Where to Watch the Big Game

While rooting for your favorite team, the Gateway City has countless spots to wet (or drench) your cheering whistle – whether you favor cans of cheap Stag, local craft brews or specialty cocktails. To help pare down your options, we’ve compiled a guide that matches sporting events with our favorite game-day hangouts so your hoots and hollers will never fall on deaf ears. AMSTERDAM TAVERN Though cosmopolitan sounding to first-timers, Amsterdam Tavern is the closest approximation to a blue-collar European corner pub that the Midwest can muster – minus the hooligans and obnoxious scarves. Here, you’re more likely to be bear-hugged by a stranger celebrating a goal than witness an actual bar fight. European football (soccer, to us Yanks) and random rugby matches abound on eight TV screens – including three outside on the expanded patio where cheerful groups of friends pack rows of wooden picnic tables teeming with pints. Game time specials include $15 buckets of Anheuser-Busch products and cans of Pabst, but the majority of this crowd is more than content to pony up the $4 to $6 for a frosty pint of Guinness, Strongbow, Civil Life Brown or Urban Chestnut Zwickel to wash down a triple-stack burger from The Dam – the newly opened burger/hot dog/sandwich joint next door. Amsterdam Tavern, 3175 Morgan Ford Road, St. Louis, 314.772.8224, amsterdamtavern.com FIELD HOUSE PUB & GRILL Tucked away on a side street off of Olive, Field House Pub & Grill is the watering hole of choice for rowdy frat boys and die-hard Billiken fans. Game days see crowds covered in blue overflowing the bar and pounding a few quick rounds before sojourning across the street to Chaifetz Arena, which is only stumbling distance away. Yet, those who stick around hardly miss out: Patrons enjoy 16 TVs (five of which are projection screens) and 20 beers on tap (nearly all of them from local breweries). Game day specials cater exclusively to Anheuser-Busch devotees – the most popular being $7.50 pitchers of Bud Light and $5 pitchers of Natty. Field House Pub & Grill, 510 Theresa Ave., St. Louis, 314.289.0311, fieldhousestl.com OVER/UNDER BAR & GRILLE Drafts are poured tall in this stylish Washington Avenue sports lounge, where young professionals in loosened ties mingle with jersey-clad superfans stopping for a quick one before hoofing it the rest of the way to nearby Edward Jones Dome. Entirely sports-centric, the laid-back bar maintains more of a highbrow fan base than your average corner pub – expect to see more vodka tonics sipped than cans of Natty Light. The appetizer menu lists scallops, fondue and crabcakes alongside more ubiquitous offerings of chicken wings, quesadillas and fries. Nearly 40 HD flat-screens – including two personal HD TVs in each booth – entertain patrons who guzzle 16- and 20-ounce drafts of mainly high-end imports and local craft brews. Over/Under Bar & Grille, 911 Washington Ave., St. Louis, 314.621.8881, overunderstl.com THE POST SPORTS BAR & GRILL Designed by guys for guys, The Post Sports Bar & Grill is a prime retreat destination – especially during hockey season. Flat-screen TVs cover pretty much every inch of this man cave, where the air is thick with wafts of wing sauce. Twenty foreign and domestic beers are offered on tap at this Maplewood-based sports fan mecca (with a new location in Creve Coeur), but when the puck drops, Blues fans are more likely to hit up the draft special: 22-ounce pulls of Michelob Golden, Coors, Miller Light, Pabst, Bud and Bud Light for $3.50. The Post Sports Bar & Grill, 7372 Manchester Road, Maplewood, 314.645.1109, thepostsportsbar.com THREE SIXTY Cardinals fans can pick from innumerable sports bars, but the view into Busch Stadium from the nest atop Three Sixty’s rooftop keeps Redbird fanatics flocking back every season to queue up to the impressive patio bar. From private school princesses to beer-bellied Joe six packs, every style of drinker can be spotted here during home games. Knowing they won’t have a problem filling seats at this rooftop ultra-lounge, Three Sixty’s management opts out of the whole game time “drink special” concept during baseball season. Yet, drafts like Stella Artois, Shock Top, Blue Moon, Urban Chestnut Winged Nut Ale and seasonal Schlafly aren’t priced as astronomically as the beer vendors over at the stadium. Plus, patrons looking for something more special can throw back a house-infused cocktail. Three Sixty, Hilton at the Ballpark, One S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314.241.8439, 360-stl.com