September 16, 2015
Brewing up business in Maryland Heights Recipes
Dinner done easy
Community Voices
11
2
By Adolphus M. Pruitt, II
Owner of Standard Brewing Company Jeff Harlan (left), and brewmaster, Jeff Jones raise a glass during their grand opening party on Sept. 11.
Photo by Sara Hardin
Three new breweries have opened their doors in only the past few months By Sara Hardin Three breweries in Maryland Heights are making their names known in the booming craft beer scene by offering their own unique perspectives on refreshing brews alongside some savory menus. O’Fallon Brewery opened the doors to its O’Bar on June 21 of this year, and now patrons can enjoy a full meal with one of O’Fallon’s handcrafted brews. The brewery has been making its name known since founders Fran and Tony Caradonna started producing O’Fallon beer in 2000. In 2011, the brewery was sold to current owner, Jim Gorczyca, who says that Maryland Heights has been ideal for growing the brewery’s consumer base. “We really had hoped to stay in O’Fallon, but one of my goals was to connect better to the St. Louis audience,” explained Gorczyca. “When we couldn’t find a location that was close to our roots, we kind of expanded our circle. When we found this location we thought it was the perfect fit, because it wasn’t too far from our old location but it gave us a connection to more people in St. Louis, and we felt that it was new ground for the brewery. It was a great opportunity for us to put our stake in the ground and build what we wanted to do in the Maryland Heights area. We’ve been in the St. Louis area for 15 years and we never had a bar or a restaurant, so there’s so many people that were never exposed to O’Fallon beer. Now that they’ve had a chance to come visit us, they really love
our beer.” Gorczyca explained that with the rise in popularity of craft beer, one of the most important things beer enthusiasts are looking for is beer that is produced with quality, local ingredients. “Craft beer has been on a growing trend for the last 8-10 years, and consumers are really looking for more products that are produced locally, and beer is one of those where we can make a high quality beer in smaller batches,” said Gorczyca. “The recipes are handcrafted, so there’s personal involvement with brewers in the process of making the beer. We have always pushed innovation. We’re always working with local consumer products and companies to use their ingredients in our beer. I think people like that we use local ingredients and are really pushing the envelope to create innovative beers.” If you’re looking for a classic approach to craft beer, Six Mile Bridge Brewery is for you. Opened in August by couple Ryan and Lindsay Sherring, Six Mile Bridge offers a variety of classic favorites brewed with care with only the most quality ingredients. “We focus on premium ingredients and really quality products. We want to focus on the classic style and really doing those well with premium ingredients,” said Lindsay Sherring, co-owner and head of marketing for Six Mile Bridge. “We don’t want to put ourselves in any one specific
mold. What we’re contributing to the market is just classic, quality beers with our own slight expressionism on them.” Lindsay Sherring explained that the brewery’s central location has been ideal for its self-distribution process, and has attracted consumers from outside the Maryland Heights area. “We are doing our own self-distribution in St. Louis and St. Louis County,” said Lindsay Sherring. “It’s 20 minutes from West County, it’s 20 minutes from downtown – it’s quite a central location for all of the different places that we want to be in, and we’re trying to be in as many bars and restaurants as possible around St. Louis. We opened the taproom not really knowing what kind of response we would get. We’ve had a lot of people who are local come in, which is really exciting. We’ve also had people travel from as far away as O’Fallon and the far reaches of St. Charles and St. Peters, so we are very excited about the response we’ve had so far. Maryland Heights has been great in welcoming us to the community. We’ve only been open a few weeks and we’re already starting to get regulars and recognize people who are in the area and that’s really fun for us.” Standard Brewing Company, which opened its doors on the evening of Sept. 11, prides itself in offering artisan pizzas alongside its handcrafted beers. Jeff See BREWING UP BUSINESS page 2
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