APRIL-JUNE 2016 VOLUME # 001 ISSUE # 001
EXIT 6 CTQ Talks Beer with Mike Griffin - Page 12
Jeff Britton finds his Exit - Page 5
AMERICAN FOOD WITH IRISH ATTITUDE
Come enjoy a smoke-free
IRISH PUB
right here in Saint Peters Missouri!
We have something for everyone here ...
30 Beers on tap and the whole family is welcome!
Shamrocks-PubandGrill.com 4177 VETERANS MEMORIAL PKWY | SAINT PETERS, MISSOURI
Inside: A rundown of which new beers are coming to town. 4
We sit down with Jeff Britton of Exit 6 Brewing. 5
A recap of the bottle share at Friendship Brewing Company. 6
A Brewery Called Friendship. 8
We sit down with Mike Griffin and talk homebrewing. 12
Upcoming beer related events around town. 14
Thank you for picking up the inaugural issue of Craft Tap Quarterly, a publication founded and crafted by a group three craft beer lovers with the purpose of showcasing the craft beer scene in and around the St. Charles County area. We strive to promote local breweries, craft beer bars and bottle shops. To build an enlightened and supportive craft beer community. To keep the craft beer consumer educated on new beer releases and events. And to give local brewers a platform to share their story and passion for the craft. In this issue we’ll take you behind the scenes to discover the story of Friendship Brewing Company. You’ll also get to know a local homebrewer called Griff in this edition of Homebrew Corner. We’ll take you along to a brewhouse chat session with Jeff Britton of Exit 6 in a section we’ve called Mashing In. We’ll also give you a breakdown of what brews are new to the area via a section we like to call, creatively, New Brews. We’ve also compiled a pretty nice list of this quarter’s beer festivals in the MO Festivals section. The Recap will introduce you to our bottle share program and reveal the locations of our upcoming shares. Thanks for snagging a copy of our publication. Please remember to drink while reading, but don’t drink or read while driving. And if you drink while reading, get a cab, friend. Cheers, The Craft Tap Quarterly Team, Andrew - Writer & Sud Sipper Chris - Designer & Pint Pounder Tim - Web Dude & IPA Slayer
Published by Mash Tun Marketing, Craft Tap Quarterly is a publication focused on informing craft beer enthusiasts; providing breweries, craft beer bars & bottle shops a platform to share their stories, events, releases & passion for the craft; and building an enlightened and supportive craft beer community in the greater St. Charles region. Circulation is 500 quarterly through over 15 locations. Additional issues are available free online at www.stccrafttap.com. Our editorial team communicates regularly with the various craft beer related entities represented in the publication to ensure the information expressed is correct. All information expressed herein is true to the best of our knowledge. Granted, often we imbibe on the tasty beverage that is craft beer while gathering said information. Anything falsely reported was done in honest human error, not in an attempt to disparage anyone’s craft beer knowledge or reputation. We just like to drink beer and tell people about all things craft beer.
A list of upcoming Missouri Craft Beer Festivals.
For advertising information, please contact us at: beerme@stccrafttap.com
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No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the publisher.
Copyright 2016 Mash Tun Marketing, LLC.
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Logboat Lookout Pale Ale (Cans) Crown Valley Antique Amber (Bottles, Draft) Crown Valley Brewers Cask Stout (Bottles) Crown Valley Saddlebag Stout (Bottles) Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion (Bottles, Logboat Barrel-Aged Dark Matter (Draft) Logboat Bourbon Imperial March (Draft)
Cans, Draft)
Logboat Imperial March (Bombers, Draft) Logboat Mamoot Mild (Cans) Logboat Shiphead Ginger Wheat (Cans) Logboat Snapper IPA (Cans) Stone Enjoy By Tangerine 5.30.2016 IPA
Oskar Blues Beerito (Cans)
(Bombers, Bottles, Draft)
Urban Chestnut Fantasyland - 16 oz
We have 2 locations
Featuring the largest selection of Specialty Spirits, Wines and Craft Beer in St. Charles and St. Peters. 2190 1st Capitol Dr, St Charles, MO 63301 (636) 949-6633
7884 Mexico Rd, St Peters, MO 63376 (636) 387-0330
(Cans)
Jeff Britton of Exit 6 The Dream
“I hated my job, my boss and my boss’ boss,” says Jeff Britton as he sits in the tasting room of Exit 6, his nano-brewery in Cottleville, on a busy Tuesday night in February. Traffic was bad and I knew I was going to be late he recalls of the moment he developed the true gumption to dump the day gig and open his own brewery. When he finally arrived to his IT job that day, now about five years ago, his boss met him at his cubicle and led him to a conference room where his team members waited. They were all out of a job thanks to outsourcing. Britton received a good severance package, which allowed him to take the plunge of going into the brewing business without any outside investment. “I cashed in my severance and took the plunge,” he says. “My business fails, I fail.” Britton didn’t fail. Far from it. In little under five years he has opened St. Charles’ first nano-brewery, started a brew fest, developed a couple of high-selling flagship beers and garnered national attention when the lawyers from Starbucks came knocking about his now infamous (famous?) “other ‘F’ word” beer.
