For the eighth year running, the Centennial Beer Festival, a standout among an increasingly crowded field, returns to Lafayette Square. The festival has expanded, taking up more days and more rooms in the historic Schnaider Brewery Malt House.
“We made a whole week out of it,” says festival founder Jason Arnold.
Stay up-to-date with the local arts scene
Subscribe to the weekly St. Louis Arts+Culture newsletter to discover must-attend art exhibits, performances, festivals, and more.
The St. Louis Brewers Guild has already held its annual meeting, keyed to the festival. On Wednesday night, find your inner zen before finding some inner hops with Yoga Buzz, the site-specific yoga class with local food and drink purveyors. And if you’re among the lucky ones who scored tickets to the sold-out St. Louis Brewmaster Dinner on Thursday, enjoy five courses and creative pairings, hosted by Civil Life Brewing Company. The rest of the weekend brings scheduled tastings with live entertainment.
“When we started this festival, there were maybe four local breweries, 80 beers. Since that time, the beer scene has blown up—we’re up to like 30 now,” says Arnold. “If somebody said to me, ‘Would you start a beer festival today?’ I’d say no. Now if you look at it, everybody seems like they are throwing a beer festival.”
While beer geeks are welcome at the festival, it’s not solely for those frothy ladies and gents. “The beer geek, I hear that term,” Arnold says. “They are a huge part of the movement. There are people who enjoy craft beer without being obsessed. We’ll have some ciders and some Shock Tops. It’s mainstream and hard-to-find.”
DIY enthusiasts can show off, too. For the second year running, the festival is hosting a home brewers’ competition. The beer with the most votes will appear alongside the spring lineup at 21st Street Brewer’s Bar.
For $21, the VIP experience in the Malt House Cellar gets visitors access to rare and limited-release beers, as well as cellared and vintage selections. And enjoy food and a specialty tasting glass. “We buy really expensive stuff” for the VIP experience, Arnold says.
The regular offerings are top notch, too. “We pay for our beer; we’re not asking for donations,” says Arnold. “They donate their time, but we buy the beer. They’re bringing what they want, not what they can afford.”
Arnold is excited for plenty of what’s on offer. He says Anheuser-Busch is operating a small pilot brewery, trying out some interesting brews. “They are popping up at festivals,” he says. “It’s literally in the testing phases, so that’s fun.”
Civil Life, which does a lot of English style beers, has been working on some Belgians, including a table beer and a blonde that will be available at the festival. Columbia, Missouri’s Logboat Brewing Company will be on hand, as well as the organic Old Bakery Beer Company out of Alton, Illinois. St. Nicholas Brewing Company from Du Quoin, Illinois will make its festival debut. And if you missed last month’s Urban Chestnut Brewing Company birthday party, fear not: Some Wolpertinger will be on hand.
A portion of the proceeds go to the St. Louis Area Food Bank. The food bank is also raffling off a year’s supply of beer, between 40 and 50 cases.
The festival scene looks to only be growing, as does the festival. “We’re getting more people traveling from out of town,” Arnold says. “St. Louis is definitely in the conversation now.
