Earthbound Beer expands its orbit with Earthbound Satellite in Soulard

Earthbound Satellite, the new cocktail bar and taproom from the team behind Earthbound Beer, is set to launch this April inside the Soulard Preservation Hall at 1921 S. Ninth St.

Co-owner Stuart Keating said the bar, which is part of a larger redevelopment of the Preservation Hall, was inspired in part by the Italian futurist art movement of the early 1900s. This movement spawned a culinary offshoot focused on experimental techniques and unconventional presentation. “It was a bit of cultural warfare almost,” Keating said.

Cocktail innovation was another notable part of the movement, and Keating said Earthbound Satellite’s drinks will stay true to that aesthetic, indulging in explorations of flavors and combinations of ingredients. The bar will start with a small rotating list of drinks to keep inventory low and reduce what Keating called “choice paralysis.”

Keating said barman Ryan Piers will helm Earthbound Satellite’s cocktail program. The bar will open with options like a White Manhattan with white whiskey, blanc vermouth and a Rainier cherry and as-yet unnamed beverage with J. Rieger Caffé Amaro, with a green Chartreuse rinse and served on crushed ice. A repurposed Jagermeister frozen drink machine will also be online to pump out batched chilled drinks.

In addition to cocktails, there will be four taps of limited-release Earthbound brews. “We’ll do some one-offs. We’ll do a couple of experimental beers. We really want people to have a reason to come in,” Keating said. “But since we only have four taps, and since it isn’t a brewery per se, I don’t have to worry about having a blonde ale on all the time or anything like that. We can put on four stouts or four variants of the Irish red that are all made with a different base malt, things like that.”

The decor at Earthbound Satellite will also pay homage to the futurism ethos.

“We want the overall vibe to be a dive bar on a space station,” Keating said. “We’re aiming for a hyper-modern feel.” Accouterments include a bar with a backlit, glowing front and a bleached white bar top, sound panels featuring large-format anime-style murals, and approximately 35 seats.

While the space does have a small catering kitchen, Keating said Satellite won’t feature food at the outset, but a menu might happen once the bar takes off.

Matt Sorrell is staff writer at Sauce Magazine.