Last weekend was the sixth annual St. Louis Heritage Brewers Festival. It began in 2007 and we've attended each and every year and this year, my sister and brother-in=-law were able to join us. In years 
past, they have had previous commitments but their schedule was free this year so we all braved the heat (it reached 96 degrees) and headed downtown. We took Metrolink to the Richmond Heights station and then rode down to the festival which was held in Ballpark Village. Every other year it has been held in Forest Park but there was a scheduling issue this year, hence the change in venue. It put the empty space to good use!
The festival featured over 80 beers from 15 local breweries. Wow, that's a lot of beer and no, we didn't try every one...hee hee hee. Here's a list of the beers we tried:
Bill's List:
- Hyde Park Stout - Augusta Brewing
- Single Hop IPA (Willamette) - Ferguson Brewing
- Brown Porter - Crown Valley
- Chocolate Ale - Schlafly
- Summer Ale - Charleville
- American Red Ale - 4 Hands Brewing
- Belgian-Style Blond Ale - Perennial Brewing
- Single Hop IPA (Columbus) - Exit 6
- Chocolate Ale - Schlafly
My List:
- Brown Porter - Crown Valley
- American Red Ale - 4 Hands
- Special Bitter - Civil Life
- Single Hop IPA (Strisselspalt) - Urban Chestnut
- Single Hop IPA (Zythos) - 2nd Shift
- APA - Charleville
- Irish Red Ale - Ferguson Brewing
- Belgian-Style Pale Ale - Cathedral Square
- Single Hop IPA (Willamette) - Ferguson Brewing
- Pumpkin Ale - Buffalo Brewing
- Chocolate Ale - Schlafly
You will notice a few beers that appear on both list. With the exception of the chocolate ale, all were unintentional. With more beers than ever before, it was hard to keep track of what we ourselves were drinking much less what the other person was drinking. Good thing they give you a beer tasting list when you enter the festival.
We didn't sample any beers from these breweries:
- Anheuser Busch - um, not sure why they need to be here, oh yeah they USED to be local
- Kirkwood Station (formerly Highlands) - We stop by here several times a year for dinner and a brew (or two) and have had all of the beers that they were sampling
- Morgan Street - same as #2
- O'Fallon - have had all of the beers that they were sampling
- 6 Row - same as #2 plus we had stopped by 6 Row after dinner on Friday and had a Single Hop IPA (Cascade) - YUM!
- Square One - same as #2
- Trailhead - same as #2
The festival beer this year was a single hop IPA. The various breweries all used the same recipe but the only difference between them was the type of hop used. IPA is one of my favorite beer styles so I was super happy. I tried 3, well 4 if you count the festival brew at Six Row the night before. I seriously would have tried the single hop IPA's from all of the brewers but I figured I needed to have at least a little variety.
I would be remiss not mention the chocolate ale by Schlafly. Wow! Yummo, seriously. I figured that I wouldn't need to taste any of their brews at the festival because I was sure that there wasn't a Schlafly brew that I hadn't tried. If they've ever brewed the chocolate ale before then I missed it. I sure hope they decide to bottle it or at least have it on tap so that I can visit Bottleworks or Tap Room to enjoy it.
Can't wait for next year. Cheers!
