Rockwell Beer Company

 

 

 

 

8 days on the road now, just half of that with the unusual suspects. We came in to town last night from Arkansauce; a long drive in with a stop at a crazy rest area of beef jerky madness, a good ball game, and a great beer bar that has apparently since burnt down. That was all so yesterday. A new day now and we’re out and about.

Do not stop at White Castle.
Do not collect sliders.
Go directly to Rockwell…

Met a Moxey in the parking lot and ventured in. It was unpleasantly warm outside, but it’s cool AC-wise and otherwise inside, fo’ sho. Long narrowish rectangular room. Along the back wall, a lengthy straight wood topped bar with a blueish tile base (I think it’s all shimmer from here). Seating for none (get your beer, then stand clear) as these are Covid times, after all.

Gray barback wall with slat wood vertical striping. A pair of large panel inlays; one with a 12 non-descript handled stainless bar tower fronting, the other one booze lined countered. And a smaller panel inlay on the end with a 4 tap tower of the same. Glassware below the bar and a pair of boards mounted above. Tap board broken out by style descriptions (light & crisp, fruity & tart, hoppy, dark & rich) and lists beer, style, ABV, & serving size. And a food board listing burgers, sandwiches, & sides. Booze & displayed boxed shirts & slushie machines in between the panels. Potted plants on the ends of the bar.

Dark blue front inner wall, white concrete outer wall with tall narrow windows overlooking the exterior space, and to the rear, a pair of garage door panel window rollups to the brewery; an oversized 15bbl system & foeders there. Concrete floors, and black rafter ceiling play over a patterned wave of slat wood striping in some sections with sunken light bars & drop spots. Flats in opposite corners (Wheel of Fortune & I Dream of Jeanie), and hop prints here and there. A 3 door cool with goods sits in the front corner next to the door with a ‘beer to go’ neon above. Merch, merch, & also, merch.

2 and a half dozen tables about the room; picnics to the backside, hightops off the bar, and shared bench shortys the length of the front wall. And outside seating; 2 dozen+ picnics umbrella’d up around storage containers stacked out front, + a dozen more on the parking lot side, and a few more on the other side with cornhole play and another cargo container housing a full bar; I do not know how one gets to the there but they do.

13 beers; an excellent range that does not cater to the hop (Stand By, Hoppy Pilsner, 5.3%; Crisp Chinos, Rice Lager, 5.2%; Passing Clouds, Belgian Style Wit, 4.6%; Foeder Fest, Festbier, 5.7%; Table Beer, Belgian Style Saison, 4.2%; Mikey Sunshine, Berliner Weisse, 3.6%; HAW, Hoppy American Wheat, 5%; Adult Contemporary, APA, 5.5%; Byrd Up!, DH Rye Pale Ale, 5.2%; Ice Caps, Cold IPA, 5.9%; Velour Tracksuit, Unfiltered IPA, 7.7%; Kazimierz, Foeder Aged Baltic Porter, 9.2%; Foeder Bock, Doppelbock, 7.6%), + a single guest cider (Stem Chili Guava Cider, 5.9%), and wine, cocktails, & N/A.

Foeder Bock Doppelbock, spicy, malty, & rich; Table Beer, Belgian Style Saison, lovely; Need Pils, please. Stand By, oooh, she’s hoppy, lemony notes, and sulfur, yes; Kazimierz Foeder Agred Baltic Porter, woody, deep, & lush; Byrd Up!, DH Rye Pale Ale, pleasant hoppiness, nice spiciness; Foeder Fest, bready, floral, malty goodness. Tough one, but I think the Fest was best, although Byrd Up! & Table Beer were close behind, and really, there was no slouch in the lot of ‘em.

And then Moxey brought out some can & bottle goods to share (Fellow Traveler, Foeder Pale Ale, 5%, fuck, that's Orval like funkiness, yes, please, and thank you, goddamn, that's a great BPA; Rockwell/Little Fish Sumac Suitcase bottle, Foeder Saison with Sumac, 7.1%, like tart & fruity, wow; Polymath, Foeder Spelt Saison, 6.1%, mixed culture love, fuck, that’s amazing, peachy, but has no fruit to it). Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.

Beers were excellent and the range is solid, I could have done more time here getting further through the list but BBQ +3 calls. Moxey was the most gracious host (and not just because I have that picture of him eating a Sunrise Highway gas station hot dog on the way back from a Southampton bottle release in another lifetime). Chill house, lots of room inside and outside, good scene. Me likey.

Great patio amongst the old shipping containers, this theme continued with a long and sunny interior. Bathrooms use old hockey goal lights that are lit when occupied which I got a kick out of. But let's get to the important part, the beer! Selection had a dozen or so taps but a lot of ipas. Seemed like a lot of folks were getting cocktails more, odd. Service was not fast, but they got the order right so it all ended well. The beers we had were a mix of amazing to meh with most being in the middle somewhere. Certainly a trendy spot in town, solid stop but wouldn't be in my top few in STL

 

 

Really cool vibe. Used old shipping containers for signage and exteriors. Lots of patio space and wide-open spaces on the inside. They had about 13 taps, plus pint cans in the coolers to take home. Great food. Burgers are good. The fries are amazing. Worth a visit.

 

 

this place has been so long coming, ive been hearing about it for years, even drank some of their beer at a frisbee golf event at least a couple of years ago. ive had collaboration beers of theirs, seen then at lupulin carnival, but a brick and mortal place is finally a reality, thought it may never come to be! the space is well worth the wait, its evident a ton of work went into it. it looks cool from the outside with the stacked up shipping containers, and the aesthetic inside is incredible, its sort of modern minimal but artsy, almost a japanese angular thing to it, woody and also colorful, neat artistic features through the whole place, lots of windows, a big patio for nicer weather, and a view to the large brewery area in the back, tons of room to grow in here. its a great layout, a classy beer hall arrangement, matches the beers well. i can see some foeders too. a long bar runs the length of the place, and they have an awesome selection, can almost everything, have a good mix of everything, and have both bottles and cans to go. we had an amazing time drinking through the lineup, i think we had almost everything. i loved the stand by hoppy pils, was impressed with a brett pale and a foeder lager, and also was stoked on the quality of more basic beers like a simple stout and a hoppy wheat. they are doing some funky stuff which is nice, some quality lagers, and some hoppy beer that seems immediately trendy, i liked it all! the service was killer, folks were really nice, chatty, and super giving, so it was a fun place to hang out and drink. mellow on a weeknight, but i like mellow, i bet it would still feel chill in here even with a lot more people present. i saw no signs of food, but wasnt looking for it, it was all about the beer for us this time. i cant imagine coming to saint louis again and not coming in for beers, to say hi to the friends we made here, and to take it all in, they feel poised for big things. immediately near the top of the list locally for me! top notch in quality and vibe!

 

My wife and I visited this new brewery on a Saturday evening. With plenty of off-street parking, the place was packed. It is an open, industrial setting. There are many re-purposed shipping containers that are now part of the building. We didn't have food, but the beer was good. The IPA and the English mild were particularly delicious. The decor is reminiscent of the 1980s. Worth a visit.