Comments on: Fixing Your St. Louis Restaurant Beer List

By: Brad Sherman

Brad Sherman — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:36:44 +0000

Anchor Steam and Goose for sure! Nix the Blue Moon and Bud. Those are foreign beers impersonating domestics.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:49:05 +0000

Depending on the the focus of the restaurant, it may not even be necessary to cultivate the kind of customer who drinks AB products. Riddles seesm to do just fine without it. I certainly wouldn’t offer bud or bud light on draft-most of the people I’ve met who are partial to the stuff insist on bottles ” ’cause draft gives me a headache.” A german lager would be essential, maybe Paulaner. I’d sub. the Bully with Anchor porter, which is in a class by itself. While I like the idea of La fin du monde, I like Trois Pistole even more. Big Foot Barley wine would be nice in the winter.

I anyone gets a chance, take a look at the variety of keg beer available at Lucas. I was astonished how much was available given the paucity of the draft beer selection at most establishments in town.

By: Better Restaurant Beer | stlbites.com - st. louis food blog of bill burge

Better Restaurant Beer | stlbites.com - st. louis food blog of bill burge — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:14:00 +0000

[...] all seriousness though, please look at Mike’s lists as he suggests several options to spruce up your beer list. In doing so I think you will find [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:00:31 +0000

You might be aware that we had a similar conversation to this one over at Hoosier Beer Geek with the help of New Albanian's Roger Baylor - his suggested list was pretty extensive (no small, medium, or large) and is definitely worth a look. One thing we've found by meeting with Indy's biggest craft beer distributor (World Class Beverages) is that the people selling this stuff feel like if they could get through to the chef, they might be able to make a sale. But in most cases, they're working through a buyer before they get to the chef, and buyers don't really get the "craft beer as an alternative to wine" idea. I'd suggest attempting to bring this thread to the attention of St. Louis foodie blogs - the people reading them are the people most likely to be eating at finer dining establishments in St. Louis. In some cases those folks are completely in the dark when it comes to the power of a great food/beer combination. As a result of the conversation at HBG we ended up having a fantastic meal by one of Indy's better and more adventurous chefs. Here's hoping your conversation leads to similar success.

By: Jim Zavist

Jim Zavist — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:41:43 +0000

And why “No Coors” – it’s better than Miller . . . That said, this is a good start. The two MIA’s I see are Bud Select or Micheloeb Ultra and Ray Hill. The former rounds the cast of “normal suspects” that let a restaurant generate a steady cash stream while the latter is a great local product vthat needs more exposure.

By: Derek Bean

Derek Bean — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:45:49 +0000

Mike,
I like what you’re saying here and I agree totally. While having a nice steak dinner at an old guard St. Louis steakhouse in January ‘07 I commented to my girlfriend that I wish I had time to go around to all of these old guard establishments and get the message across to them that they really need to update their beer lists. I was thinking something small and simple like:
1 hoppy American Pale Ale or IPA (Sierra Nevada Pale of O’Fallon IPA)
1 German Hefeweizen
1 good European Pilsner/ Lager (think Pilsern Urqell or Bitburger, no Stella)
1 Belgian
1 good English ale (sorry, no Bass, and
1 Stout or Porter (domestic or imported)

Something Paul eluded to, however, is service. Restaurants will be partial to the distributors who a) they have existing relationships with, and b) provide sufficient service to the retailer. This criteria will automatically dismiss some of us.

Moreover, though, one thing you guys may also want to consider is sales. I love beer and I’m glad that you all do as well, but Bully Porter is going to sit around at most accounts and not sell through. Meanwhile, Boulevard Wheat is their best selling beer and the best selling Wheat beer in the Midwest. Similarly, Anchor Steam is great beer, but, unfortunately, it has lost its sales steam in the St. Louis market (pardon the pun). (Just as a couple of examples.)

I love Avery beers (it’s actually my favorite Colorado brewery), but the brand is very new to St. Louis, and for the most part, largely unheard of. Now, this can work in its favor at the right account, but can seriously work against it in many other accounts.

I love this discussion and my best advice from someone “in the business” to fellow beer lovers is to voice these ideas. Voice this idea to the establishments you frequent. Voice it to the correct person, eg. the manager or owner. Voice it frequently. And, voice it in a pleasant, constructive manner to the manager. And, hopefully, they will take heed. Distributor salesmen can suggest something all day long (but, often times, they are motivated solely by an incentive), but a consumer’s suggestion should carry more credibility with a retailer.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:05:29 +0000

I think the problem with a lot of restaurants is that they do not do enough business to buy from so many distributors. Even from your short list they would have to buy from 6 distributors. You probably could not reach a minimum with Summit, unless you sold a ton of beer. Both Glazer and Major Brands, you could possibly reach because they sell liquor and wine also. I think restaurants would have freshness issues if they buy too much of one beer to reach a minimum delivery.

Short list distributors…
Grey Eagle — 2 beers (3 with Hoegarden)
Major Brands — 2 beers
Glazer — 2 beers
Missouri Beverage — 2 beers
Summit — 2 beers
O’Fallon – 1 beer