St. Louis, MOBeer Halls and Biergartens

Sauce dates the Bavarian biergarten at the Midtown brewery to 2012 and describes long communal tables under colorful umbrellas, with the white stucco Central States building next door standing in as the backdrop. Eight beers pour from the beer window in liter and half liter vessels, and the yard has run to outdoor movie screenings and polka. St. Louis Magazine's 2026 column on German dining names the biergarten menus and beer styles here as drawn from German tradition. Order a half liter at the window and take a bench.

Rockwell put a beer garden inside Francis Park in 2021, reworking a 1920s stone comfort station that sits below grade among the trees in the 60-acre park in St. Louis Hills. St. Louis Magazine called it the first local brewery to open a satellite in a St. Louis public park. A concrete patio wraps the building with firepits, and pole-mounted heaters and fans stretch the season. Sauce reported the garden reopening for its season on March 7 and running a Thursday farmers market from May to October. Order the tavern-style pizza, naturally leavened and crisp at the edge.

Sauce calls the biergarten the nerve center of this Tower Grove South brewery. Long picnic tables fill the yard, flags of beer-making countries ring it, and two outdoor service windows mean you can get a pint or a half pint without going inside. Board games and books are part of the furniture. Sauce points at the English Pale Ale, on draft and occasionally on cask, for gentle hop notes and a creamy head. Order that, take a bench, and expect a neighbor to sit down across from you.

Steven Fitzpatrick Smith opened The Royale in 2005 in what had been The Reale Bar, near the southern edge of Tower Grove Park, and St. Louis Magazine's twentieth anniversary piece says the cocktails and the food have held a reasonable price point since. Sauce describes the Biergarten as the outdoor room Smith built for gathering over beer, shaded in summer and fire warmed in winter, with a beer list weighted toward local brewers and a few picks from around the country. Order the Schlafly Vanilla Milk Stout, which Sauce says pours only here and at Schlafly.

Anheuser-Busch opened this one at its brewery and tour center in August 2013, and Sauce measured it at 10,000 square feet with seating for nearly 300, which puts it close to the scale of the biergartens this city kept in the 19th century. Sauce counted 17 beers on draft at the opening, a menu of snacks, skewers and brats, and a 3 p.m. glass raise held at the same moment company brewmasters taste each day. Order a tasting flight and find a spot at a communal table.