russell says, Paul Hamilton mentioned that he had recently bought the building at 2101 Chouteau, directly across South 21st Street from the complex housing Vin de Set, PW Pizza and 21 Street Brewers Bar.
They did a fantastic job with the building and interior space...but man, the pilsner was the star. There are 14 taps to choose from.
The large windows along Chouteau really make a bright, vibrant space.
There is a garage door that opens up to provide an al fresco experience leading to a small outdoor patio. 
There is also an event space and of course the brewing areas.

There are nice nods to our wonderful city.
Not into beer? How about some house made root beer and the food looks dynamite. 

Welcome, welcome, welcome Charleville Brewing! That pilsner should be in cans/bottles for the summer!

Edit: they have the pilsner in cans, it's called Long White Cloud. Proof:
Cheers, St. Louis!

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Brew City - 2016 St. Louis City Talk Favorite

Continuing on with my favorite 2016 developments in St. Louis, the local beer scene in the city just seems to get bigger and better.

2016 was no exception with the addition of one more brewery and announcements for a couple others in the city. 

2nd Shift Brewing may be familiar to some, they have been making beer for some time in New Haven, MO about an hour drive from St. Louis.

They set up shop in the Hill Neighborhood at 1601 Sublette Avenue just south of Manchester.  I haven't visited yet, or tried their beer, but I can't wait.

Another brewery, Rockwell Beer Company, will set up shop in the Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood at 1320 South Vandeventer Avenue and they hope to be open in Spring, 2017.

Another brewery, Center Ice Brewery will be a hockey-themed brewery. The tasting room will be constructed from the Old Arena/Checkerdome! they will be in the beautiful Dinks Parish Laundry Building just west of Pappy's and Southern on Olive in the Midtown Neighborhood. Perfect place for all those hosers to converge for a Blues game. On my visit, work was underway on the facade of the building:



Then, work continued on Earthbound Beer's renovation of the Cherokee Brewery, complete with caves on Cherokee Street. Read all about it HERE.
Good news abounds. 

I recently attended a brewery tour at Schlafly Tap Room and I gained an appreciation for their vitally important role in changing the laws around brewing in Missouri and St. Louis. Without them fighting the legal fights to open up brewing to smaller breweries, we would still be in ABI land alone. They really played such an important role to open things up here.  
Oh, and scenes from Escape From New York were filmed in the building that is now the Taproom on Locust. There is an homage to Snake Plissken on their mural:
So with the addition of 2nd Shift and Rockwell, we will have the following breweries right here in St. Louis:

2nd Shift
4 Hands
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Alpha Brewery
Center Ice
Civil Life
Earthbound
Heavy Riff
Morgan Street 
Perennial
Rockwell
Schlafly
Square One
Urban Chestnut

Pappos is brewing their beer for their operations at the Midtown restaurant location as well.

Heck, I'm probably missing a few.

There is no shortage of good beer and guzzling beer in St. Louis. 2016 was a good year and 2017 should be even better.