Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 4-5-17

34 I COVER STORY I
April 5, 2017
MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE
@MIDRIVERSNEWS
MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
From craft brewery desert to oasis:
The St. Charles County craft brewery boom
By ANDREW TESSMER
Once referred to as a “craft brewery
desert,” St. Charles County is quickly
becoming an oasis for those seeking to
expand their beer options while staying
close to home.
July 1995 marked the opening of Trailhead
Brewing Company, the first brewery
in St. Charles since prohibition. O’Fallon
Brewery opened in 2000 [and since relocated
to Maryland Heights], a year before
Exit 6 Pub and Brewery, the area’s first
microbrewery, opened in Cottleville. Still,
five more years passed before Friendship
Brewing Company opened its doors in
Wentzville in mid-2016. After Friendship
opened, the timeline contracted greatly.
In January 2017, homebrew shop Design-
2Brew opened its microbrewery and tasting
room. Just two months later, Two Plumbers
Brewery + Arcade opened its doors in
St. Charles. In the next four months, three
more breweries will open in the now craft
brewery oasis.
So, the question arises, “why are so many
craft breweries popping up in St. Charles
County?”
Jake Harrell, head brewer at Trailhead
Brewing Company said the interest in craft
breweries “is due to an interest in variety
as it had been previous to prohibition.”
“For decades, the American people were
exposed to ‘American lagers’ only,” Harrell
said. “Nowadays, the public has a
renewed interest in local and handcrafted
products, whether classic, traditional styles
or new, cutting-edge brews.
There is so much variety to offer that
many are wanting to put out in their local
neighborhoods to showcase what is possible
from such a wide variety to ingredients.”
And the people of St. Charles County
have proven, by patronizing early adopters
such as Trailhead, that they are thirsty for
even more locally produced beer options.
“I’m a lifelong resident of Wentzville.
I wanted to create something unique in
my hometown community,” said Brian
Nolan, co-owner of Friendship Brewing
Co. “Opening the brewery is our slogan
realized – it’s the culmination of years
of friends making beer and beer making
friends,” Nolan said.
The brewery itself is akin to a beer
museum, with posters, signs and memorabilia
of bygone brands covering nearly
every inch of the 3,600-square-foot space.
Featuring more than 25 taps, plenty of
indoor and outdoor seating, and an onsite
kitchen, Friendship has become a hangout
for those throughout St. Charles and
beyond.
People take pride in their communities,
and craft breweries are becoming a point of
civic pride in burgeoning and established
towns across the country – St. Charles
County is no exception.
Nationwide, the demand for beer is only
growing. Luckily, so is supply. At the end
of 2016, the Brewers Association reported
a record-setting 5,301 operational breweries
in the U.S., putting a craft brewery
within 10 miles of most Americans. This
average, however, does not yet hold true
for some St. Charles County citizens.
“There were plenty of people in St.
Charles who wanted to go to a local
brewery but didn’t want to have a 30- to
45-minute car ride to the city to do it,” said
Brad Wheeling of the soon-to-open St.
Peters-based Third Wheel Brewing. “We
really want to be the kind of place where
people can just hang out, bring their laptop
or a book and casually sip a beer while they
do their thing.”
Defining craft breweries
While there is no singular or legal definition
of what makes a brewery a craft
brewery, there are a few guidelines that
may help put a circle around the burgeoning
trade.
According to the Brewers Association,
craft breweries produce six million barrels
– 252 million gallons – of beer or less
per year. They focus on innovation, creating
entirely new flavors or styles, and often
add twists to classic styles. In addition,
craft breweries generally maintain integrity
in what they brew and in their independence
from non-craft breweries.
Bible study and a wort chiller brought
three guys together to create Good News
Brewing. As the story goes, co-owner
Josh Miller was in the hospital waiting for
results related to his unborn child while the
guys were attempting to solidify a name for
their North O’Fallon-based brewery. With
Josh’s longing for good news about his yetto-be
born child, he suggested the name
Good News Brewing and the name stuck.
