Poll: Favorite St. Louis Brewery?
Eight years ago today beer drinkers rejoiced:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signature repealed the Volstead Act, legalizing 3.2 percent beer. It also paved the way for the December ratification of the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment and deep-sixed Prohibition altogether.
The Volstead Act, which is how the National Prohibition Act was widely known, was pushed hard by religious and temperance groups and passed Congress in 1919 over the veto of President Woodrow Wilson.
The prohibition movement had been active in the United States for 80 years before its adherents finally succeeded in ramming through an outright national ban on alcohol. The original movement lost some steam during the Civil War (soldiers drink; deal with it) but was revived with a vengeance by the Prohibition Party and Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. (Wired)
Remaining breweries in St. Louis were also relieved to be able to legally produce beer once again after 13+ long years.
Fast forward to today and beer is a popular beverage in St. Louis with breweries & brewpubs in many parts of the region. Which brings us to the poll question for this week: What is your favorite St. Louis Brewery?
The list of breweries was taken from STL Hops:
- 4 Hands Brewing Company
- Anheuser-Busch
- Exit 6 Brewery
- O’Fallon Brewery
- Saint Louis Brewery (aka Schlafly)
- Urban Chestnut Brewing Company
The poll is in the right sidebar. Check out the St. Louis Beer Map for breweries, brewpubs, beer bars, etc. Of course, if you are 21 and choose to drink, please do so responsibly.
— Steve Patterson
Perennial? Six Row?
Those are brewpubs, not breweries
Schlafly is both a brewpub and a (small) chain. If you brew beer, you’re a brewery, if you sell beer and food, you’re a pub. The poll is what it is . . . limited/flawed . . . and, FYI, O’Fallon is not in St. Louis, it’s in St. Charles County, like Exit 6 is . . .
If you brew beer sold only in your own establishment you are a brewpub/microbrewery, if you sell beer to other pubs you are a brewery. There is a difference.
Perennial is a brewery, I’ve seen it on tap handles/store shelves.
Morgan Street, Civil Life, Six Row and Perennial all sell beer, in kegs, to other establishments. The nuance you may be chasing is selling their beer in bottles and/or cans, in addition to kegs or growleras. But a brewery, by definition, brews beer – it’s the title of the post that’s questionable, as is your finessing brewery, pub, brewpub. Just leave it at these are the six (and only six) choices you have – it’s not all-inclusive – just pick your favorite out of this list. If need be, a second round can happen on a future date, and if desired, a final run-off, to determine the true “winner”.
Sorting through state laws now, will have the difference by April 17th when I post the poll results.
So, missing Civil Life, Schlafly, Perennial, Morgan Street…
Perennial and Six Row sell bottles, and 6-packs at Randals and many other outlets around the city.
You left off Civil Life
That’s a brewpub, not a brewery.
Civil Life is as much a brewery as Urban Chestnut. What are suggesting? When I go out to favorite local restaurants, they have Civil Life beer on tap. They make beer; they sell beer; their beers are in restaurants. What’s the difference? Their beer is not sold at Schnucks?
I’m not an expert on the subject so I relied on stlhops.com.
So I vote Civil Life!
Controversy of the poll aside….I’m really liking 4 Hands these days. They are very creative without being ridiculous and those labels! They have got some wonderful local talent working on those.
First word probably needs a “y” (eighty, not eight) . . . . St. Louis, both the city and the region, is blessed with many, and an increasing number, of brewers. Square One does a great job at both food and beer, 2nd Shift is definitely worth the drive, and Alpha will be opening next week on Washington. That’s why it’s so hard to pick one “favorite” – they’re chasing different segments, styles and tastes, and unless you really only like one, specific style, it’s the chase and the sampling that most of us beer lovers cherish. We may gravitate to one over another, but we’re almost always game to try something new and unexpected . . . .
Civil Life
I vote Perennial
Civil Life is a brewery. Oh so very much a brewery, with over 100 on-premise accounts serving their draft beer. With a brewpub. Just like Perennial, Four Hands, etc. I vote for a re-do of the poll 🙂
Just was chatting with Mike Sweeney, the founder and manager of STLHops, on twitter. His definition was based on if an establishment offered food (brewpub) or not (brewery). His list may needto be updated as 4 Hands and Urban Chestnut now both offer food. He never intended for this to be used as an authoritative definition, just a way to give out of towners a thumbnail view of what is available.