The Brew
“I’ve been brewing for more than 20 years,” Britton says. “As a matter of fact I brewed my first beer, a pale ale, when I was 21 using a Mr. Beer kit.” Jeff would go on to create a few more brews in the plastic kit that has seemingly become the gateway to brewing for many of today’s craft brewers. “I quickly realized that the Mr. Beer brews sucked, so I started doing research and visiting home brew shops and then progressed to extract brewing and again to all-grain brewing,” Britton recalls. He developed a taste for beers of all styles, which was the inspiration for Exit 6’s nano-brewery model. All of Exit 6’s beers are brewed in Cottleville on their 1.5 barrel system, which yields about 45 gallons of beer per brew session. “This size of our brewery really allows us to brew some goofy beers and gives
us the freedom to brew what we want,” Britton says. The ‘we’ he references includes head brewer Justin Helm, who came to Exit 6 for a beer and ended up interning under the previous brewer and then took the reigns after the previous brewer departed. Britton develops the recipes, including the top-selling Vanilla Cream and Ryane’s Red ales, and Justin makes the magic happen.
The Grain Bill
Due to the demand of the beer and the small barrel size of the brewery, the guys limit the number of their beers on tap to a maximum of five at a time and only serve it in house. Flagship brews include the Vanilla Cream Ale, a 5.5 percent, light bodied cream ale featuring a custom made vanilla; and the increasingly popular Ryane’s Red, a hopped up 6.8-percent, 76-IBU American Amber Ale featuring Centennial and Amarillo hops, but featuring enough caramelly sweetness to balance the bitterness. House brewed beers aren’t the only thing you can get at Exit 6. They feature 70 different craft beers, 23 of which are on tap. You won’t find any crap on tap here. Their tap list changes weekly and they are always putting on something new. “If we won’t drink it, we don’t sell it” Bitton says. Visit Exit 6, St. Charles’ first nano-brewery at 5055 Highway N, Ste. 113, Cottleville, Mo., 63304 Sundays 4pm12am, Mondays 4pm-10pm and Tuesday - Saturday 4pm1:30am.
