Trailhead Brewing Company

nogoodreason

Missouri

2.68/5  rDev -23.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 3 | selection: 2.5 | food: 4

This place, while technically a brewpub is really just a restaurant. There are 5 or 6 regular beers on tap with one seasonal that switches out occasionally.

There is no obvious love of beer in this place. Beer in this place is simply a gimmick to bring people in. As an example of the lack of beer respect, all beer in the place is served in frosted mugs, if you ask for one that isn't frosted, they tell you they don't have any, because they're all sitting on ice.

The beer itself leans towards flavorlessness.

The service ranges from attentive and helpful to less than attentive and far from helpful.

The only reason, really, to go to the trailhead is for the food, which is decent.

If you're only in St. Louis for a little while, you'd be better served at the Tap Room, Bottleworks, Cicero's or 33.

08-25-2004 21:48:29 | More by nogoodreason

cubbyswans

Missouri

2.83/5  rDev -19.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 2.5 | service: 3 | selection: 2.5 | food: 3 | $$

blah... I went there a few weekends ago to meet some friends who picked the place. The feel of the place inside and out is great. It's a nice builing, with a grand stair case leading from the front door up to the bar. The beer, though.... the beer is lacking. They only make a handful of styles, and not one of them was really worth having a second of. The beer wasn't bad, there just wasn't anything good about them. I sat there and wondered if they got their recipes from Mr. Beer. The only alternatives to their own beers are the standard AB beers, Bud, Bud Select, etc.

They do offer tasters of their beer, so you can try before you buy.

Ordered shrimp stuffed Jalapenos, which were really good, only we got 4 of them for $8. Our friends ordered bacon cheddar french fries, which were the highlight of the evening.

The bartender was a bit hard to get ahold of at times, but not more than you would expect for a fairly busy Saturday night.

They do offer to go beer, but the prices are laughable, at best. $2.25 per 12oz bottle of beer, and $29 for a growler? Yes, I typed that correctly. $29 for a growler.

I wouldn't recommend. I won't be back unless someone I know insists, and you can be certain that I will try my best to talk them out of it.

07-17-2008 18:52:53 | More by cubbyswans

chrishickman

Illinois

3/5  rDev -14.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 2 | $$$

Ate here the weekend before last while on a business trip. The historic Saint Charles downtown is beautiful, including this place, but everything I consumed here was disappointed. I ordered the "Open Faced Porta Plant Stack Sandwich", an interesting sounding combination of a grilled portabello mushroom cap over deep fried eggplant slices topped with melted swiss and asiago cheeses, and red peppers. The mushroom itself was pretty bland as was the rest of it but not unpleasing. I had a side of onion rings and the onion part was fantastic, tender and sweet, but the breading was tasteless. I had two beers, the stout was without character and the dark ale was saccharine sweet. My waiter was very slow and inattentive (to be expected at dinner time Saturday night to some extent) but he also knew very little about the beers..when I asked, his descriptions were less helpful than what I already read on the menu.

Overall, pretty disappointing. I can't foresee coming back to this establishment or recommending it to others.

02-20-2009 05:29:07 | More by chrishickman

MTNboy

Missouri

3.03/5  rDev -13.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3 | food: 3.5 | $$$

I went here during the Festival of the Little Hills. The outside was packed but the inside was not too bad. They have a little gift store that wasn't bad. It had the usual brew pub paraphernalia with some beer in bottles to go and growlers. I grabbed a few to go. The food was alright but a bit pricey. Our waiter was not so great when I asked him for a sample glass he got a little bit of an attitude. He didn't charge me but I am sure like a lot of you don't mind paying for a sample. This was shoot glass with a little bit of beer. He was also slow with the check. The ambiance was nice a lot of antiques, vehicles and fans made from canvas and fishing poles.

09-14-2009 15:56:47 | More by MTNboy

jyeast101

Colorado

3.13/5  rDev -10.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | $$

I was in St. Louis for Thanksgiving. This happened to be close to the hotel we were in. A good looking place. It was a busy place on a Friday night. Service was okay. Took a bit to be addressed at the bar. But, again it was busy. Didn't really feel like chatting it up with the bartender. When asked about the "Golden" style of beer, he said, "it's light and popular". When asked how it was, my brother quipped, "it's beer". Overall, it would have been a lot worse in quality, except for their seasonal, a "pumpkin spice" beer, Which was really good. Had some meat to it. As apposed to the golden version and stout version of beer often found in brew pub type places. This place has potential and I'm sure, one of the better places in the St. Charles area for beer. I would go back. An important part of a place, in my opinion, is the atmosphere. Most times you can find a decent brew and service is relative to the situation.It makes me think of a piece of advice I try to live by. Sample first. A small tasting can be tolerated. A pint of something that you don't like, and you have to pay for, leaves a lasting impression, and most times, not very favorable or positive.

