During its birthday each year, Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. is visited by a mythical beast from faraway lands: the wolpertinger, a fantastic amalgam of pheasant wings, deer antlers, a rabbit head, and squirrel body, as well as fangs for good measure.
This year, during the brewery’s fifth birthday, is no exception.
The wolpertinger isn’t just a Germanic jackalope, though. It’s also a beer and a festival of craft brewing. On Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m., all three converge at the brewery and bierhall in The Grove.
“We don’t make anything we call our beers easy,” quips event manager Ryan Rakel after a reporter attempts the pronunciation. “Wolpertinger is kind of our mascot.”
It’s also a mascot for the craft-brewing scene that the festival celebrates: a multitude of wildly different parts coming together into something wild and wonderful.
This year’s event brings together 37 breweries and more than 100 beers to sample. The Bolzen Beer Band gives polka the punk treatment, and the brewery’s inner workings will be on display.
“It’s our anniversary party,” Rakel says. “Our friends in brewing can celebrate with us. We ask them to bring things that are unique to them, what characterizes them or what’s something weird they want people to try.”
Every year, the brewery invites a spotlighted visitor to headline. “This year, we invited Deschutes, out of Bend, Oregon," Rakel says. "They are good friends of ours. They’re raiding the cellar and treating St. Louisans.”
The Wolpertinger beer is a little different every year. Rakel describes this year’s brew as a triple fermented Belgian that's a little spicy. It’s brewed in three barrels, imparting flavors from each, including oak, bourbon, and red wine.
“Like it’s namesake, it’s pretty different,” he says.
Kegs of Wolpertingers from past years will be tapped, and a few new and interesting casks beers and other kegs UCBC has held back will also be on offer. Among the beers are a few produced at the Urban Chestnut Hallertauer Brauerei in Germany, including Hopfenperle and a Fresh Hop Lager.
Each year, the wolpertinger himself makes an appearance at the festival, though Rakel says he keeps his own counsel and no one quite knows when or how he’ll appear. “We don’t know when he’s going to be around,” Rakel says. “Maybe around sunset, toward the end of the day, when people have maybe had a sample or two and are maybe questioning their sight a little.”
Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door. Get them at urbanchestnut.com/merch.
