Since its opening almost two years ago, Farmhaus Restaurant (3257 Ivanhoe Avenue) in south St. Louis has maintained a robust beer list that includes bottles and cans (nothing on draft) from some of the best U.S. craft breweries.
But now that more St. Louis breweries are packaging their beer in bottles (my Hip Hops column in Friday's Go! magazine has more on this trend), Farmhaus has decided to narrow its suds focus to ones made close to home.
"With Perennial, 2nd Shift and Six Row bottling -- and 4 Hands (bottles) coming soon -- I feel like we can have a well-balanced and cool beer list while focusing only on local beers," Farmhaus manager Eric Scholle says.
Fans of Goose Island and Boulevard Brewing Co. shouldn't worry about their favorite beers disappearing from Farmhaus' menu. Scholle says he's willing to stretch his definition of local to include Chicago and Kansas City.
"I'm really excited about this as it's something I've been wanting to do for a while, but I just had to wait until enough local breweries were bottling," he says.
Could restaurants carrying only local beers be a trend to watch for in 2012? Baileys' Range, which opened in October at 920 Olive Street downtown, dedicates 29 of its 30 taps to St. Louis beers.
Evan S. Benn is the assistant editor of Go! magazine. He also writes about beer and food, and he is author of the 2011 Post-Dispatch book "Brew in the Lou: St. Louis' Beer Culture - Past, Present and Future," available here. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
