Full Description
Once synonymous with Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis slowly embraced craft beer and became a powerhouse within the industry. Joel Bittle's history charts the growth of the Gateway City's craft brewing scene from its first convention-defying microbreweries in the 1990s through COVID-era difficulties and beyond.
Interviews with the founders and brewers of the city's craft beer businesses reveal how enthusiasm and expertise coalesced into a thriving community. Their stories of brewer creativity and underdog business acumen include looks at now-iconic brands like Schlafly and 2nd Shift. Bittle also describes how St. Louis entrepreneurs used the spirit of collaboration to not only change the city's beer culture but build a scene that attracted a following eager to move beyond the hometown beer giant and other established brands.
An engaging insider account of a craft beer bastion, Gateway Beer takes readers inside a movement while telling a story of resilience and triumph.
Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword, by Cheryl Baehr
Introduction
Prologue
Short overview of craft beer's origins, the city's identity as a Budweiser town, the heights local breweries reached, and the current struggles in the industry's downturn.
Chapter One - Fermentation
The history of beer in St. Louis, why the area provided the perfect location and culture of AB's dominance, and how the company and the Busch family influenced the city for 150 years.
Chapter Two - Schlafly
The vanguards of the craft beer movement and the legal and cultural obstacles they overcame. This chapter is told through the lens of their opening party.
Chapter Three - The Early Wave
The stories of three breweries that followed Schlafly - A veterinarian turned brewer, a kid too young to drink his own beer, and a woman who would go on to encompass every aspect of the St. Louis beer industry.
Chapter Four - InBev
The roots of the sale of AB to InBev started with the beer wars of the 70s, and a boardroom coup that deposed the beloved Gussie Busch. A look into how InBev outmaneuvered AB, and the culture fallout.
Chapter Five - 2nd Shift's First Act
The story of local brewing wizard Steven Crider and his brewery 2nd Shift.
Chapter Six - Ferguson
A comprehensive look at the socio-economic factors that led to one of the country's worst riots, and the brewery that sat at the heart of it.
Chapter Seven - Kraftig
After the sale of AB, Billy Busch tried to create a new brewery to compete with InBev. He ran into obstacles created by his family business decades before.
Chapter Eight - The Class of 2011
The explosion of craft beer in St. Louis. Four national and world recognized breweries began the next wave. St. Louis was famous for beer again.
Chapter Nine - Side Project
Cory King's hobby would turn into an elevation of the form, and one of the highest rated breweries in the world.
Chapter Ten - Modern Brewery Embraces Modern Hops
A look at the use of different hops told through the story of a Harvard student who brought brewing to Cambridge.
Chapter Eleven - Narrow Gauge
New England IPAs were only available in Vermont and Massachussetes when Jeff Hardesty opened Narrow Gauge. He would ride the trend to national prominence.
Chapter Twelve - 2nd Shift's Second Act
A move into the city, and the difficulties of COVID.
Chapter Thirteen - The Brewsters
The history of women in beer, the women who make up St. Louis beer, and the struggles women face in the beer industry today.
Chapter Fourteen - The Perennial Family Tree: Rockwell and Perennial on Lockwood
Where other breweries overreached, expanding beyond their capabilities, Perennial expanded through the brewers who went on to open their own breweries. It is a story of legacy over profit.
Chapter Fifteen - City
Concluding thoughts, the state of craft beer today, what models work and don't work in the current climate, and what the future holds for craft beer.
