BrianMSTL

White Rooster Farmhouse Brewery St. Louis Metro Area - Sparta, IL White Rooster Farmhouse Brewery is a relative newcomer to the Saint Louis region craft beer scene, and they have already made quite a debut. Ever since opening in late March, they have already established quite a reputation with some of the local beer enthusiasts, which is one of the reasons they caught my attention. This past weekend, I decided to make the journey from Saint Louis to Sparta to see if the beer lives up to the expectation; simple answer, yes, it did! Located in downtown Sparta, in what used to be an old Kroger grocery store just across the street from the Sparta Police Department, you will find some of the best beer in Southern Illinois. Just a note by the looks of the building on the outside, you would hardly expect to see a brewery, but once inside, you will immediately discover that this place has character. Inside, you will notice a more rustic feel with lots of wood accents, most notably are the...

Banger Brewing Las Vegas, NV Before traveling to Las Vegas, I decided to take a look at Groupon and stumbled across a deal for two flights and a growler at Banger Brewing. Being a craft beer lover, I couldn't pass on the opportunity to add another brewery to my bucket list. Located in the middle of the Freemont Street entertainment district, Banger is a welcome oasis allowing you to escape the craziness that is Freemont Street. The inside itself is small; however, there is more than enough seating for several large groups and about 8-10 seats at the bar. When we first arrived, we were greeted by Kate, who was super awesome and extremely accommodating. We informed Kate of our Groupon and exchanged some brief conversations during our visit; she helped explain a little about the brewery and the highlight of each beer available. Kate even made several other recommendations of places to visit, which unfortunately I wasn't able to take advantage of due to my limited time in town...

The Woodburn Brewery Cincinnati, OH Beer Flight During a recent visit to Cincinnati, I was able to stop into The Woodburn Brewery based on the recommendations of a Twitter follower. I arrived Saturday afternoon around 3 pm to find the taproom packed. I later learned that TWB had their first bottle release earlier in the day and still had customers coming in to sample and purchase bottles to go. The atmosphere here is downright impressive, yes it can be loud; however, that is partly due to the excellent soundtrack of mid/late 80's to early 90's music playing setting a perfect tone. The Woodbury Brewery also appears to be pet-friendly, as several customers were enjoying a beer with their four-legged friends. Seating varies from barstools, tables, to high top tables, and even a small outside patio, so no matter what, you will find the perfect place to enjoy a beer. Now, as far as the beer goes, this is probably some of the best in Cincinnati; however, this is not for t...

Urban Artifact Cincinnati, OH Beer Flights Not only does Urban Artifact produce some of the best sour beers, but they also have live music almost every single night, which makes this a perfect stop any evening. Urban Artifact is located in the basement of an old church; however, their taproom is more than adequate to handle craft beer lovers, along with some live music lovers all in the same venue. Should the inside get a little too crowded for your tastes, there is also an outside patio. The outdoor patio is perfect for spending an evening under the stars. Even though the beer here has a heavy focus on the sour side, they still have almost something for everyone. During my first visit, I tried their Warmug, which is a Golden Fruited Coffee Sour Ale, which has hints of peaches, passion fruits, plums, and of course, coffee. While I am usually not a coffee fan, I can tell you that this beer tempted me. I also went with their Sliderule, which is a Sour Raspberry Dark Sour, whic...

Charleville Brewing Company St.Louis, MO Charleville Brewing Company & Tavern is the latest addition to the hot craft beer scene in Saint Louis. Despite being new to Saint Louis, Charleville has been brewing beer at the Ste. Genevieve location for several years and their beers have been available in the St.Louis area for a while. I stopped in on a Saturday evening after having dinner next door; however, do not make the same mistake I did as there is a full menu available here, making CBC&T a perfect one-stop for dinner and drinks. The inside is more significant than I had expected, there is a large bar and plenty of tables for dining; also, they have a large patio outside. Parking is available behind the Vin de Set building, which is just a short walk across the street. While I didn't try any of their food, I was able to see several orders pass by, and I have to admit that everything looked delicious, so I know I will be back again. The service here was also top-no...

Bur Oak Brewing Columbia, MO Visiting craft breweries has recently become a bit of a hobby for me, and I never pass on the chance to sample some new beer. Luckily I have been fortunate enough to travel over the last year and add many new breweries to my list, and I do not expect that to change heading into 2017. Over the last weekend, I visited Columbia, MO, with several friends, and thanks to Yelp discovered Bur Oak. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, shortly after they had opened the taproom, and were immediately greeted with a warm welcome by the friendly and extremely knowledgeable bartender, Paul. Seriously Paul was an excellent host, and after he discovered that this was our first visit, he gave us a fantastic overview of all their available beers. I would be lying if I said that I knew which beer I wanted, so instead, we started with two flights of 4, which allowed us to sample all their available beers before deciding on one. While I liked all of the beers, I have to say ...

St. Joseph Brewery & Public House Indianapolis, IN I have to admit that I was a bit more impressed with the remarkable architecture of this old church turned brewery than I was with the actual beer, luckily St. Joseph Brewery also has a pretty impressive food menu, which might make it the perfect stop for dinner and drinks. I arrived late on a Sunday evening after sampling beers from several other Indy breweries and stopping off for dinner nearby. Despite the time, the place was packed, but we were lucky enough to grab two seats at the bar. Having just eaten dinner, our primary focus here was beer. So we promptly looked over the beer menu and decided to go with two flights before calling it a night. Even though it was packed, our bartender did his best to stay on top of things, and service was surprisingly excellent, considering he was the only one working the bar. Our flights arrived after a few minute waits, the beer itself was average, most of my Untappd ratings hovered aro...