With summer officially less than two weeks away, area residents can drink a good-riddance toast to a spring full of depraved weather this weekend at the St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival.
The event will run from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday, June 11, and from 1 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 12. It will feature 14 area breweries, three of them new to the event, and will take place on Forest Park’s Central Fields.
“Most beer festivals are similar in the fact that they give festival-goers a chance to sample a range of beers from multiple breweries,” Jay Cunningham of Anheuser-Busch Inc. told us. “But what makes the St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival unique is that it’s ours – the St. Louis community’s. With our rich brewing history, we feel St. Louis has the distinction of being ‘Beer Capital, U.S.A.,’ and the festival allows all of the local brewers to get together and celebrate the wide variety of styles produced in our city.”
Its roster certainly testifies to the area’s sudsy heritage. Returning participants include Amalgamated Brewing Co., Anheuser-Busch, Augusta Brewing Co., Buffalo Brewing Co., Highlands Brewing Co., Mattingly Brewing Co., Morgan Street Brewery, O’Fallon Brewery, Schlafly Beer, Square One Brewery and Distillery, and Trailhead Brewing Co. Joining those 11 returnees will be Cathedral Square Brewery, Hill Brewing Co. and Six Row Brewing Co. The festival will offer more than 60 lagers, ales and other beers; it will informally spotlight hefeweizen. Also available will be food from five members of the St. Louis Originals collaborative: Companion, Harvest, LoRusso’s Cucina, SqWires Restaurant and Vin de Set.
Proceeds from the St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival will benefit after-school programs at the nonprofit Lift for Life Gym.
Tickets cost $30 in advance and $35 at the rain-or-shine event. To buy them, visit the festival’s Web site, call 1.888.792.2424 or visit A-B’s tour center, the Schlafly Tap Room or Schlafly Bottleworks.
This article appears in Jun 1-30, 2010.