A trip to Perennial Artisan Ales in St. Louis
Perennial Artisan Ales
While headed up to St. Louis for other reasons, I managed to hijack the trip for a few hours for a stop at the Perennial Artisan Ales tap room. We discovered the brewery last fall and I had been waiting for a return trip ever since. It wasn’t too difficult to convince my hungry and thirsty traveling companions that we should stop by for a quick bite and beverage. That “quick” bite happily turned into a three-hour visit!
Located in an old Coca-Cola plant on the south side of St. Louis, Perennial opened in September of 2011 and has been going strong ever since.
The business end of the Perennial bar.
We were able to try all the beers they had on draft in the tap room: Hommel Bier (a dry-hopped Belgian pale ale), Saison de Lis (a Saison brewed with Chamomile Flowers), Peach Berliner-Weisse (brewed with local peaches) and Brewers IPA #3 (a “session” IPA at 4.2%).
Left to right: Hommel Bier, Saison de Lis, Peach Berliner Weisse and Brewer’s IPA.
In addition to the great brews, Perennial is also turning out some great, local eats from its small kitchen.
Pretzels and Pork Rillettes help work up a thirst.
Sausage and cheese plate, all from local purveyors.
Unfortunately, we were unable to try any of Perennial’s barrel-aged beers as the brewery was between batches at the time. But having tried a couple in the past, I can attest to their quality. And they should be good as brewmaster Phil Wymore has plenty of experience from his time working the barrel-aging program at Goose Island. Hopefully, there should be a few ready the next time we make it up to St. Louis.
Barrels aging in the brewery. Shall we say a “vigorous” fermentation?
With so many new craft breweries opening up in St. Louis it would take awhile to sample them all. However, I would recommend making Perennial one of your first stops next time you’re in St. Louis. With great beer and food and a cool, laid-back atmosphere, it is one of the nicer taprooms I’ve visited. Homebrewers especially will enjoy Perennial’s dedication to brewing beers that don’t fit into traditional categories.
Oh yeah, you can get them to go, too!
