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In 2005, restaurateurs Paul and Wendy Hamilton purchased the former malt house and last remains of the Joseph Schnaider Chouteau Avenue Brewery, one of the most successful St. Louis breweries in the 1870s.
Schnaider’s Beer Garden (below) covered several adjacent acres, had three music pavilions, and could accommodate several thousand people at once. And if we’re to believe Distilled History (a “drinking blog with a history problem”), the brewery/beer garden “became a nationally known resort where visitors could enjoy music, watch theater, and of course, drink beer.” Rumor has it the St. Louis Symphony had its beginnings there as well.
The Hamiltons are doing their best to keep that spirit alive.
The building at 2017 Chouteau (above) is now home to Vin De Set (perhaps best known for its sprawling rooftop patio); Moulin Events and Meetings (seven different event venues); Grand Petite Market; and the most recent addition, PW Pizza, that opened in May 2011.
Never one to sit still, Hamilton announced plans last November to convert yet more square footage (i.e., his former woodworking shop) into an at-the-time-unnamed “St. Louis brewers bar.” (Sauce magazine announced the news here.)
According to Jason Arnold, Director of Operations at Moulin, Vin de Set, and PW Pizza, the new bar will be called 21st Amendment: The Brewer’s Bar, a name germane to both its location (the corner of 21st and Chouteau) and to the U.S. Constitutional amendment that repealed Prohibition.
Arnold says the original idea was to only include craft beers brewed within a certain radius of St. Louis, but noted that would have excluded superior brews from nearby states like Michigan and Colorado.
So the concept was refined. Now the hope is that “all local brewers will be promised either a tap handle or a bottle.” Arnold says to expect 50 taps and 40 standard bottle beers, plus several in large format bottles. Appropriately for a place named after the 21st Amendment, a selection of wine and spirits will be available as well.
The food component will be supplied by PW Pizza with additional beer-related snacks produced in a small kitchen within the 2000 SF space.
Hamilton says the bar should be fully open by the end of February, but at the very least be functional in time for the annual Centennial Beer Festival (Feb. 20-22), where the curious can get a sneak taste of the brews to come.
