OFallon Brewery

8/7/2007 8:15:12 AM, tuesday, august 07, 2007
Visited 8/4/07. Like 3F’s, a tiny brewery in an industrial park. Unlike 3F’s that industrial park is bordered by a deep quarry, so be sober when you leave! Regular tour is Saturday afternoons. Our guide (not Tony) actually broke down the commerical brewing process in some new ways I hadn’t learned in other tours. Let us sniff one of those 10-pound commerical bags of hops ("This was $300 for one brew!") and showed the bottling station which lets them fill a whole case at a time, and their one-at-a-time bomber filler. Little tasting area in the front office where we could sample the draft only Golden, and whether else they had in bottles at the moment, which, this time of year, was Pumpkin. Don’t worry about the pallets of Huber in the brewhouse, that’s just one of the beers they distribute, too. Very much worth the short detour from I-70! Oh, yeah: a big plastic jar or pretzels at the taster bar, if you wanna count that for food, otherwise, try the sirloin burger at the Jack in the Box across the interstate.

8/1/2007 10:05:10 AM, wednesday, august 01, 2007
Visited on a Wednesday morning when they were very busy and short-staffed. Fran (one of the owners) told us ahead of time that they could only give us a very brief tour, and that was perfect for our travel schedule. The place is located in a small warehouse, and there seemed to be no spare room that wasn’t being used. Fran was very friendly to us, and she even gave us some samples to go since they couldn’t offer tastings at that time. Would definitely be worth the stop if you could hit a Saturday tour, and even if you can only stop by for a second, it’s worth the small stop off I-70.

7/14/2007 7:30:56 PM, saturday, july 14, 2007
Went out for the tour today. Met Tony the ower who could not have been a better host. The tour lasts a good 20 minutes or so. They show you the ins and outs of making beer from putting lables on he bottles to what goes into the brew kettles. About a half hour tasting followed which was nice as there were no set limit of the different beers to try. Bonus was the sample right out of the brew kettle we had of the pumpkin beer! A very nice look at a small business that just happens to be making some good beer.

1/31/2007 10:30:05 AM, wednesday, january 31, 2007
Visited 29 January 2007. Field trip with work (Whole Foods Market). Started the tour with Tony, the owner, and he was very thorough. Took us through his operation, the whys and hows, then he turned us loose on the samples. Smooth running facility and the generosity was abundant. Two of the brewers, Dave (brewmanDJ on BA), and Brian took us through the brewing process and answered all of our questions. Then they let us drink the 5-Day IPA from the bright tank! Delicious! Upon asking Dave if they had anything small batch, he just grinned and pointed to an oak barrel on top of their cooler. Brian then broke out a bomber of their one year barrel aged smoked porter. An absolutely amazing brew! My hats off to you gentlemen! Overall, it was a wonderful, informative event. I’m already looking forward to the next time that I can make it out.

7/3/2005 9:50:13 AM, sunday, july 03, 2005
Stopped for a visit in April 2005 and was blown away. The brewer is a true gentleman and is quietly brewing some awesome beer. Their O’Fallon Gold is the most widely available and standard beer, but they make much better. Awesome.