USA, MO: Shaw Garden Brewery to open in Saint Louis

A longtime St. Louis craft-brewing professional says he will open his own brewpub in the city's Shaw neighbourhood, stltoday.com reported on January, 2.

Dr. John Witte plans to have Shaw Garden Brewery pouring housemade Belgian-, British-, German- and American-style beers along with "upscale-casual" food by spring 2014.

"After helping so many others get started, I figured, at 46 years of age, it's time to give it a shot myself," Witte says.

Witte has served as brewmaster at Square One Brewery & Distillery since the Lafayette Square brewpub opened in 2006, a position he intends to keep until he can find and train a suitable replacement.

"Steve (Neukomm, Square One's owner) has treated me extremely well for the past seven years. My hope is to create a sense of community in Shaw that he's done in Lafayette Square," Witte says. "He's super excited for me, and with the amount of lead time I have on this project, I can make sure the person who takes over for me is well-trained."

Along the way, Witte has had his hands in a number of local brewery projects, consulting for places like Ferguson Brewing Co. and mentoring young, up-and-coming brewers.

At Shaw Garden Brewery, Witte says he'll follow Square One's model of not bottling or kegging beer for distribution. Instead, everything he brews from Shaw Garden's 5-barrel system will be available only on draft from one of the brewpub's eight taps.

Witte says neighborhood residents as well as the Shaw Neighborhood Improvement Association and Alderman Stephen Conway are on board with the idea of a brewpub.

04 January, 2013