While Texas boasts a fine tradition of beer and breweries, the number of brewers in North Texas pales in comparison to the center of the state. St. Louis, on the other hand is the birthplace of Anheuser-Busch & sports a fine hops field of their own. It’s a good thing we’re not playing Milwaukee… let’s see how these two stack up.
DFW - 1 National Brewery, 2 Microbreweries (one more on the way), 3? Brew Pubs:
Rahr & Sons in Fort Worth & Franconia in McKinney put out around 15 unique brews between them. Both breweries contribute to the local community invarious ways. Rahr & Sons sponsors 8 local soccer clubs and supports a new charity every week for their tastings and tours. Franconia recycles their used hops into cattle feed and uses Green Mountain Energy. Deep Ellum Brewing is coming on line and should be fully functional within the year.
The area also is home to Humperdink’s, Gordan Biersch and Three Rows; brew pubs with a host of seasonal brews and year-round favorites ranging from light pilsners to dark stouts.
For national beers, MillerCoors also has a regional brewery in Fort. Worth. While the corporate headquarters might not be local, the jobs and distribution is, making this a safe choice for the rational locavore.
St. Louis - 1 National Brewery, 3 Microbeweries, 8? Brew Pubs:
Schlafly Bottleworks brews about 50 styles of beer a year, bottling and distributing 6 of them. Once a month, they host SLOWednesday, presented by Slow Food St. Louis. Each month a different farmer from the local farmers market will speak about their farm, giving you the opportunity to get to know your food, its origins, and most important, its producers.
Urban Chestnut brews for local pubs and will start bottling soon. They also claim to support local businesses and charities, but I had trouble finding any history or schedule of doing this. Six Row is another local brewer that can be found on drought in Missouri & Illinois.
Morgan St. Brewery, Amalgamated Brew Co., & Square One Brewery are solid brewpubs in the area. Square One, also being the first microdistillery restaurant in Missouri. Great news for those who don’t drink beer.
Anheuser-Bush, while started in St. Louis and still headquartered there has been purchased by a European conglomerate who has stripped all of the personality and cut thousands of employees all in the effort of efficiency and cost cutting. In a European nanny-state, this may work, but in St. Louis, where the new owners have cut life insurance to retirees and discontinued numerous benefits, it’s detrimental to a local economy.
Honorable Mention: IBC & Fitz’s Root Beers
So what’s the verdict? AB’s current operation is a slap in the face of localism, but should that take away from the local support Schlafly gives to local farmers every month? While Dallas has one less microbrew, they use their tour and tasting proceeds to support a new charity every week. Definitely a good way to spread the love around the community. Also, nothing seems more Texan than recycling hops into cattle feed. Is there a program that could make it easier for all breweries to do this?
When it all comes down to it, I felt the question I had to ask is which community makes it easier to obtain a local beer. While Rahr has a lot of popularity throughout Texas, it’s presence in Dallas is actually smaller than one would think. Franconia makes a great beers and they are on tap at many places, but their penetration pales in comparison to that of Square One or Urban Chestnut. At the end of the day, local breweries seem more woven into the fabric of St. Louis food and beverage culture. With new breweries in Dallas, and the anticipation of Deep Ellum Brewery becoming fully operational, maybe Dallas will catch up soon. Time to pull up the boot straps. This might be more difficult than we thought.
Score After the 1st Game: St. Louis 1 – Dallas 0
Andrew Gondzur
October 18, 2011
You forgot South St. Louis’ newly opened microbrewery, The Civil Life Brewing Co., on Holt in Tower Grove South.
http://www.thecivillifebrewingcompany.com/Site/Welcome.html
ryanlsumner
October 18, 2011
…aaaaand beer is poured directly onto Texas’ wound.
Thanks for the heads up, Andrew. Is it a brew pub? Do they bottle?
James
October 18, 2011
And a couple of other missed in St. Louis
- Perennial Artisan Ales (www.perennialbeer.com) – very new micro with limited local distribution in restaurants, really unusual beers from this one
- Buffalo Brewing (www.buffalobrewingstl.com) – brew pub located downtown, buffalo burgers are good, but honestly, wait in line at Pappy’s BBQ right next door
- O’Fallon brewery (www.ofallonbrewery.com)- microbrewery with decent local distribution
And one of the newest – 2nd Shift Brewing (http://2ndshiftbrewing.com) – tasty microbrews!
Just bring your big appetites for beer up to St. Louis, we’ll fill that up for ya. The appetite for a World Series? Sorry, better luck next year … Go Cards!
andrew
October 18, 2011
St. Louis microbrewery Buffalo Brewery was omitted from this article and so was the other recently opened brewery Perennial Artisan Ales.
Amalgamated Brew Co is also micro distillery restaurant (maybe second in Missouri but who knows)
http://www.buffalobrewingstl.com/
http://www.perennialbeer.com/
Jim
October 18, 2011
You missed quite a few.
* Saint Louis Brewery / Schlafly Tap Room – 2100 Locust Street, Saint Louis
* Square One Brewery – 1727 Park Avenue, Saint Louis
* Urban Chestnut Brewing Company – 3229 Washington Ave, Saint Louis
* Augusta Brewing Company – 5521 Water Street, Augusta
* Six Row Brewing Company – 3690 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis
* O’Fallon Brewery – 26 West Industrial Drive, O’Fallon
* Kirkwood Station Brewing Company – 105 East Jefferson, Kirkwood
* Perennial Artisan Ales – 8125 Michigan Avenue, Saint Louis
* Griesedieck Brothers Brewery Co. – PO Box 31203, Saint Louis
* Trailhead Brewing Company – 921 South Riverside Drive, St. Charles
* Morgan Street Brewery – 721 North Second St., Saint Louis
* Schlafly Bottleworks – 7260 Southwest Ave, Saint Louis
* Buffalo Brewing Company – 3100 Olive Street, Saint Louis
* The Stable – 1821 Cherokee St, Saint Louis
* Cathedral Square Brewery – 3914 Lindell Boulevard, Saint Louis
* Hill Brewing Company – 11970 Borman Dr. Suite 250, Saint Louis
* Anheuser-Busch, Inc. – One Busch Place, Saint Louis
* Latrobe Brewing Co. – One Busch Place, St. Louis
StephanieSTL
October 18, 2011
I like this! I can’t wait to see what other points you have for this series.
I love beer and I’m really in to trying different local beers. I LOVE Schlafly pale ale (My favorite and go-to beer) And Square One’s spicy blonde is crisp and delicious. Their light squared is also really good.
You make me want to go to Texas and see what you have to offer!
Willie
October 19, 2011
Just to point out more of the beer awesomeness of St. Louis, the new Dallas brewery, Deep Ellum Brewery, hired Drew Huerter as their master brewer. Drew previously worked at Schlafly a St. Louis brewery. Dallas has to import brewers from St. Louis.