Review: 21st Street Brewers Bar in St. Louis

Lit candlewicks snap and flicker, throwing shapes of light on the jagged interior stone walls of 21st Street Brewer’s Bar, a below-ground beer-drinking oasis. An homage to local brewing, this overlooked hangout has emerged as one of downtown’s scrappiest contenders for the best place to enjoy a pint.

Beneath Vin de Set and PW Pizza in Lafayette Square, a narrow hallway twists, turns and takes an abrupt halt at an unmarked doorway, which opens to a cozy, subterranean room. Since the bar’s quiet opening in March, it has played host to a regular crowd of beer lovers rather than beer snobs. A cavern of cool environs as well as drinks, 21st Street evokes underground Biergartens and lagering cellars, like Uhrig’s Cave and other 19th-century drinking venues in St. Louis that are largely forgotten. This is an entirely fitting location, given the history of 2017 Chouteau Ave. Constructed in 1876, the basement space originally served as the catacombs for the Schnaider Brewery, one of St. Louis’ first and largest breweries.

The bar that stands in its place is an Old World, stone- and wood-decorated venue that celebrates St. Louis brewing, past and present. Case in point: local craft beer takes center stage among the 50 taps behind the massive beer bar. A nearby “wall of brewmasters” is lined with 8-by-11-inch mug shots of hometown brewers sporting wide grins. Raising a pint to them is a diverse crowd of beer enthusiasts, 20- and 30- and 40-somethings who are fed up with the usual overcrowded late-night haunts.

This bar definitely leans more Cheers than Coyote Ugly. Its stools are easily accessible, as is the affable and efficient staff that mans the taps and readily dispenses recommendations and sample pours. The beers are highly drinkable: the ever-familiar Busch tap is situated next to easy-sipping Missouri crafts like Urban Chestnut’s new Stammtisch lager. Standouts from the draft selection included Civil Life’s reboot of its American Brown, now dubbed the Big Year Brown Ale, which is hoppier and more thick with roasted malt than its predecessor, and even more smooth and satisfying on the finish. The Charleville Tornado Alley amber ale was another winner. This medium-bodied dark beer is a smoky little treat for lovers of rich, malted ales with roasted and nutty aftertones. The bottle selection is also worth delving into: in addition to the normal who’s-who of foreign and domestic choices, the management has thrown in an ample selection of rich Belgian ales, ciders, porters, lagers, hefeweizens, stouts, and a few less-travelled choices, such as wild ales, barley wines and alt beers.

Though it’s a beer cellar at heart, the bar stocks a proper share of the hard stuff and a serviceable wine menu. The folks at PW Pizza deliver perfectly crispy pizzas on thick, oversized wooden peels. More East Coast than St. Louis thin-crust style, which is to say pleasantly chewy and slightly charred, these modestly portioned pies were themselves worth the return trip. The Wolf was well dressed with fennel sausage and apple wood-smoked bacon, both putting it over the top as the most savory and carnivore-friendly of the bunch. Giving it a run for the money was Big Balls, a monster of a pie topped with oversized meatballs, fresh basil and caramelized onions, a trio of unique flavors fighting it out on a sea of melted mozzarella. For something smaller, the soft pretzels were simple yet phenomenally good, especially when slathered in healthy doses of the Milton Creamery cheddar cheese and whole-grain honey mustard dipping sauces.

While raucous dinner parties racked up hefty tabs upstairs, the Brewers Bar, even on a Friday, was more empty than expected for a place this nice after several months in business. But for the moment, I’m more than happy about the surplus of leather chairs from which to sip another cold beer.

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2017 Chouteau Ave., St. Louis, 314.241.6969, 21stbrew.com