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
11 • Cathedral Square Brewing , 3914 Lindell Boulevard
Length of route • 18 miles
Estimated tour time • Six hours
Must-try beer • 4 Hands Brewing Co. Chocolate Milk Stout
Route 2 • Inner-city Loop
For all the downtown breweries we know and love that couldn't fit on the main drag.
This route includes some of the newest breweries to hit the market, such as Center Ice Brewing Brick River Cider and Twisted Roots Brewing Co. One of the stops on the loop has not opened yet – Rockwell Brewing Co. a brewery made out of shipping containers that will open in September
The breweries
1 • Urban Chestnut Brewing Co., 3229 Washington Boulevard
2 • Center Ice Brewery, 3126 Olive Street
3 • Brick River Cider, 2000 Washington Avenue
4 • Charleville Brewery, 2101 Chouteau Avenue
5 • Square One Brewery, 1727 Park Avenue
6 • Rockwell Brewing Co., 1320 South Vandeventer Avenue
7 • Twisted Roots, 3690 Forest Park Avenue
Length of route • 10 miles
Estimated tour time • Four hours
Must-try beer • Urban Chestnut Zwickel (Lager)