The Midwestern Beer Thread

[rstravis]

Wow, I haven't been on this forum in ages, but I just saw that I missed this thread, and I can't not respond. I would vote, but it's been closed. But maxing it at 11 is unreasonable -- there are so many in the midwest. I'm in the Chicago south suburbs and a couple of miles from my house I can get at least 5 breweries from MI, several from WI and IN, and naturally, some from IL. So which breweries' beers have I sampled? Well, for the sake of brevity I'll limit it to the Midwest breweries whose beers I've had in 2011. I won't list specific beers because some were at a Beer Bout and were individual batches that cannot be bought in stores (and whose names I don't recall -- 10 8 oz. glasses of 10%+ abv beers tend to affect the memory).

So, breweries in 2011:
Michigan:
Founders, Bells, Dark Horse, New Holland, Arcadia
Indiana:
Three Floyds, Mad Anthony
Illinois:
Two Brothers, Flossmoor Station, Goose Island
Wisconsin:
Leinenklugel, Miller, New Glarus, Schlitz (is that still being brewed in MKE?)

Just 2011, and I'm at 14 breweries within the 4 states I've lived in in my life.

But I'm not an alcoholic, really. *urp*
And I'm not as thunk as you drink I am.

heheh

But the Midwest does rock for beer.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by rstravis

Wow, I haven't been on this forum in ages, but I just saw that I missed this thread, and I can't not respond. I would vote, but it's been closed. But maxing it at 11 is unreasonable -- there are so many in the midwest. I'm in the Chicago south suburbs and a couple of miles from my house I can get at least 5 breweries from MI, several from WI and IN, and naturally, some from IL. So which breweries' beers have I sampled? Well, for the sake of brevity I'll limit it to the Midwest breweries whose beers I've had in 2011. I won't list specific beers because some were at a Beer Bout and were individual batches that cannot be bought in stores (and whose names I don't recall -- 10 8 oz. glasses of 10%+ abv beers tend to affect the memory).

So, breweries in 2011:
Michigan:
Founders, Bells, Dark Horse, New Holland, Arcadia
Indiana:
Three Floyds, Mad Anthony
Illinois:
Two Brothers, Flossmoor Station, Goose Island
Wisconsin:
Leinenklugel, Miller, New Glarus, Schlitz (is that still being brewed in MKE?)

Just 2011, and I'm at 14 breweries within the 4 states I've lived in in my life.

But I'm not an alcoholic, really. *urp*
And I'm not as thunk as you drink I am.

heheh

But the Midwest does rock for beer.

The poll was meant to be taken literally, as in how many beers have you drank right now. :0

Here is the status of St. Louis Beer off the top of my head (brewpubs or breweries within the actual 1876 City limits, there are brewpubs and brewing operations scattered beyond the horizon which I'll add up later).

St. Louis City:

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company
Schlafly Tap House (St. Louis Brewing Company)
Square One Brewery and Distillery
Morgan Street Brewery
Six Row Brewing Company
Cathedral Square Brewery
Buffalo Brewing Company
Perennial Artisan Ales
The Civil Life Brewing Company
William K. Busch Brewing Co
4 Hands Brewery and Tap Room


Suburban:

Schlafly Bottle Works
Ferguson Brewing Company
Trailhead Brewing Company
Highlands Brewing Company
O'Fallon Brewing Company
Augusta Brewing Company
+ more in wine country.

Old school local independent brands currently contract brewed:

Lemp
Griesedieck

Italics are breweries about ready to begin production.

My hope is that the third wave craft breweries popping up in St. Louis will be of a caliber consistent with the most inventive and highest quality, not that some of those others don't try interesting things and create great beers, I just want more of it. I also want to see the classic brands resume production back in St. Louis.

[rstravis]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

The poll was meant to be taken literally, as in how many beers have you drank right now. :0

Oops, my bad. Well, tonight, just about 4 (@10%abv), but about to crack open a 6 pack of Mad Anthony IPA. After a 4 pack of Horn Dog barley wine, I'm thinking I'm not going to make it through all of the ipa. And if I do, I'm in way too good a drinking shape for a 37-year-old schoolteacher.

[Centropolis]

I forgot about another brewery, Cathedral Square in the Central West End.

Also,

Busch heir to start St. Louis-based brewery
Evan S Benn
St. Louis Post Dispatch
July 18, 2011

A member of the Busch family may soon lead a St. Louis brewery for the first time since the 2008 InBev takeover of Anheuser-Busch.

William K. "Billy" Busch, 51, said he is close to opening William K. Busch Brewing Co., a brewery that will initially focus on American-style pale lagers, similar to Budweiser and Bud Light.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainmen...#ixzz1SaNVRm2H

I added that to the list. However, as you can see, A-B Inbev is not on it.

Rumors are swirling of a brand new downtown brewery, effectivly thumbing it's nose at AB Inbev.

[Centropolis]

I added another brewery, 4 Hands Brewery and Tap Room downtown St. Louis. They are sprouting up like weeds!

I'm curious how St. Louis is catching up to Milwaukee, a few years ago it seemed like they had a few more brewpubs around, or maybe it just felt like that because of how concentrated all development is in MKE around downtown.

[Centropolis]

The William K. Busch Brewing Co. of St. Louis is distributing their beer...it's a lot like Budweiser made with better ingredients acording to the German purity law. Right now it's just the St. Louis area but should expand to all of Missouri and Southern Illinois very soon...with plans to distribute as far as possible in the future. They are unapologetic non-craft brewers, and that's refreshing in a weird way...when was the last time that happened? Maybe they can capture some of the Pabst crowd.

