Sneak Peek: 21st Amendment: The Brewers Bar

Paul and Wendy Hamilton, owners of Vin de Set, Moulin event space, PW Pizza, The Malt House Cellar and Eleven Eleven Mississippi, are just about ready to debut their new concept, 21st Amendment: The Brewers Bar. The bar, located in the basement of their building at 2017 Chouteau Ave., will open to the public this Monday, March 10. 21st Amendment’s primary focus is local, craft beer. Every brewery within a 100-mile radius of the bar will be represented on tap or by the bottle. There will even be a wall where 8-by-11-inch photos of local brewers will hang. Since the bar has 50 taps and more than 50 different bottles, there is still room for more beer, so Paul Hamilton is also including regional favorites, such as Goose Island from Chicago and Boulevard Brewing from Kansas City. He plans to fill any leftover tap handles with great craft beers from beyond the Midwest, such as Anchor Steam from San Francisco. Hamilton said he wanted to open a new venue that filled a need in the neighborhood. He didn’t want to compete with existing businesses; rather, he hopes to help make Lafayette Square an even bigger destination for those looking to eat and drink. The Hamiltons’ building, which houses all their other ventures besides Eleven Eleven, was built in 1876 and was home to Schnaider Brewery, one of St. Louis’ first and largest breweries. Some of the building’s original wood can still be found in the space, and much of the remaining wood – oak, black walnut, cherry – used in the bar and tables comes from trees on the Hamiltons’ personal property in South County. 21st Amendment will be open daily from 4 p.m. to close, which will be between midnight and 1:30 a.m., depending on the night’s crowd. Bar snacks like soft pretzels and meat and cheese boards will be available, and patrons can also order food from PW Pizza to be delivered to the bar. Although 21st Amendment is not even open yet, the Hamiltons already have more plans. In the space adjacent to their new bar, they hope to have a biergarten up and running by next fall.   [gallery type="slideshow" ids="35209,35198,35208,35199,35201,35202,35203,35204,35205,35206"]

-photos by Julie Cohen