In addition, the guys enjoy spreading good
news. Their 1,000-square-foot space – a
former dairy – will feature a brick fire
pizza oven, a large patio and eight to 10
taps pouring a line of experimental beers
including a dark chocolate-pomegranate
stout and smoked cherrywood wheat in a
homemade, one-barrel [31 gallon] brew
system.
New and unique is the
defining feature of the
beers produced locally –
and many are produced in
micro batches.
Exit 6, located in Cottleville,
brews all of its
beers a 1.5 barrel brew
system, which allows
them the flexibility to
brew more often and
be more experimental.
One such beer is their
Iced Oatmeal Cookie, a
sweeter variation of a
classic amber ale that,
thanks to some special ingredients, tastes
just like a glass full of grandma’s iced oatmeal
cookies.
“There was no place to get a wide selection
of craft beer in St. Charles when I
opened,” said Exit 6 owner Jeff Britton.
“Being involved in the community, I knew
there were craft drinkers out here, but a
huge void in options. I wanted to try and
fill that void.”
Beer, friends and fun
While experimentation is key to brewing
beer, so is producing and drawing attention
to classic, oft-forgotten styles. According
to Dave Johnson, head brewer for the
O’Fallon-based Missouri Beer Company,
“craft beer should be approachable, come
in a wide variety of styles and honor the
tradition of classic styles.”
One such classic and very approachable
beer is Missouri Beer Co.’s dark mild, a
style that originated in 17th century England.
The full-flavored, dark-colored beer
features light, toasty notes, no hop bitterness,
low alcohol [around 3.5 percent alcohol
by volume] and a much thinner body
than most dark-colored beers. The dark
mild is good gateway style for those on the
fence about dark beers.
After tasting such a wide variety of
experimental and classical styles, creativity
often takes hold, leaving a newly minted
beer enthusiast thinking about experimenting
on their own. This is where homebrewing
comes in and where a bulk of today’s
craft breweries got their start.
Due to the increase in popularity of
homebrewing, shops focused on carrying
the malt, hops, yeast and equipment used
to make beer at home started popping up
across the county. Once such shop in the
area is Design2Brew.
In addition to shopping for ingredients,
customers can brew a beer right in the shop
and Design2Brew is licensed to serve its
small batch beers on the premises.
“Homebrewing is a unique way to better
appreciate beer,” said Christian McCarthy,
head brewer at Design2Brew. “Tasting the
ingredients during the stages of brewing
helps [the brewer to] understand the flavors
each ingredient imparts into the finished
beer.”
All-in-all, craft beer, whether making it
or drinking it, should be fun. The recently
opened Two Plumbers Arcade + Brewery
has embraced this sentiment with its combination
of nano-brewery and retro arcade.
“Beer and games, what could be better
than that?” asked Two Plumbers’ owner
Robert Schowengerdt. He said the catalyst
for opening Two Plumbers was “because
we kept running into other residents at
beer festivals in St. Louis. We started to
realize there were a lot of people like us
who wished there was a craft brewery in
our home town.”
Sampling the oasis
With a focus on fun and promoting St.
Charles County’s craft beer scene, April
22-29 has been designated as St. Charles
County Craft Beer Week – a week designed
to highlight what each local brewery and
other beer-focused establishments have
to offer. Each venue hosts special events
throughout the week beginning with a beer
fest at Shamrocks Pub & Grill in St. Peters.
“Tasting is the best way to experience
beer,” said Kyle Dent, Shamrocks owner
and craft beer aficionado. “The beer fest
is like an appetizer designed to whet the
appetite for more good things to come
throughout the week.”
For more information and a schedule of
activities, visit www.stccraftbeerweek.com
and check the special St. Charles County
Craft Beer Week section in the April 19
issue of Mid Rivers Newsmagazine.