Gateway Beer

Joel Bittle is a freelance writer in St. Louis and a longtime part of the city's craft beer community.

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• Table of ContentsForeword, by Cheryl BaehrIntroductionPrologueShort overview of craft beer's origins, the city's identity as a Budweiser town, the heights local breweries reached, and the current struggles in the industry's downturn.Chapter One - FermentationThe history of beer in St. Louis, why the area provided the perfect location and culture of AB's dominance, and how the company and the Busch family influenced the city for 150 years.Chapter Two - SchlaflyThe vanguards of the craft beer movement and the legal and cultural obstacles they overcame. This chapter is told through the lens of their opening party.Chapter Three - The Early WaveThe stories of three breweries that followed Schlafly - A veterinarian turned brewer, a kid too young to drink his own beer, and a woman who would go on to encompass every aspect of the St. Louis beer industry.Chapter Four - InBevThe roots of the sale of AB to InBev started with the beer wars of the 70s, and a boardroom coup that deposed the beloved Gussie Busch. A look into how InBev outmaneuvered AB, and the culture fallout.Chapter Five - 2nd Shift's First ActThe story of local brewing wizard Steven Crider and his brewery 2nd Shift.Chapter Six - FergusonA comprehensive look at the socio-economic factors that led to one of the country's worst riots, and the brewery that sat at the heart of it.Chapter Seven - KraftigAfter the sale of AB, Billy Busch tried to create a new brewery to compete with InBev. He ran into obstacles created by his family business decades before.Chapter Eight - The Class of 2011The explosion of craft beer in St. Louis. Four national and world recognized breweries began the next wave. St. Louis was famous for beer again.Chapter Nine - Side ProjectCory King's hobby would turn into an elevation of the form, and one of the highest rated breweries in the world.Chapter Ten - Modern Brewery Embraces Modern HopsA look at the use of different hops told through the story of a Harvard student who brought brewing to Cambridge.Chapter Eleven - Narrow GaugeNew England IPAs were only available in Vermont and Massachussetes when Jeff Hardesty opened Narrow Gauge. He would ride the trend to national prominence.Chapter Twelve - 2nd Shift's Second ActA move into the city, and the difficulties of COVID.Chapter Thirteen - The BrewstersThe history of women in beer, the women who make up St. Louis beer, and the struggles women face in the beer industry today.Chapter Fourteen - The Perennial Family Tree: Rockwell and Perennial on LockwoodWhere other breweries overreached, expanding beyond their capabilities, Perennial expanded through the brewers who went on to open their own breweries. It is a story of legacy over profit.Chapter Fifteen - CityConcluding thoughts, the state of craft beer today, what models work and don't work in the current climate, and what the future holds for craft beer.