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March Bottle Share
O
n the second Tuesday of each month, Craft Tap Quarterly teams up a local craft beer establishment -- be it brewery, bottle shop, beer bar or home brew shop -- to host an open-to-all bottle share. Everyone’s welcome to attend, the only rule is you’ve gotta’ bring a bottle or two to share with your fellow beer lovers
and you’ve got to be really into beer! Last month we took over Friendship Brewing Company in Wentzville, MO. The then un-opened brewery drew nearly 60 beer lovers and more than 100 cans, growlers and bombers. The author brought along Logboat’s Bennie Mocha Stout, though he would’ve liked to have enjoyed this
an American Grill featuring
fresh ingredients and
local microbrews
2447 HWY K O'FALLON, MO 63368
(636) 240-0633 www.mgtofallon.com
robust brew all by himself. The elixir pours a rich black with a quickly dissipating dark tan head. The aroma delivers coffee and lactose creaminess with slightest hint of dark chocolate. The drinker is immediately hit by the dark roasted coffee flavor with the roasted malts layering in and hiding any acidity from the coffee. The swal-
low reveals dark chocolate notes with vanilla that pair well with the creamy coffee stout. Pick one up at Craft Beer Cellar in Columbia. Standout brews included Rock Bridge’s draft only Option #2, an imperial milk stout with vanilla, hazelnut and coffee beans and Surley Brewing 2015 Darkness, a small batch version of Darkness imperial stout that won’t be officially released until October 2016. Other tasty beverages in-
cluded Hop Heist - Equinox by Breese, IL based Excel Brewing Company and Piney River’s Float Trip blonde ale. If you attended, be sure to let us know your favorite by tweeting at @stccrafttap. The share was a great time for forming new friendships and allowing interested beer enthusiasts to catch a glimpse inside the beer museum-esq brewery that is Friendship. To learn more about Friend-
ship, check out our feature story “A Brewery Called Friendship” on page 8. April’s Bottle Share will take place from 7-10 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12 at Barrel Bar, 1001 Rondale Ct., Dardenne Prairie, MO 63368. The May edition will be on Tuesday, May 10 at Brewer’s True Value, 915 Jungermann Rd, St. Peters, MO 63376. We’ll call Mike’s Grill + Tap home from 7-10 on Tuesday, June 14.
A Brewery Called
By Andrew Tessmer - Head Sud Sipper
8 Brian Nolan (L) and Dan Belcher (R) take a rare moment of pause as they lean on a 1948 truck that calls Friendship home.
I
t was an unusually beautiful Febru- Names of breweries are sometimes arary afternoon when I found myself bitrary or forced, but Friendship Brewing in Wentzville, MO, a growing town Company is perfect, real, and carries with of just over 32,000, 40 miles west it a story of just that, friendship. As Brian of St. Louis, searching for the intersection puts it, “the name Friendship had so much of Pitman Avenue and Whitehead Street. inspiration and meaning, and defined our When my GPS announced my arrival, a journey to the day that we decided to go handful of trucks and SUVs were parked for it.” Co-owners Dan Belcher along sleepy Whitehead and Brian Nolan met in Street, which runs the an architecture studio in length of the tin-roofed, Manhattan, KS in 1987. block-long building that “I overheard him making now houses Wentzville’s a Monty Python reference, only brewpub, Friendship we sparked up a converBrewing Company. sation, and he lent me a When I entered the cavbook by another British coernous building there was median,” Brian recalls. The a buzz of productivity. other shared interest, beer, Something not oft associwas developed through ated with beer. It was as if their independent travels they were coming around of Europe. It inspired a the final turn and could desire to have better beer almost see the checkered the Reindeer (Above) and Linda choices, and led to making flag that was opening day. Randy (Below) are just a couple of the many Work was happening on friends you’ll be sure to meet at Friendship. beer with pre-internet mail order ingredients. the brew system, a con“Dan and I helped each tractor used a hacksaw in other get married, helped the distance, a technician each other get divorced, installed creature comand helped each other navforts like wifi and satellite igate career and life changT.V., and friends stopped es,” Brian says. “Making by with well wishes and beer together was always amazement in their eyes. an opportunity to be cre Co-owner Brian Noative and talk and laugh lan greeted friends and and bond, good times and lookie-loos alike with a bad. Brewing made the bad warmness rarely seen in times better. Still does.” a person; let alone from After starting the necsomeone with as much essary due diligence, they work behind and ahead of them. Brian, a longtime resident of Wentz- learned that Green Flash Brewing in San ville, provided a quick rundown of this Diego held the national trademark for a historic building, which explained the look beer they make, called Friendship. The of amazement seen in the eyes of some guys were demoralized as they felt so Wentzville residents who stopped in with strongly about the meaning of the name. Luck would have it that Green Flash soon well wishes. The 36,000 square-foot building was debuted in Missouri and Brian attended constructed in 1914 and first served as an the launch party where he mingled with ice factory, then found purpose as a beer the sales staff and obtained a business distribution warehouse for Jefferson City card. That card may well have been his based Capital Beer in the ‘40s. The block- golden ticket. long building even housed an ice cream On a whim, Brian shot off an email to plant in the ‘60s before it was convert- the salesperson he’d met and explained ed to a private warehouse around 1970. that they’d met and he was a huge fan When the Friendship team took ownership, of Green Flash, and that he and his partthe structure was gray, dilapidated, and a ner had started forming a brewery concept ‘whale of a mess’ Brian remembers. “A lot with Friendship as its name. The salesperof folks, perhaps rightly, thought we were son ran the message ‘up the flagpole’ and crazy. But... we had a vision. And naive within hours of the email, the guys got a determination.”
