It was a big deal to move a festival as large at the St. Louis Brewers Guild’s Heritage Festival from Forest Park to the Arch grounds, so my first reaction is this: it was the right decision.

There was and is nothing wrong with Forest Park, but folks, there is just something about drinking a beer along with thousands of other beer lovers, with the Mississippi River on one side and the Gateway Arch towering over you on the other.

The Layout

Being back on the river was treat.  The layout of the Heritage Festival was really quite perfect, with each beer tent on the same side, with the walkway wide enough to accommodate lines at the tent with walkers crossing through.  On the riverside, festival goers had plenty of room to sit at some tables or lean on the new walkway bridges overlooking the Mississippi River.

At the event, 44 local brewers poured more than 100 beers including a few that stood out for us.  With so many breweries to try our festival game plan was to try breweries we can’t frequent on a regular basis, or new breweries we’ve never sampled.

The evening session is underway at the @stlbg #WhatIDrankAtHeritageFestival. We begin with @2ndshiftbrewing Czech Pils! @leighpalmr #drinklocal #drinklocal

A photo posted by Drink314 (@drink_314) on Jun 11, 2016 at 5:09pm PDT

2nd Shift Brewing

The brewery, known for beers like “Cat Spit Stout” and “Albino Pygmy Puma,” has been located in New Haven, Missouri, since 2009.  But it will soon be calling St. Louis home too, with plans announced to build a 18,000 square foot facility on the edge of The Hill neighborhood.  Their Czech Pils (Technical Ecstasy), an International-Style Pilsner (ABV: 5.4% IBU: 35 SRM: 4) was the perfect way to start off an evening of beer sampling on a hight St. Louis night.

Bastard Brothers Brewing Company

The “Bastard Brothers” are among a handful of new breweries entering the local market and it was a pleasure welcoming them and meeting a few of the brothers.  Don’t let the name fool you, these are good people who got their start as many brewers do, brewing for themselves.

Just met the bastards at #STL’s newest local brewer @bastardbrothersbrew. Get ready, they will be a force in the future. We had both the Wheat and American Ale and both were superb.

A photo posted by Drink314 (@drink_314) on Jun 11, 2016 at 5:36pm PDT

Deslogetown Brewery

I’ve been writing this blog for about a year and remarkably there a still a quite a few folks I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting.  So, when I saw the familiar crest of the Deslogetown Brewery, I went to say hello.  I got to meet the Greg and Kristie Camp, who’ve been running DB since 2009 when the began as simple homebrewers in a basement on the west side of Desloge, Missouri. 

When I introduced myself, Greg instantly made my night by remembering my using his Kölsch for a recent article entitled: From Portangelo to Tarasenkolsch – here are your St. Louis Blues Brews.  

We sampled Greg’s Shotgun Wee Heavy (ABV: 7% IBU: 17 SRM: 15), and promised we would meet and drink together soon.  Beer really is best way to meet new people. 

Stubborn German Brewing Company

Another local brewer we finally had the pleasure of trying for the first time, the brewery from Waterloo, Illinois where they say they brew real German beer, in a real German town, made by real Stubborn Germans.  Stubborn German not only served up a great Munich Dunkel style lager, but they get the award for best beer name.  

Everyone was laughing when I was trying this beer from @stubborngermanbrewingwaterloo and I don’t know why! #WhatIDrankAtHeritageFestival #theyareallgoingrinlaughatyou

A photo posted by Drink314 (@drink_314) on Jun 11, 2016 at 7:30pm PDT

Festival Standouts

The beer walk was complete with plenty of other tents and well positioned food trucks.  Some of our favorite stops: Meeting Brian Colon, owner of Crooked Craft Brew Tours, which will be coming to St. Louis late Summer  2016!!

Stand Out Brews

Along the nearly 3/4 mile beer boardwalk, we had plenty of time to sample brews from some of our favorite local beer makers.

 

Katy | 2nd Shift

American-Style Brett Beer
ABV: 5.4% | IBU: 14 | SRM: 3

 

American Brown Ale | Civil Life

American-Style Brown Ale
ABV: 4.8% | IBU: 40 | SRM: 21

 

Clemens Kolsch | Mark Twain

Kolsch
ABV: 4.4% | IBU: N/A | SRM: 5

 

Citra Double IPA | Main & Mill

Imperial India Pale Ale
ABV: 8% | IBU: 80 | SRM: 5

 

Hemp Hop Rye | O’Fallon

Amber Ale
ABV: 5.5% | IBU: 25 | SRM: 9.8

 

Elusive IPA | Public House

India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.7% | IBU: 60 | SRM: 10

 

The St. Louis Brewers Guild should take a bow.  They created a fun festival that was easy to navigate.  Provided a beer list that, let’s face it, can’t be beat.  But then remembered to celebrate St. Louis as a beer town by bringing this important festival back to the river front which helped make St. Louis the brewing capital of the world.

And, like any good river festival, they even remembered the fireworks.

See you next year for sure.

A great end to a great evening. Thanks @stlbg and all the brewers at the #heritagefestival2016

A photo posted by Drink314 (@drink_314) on Jun 11, 2016 at 8:05pm PDT

 

---

Can't visit the site everyday like us? Bummer! No worries, we've got you covered. Submit your email below to receive our monthlyish newsletter on reviews, tours, events and more!

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human: