In Columbia, Missouri, Logboat is breaking ground on an expansion that will improve overall operations. Plans include upgrading the loading docks, as well as adding 19,000 square feet to the fermentation space, which should help “fill out the state as we add more tanks,” says Logboat president Tyler Frazee.
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Schlafly’s long-awaited fourth brewpub recently opened in a renovated 70-year-old building at 907 Main in Highland, Illinois. The 80-seater offers a patio, serves up the new Highland Lager, and will house a small pilot brewery.
After sharing space with Cugino’s for years, owner Jeff Hardesty is expanding the Florissant brewery and doubling the fermentation space. “This will lead to some additional production, which will see its way into distribution,” he says. Expect more lagers and stouts, including barrel-aged varieties.
The Midtown brewery is launching a new barrel-aged line, the John R. Ferrara Brewing & Blending line, with a focus on high-gravity beers. To achieve the high-ABV beer, head brewer Jim Wells uses iterative mashing, with a total of six mashes per batch.
Modern Brewery owner Beamer Eisele recently leased the former Bloom Café space on Oakland Avenue, just south of Forest Park, and plans to convert it into a large tasting room later this year. The 6,000-square-foot space includes a kitchen and plenty of space for “some very cool design elements,” Eisele says.
New this year for Cory and Karen King’s multi-award-winning craft brewery: Shared, a collective-brewing venture located across the street from the main brewery in Maplewood, in a building that it shares with Pizza Champ, a popular spinoff concept from the owners of Elmwood.
Co-owners Mike Johnson and Jeremy Hall hope to soon be serving beer in the forthcoming brewery’s location on Main Street in Belleville, Illinois. The team came up with the moniker as they tried to add a nanobrewery inside Hall’s homebrew store, Down the Hall Homebrew. “It was going to be extremely tight,” says Johnson. “We were trying to shoehorn a brewery into this tiny location.” Look for “beers with a twist,” including sours, lagers, and New England–style IPAs.
Serious About Seltzer
Suddenly, seltzer is everywhere.
Alpha Brewing’s Tangerine Pretty Pleasy
This crisp variety of Alpha’s Pretty Pleasy line of seltzers is a bright addition to the lineup. And there are plenty of other flavor options: black-cherry lemonade, mango, and grapefruit.
Urban Chestnut’s Passion Fruit and Citra Hops Urban Seltzer
Urban Chestnut offers two varieties: Lime & Salt and this fruity version, which blends the sweet-tart flavor of passion fruit with citra hops.
Schlafly’s Lemon Lime Boomerang Mead Spritzer
Schlafly Beer takes a slightly different approach. Mead—the world’s oldest alcoholic beverage—inspired the drink, containing water, honey, and citrus flavors.
Friendship Brewing’s Woodruff Seltzer
Among a variety of flavors—Moscow mule, wild strawberry rhubarb, and POG (Passionfruit/Orange/Guava)—try the woodruff, a sweet, earthy herb typically found in Berliner weisse beers.
4 Hands’ Blackberry Pomegranate Hard Seltzer
One of three year-round seltzers from 4 Hands, it toes the line between tangy and jammy, making for a nice switch from citrus-based seltzers.
Designated Drinking
These local producers offer great sippers that go easy on the alcohol (or omit it entirely).
For cocktail-like blends of flavors that you won’t find elsewhere, try this local kombucha brand. Offerings include exciting combinations such as pineapple and sandalwood, Moujean tea and watermelon, and kombu and avocado.
COMpanion KOMbucha Love & Hop-iness
This small-batch, dry-hopped kombucha has all the crisp, refreshing flavor of a shandy without any of the alcohol. Citrus and grapefruit flavors shine through alongside the hops, and COM KOM’s new, eco-friendly 12-ounce cans make it easy to toss a few in the cooler.
WellBeing isn’t just a brewery that makes an N/A beer; it’s a craft brewery dedicated to making nonalcoholic beers that give sober folks the same variety of taste and quality as other beers, just with a minimal ABV. A recent collab with 4 Hands, dubbed Liquid Rain, is a standout, as is its coffee cream stout.
As nonalcoholic beverage sales have grown, so too has the array of CBD-infused drinks on the market. Josh Grigaitis’ Mighty Kind rolled out its line of cannabis seltzers last year, and the product list now includes such flavors as Heady Lemon, Orange Dream, and Violet Mango, as well as a Mooby-inspired collab with filmmaker Kevin Smith.