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reply from the owner of Green Flash, Mike Hinkley, saying he’d hear them out. So, Brian jumped a plane to California and met Hinkley for a discussion on what the name Friendship meant to them. “At the end of the talk, he [Hinkley] handed me a case of their Friendship beer, and told me he would allow us to use the name via a legal sharing agreement, but it was going to cost us,” Brian remembers. “Uh-oh... here it comes, a financial proposal that our fledgling endeavor would likely not be able to meet.” “A case of beer,” Hinkley said. “A little legalese later, and we were back on the Friendship track, with one more reason to lend our friendship-based mission credence,” Brian reminiscences. Building a brewery, like creating any business, comes with it’s challenges. Some come in the form of paperwork while others in the form of blood, sweat and tears. “We’ve had, and still have, some amazing help, but not ever were the contractors or crews to do the bulk work. We have a very different perspective of what the ‘hard way’ is compared to some other brewing entities,” says Brian. “Physically, Dan and I didn’t plan on so much trenching and concrete work. We don’t mind working hard, there is a lot of literal blood, sweat and tears in our now 102year old home, and mostly enjoy the work and satisfaction of seeing the fruits of our labors, but we are both very ready to stop being pseudo-carpenters and just endure beer making challenges.” Friendship will operate a 4-barrel system, and plans to produce 1,000 barrels annually. That equates to 31,000 gallons brewed 124 gallons at a time. Read 250 brew sessions per year. Keeping with their motto of friendship, a group called the “Brewskateers,” which includes area homebrewers Bobby Love, Kent Critchell, Bob Brandt and Mike Griffin, was formed. The squad will pitch in to produce the requisite 31,000 gallons of beer, some of which will be their uanique creations. Friendship will have 25 taps available, with the focus on quality, not quantity. As far as which beers of their own they’ll keep on tap, the guys are reluctant to declare any beers flagships as they plan on letting the beer lovers decide what they like best. “We have a number of beers that have become big fan favorites at festivals,
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Drawn in chalk by Dan Belcher, the Friendship logo hangs on a repurposed chalkboard above the main entrance.
but we know that the tasting room will tell us where to focus our tank space,” Brian says. “It isn’t up to us to tell the world what our best beers are, it is up to them to tell us, and for us to listen.” “We look forward to learning our clientele and what they want,” Brian says. “We will always brew beer that we like to drink, but this is about making our customers happy, first and foremost.” When the time comes to visit Friendship, you’ll be treated to more than just good beer. Brian -- a collector of beer memorabilia -- has transformed the brewery into a veritable beer museum. With massive Fallstaff signs hanging on walls and handmade beer crate light fixtures over the bar, Friendship is like a beer themed eyespy book. “Opening the brewery is our slogan realized - it’s the culmination of years of ‘friends making beer, and beer making friends,’ says Brian. “It is Dan and I being buddies for nearly 30 years, it is our many, many friends encouraging us to ‘go for it’, it is the Brewskateers helping to push the cart up the hill, it is our partner Mike Wood for helping us maximize our vision, most certainly our families for being supportive, our craft brewing industry peers who are so generous in their support, and also very much the friends we’ve made during this odyssey, and the new brew friends we make each and every day.” Friendship Brewing Company is located at 100 E Pitman Ave, Wentzville, MO 63385.
e Griffin k i M : h t i w
What’s your brewing nickname? Griff How long have you been brewing? Off and on about 5 years. Describe your homebrew system. I’ve got 20 gallon boil kettle with a propane burner and a coleman cooler mash tun. What’s the name of your “brewery?” Lost at Sea Brewery What organizations do you belong to? I’m a member of the Garage Brewers Society as well as the American Homebrewers Association. Which of your brews are you drinking now? My Campfire Sweetness, a delicious sweet stout made with graham crackers, toasted marshmallows and sweet Hersey chocolate. What are you fermenting now? An Imperial Red Ale with rye and dry hopped with whole cone Cascade. If you could drink one style for rest of your life, what would it be? I’d have to say Pilsner. I have a weakness for light, German beers. You can share just one piece of advice with a new homebrewer. What is it? The best thing you can do is just latch onto an expert brewer and let them mentor you. The best way to find someone like this is to join a homebrew club!
