This month’s Sauce Magazine features their annual Wine and Beer Guide, detailing some of what’s going on in the world of beer and wine in St. Louis. While one of my favorite features of the guide is a list of St. Louis area breweries and some of the services they offer, they also feature a dynamite interview with Brian Owens, head brewer at O’Fallon Brewery. Here’s a small excerpt:

Owens, however, relishes every minute of the brewing process, especially savoring the early morning. “The best time in my day in any given week is mashing in the first batch of beer during the day. The beginning of the brew. Nobody’s here usually. It’s 5:30 in the morning. It’s quiet. You’ve got the place to yourself. The smell is absolutely wonderful!”

If you want to read the whole article, you’re going to need to seek out a free Sauce Magazine, as this article is only available where Sauce is distributed now available online! If you don’t know where to find a Sauce, use the handy-dandy Zip Code feature here.

It looks like next year’s St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival may be getting a bit bigger as it looks like St. Louis will be introducing two new local breweries this year.

The Stable

I mentioned that this one would spring up during my rundown of the Rotten Apple a while back, but now Sauce Magazine has provided some additional information on the new brewery/distillery:

The old Lemp stables will soon be home to the hard stuff, when the Amalgamated Brewing Co., which also owns The Rotten Apple in Grafton, debuts The Stable, a microbrewery, distillery and pizzeria, at Cherokee Street and Lemp Avenue next month. Owners Jesse Jones and Paul Pointer will brew a lager and distill absinthe, grappa, vodka, rum, gin and moonshine (a corn-based liquor) under the brand name Hytest; the spirits will be served at The Stable, and the pair intend to distribute the hard stuff eventually. But Hytest won’t be the only brand at the Benton Park spot; Jones said that other spirits and brews, including local suds, will be available, including a large Belgian selection. There’ll be items for teetotalers, too: handcrafted Neapolitan-style pizza, sandwiches and salads.

Mattingly Brewing Company

Continuing on the St. Louis city brewing trend, it looks like we’ll have another brewery near the old Lemp Brewery:

Both of the Mattinglys have a strong interest in the microbrewery and started with home brewing about seven years ago. The two, who are engineers by trade, started talking about starting a microbrewery around 2003.

“A hobby became a business,” said Doug Mattingly.

They’ve hired a manager for the brewery, Matt McMullen, and are hiring a brewmaster.

When they open, their microbrewery will have the capacity of making batches of 124 gallons at a time. They plan to brew a variety of craft ales, including India pale ale and a stout. Pizza will be a specialty in the microbrewery, which will have a capacity of 50.

“St. Louis some time ago used to be the capital of craft brewing. We think it’s well on its way to being so (again),” Douglas Mattingly said.

Exciting time to be a beer lover in St. Louis.

^{_{Thanks to Jim for reminding me about these articles.}}

It’s 2008, which means it’s time for yet another Reader’s Choice Poll from Sauce Magazine. I think as beer lovers, it’s our duty to try and bestow recognition on places that go above and beyond the standard beer selections of most restaurants. That being said, let’s look at last year’s selection:

2007 Best Beer Selection

1. Growlers (two locations)
2. The Schlafly Tap Room
3. Cicero’s
4. Tin Can Tavern and Grille

Let’s be honest, it’s a pretty terrible selection of beer restaurants. Growlers list of a lot of light lagers from around the world. The Tap Room makes many fine beers, but they’re all Schlafly beers, and in my opinion one brewery does not a good selection make. Cicero’s is about the only one I can truly support, they also have a very large list, but there seems to be a bit more thought put into it. Lastly, Tin Can is kitsch and more light lagers.

I think this year we can do better, I think we can really promote some of the best beer lists in St. Louis. Let me offer some of my suggestions (in no particular order):

Erato on Main: Oh sure, I’ve sung their love song for quite some time, but honestly this is one of the best lists in St. Louis. Not only do they carry a lot of truly great beer, but they carry a lot of beer you can’t get on this side of the river. Just look at this list from January, wouldn’t you kill to see this list at more local restaurants? Not only that, that’s not the same list that you’ll find if you head over there this weekend. It’s constantly changing, the sign of a place that really loves beer.

33 Wine Shop and Tasting Bar: Maybe one of these days I can convince Dylan or Jake to send a copy of their beer list so I can convince those who haven’t yet gone to make the trip to 33. Not only do they offer a large variety of fantastic craft beers, but they also age beers as well. For instance, I enjoyed a bottle of 2006 Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René on Friday evening. They’ve recently upgraded their draught selection from two beers to six, which allows them to offer even more interesting selections like Aecht Schlenkerla Fastenbier. If that’s not enough, they even sell beer to you to take home at retail prices. No need for paying a premium for something you want to enjoy at home.

Bailey’s Chocolate Bar: You’ll need to look no further than Bailey’s drink list (pdf) to realize why they’re consistently one of my favorite places to get a beer in St. Louis. Sure people go there for the dessert, but I’d argue there are no better desserts than having something like a glass of draught St. Bernadus Abt 12. Not unlike 33 Wine Shop, Bailey’s also goes through the special effort of aging beer, something that sets them apart from any other beer restaurant in St. Louis.

Really there are a number of places that could easily make the list as well, Iron Barley, Harvest, and Mangia Italian come immediately to mind. So take the time, go vote and let’s see a better selection of places that truly love beer and give them the recognition the deserve.

Sara White from Sauce sent me an email letting me know that Left hand Brewing should be arriving in Missouri in late March.  This is another one of those breweries that you can get across river, but not here in St. Louis.  Some of Left Hand’s beers include: Black Jack Porter, Jackman’s American Pale Ale and one of the Alström Brothers favorite beers of 2008, Polestar Pilsner.

As soon as these beers hit the shelves, I’ll be sure to let everyone know.

In my quest for trying to find as many of my homebrewing ingredients as humanly possible I’m reaching out to all of my blog readers to help me find a pumpkin. I was talking to Sauce’s own Mr. Burge yesterday and he recommended that I purchase a pumpkin now instead of in August, because in his words, “the early ones aren’t as sweet, the colder it gets, the flavors are more concentrated.”

So on his recommendation, I’m going to purchase a pumpkin now, roast it, puree it and freeze it for next August. I’d prefer finding a pumpkin from one of the local farmers, but I have a feeling that pickings may be light. Any help?