STL brewery recommendations

Aside from the big ones you know about. Check out 2nd Shift, Civil Life, and Urban Chestnut. If you want to take a small road trip (30ish) min drive to Millpond Brewing in Illinois.

Also, you must check out Little Lager for a great czech inspired bar. When I say Czech-inspired I mean that they use exclusively side pulls for their beer. (I believe they have two regular euro taps as well).

They pour lagers/pilsners exclusively. Baltic porter may sneak in every once in a while. Great bar.

 

Along with the recommendations listed above (all great BTW), don't miss Bluejay brewing. Relatively new place very close to the soccer stadium (and Schlafly). All lagers. The owner/brewer used to be one of the brewers at UCBC.

 

Civil life is a good time. Bought the tshirt when I did my tourist visit. I was limited by a Sunday-Monday pairing... (scratch) Perennial, Chestnut, Civil // Schlafly, 4 hands. I wish I had more time for St. Louis. Only one I wouldn't do again is 4 hands.

 

Headed to STL this weekend and my gf offered to stop at a brewery on the way into town. Usually I pick Side Project, but I'm feeling less inclined to go there and leaning towards 2nd Shift or Civil Life.

2nd Shift's website doesn't have a taplist up right now - do they tend to have many of their BA beers available via draft on site? I see several cans for sale to-go, which is promising, but it'd be nice to be able to try a few small pours and leave with a few cans of other beers.

May also see if we can't pick up cans from 2nd Shift and then visit Civil Life. I have yet to visit Civil Life since they updated their taproom a few years ago and that seems like a crime, but Side Project has always gotten my STL beer money.

 

They usually have around 5 barrel aged beers on tap at any time. I want to say they had at least two River Des Peres Row Crew Volumes and may 2-3 BA LSDs on tap.

 

That's kinda what I was thinking from the last time I looked at the menu, but didn't know if that was a one-off situation or not.

Appreciate the help!

 

https://2nd-shift-brewing.square.site/2nd-shift-current-draft-list

 

Well shit. I didn't see the Current Tap List tab on that website earlier. That helps ease my mind and plan a visit.

Cheers.

 

Go to both

 

4 Hands just did a collab with KC’s BKS. Bought it today at TWCP Clayton.

Would be cool if those familiar with BKS could give some feedback. Seems pretty good. But my socks are still on my feet.




Forest Park sunrise today. At the Muni. We can meet there.

 

Well heck, I was just in STL. If I had seen it on shelves, I'd have bought it. I consume a lot of BKS

 

Before your next STL trip sign up for the TWCP email list. Always the latest & greatest. It’s how I found out about the collab.

 

I have found all the Voltron series beers to be a little disappointing but about what I’d expect from 4hands. They tend to keep it right down the middle with their stuff, not incredible but not bad.

while I haven’t had a ton of BKS, I would put it at the bottom of the 5 or so I have had from them. Still a solid beer.

ps the things I would do for BKS to distribute to STL….

 

And here I am wanting BKS to keep their fresh stuff here (though, I used to yearn for Narrow Gauge to distribute to KC.)

Looks like that 4Hands beer actually hit shelves in KC. I may go pick it up to add inventory options in case we get snowed in this weekend.

 

I’ve only tried a handful of BKS beers from extras in trades… but the ones I had were solid. I travel to STL fairly regularly and I regularly check to see if BKS distributes there but it’s always to no avail. KC is a bit too far from me to journey for BKS unfortunately.

 

I'm not really a trader anymore, but if you want BKS - reach out. After my move, it's probably one of the closest breweries in KC to me.

I tend to reach for any of their Double Double variants, Pine Tree variants, Citra & (____) variants, or any Triple IPA. They usually seem to nail those all well. Their Pivo Project is putting out some solid work too.

 

Thank you and kind gesture. I’m in same boat, I do a handful of IP trades but not trading like I used to. Just too many breweries making good stuff. I’m good for the moment but appreciate it!

 

I don't get over to STL a whole lot, but we have been visiting a handful times of the year for my girlfriend's family. I'll reach out next time if you want to do an IP swap.

I picked up the 4 Hand's BKS collaboration today. I put one in the freezer since it was stored room temp. It'll be my first beer later today, and I'll try to share some thoughts here. @piggy_rulz