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MoMashOut The Show Me State’s newest homebrew competition The “grist” • Quarterly open beer competition • Special ingredient & category announced • Quarterly winners get cash from their recipe kits sold at Design2Brew • Quarterly winners go head to head at Cottleville Beer Festival 2017 • Champion gets beer brewed and served at Exit 6 Pub & a Blichmann Top Tier System
Official Sponsors:
For the full grain bill visit MoMashOut.com
A brief rundown of this quarter’s events at area craft beer bars, breweries and bottle shops.
April 5
Beer School ft. Schlafly Shamrocks Pub & Grill
April 5
Trivia Mike’s Grill + Tap
April 6
Jonnie Walker Class The Barrel Bar
April 6
Oskar Blues Trivia Shamrocks Pub & Grill
April 12
STC Craft Tap Bottle Share The Barrel Bar
April 12
Beer School ft. Odell Shamrocks Pub & Grill
April 19
Beer School ft. Ballast Point Shamrocks Pub & Grill
April 20
Tallgrass Trivia Shamrocks Pub & Grill
April 21
Ballast Point Tap Takeover Mike’s Grill + Tap
April 22
Schlafly Earth Day Mike’s Grill + Tap
April 22
Brewing Class Brewer’s True Value
April 23 - 30
St. Charles Craft Beer Week Various Locations
May 4
Bourbon Class The Barrel Bar
May 10
STC Craft Tap Bottle Share Brewer’s True Value
May 11
Excel Beer School The Barrel Bar
May 26
Table 36 Cigars Pairing The Barrel Bar
June 14
STC Craft Tap Bottle Share Mike’s Grill + Tap
June 15
Scotch Class The Barrel Bar
June 18
Man Day The Barrel Bar
May 7
Kentucky Derby Party The Barrel Bar
To find out more about upcoming Missouri Craft Beer Festivals or to have a festival added to a future list visit drinkMObeer.com
April 2
4 Hands Lupulin Carnival St. Louis, Missouri
April 11
April 30
Parkville Microfest Parkville, Missouri
May 6 – 7
Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition Beer Festival Maplewood, Missouri
St. Louis Microfest St. Louis, Missouri
April 23
Big Top Brew Fest Mexico, Missouri
April 23
Kansas City on Tap Kansas City, Missouri
Missouri Beer Festival Columbia, Misouri Morels & Microbrew Festival Fulton, Missouri
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May, 7
May 7
June 17 – 19
Boulevardia Kansas City, Missouri
June 18
Rhythm & Brews Festival Hermann, Missouri
June 25
Kansas City Nanobrew Festival Kansas City, Missouri
april 23rd - 30th find out more information at:
stccraftbeerweek.com
mixed six packs to go
daily beer specials
APRIL 23RD-30TH
TAP TAKEOVERs daily - KEEP THE GLASS - SPECIALS
SAT 23rd - sudwerk brewing company SUN 24TH - schlafly & $3 draught beer day MON 25TH - Breckenridge Brewery TUES 26TH - Two Brothers Brewing Company
! H C N U L R O F N E P O
WED 27TH - Kings Day latrappe event THURS 28TH - Abita Brewing Company FRI 29TH - mo beer day civil life & ucbc SAT 30TH - firestone walker
FEATURES:
u n e m l l u f g n i v r e s
LARGEST SELECTION OF SCOTCH IN COUNTY
OVER 150
WHISKEYS
FAMOUS BARREL ROLL JUST OFF 1001 RONDALE CT THE NEW PAGE dardenne prairie mo 63368
636-294-5911
FOLLOW our events at:
EXTENSION and bryan rd on hwy n
@EverythingWine1
bry
an r
d
HOME OF THE
hwy n page ext - hwy 364
/EverythingWineAndCigars