Bottom Line: Best Beer in StL.
There are a lot of options for beer in St Louis. However your stay is incomplete until you’ve driven south of town, away from all the gentrified hipster neighborhoods, to the industrial red brick abode of Perennial, a hop from the railroad tracks and a skip to the River City Casino. They are living in a metaphoric “Van down by the river.” The patio is in the parking lot of said red brick rust-belt vestige and is unremarkable. However, head inside and the space is a well-finished interior, comfortable and heavily air-conditioned to recoup you from the stifling summer heat.
A certain macro brew may have more visitors, but the best beer in StL is at Perennial. Artisan is a label they’ve claimed and deserve. The core of their production is Belgian ales, several carefully crafted with brett. Wild Ale wine-barreled with cherries, Saison brewed with chamomile, Tripel with Missouri honey, are among the manifestations of maestro head brewer Cory King’s mind.
Side Note: Side Project Brewing, once literally the side project of King is now up and running as a fully functional taproom in Maplewood, MO. It’s top of my list of to-do’s when I’m back in the Lou.
Highlights:
- Aria – Belgian ale w/ brett
- Peach Berliner Weisse
- Stefon – Dark Rye Saison
#1 would be La Boheme, a wild ale, if you could get your hands on a bottle.
Destination add-on: Grant’s Farm. Owned by AB, but it is the former homestead of Ulysses S. Grant. The United States doesn’t look like it does today without him. Go see the house, kids can pet the animals. And there’s free beer even if it’s the AB swill.
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