The Missouri Craft Brewery Desert

Is there a craft brewery desert in Missouri? When I first decided to write this post, I thought the craft beer desert of Missouri was going to be in St. Joseph, as I had not heard any news of breweries opening in St. Joe. After a quick google search, I discovered St. Joseph actually has two new breweries, Liberty Cap and River Bluff brewing. I have a feeling the next Myces road trip might end up there.

I did some more reconnaissance and I have concluded that Joplin is the unofficial craft brewery desert of Missouri. Joplin is 70 miles west of Springfield, not exactly an easy trip to meet a friend for happy hour and to tell some stories. The city has a population of approximately 50,000 people and the metropolitan area has 175,000, giving it more than enough people to support a brewery. As you might recall Joplin kind of experienced a big tornado, so I am pretty sure building a brewery is pretty low on their priority list. If Myces Investments LLC was looking for an area with market potential Joplin would be the favorite. Once Joplin gets their brewery, what is the next beer desert? Probably the North Central Missouri corridor of Moberly, Macon, and Kirksville on the highway 63.

Here is an unofficial list of Missouri Craft breweries. I apologize if there are any breweries that are not listed. I have purposely left out the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan breweries due to the sheer number of them.

Liberty Cap Brewing Logo

River Bluff Brewing Logo

Saint Joseph: River Bluff and Liberty Cap

Columbia: Bur Oak, Logboat, Flatbranch, and Broadway

Jefferson City: Prison

Springfield: Mother’s, White River, Lost Signal, Tie and Timber, and 4 by 4

There is Levi Garrison in Hamilton, Mark Twain in Hannibal, to cover the rural North part of Missouri

Public House in Rolla and St. James

Piney River in Bucyrus, Boat Town in Phillipsburg, Ostermeir and Wages in West Plains cover the South Central part of the state

Minglewood in Cape Giradeau, and Crown Valley outside of St. Genevieve, round out southeastern Missouri.


Cheers,
Brett A. Myces