Still the King: St. Louis retains rank as no. 1 bear scene | Joe's St. Louis

Overview

The nature of drinking beer makes it hard to formulate a plan to get to and from multiple places in a short period of time.

How often have we been to Brewery A and we were able to get to Brewery B – Brewery

No more, friends.

Four midtown breweries recently banded together to offer craft beer lovers a free shuttle service to transport them to Anchored by Urban Chestnut Brewing Co.'s Washington Boulevard facility, the shuttle is a great way for those familiar with Urban Chestnut's products to engage with smaller breweries on the route, which include Center Ice Brewery, as well as Twisted Roots and Wellspent Brewing Co., which both opened within the past few months.

The pilot program runs through Aug. 19 but likely to be extended as the route has proved successful in new business. And a second shuttle is in the works, too, to make the loop even faster, said Center Ice Brewmaster Bill McFarland, who came up with the idea.

If only every brewery in the area were on such a route. [19659006] Hey, wait a minute (author raises a single finger in the air as if to realize an idea). I could come up with my own routes for more efficient and effective brewery hopping.

It's not as easy as it sounds.

Even if you were driving continuously to every brewery listed on the St. Louis Brewer's Guild's website – more than 80 visitors in all with some being outside the St. Louis area boundaries – the fastest route to visit would take you to a 1,450-mile road trip that would consume all 24 hours of a day and then some .

Ain't nobody having the time – or drinking capacity – to pull that off. So I left some of the outlying breweries (sorry, Tin Mill Brewing in Hermann and Excel Brewing Co. in Breese) and tried to keep each route to a manageable load – assuming you'd like to take in more than a single beer at some of these stops, it'd be hard to visit dozen breweries in a single trip.

It should also be noted that we at Hops do not condone drinking and driving in any form and that, while these imaginary routes would make for great shuttle service lines, we do not recommend having your own unless you have a designated driver. [With that caution out the way, here's my unofficial St. Louis Brewery-Hop map.]

Route 1 • St. Louis Beer Loop

With some of St. Louis' biggest beer names on this route, it's the main road for those new and new ones. old to the local beer community

Start at the Schlafly Tap Room the oldest craft brewer on the block and the one that essentially paved the way for the likes of nearly everyone else on this list. You want to allocate enough time to take the brewery tour at Anheuser-Busch . And bonus: The beers here (the first two, at least) are free. Gear up for 2nd Shift one of the fastest-growing barmakers in town. URB the research brewery across the street from Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. 's massive beer hall on Manchester Avenue

The breweries

1 • Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust Street

2 • Morgan Street Brewery, 721 North Second Street

3 • 4 Hands Brewery, 1220 South Eighth Street

• Anheuser-Busch InBev, 12th and Lynch Streets

5 • Earthbound Beer, 2724 Cherokee Street

] 6 • Civil Life, 3714 Holt Avenue

7 • Alpha Brewery, 4310 Fyler Avenue

8 • 2nd Shift Brewing Co., 1601 Sublette Avenue [19659006] • Modern Brewery, 5231 Manchester Avenue

• Urban Chestnut Brewing Co., 4465 Manchester Avenue

Route 3 • West County Line

Michael Thomas

Brew Hub is a great place to find beers from an assortment of brewers, including those that haven't opened their own production facilities yet, like High Heel Brewing, the latest venture from Kristi McGuire, former Anheuser-Busch brewmaster who helped create Bud American Ale and Landshark. Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood is the region's largest producer of craft beer by volume. Just down the street, Side Project makes some of the area's most sought-after brews. And a soon-to-open facility in Eureka will bring Wyoming's Melvin Brewing to town

The breweries

1 • Brew Hub, 5656 Oakland Avenue

2 • Heavy Riff, 6413 Clayton Avenue

3 • Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood

4 • Side Project Brewing, 7458 Manchester Avenue, Maplewood

5 • Kirkwood Station, 105 East Jefferson Avenue, Kirkwood

] 6 • Bastard Brothers Brewing Co., 2114 Penta Drive, High Ridge

7 • Melvin Brewing, location to be announced, Eureka

Length of route • 57 miles

Estimated tour time • Six hours

Must-try beer • Whatever Side Project has on tap

Route 4 • North County / Metro East Loop

Take in the nostalgia and history at the Griesedieck Brothers Brewing microbrewery in the Baden neighborhood. Griesedieck's roots in St. Louis began in 1911 when Henry Griesedieck Jr. founded the company with his five sons. The brewer shut down during Prohibition but increased production to a million barrels by the early 1950s. The north St. Louis brewery reopened in 2017 and includes vintage signs and an extensive beer collection.

Other stops: Ferguson Brewing Co. remade after 2015 four gutted the facility; Narrow Gauge Brewing which makes some of the best New England IPAs around; Recess Brewing the Edwardsville brewer of beer made with donuts; and the recently opened Hofbrauhaus which mimics its heritage with a giant German beer hall.

The breweries

1 • Griesedieck Brothers Brewing, 1240 Switzer Avenue

2 • Ferguson Brewing Co., 418 South Florissant Road, Ferguson

3 • Narrow Gauge Brewing, 1595 North US Highway 67, Florissant

• Old Bakery Beer Co., 400 Landmarks Boulevard, Alton

• Recess Brewing, 307 North Main Street, Edwardsville

• 4204 Main Street, Brewing Co., 4204 West Main Street, Belleville

8 • Hofbrauhaus, 123 St. Eugene Drive, Belleville

Length of route • 92 miles

Estimated tour time • Eight hours

Must-try bear • Narrow Gauge fall flag (New England IPA)

Route 5 • St. Charles County Line

Head to discover some of the region's best-kept brewery secrets.

If the time is right, O'Fallon Brewery makes one of the best pumpkin ales around and has several spinoffs of the brew for tasting. Six Mile Bridge is a newcomer on the St. Louis beer scene but has roots to South Africa, and its barrel-aged program called the Big Five Series honors the big five game animals of that country: the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, African bush elephant and African buffalo. To date, two have been released. Two Plumbers Brewery offers an arcade for fun. Third Wheel Brewing was named one of the best new breweries by Beer Advocate and has a great bluegrass brunch on Sundays . And Friendship Brewing Co. in Wentzville offers a unique and fun atmosphere.

The breweries

1 • O'Fallon Brewery, 45 Progress Parkway, Maryland Heights

2 • Six Mile Bridge Beer, 11841 Dorsett Road, Maryland Heights 3 • Trailhead Brewing Co., 921 South Riverside Drive, St. Charles

4 • Two Plumbers Brewery, 2236 First Capitol Drive, St. Charles

• Third Wheel Brewing, 4008 I-70 North Outer Road, St. Peters

7 • Friendship Brewing Co., 100 East Pitman Avenue, Wentzville

Length of route • 57 miles

Estimated tour time • Five hours

Must-try beer • Six Mile Bridge Mango Hibiscus Blonde

Route 6 • Southern Illinois Line

The longest route of the system, this all-day affair features some of the best beers in the region.

Perennial Artisan Ales has long been lauded as one of the best – if not the best – makers of craft beer in the St. Louis area. Two newcomers in Waterloo make for quick stops – Stubborn German Brewing Co. on the first floor of the historic Masonic Lodge, and Hopskeller Brewing Co. known for its English and American ales .