The Ultimate Local Beer List
March 26, 2008 1:33 pm Beer MusingsI received an email from Dan Kopman, the VP of St. Louis Brewery last week and I thought it posed an interested thought, what’s my ultimate list of local beers? Here’s the email:
Just a quick thought (run on sentence to follow). I saw a posting about your perfect beer list or something like that. Moving on from that idea and as a big believer (instilled in my beer DNA from my early days at Young’s in London) that freshness is the key and that locally made is the key to freshness, what would be your perfect list for a bar with say 4 to 6 taps and then some bottles, of locally made beer including what AB makes in StL? I ask this with Heritage Fest approaching and many retailers looking to feature local beers during that week.
I thought this was a clever idea and really gave me something to ponder. Unfortunately a lot of my local favorites are seasonal so I’ll actually be making two lists, the first list will be of beers that are available year round and the other list will be comprised of my favorite local beers. Also remember, I made these choices based on beers that are actually distributed in St. Louis just so people don’t think I was looking to shun local craft brewpubs. The lists are after the jump.
Year Round Availability:
- Schlafly - APA
- Schlafly - Oatmeal Stout
- Schlafly - No. 15
- Anheuser-Busch - Amber Bock
- Anheuser-Busch - Michelob
- Anheuser-Busch - Ray Hill’s Pilsner (Though I don’t know that this is brewed in St. Louis.)
- O’Fallon Brewery - Smoked Porter
- O’Fallon Brewery - 5 Day IPA
- O’Fallon Brewery - Wheat
- Griesedieck Bros - Premium Golden Pilsner
I these beer choices provide a wide swath of not only different beer styles (with just a little overlapping) but also an impressive offering of just how much talent we have in St. Louis. I guess the additional of Budweiser could have been included, but my guess is that Dan wanted to give people a taste of things they possibly may have never sampled before.
Mike’s Ultimate St. Louis Beer List
- Schlafly - Cask APA
- Schlafly - Oatmeal Stout
- Schlafly - No. 15
- Schlafly - Barrel Aged Bourbon Imperial Stout
- Schlafly - Barrel Aged Barley Wine
- Schlafly - Pumpkin Ale
- Anheuser-Busch - Michelob Marzen
- Anheuser-Busch - Ray Hill’s Pilsner
- Anheuser-Busch - Michelob Chocolate Lager
- O’Fallon Brewery - Barrel Aged Smoked Porter
- O’Fallon Brewery - Cask 5 Day IPA
- O’Fallon Brewery - Goats Breath Bock
I’m sure this might be the hotly debated list, but really these are just my personal favorites of local beers. They offer me something really memorable and something that I always look forward to. (Though I do think I cheated little bit with the Schlafly Cask APA.) Am I missing something? Did I forget someone (I really hope I didn’t.) What are your thoughts?
Tags: anheuser-busch, beer list, brewers heritage festival, Griesedieck, o'fallon, schlafly
BMock :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
I don’t know anything about them, but what about Lemp? Is that made in St. Louis?
Mike :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
It’s not actually. It’s contract brewed out of PA. I have a bad feeling Griesedieck Bros may be contract brewed outside of St. Louis too. But according to BA, it’s from here in St. Louis.
Dave :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
OK, I’ll play, but I’ll be rotating a lot of seasonals, and am not including anything I don’t like to drink myself (which isn’t likely to be a sound bidness plan, but this is just pretend) . . . .
Year round:
O’Fallon Smoked Porter
Schlafly Pilsner
Schlafly APA
Seasonal:
Schlafly Coffee Stout
Schlafly ESB
Schlafly Kölsch
O’Fallon Pumpkin
If we were including brewpubs, I’d have Alandale’s Bronze Lager on my year-round list. 5 Day is a fine beer, but Schlafly’s reformulated APA just shades it for me.
No cask unless I can have no sparkler or gravity dispense - the sparkler ruins the hop nose on both 5 Day and Schlafly APA. Actually, the best local cask beers I’ve had were Schlafly’s Oatmeal Stout, and their Scotch Ale (on gravity at Cod & Cask a couple of years ago).
Mike :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
Agreed on the sparkler. I can’t tell you how annoyed I get when I receive my cask APA with two fingers of head.
Dave :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
TTB’s most recent approval (8/4/04) for Griesedieck shows it being brewed by O’Fallon.
Sara :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
I thought Griesedieck was contract-brewed by Sand Creek in Wisconsin, but let me check on that…
Dave :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
The ‘98 label approval is for Gluek in Minnesota. All the rest of the Golden Pilsner label approvals, from ‘03 and ‘04 are O’Fallon. The ‘05 approvals for the wheat are for Morgan Street.
Sam H :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 3:45 pm
Lemp Jurassic Dark is brewed by O’Fallon.
My list:
Schlafly Oatmeal Stout
Schlafly Pale Ale
O’Fallon Gold
O’Fallon 5 Day
Schlafly APA
O’Fallon Smoke
Amber Bock
Lemp Jurassic Dark
Griesedeick Golden Pilsner
Then rotate:
Schalfly Christmas Ale
Schalfly Saison
O’Fallon Wheach
O’Fallon Cask 5 Day
All the Barrel Aged from O’Fallon and Schalfly (I’m greedy)
Jeff :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 4:56 pm
Griesedieck is no longer brewed by O’Fallon
Derek Bean :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
Hey Guys,
As Sales Manager for O’Fallon Brewery, I’d like to answer some of the questions posed above.
There was a time when Griesedieck and Lemp Jurassic Dark were contract brewed by us, but no longer. (In the case of Griesedieck, it was their draft beer that was contracted by us.)
Griesedieck has also been contract by Morgan Street, and more recently, Augusta/ Square One. However, the vast majority of their beer (draft & bottle) is contracted by the aforementioned Wisconsin brewery. (Bob G., please feel free to chime in here.)
Regarding Lemp Jurassic Dark, we haven’t brewed that since around this time last year. And, to my knowledge, the Lemp guys have discontinued it. And, Mike, you are correct, their beer is contract-brewed by Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Fully acknowledging the pros and cons of contract brewing, I would just like to say the practice of it is incredibly commonplace. All of the world’s major breweries contract brew each others beers for each other in some part of the world. And, moreover, many craft brands do it too. In fact, Schlafly’s bottled beers were all contract brewed until they got the Maplewood Bottleworks up and running, when was that–2003, 2004?
Dave :
Date: March 27, 2008 @ 7:51 am
Derek,
Nothing I said was remotely meant to knock contract brewing, and I apologize if it was so interpreted. I was just trying to get an answer to Mike’s query as to whether Griesedieck was brewed in Missouri or not.
The TTB archive is usually a solid source for this sort of thing, though apparently not in this case. Thanks for clearing some of this up.
Mike :
Date: March 27, 2008 @ 7:54 am
Yeah, there is absolutely nothing wrong with contract brewing, I was just trying to follow the spirit of Dan’s comment of “that freshness is the key and that locally made is the key to freshness.”
Honestly, I think I missed putting Charleville Brewery on the list. I honestly think they fit the spirit of the comment as well.
Derek Bean :
Date: March 27, 2008 @ 5:27 pm
Hey Guys,
I didn’t think you were knocking contract brewing and I apologize for any misunderstanding. Mike, thanks for re-directing back to Dan’s point.
And, I agree about Charleville–their Half Wit Wheat is such a great witbier! I love that stuff on tap (if you can find it)! So much better than Blue Moon.