Craft Brewery Hop — St. Louis

The Craft Brewery Hop in St. Louis guides visitors through the city that was once the undisputed beer capital of the United States — home to Anheuser-Busch and dozens of immigrant-founded lager breweries that shaped American beer culture from the mid-nineteenth century onward. The self-guided route begins at Schlafly Tap Room on Locust Street, one of the pioneering craft breweries in Missouri, which opened in 1991 and occupies a restored 1902 Swift Printing Company building in downtown St. Louis. Schlafly's tap list covers pale ales, stouts, seasonal lagers, and barrel-aged specialties, with a full kitchen serving beer-paired pub food.

From Schlafly, the route moves to 4 Hands Brewing Company on South 8th Street in the LaSalle Park neighborhood. 4 Hands specializes in fruit-forward sours, IPAs, and hazy ales, and its taproom is a converted turn-of-the-century warehouse with a large outdoor beer garden. The brewery's City Wide brand — a sessionable American pale ale — reflects its philosophy of producing accessible, neighborhood-oriented beers alongside more experimental limited releases.

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company on Washington Avenue in Midtown represents a third distinct approach: the brewery divides its portfolio into 'Reverence' (traditional European lager and wheat styles) and 'Revolution' (American craft interpretations), giving tasters a structured comparison across brewing traditions. Urban Chestnut operates a full-service restaurant inside its midtown bierhall, making it a natural stop for a meal between samplings.

The self-guided route covers four to five miles of city driving between the three primary breweries, with optional additions including Perennial Artisan Ales in South City, known for pastry stouts and wild ales, and Civil Life Brewing Company in The Grove district, focused on English-style session ales. Tasting flights at each stop cost $8–12 and include four to six pours. The STL-Style craft beer guide provides a map for self-guided participants. Participants should arrange a designated driver or rideshare between stops. The hop runs year-round, with spring and autumn offering the widest variety of seasonal releases across St. Louis taprooms.