St Louis Breweries to visit?

I'm heading to St Louis at the end of this month, and I'll have most of Sunday available to site see, and wanted to ask what breweries/mircobreweries do you guys consider must see places?

 

Budweiser is actually awesome(free tour and beer), Schlafly, Square One brewery and distillery(small but good beer and real good food). Those are the ones I can vouch for, St. Louis is a cool town with a good beer scene.


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Urban Chestnut.

 

I got a list a few weeks ago from one of the food and drink writers here in St. Louis of all of the breweries in the area.

1. Anheuser-Busch (Soulard)
2. Buffalo Brewing Co. (midtown)
3. Cathedral Square Brewing Co. (midtown)
4. Square One Brewery & Distillery (Lafayette Square)
5. Six Row Brewing Co. (midtown)
6. Trailhead Brewing Co. (St. Charles)
7. St. Louis Brewery / Schlafly (downtown Tap Room and Maplewood Bottleworks)
8. Highlands Brewery & Restaurant (Kirkwood)
9. Augusta Brewing Co.(Augusta)
10. Ferguson Brewing Co. (Ferguson)
11. Amalgamated Brewing Co. (Benton Park - the Stable)
12. O'Fallon Brewery (O'Fallon, Mo.)
13. Morgan Street Brewery & Restaurant (Laclede's Landing)
14. Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. (midtown)
15. Second Shift Brewing Co. (New Haven)
16. Crown Valley Brewery (Ste. Genevieve)
17. Charleville Microbrewery & Vineyard (Ste. Genevieve):
Coming this summer:
18. Perennial Artisan Ales (South Carondelet)
19. The Civil Life Brewing Co. (Tower Grove South)
20. 4 Hands Brewing Co. (near Soulard)

So far, I've been to Morgan Street, Schlafly, and Trailhead. I've had a few of O'Fallon's beers, and will probably hit Second Shift, Tin Mill (Hermann, MO) and Augusta sometime this month. I really like Morgan Street's beers and food. Schlafly has a few cask aged beers on tap too.

 

Check out stlhops.com

That blog tells you what is on tap and were. If you are going to be here this weekend, might as well get tickets to herritagefest thats going on. You can sample all the local brewery's wares.

 

OT, but I am not too impressed with Tin Mill's offerings.

I'd really recommend the Budweiser tour. Gives a good perspective of the gigantic scale on which they brew and you walk through the stables and a nice museum in the lobby. Totally free, and you don't have to worry so much about hours, it's 9-5 Mon-Sat and 11:30-5 on Sunday. Then try to go to one more of those listed above, I have not been to any but the girl and I are going to a few when she gets back from studying abroad.

 

Plus, the beer they offer in the A/B Brewery tasting room is infinitely better than the stuff you get at the grocery store. Even the Bud Light has a fresh hopped taste and aroma you just can't get in a pastuerized lager that's months past it's bottle date. Plus they have alot of regional, seasonal, and even small batch and experimental beers that you will be amazed come out of the big evil A/B brewery!

 

http://stlhops.com/st-louis-beer-guide/

I'd also recommend the AB tour if you have time. It's a very historic brewery and well worth the visit.

I'd recommend Urban Chestnut and Six-Row. They're pretty close to each other.

 

Another one coming this summer is Exit 6 in Cottleville (St. Charles County).

 

I'd probably skip on Trailhead also. The wife brought home a mixed 6 pack a couple weeks ago and I was not impressed. But, "to each his own".

 

Another vote for A/B. Be prepared to walk.

Morgan Street's pilsener has medaled at GABF, and it's not far from A/B.

Schlafly's Tap Room is only a couple of miles from Morgan Street. They've usually got some things on tap you don't see in the stores.

Those three should take up a big chunk of your available time.

 

Square One is a nice little place, good food. The only time I've had a negative reaction to their beers was on my last visit. I had a sampler that included either two or three high grav beers, and they all had really hot alcohol. Hopefully just a single-batch problem, as everything else I've had from them has been good.

 

This is the closest brewpub to my home and I rarely go there. Usually we go because my boys like the food. The beer is technically okay, but uninspired. The beer there is more of a gimmick than a passion.

 

If you head south (toward Ste. Gen) i'd definitely recommend Charleville and Crown Valley. Plus its located in the middle of wine country with ~7+ wineries all within about 9 miles. We love heading that way for a day trip.

 

I can only speak for Schalfly bottleworks and Morgan Street, but both are great tours.

 

Definitely Urban Chestnut! i live in STL, and i try to frequent that place as much as i can. excellent brews!

and yeah, check out stlhops.com maybe you can catch a special beer event somewhere around the city when your in town too. seems like something is always going on around the city beer wise.

 

For straight tours, I'd do AB and Schlafly Bottleworks. Some of my favorites for beer:

-Square One - really good food.
-Highlands - used to be pretty mediocre but got a new brewmaster and is really good now
-Amalgamated Brewing Co. (the Stable)- I actually brewed here once. Great small batches (1/2 barrel), but the food service is pretty terrible
-Urban Chestnut - definitely stop by here. Former Michelob brewmaster is the owner and is a really nice guy. He's always happy to show people around the brewery.

If you have the time, I also recommend going down to Ste. Genevieve. The beer at Charleville is above average, but it's the ambiance that really sets it apart. There's also lots of good wineries in the area as well

 

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

 

So how was the trip? I'm heading out there this weekend and curious to see what another East Coaster thought of the area.

 

It's actually a really good time to come out. We are in the middle of St.Louis Craft Beer Week. One of the local bars is hosting a Firkin Fest, and another is hosting a brewers summit with several of the local brewers on hand for a Q&A session. Check out StlHops.com for more details if you want to check some of the activities.

 

Every comment on here about Square One is that they have really good food. I think their beer is pretty darn good also. Hope you had fun in St. Louis come back again soon.

 

Definitely stop by 6 Row, their food is good but their beer is great. Great guys too.