Pull up a chair and get ready for a cold one, because a new microbrewery will soon be adding to the now booming local craft brewing scene in St. Louis. Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. will be an “unconventional-minded yet tradition-oriented brewer of craft beer,” co-founders Florian Kuplent and David Wolfe said today in a press release.
Kuplent and Wolfe are both former employees of Anheuser-Busch. Kuplent, who worked as a brewmaster for the beer giant and will serve in the same capacity for UCBC, most recently developed a line of award-winning craft-style beers for the Michelob brand. Wolfe was employed in A-B’s marketing department for 18 years, working his way up from wholesale operations to direct U.S. marketing efforts for various European and Belgian beers.
UCBC looks to differentiate itself from the growing number of area microbreweries through a New World-meets-Old World beer philosophy, a term the owners have deemed “beer divergency” and which UCBC imbibers will enjoy through two beer series: the Revolution, or modern American craft beers, and the Reverence series, which gives a nod to classically-crafted European beer.
“Most breweries do an English- or American-style ale. We want to focus on Germanic roots – more lager versus ale,” explained Kuplent of the Reverence series. As for the Revolution series, Kuplent said he “wants to play around with ingredients, combine flavors and play with malt varieties.”
Kuplent and Wolfe will be outfitting a renovated 1920s garage with a new state-of-the-art brewing system designed to produce enough beer for distribution – 1,000 to 2,000 barrels in the first year – to St. Louis area restaurants, bars, groceries, liquor stores and other retail outlets. About one-third of UCBC’s product will be sold in-house with 10 to 15 beers on tap at any one time. The owners hope to collaborate with the local craft beer community and offer their beers on tap as well.
When Urban Chestnut Brewing opens in late 2010, guests will be able to enjoy the beers on tap at the microbrewer’s biergarten, located at 3229 Washington Ave. in Midtown.
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This article appears in Aug 1-31, 2010.