What I Do: Ryan and Lindsay Sherring at Six Mile Bridge Beer in Maryland Heights
It’s a craft beer love story: A homebrewing South African boy falls for a St. Louis girl working in Cape Town. A few years and a wedding later, Ryan and Lindsay Sherring launched 021 Brewing in Cape Town. In 2014 they left it all behind and brought his brewing knowhow and her marketing savvy to launch Six Mile Bridge Beer in Maryland Heights.
How do the St. Louis and Cape Town brewing scenes compare? RS: I don't even think they are comparable. … I know that the market has matured since we’ve left, but even so, there are probably as many craft breweries in St. Louis as there are in all of South Africa right now. LS: I like to compare it to craft beer in St. Louis in the early ’90s. There’s only a few players. It’s 20 years behind, and that’s just because there hasn’t been a market for it.
How did the St. Louis brewing community welcome you? RS: South Africa is very cutthroat. Nobody shares any information. It’s each man for himself. When we got here, it was such a surprise because all of the sudden these people wanted to help us and to get involved. … Brian (Owens), the head brewer at O’Fallon Brewery, is a really busy guy, and he took two nights out of his week to help me fix up our bottling machine. LS: It caught us by surprise because in Cape Town, we did approach other brewers to do collaboration beers and everyone was very: “Stay at arms length.” Here, the culture is very much: “A rising tide floats all ships.”
Why did you want to have a tasting room here? RS: We were always going to be a production brewery. … (But we wanted) to be able to build relationships with our patrons. LS: People come in and they ask what’s our next beer. People here want more because they have expanded palates, and they know more about the beer industry. … We didn't really interact on a level where people wanted to know that much about the process in Cape Town.
Where did the name Six Mile Bridge come from? RS: Sixmilebridge is a village (in Ireland) between two cities where people used to stop and rest for the night, stay at pubs to have a beer and meet new friends. I don’t think there’s a better medium for people to connect over than a drink. You have a beer, everybody relaxes, starts to talk and you start to build friendships. I think Six Mile Bridge encompasses that.
How has this business affected your relationship? RS: Lindsay is highly competent. I’ve worked with some pretty smart people – I wouldn’t trust them with what Lindsay’s doing. She’s definitely the secret ingredient. LS: When we are working 85- to 100-hour weeks … we get to do it together, and we’re passionate about it, and I think that’s what fuels us every day.
Six Mile Bridge Beer is just one brewery that opened in Maryland Heights last year. Click here for our experts' picks on what to drink in St. Louis' newest beer hotspot.
