St. Louis's Schlafly Bottleworks Proves There's More in St. Louis Than Just the Cardinals

22 Oct St. Louis’s Schlafly Bottleworks Proves There’s More in St. Louis Than Just the Cardinals

Posted at 18:35h in Musings, Uncategorized by Justin Knepp 0 Comments

By Michelle Downs of Indiana On Tap

Open since 2003, Schlafly Bottleworks in St. Louis, Missouri is a go-to place for a great brewery tour, great food, and an even better atmosphere. Oh yeah, their beer is pretty great too. Got it? Great. If you don’t, let me put it more simply: If you live in Indiana, it’s worth the trip. Not to be confused with the Schlafly Tap Room (which I hear has some harder to find beers on tap), Schlafly Bottleworks is the location Schlafly uses to actually bottle and ship their beer. Below is a quick list of what I thought about Schlafly Bottleworks and all the great things they have to offer.

The Beer

Schlafly is known for some pretty solid beers, so it’s no surprise that all the beers I sampled in their flight were delicious. The only new beer I sampled was their hefe, which was ridiculously good. And, I found out that drinking their pumpkin beer slightly warm brings more of the spices out in the flavor.

Bonus tip: if you’re looking to take a 6 pack of beer home from Bottleworks opt for the mix 6 pack. It’ll save you a few bucks and give you the same amount of beer.

The Food

I ended up with a turkey club sandwich, which was good, but didn’t compare to the pretzel breadsticks and beer cheese (made with their hefe of course). Seriously, make sure you get some of those.

The Tour

Since this was my first official tour at a brewery, I have nothing to compare it to, but I gotta say, I thought it was a good tour overall (this might be because we got to sample 3 beers). This wasn’t a “show up and expect to join” kind of tour. You have to signup and get a pass, which actually is one of their bottle labels that’s been laminated. When the tour starts you’ll make your way to the “brewseum” which is full of beer memorabilia from St. Louis. After a brief history of Schlafly Bottleworks and all the breweries around town, the tour guide passes around hops and malts to give you an idea of the ingredients that go into beer. Next you’ll be given a pair of safety goggles, and a tour around the actual brewery, which includes a trip to the bottling station, fermenters, mash tanks, and a trip to the tasting room. You end the tour with a sampling and history of three of their beers (i.e. hefe, pale ale, and an IPA). All in all, it was a great experience and I learned quite a bit about their beer making process.

Bonus tip: by taking a sip of your beer and then exhaling afterwards you’ll be able to taste all the flavors in the beer much better than you typically do.

I would definitely recommend checking out the Bottleworks location. And, if you have time, check out Schlafly’s taproom and Perennial Artisan Ales, a brewery that is all about mixing up some unique and delicious beer.