[newstl2020]

^Pabst drinkers can keep it. My hope is that Billy grabs ALL of the Miller/Coors drinkers, effectively consolidating the entire beer industry in StL . That'd be cool. It would also be cool if he took a plunge and located the pending brewery in North City. North city needs a huge catalyst to jump start development. Also create a bit of a North South rivalry with AB.

With it being (preliminarily) slated to be able to produce up to a million barrels, this should be pretty substantial when it begins to pop up. Hopefully sooner than later.

[DeBaliviere]

Originally Posted by newstl2020

^Pabst drinkers can keep it. My hope is that Billy grabs ALL of the Miller/Coors drinkers, effectively consolidating the entire beer industry in StL . That'd be cool. It would also be cool if he took a plunge and located the pending brewery in North City. North city needs a huge catalyst to jump start development. Also create a bit of a North South rivalry with AB.

With it being (preliminarily) slated to be able to produce up to a million barrels, this should be pretty substantial when it begins to pop up. Hopefully sooner than later.

I'd rather see him renovate the old Falstaff brewery at Gravois and Shenandoah. It would make for an interesting story to have him brewing in the shadows of the A-B brewery.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by DeBaliviere

I'd rather see him renovate the old Falstaff brewery at Gravois and Shenandoah. It would make for an interesting story to have him brewing in the shadows of the A-B brewery.

heck yeah. I hate seeing that thing crumble.

[Centropolis]

The St. Louis Brewer's Guild has been formed to unite and jointly market the growing number of craft and microbreweries in St. Louis.

The St. Louis Brewers Guild is unusual in that city-specific guilds are less common than statewide guilds, says Pete Johnson, programs manager for the Brewers Association, a Colorado-based trade group.

"An area has to have a critical mass of brewers to make a city guild worthwhile, and St. Louis certainly has that," JohnThe St. Louis Brewers Guild is unusual in that city-specific guilds are less common than statewide guilds, says Pete Johnson, programs manager for the Brewers Association, a Colorado-based trade group.

"An area has to have a critical mass of brewers to make a city guild worthwhile, and St. Louis certainly has that," Johnson says.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainmen...zz1nyK9aie5son says.

[Centropolis]

Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. is about to break ground on a 400-seat Bavarian-style biergarten next to its brewery and tasting room at 3229 Washington Boulevard in midtown St. Louis.

The open-air beer garden will include 50 German-built communal tables and benches. Urban Chestnut's beers will be served in liter and half-liter mugs, along with fresh bratwurst, soft pretzels and other traditional German fare cooked on an outdoor grill.



Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainmen...#ixzz1rravvcuF

[Centropolis]

As was mentioned in the Chicago thread Lagunitas is expanding production in Chicago, but I don't approve of it.

[Centropolis]

The only reason I bring this up is because it's so rediculous that I couldnt ignore it. I hope it happens and hastens the decline of A-B and Miller marketshare in St. Louis and Milwaukee and makes room for the local good guys.



The drumbeat for MegaBrew continues.

Bloomberg has an intriguing piece on the wires this morning, laying out how Burger King's impending return to public stock markets could free up cash for a much larger deal: Anheuser-Busch InBev swallowing rival SAB Miller.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/business/col...#ixzz1rrdiasoR

[ardecila]

Two words: Spotted Cow.

[Centropolis]

Oh yeah. That's wondrous stuff.

Here's an old school st. louis indy label, like Lemp. The wit is better with an orange.




I love supporting the old school labels but they do a piss poor marketing and distribution job. I have no idea how they stumble along and survive.

I always geek out when I find a "new" old school label in the midwest. We don't have many left in St. Louis, Wisco seems to be in better shape I think, and it's lucky the whole state was/is a brewing spot, St. Louis was an outlier because of all the lagering caves under downtown and the near southside.

[Nordeast Homer]

Minny has some great micro brews:
Fulton
Surly
Harriet Brewing
and Lift Bridge just for starters.
Summit is always a good mainstay too.

Spotted Cow....that's a great drink!

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. is about to break ground on a 400-seat Bavarian-style biergarten next to its brewery and tasting room at 3229 Washington Boulevard in midtown St. Louis.

The open-air beer garden will include 50 German-built communal tables and benches. Urban Chestnut's beers will be served in liter and half-liter mugs, along with fresh bratwurst, soft pretzels and other traditional German fare cooked on an outdoor grill.



Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainmen...#ixzz1rravvcuF

^ Interestingly, suburban Chicago is also getting a German beer hall and restaurant:

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

This sounds really cool. They are building a recreation of the famous Hofbrauhaus beer hall in Munich in Rosemont now. It will be brew Hofbrau beer on site. It's supposed to be open in June or July of this year. Can't believe I haven't heard anything about it before.

http://www.hofbrauhauschicago.com

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Two words: Spotted Cow.

My friends live in New Glarus and I've been meaning to get up there to tour the brewery. . . despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of their beers. . .

. . .

[the pope]

Originally Posted by Nordeast Homer

Minny has some great micro brews:
Fulton
Surly
Harriet Brewing
and Lift Bridge just for starters.
Summit is always a good mainstay too.

Spotted Cow....that's a great drink!

I was in Minneapolis for work recently and saw Summit on tap everywhere. I was very much pleased with my decision to consume multiple IPAs.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of their beers. . .

really?

man, i love me some spotted cow. that's a tasty beer.