When Dan Tripp, co-owner of O’Fallon’s Good News Brewing Company and the new café and roastery Alpha & Omega Roasting Co., does something, he goes all out. It's a trait he shares with business partners Matt Fair and Josh Miller.
“If Matt and I get into something, we’re going to put our energy into it. He just bought a race car—he took it apart, and it’s already put together again. We’re both kind of freaks of nature. So when I started roasting, it’s like, ‘Don’t just roast coffee at home—open up a coffee roaster.’”
The goal: Introduce O’Fallon to better-quality coffee—but without rushing the process. “We’re experimenting right now," Tripp says. "We want to have some house blends, a house dark, and a house medium, so that you can expect those to be on every time you come.
At Alpha & Omega, Tripp roasts coffee beans from Cameroon on-site and uses them to create everything from a brewed coffee or espresso shot (both $2.50) to hot and iced lattes. Hot lattes can be flavored with vanilla, white or dark chocolate, and caramel, and sell for $4.50. The iced-latte selection includes chocolate milk and vanilla almond milk options. If you can forego the caffeine, the hot chocolate is excellent, mixed with a pump of white chocolate, dark chocolate, and caramel syrup.
The menu is based around a choice of seven grilled cheese sandwiches ($6 to $8.50), though there are a few other items, including a limited daily run of breakfast burritos and overnight oats. The grilled cheese options include a bacon, fried-egg, and cheese sandwich; the Italian (filled with salami, pickles, white American and Provolone cheese); and the outstanding chipotle–pepper jack chicken sandwich (pictured above).
A selection of classic cocktails ($8) includes mimosas, Bloody Marys, and espresso martinis (pictured above left), as well as a chocolate–peanut butter cup martini. Alpha & Omega also taps five draft beers from sister venue Good News. These are $5.50 for a 16-ounce pour, with the exception of the Nitro Coffee Milk Stout (pictured above right), which is a 12-ounce pour. Guest beers currently include the Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout and Blueberry Blonde from southern Illinois brewery Big Muddy, and Nebraska Brewing’s Oktoberfest.
The roastery is located in a former home on the main street running through O’Fallon’s north side. The central staircase partitions the lounge area into two. Each space is decorated with mid-century modern furniture, including a quirky high table and a corner sofa, and retro light fittings.
The setting and style help give Alpha & Omega a distinctly homey feel. In the back of the building is the bar where the coffee is made, the cocktails mixed and the draft beers poured. Like the rest of the furniture, the barstools are mid-century modern. The second-floor conference room will also be available for small group meetings and other events. Another room on the second floor will be set up with lounge chairs for people to camp out and work with their laptops.
Alpha & Omega looks likely to grow a loyal following among O’ Fallon residents. During a visit of two or three hours, a varied bunch of customers came and went: people stopping for a coffee or beer after a day at work, teenagers with coloring books, parents and children taking advantage of the café’s board games. A retired couple enters, cheerfully declaring to the staff: “We’re not buying anything today—we just wanted to see what you’re selling!”
The roastery also creates supplies of coffee for one of Good News’ most popular beers. “We made our Hazelnut Coffee Milk Stout, and the response was phenomenal from our customers,” Tripp said. “I feel our coffee stout is something that will eventually do well on shelves, if we ever start distributing. So we can control the flavor and control our costs by roasting our own coffee, instead of having to buy commercial coffee.”
Good News opened its brewpub in July 2017, and is set to launch a new one in Defiance in spring 2019. At 7,000 square feet, the Defiance location will be seven times larger than the O’Fallon brewpub, with a seven-barrel brewing system in contrast to O’Fallon’s single-barrel system. Tripp said “we feel like this will help make us a regional name. Until now, we’ve been an O’Fallon, Wentzville, St. Peters name. But millions of people travel through wine country every year, so hopefully this will give us some regional recognition for being a big brewery.”
The special of the day—Vampire Deathwish—is a product of Good News' wood-fired pizza oven.
In the meantime, the Good News team has plenty to keep them busy, with their new café and roastery, and this weekend’s Good News Brewing Sausagefest. The inaugural event takes place on Good News’ patio from November 2—3, featuring brats made with the brewery’s beer, sausage pizza, hot dogs, and sauces from the Beer Sauce Shop.