11-27-2007 02:43:21 | More by jyeast101

Ahhdball

Ohio

3.18/5  rDev -9.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3 | food: 2

The location was easy to find but I wouldn't want to be there on a Friday or Saturday and attempt to find parking, not good. Inside is nicely lit, large family style seating downstairs and upstairs. The bar area was vey nice, a lot of maple and brass. I wish I could've gone when it wasn't so close to closing. I believe I missed a lot by not having an entree. So my freinds and I had the appetizers instead with no complaints. I really liked the crab and artichoke dip. I'd like to try this place BEFORE 10. I'm going back to St. Charles soon so I'll probably "review" my review in a short time.
13Oct04 Edit
Tried the Fish and Chips - bad. The serving was more along the lines of Captain D's or some other place serving $4.99 "basket o' fish". Too greasy, too small, too much batter not enough fish, no flavor.
I've given this place too much credit for the beer. I've been here three times now and they still can't put a decent head on a beer. No seasonal selection either. It's flat, almost lifeless. Why waste time brewing it if you're not going to try?

04-06-2003 08:57:41 | More by Ahhdball

sevineyes

Arkansas

3.18/5  rDev -9.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 2.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

This place has a great exterior - and interior for that matter. In spite of the place being absolutely packed when I was there, parking wasn't a problem. The inside really had a nice atmosphere and it's obvious the community goes there because there were many obvious regulars and a nice slice of the population.

Food tasted great and had a pretty standard array of food, typical of what you'd find at most brewpubs.

As I began trying all the beers they offered, I found them very flat and difficult to distinguish from one another. The pumpkin ale did smell like pumpkin spice, but the flavor, body and aromas from the rest seemed oddly homogenous. When I mentioned flatness to the staff they didn't offer an explanation, but acknowledged the lack of carbonation and quickly turned me on to the brown ale, which did have a nice level of carbonation.

All in all, it seems like they've got a good reputation, a great local customer base and just need to get some consistency in their beer to really make the trip worthwhile.

11-13-2007 15:50:52 | More by sevineyes

Wheelinb

Missouri

3.2/5  rDev -8.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 2 | food: 4 | $$

I believe this was the first brew pub in St Louis or at least the first one I ever went to. It is in a really cool area - Old Town St. Charles so the atmosphere is always nice, especially when you can sit outside.

The food here is really good and the selection is varied is scored the selection low due to the beer, not the food. Same qith quality. However, I find the beer to just be average. It's worth a trip for the whole scene and the good food. The food and beer prices are reasonable so it is worth a trip. It seems that the greater emphasis is placed on the food. Try the sausage sampler.

04-25-2009 22:13:53 | More by Wheelinb

AtLagerHeads

Ohio

3.21/5  rDev -8.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3

This is a very nice presentation of a dining and drinking establishment. The old mill building is historic registry and all that goes with that. Located on one of St. Charles' quieter streets and along the Missouri River, basically this was the western leg launch point for the Corps of Discovery led by Lewis and Clark 200 years ago. One can imagine that as one stands here looking at this section of the Missouri under a full moon. Parking is scarce here even when the brewpub is not crowded, so be sure to allow for that.

The building is of exposed brick and lots of light wood. At least three levels allow for several bar and seating areas. Service was very poor the night we were here, just about non-existent. Still the beer, the babbling brook and falls next to the building, and the overall look and feel make this a great spot to visit, especially as easy as it is from I70.

09-14-2003 22:20:10 | More by AtLagerHeads

DCon

Missouri

3.25/5  rDev -7.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2 | selection: 3 | food: 4.5 | $

Visited the Trailhead Brewing Co. after my graduation @ the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO. Tuesday night. Was with many people off the tennis team and over 100 graduates as well. Great location as it is at the corner of Main Street and South Riverside.

As you walk in, there are two (at least) 50 gallon brew kettles and merchandise. The people were awesome and has great outdoors/urban architecture throughout the whole Brewery.

The quality was decent. When it came down to it, they didn't know their ABV's or much description on any of the beers. They also seemed like they were served into Chilled Pint Glasses!?!?! This was surprising for a BrewPub!

On the service, our waiter had NO CLUE about beer, their beer, and didn't help me in any way trying to help me pick out my beers of the night. I then went to the bartender and he was almost as clueless. How can you not know beer at a Brewing Co/BrewPub?!?! This baffled me to the point that I almost wanted to walk out. He did offer us a good happy hour deal but this was the only good part of the night (and of course the food).

Selection was average. They offered 6 beers and I tried 4 of these. When it came down to it, I wish they had more to offer at one time because I don't even need to re-visit this place soon because I would overlap on beers I've already had from them. There were 6+ taps at the bar and probably even more but didn't look into it.

The food was extremely good! I shared 3 pretzels and spicy mustard and then a Pepperoni & Sausage Pizza on a flatbread with my girlfriend and old tennis teammate. The french fries were also delicious. Would come here to eat their food rather than to drink their beer.

Very inexpensive when it came down to it! We also were here during a Late Night Happy Hour, so every beer was $3.50 and our entrees/apps were half off. Will come to again in the future and hopefully will be able to say their staff will be more helpful and friendly next time.

05-06-2011 03:47:39 | More by DCon