New Transit and a New Brewery

 St. Louis, MO

"You got any of those leftovers?"

St. Louis Metro

Today we took a bus and light rail to Side Project Brewing.  Side Project is one of the best breweries in the US so we weren't going to miss out.  

The journey there was a bit over an hour by transit.  It included 2 15min-ish walks, a 10 minute bus ride and a 35 minute light rail ride.  The bus line we took (The 70) has a frequency of about every 11 mins and light rail runs every 10 minutes so it was a reasonable trip.  There was only 1 hiccup on the trip.  I had bought 2 tickets using the mobile app and did some research and it said I could use 2 tickets at once.  We have done this in other places so I didn't think much of it but I did grab a handful of quarters as we left just in case.  Our tickets were timed tickets good for 2 hours of rides so I waited until the bus arrived to activate them.  As I activate one I couldn't tell how to activate 2.  Instead of holding up the bus I shoved 4 quarters into the fare box and we were on our way.  I continued to look at the app and still couldn't find a way to activate the 2nd ticket so I decided we would just buy a MetroRail ticket when we got to the station.  That all worked out and soon we were waiting for our train.  

MetroLink has 2 lines.  We had to ride the Blue Line because we were going to the Maplewood - Manchester Station.

This train was going East and we were heading West

This is our train.

Our walk from the station to Side Project took us along Historic Route 66.

Side Project

Luck had us arriving at Side Project right at the 3pm opening.  It looked like they opened the doors a little earlier than 3 because people were already there drinking.  We assessed the board and there was a new beer available.  It's one of my favorite styles, Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout, and it was aged in one of the best bourbon barrels, Pappy Van Winkle.  I am not sure how they got Pappy Van Winkle barrels.  We decided to split a bottle. Drinking a fantastic beer in a fantastic venue can't be passed on.

An out of focus photo of a great beer.

The beer was fantastic and as we were finishing it Donna looked a their list and decided on a Flanders Red.  This is in the Sour category of beers.  It's the opposite of the thick sweet beer we were just drinking.  I walked to the bar and ordered one and when it was opened and it popped loudly like a Champaign bottle.  Everyone in the bar looked at us.  One of the couples drinking next to us asked us what we got so I told them.  They were working their way through a few expensive high ABV beers and so I asked the bartender for an extra glass.  I poured them a bit (the bottle was a big bottle so we weren't going to miss the pour) and they thanked me.  It was my hope that it would open up the concept of sharing these beers and it did.  They handed us a pour from the next bottle they ordered, and the next, and the next.  At this point we were falling behind the sharing.  

The Flanders Red was really fantastic

The first pour from our new friends

Another share from our new found friends

The third pour from our new found friends

We decided to get one more beer and I asked the bartender if the couple we were sharing with had had it and she said now so I pulled the trigger on it.  It was another big bottle and a big beer coming in at 15%.  There was no way Donna and I could drink this all so I poured them both some and they were very thankful.  It was one that was on their list to try but they weren't going to get to it so we chose wisely.  

While we drank this last beer we got a lot of great info from the couple about breweries in Chicago and Illinois in general.  We also got a great list of restaurants to visit while we are in Chicago.  At this point another person at the bar behind us said, "I have been eavesdropping and need to know more about your travels."  We handed her a pour of this beer and filled her in.  She went on to give us tons of great info for St. Louis and Cincinnati.  It was one of those experiences at a brewery were great conversations, great beers, and great information gets exchanged.  We really enjoyed our time there.  We will probably end up meeting the third friend at Side Project Cellar later on this trip to share more delicious beer.

After Side Project we took a Lyft back to the Airbnb, grabbed Francis, and headed to Buzz's Hawaiian Grill.  We ate outside (the weather was perfect) and met a few dogs and a Cockatoo.  It was a great day of meeting people.

When we got home the power was out so we sat on the patio and enjoyed the rest of the nice evening.  Later we used our solar lantern to get ready for bed.  This morning the power was back on.

That's it for today.  If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here. We had brunch in the park.