Literary Feast: Beer-Flavored Memoir Offers a Personal Glimpse of Schlafly's History
By Mark W. Tiedemann
SAUCE MAGAZINE
December, 2006

In April of 1997, a small wagon bearing a keg of Schlafly Beer and pulled by a handsome retriever named Sparky rolled into Busch Stadium in imitation of a Clydesdale entrance. It was a notable day in local beer history, marking as it did that a beer not brewed by Anheuser-Busch would now be served at the stadium. But it was a monumental moment for The Saint Louis Brewery, the local microbrewery founded by Tom Schlafly in 1991.

Conquering the stadium meant Schlafly Beer was here to stay, and not since Falstaff closed in 1977 had another beer been successfully brewed and distributed in St. Louis.

It wasn't the first dramatic moment in the young brewery's history. During a dinner party at Grant's Farm two years earlier, Schlafly and his fiancée, Ulrike, were toasted by Trudy Busch, who declared it a shame they had no Schlafly Beer with which to wish them well. Schlafly had some in a cooler in his car; the hostess ordered it served to all the guests. "We hadn't just started a new religion in Mecca," Schlafly reflected. "Now we were proselytizing in the Grand Mosque."

Schlafly shares these and many other anecdotes in his new memoir, "A New Religion in Mecca: Memoir of a Renegade Brewery in St. Louis." The book details the entire history of his brewery, including the very unlikeliness of it, the amusing events that feed into local myth, the difficulties and surprises.

"In many ways our history resembles a jazz performance, jazz being a genre that is commonly associated with St. Louis and reflects the character of the river whose valley nurtured it," Schlafly writes.

By the early 1990s, the term microbrewery was making inroads into the language and microbrews were easily found on grocery and liquor store shelves. But starting a new brewery "in the shadow of Anheuser-Busch" struck many as a highly improbably endeavor. The ensuing success of Schlafly Beer has been the result of luck, accident, good timing and, as the book suggests, a kind of fortuitous ignorance. None of the people involved initially knew a thing about running a brewery or a restaurant. So many things could have gone seriously wrong. Now, 15 years later, Schlafly Beer has become something of an institution.

"I don't feel old enough to be an institution," Schlafly said. "Something like this goes through two stages, though: when you're hot and new, and then, after a time, you become an institution. I think we're still in that middle ground between the two."

But whether his brewery can be classified as a small upstart, a medium-sized operation or a full-fledged institution, Schlafly loves beer, in the true meaning of the word "amateur," and the joy of what he's doing comes across on every page. He chronicles each stage of the brewery's history: the acquisition of the historic (and nearly condemned) Downtown building for The Tap Room; attempts to find a name; the struggle to change state law to accommodate distribution; the expansion into Bottleworks in Maplewood; and all the ironic and amusing incidents along the way. It's simply the tale of a bunch of people who really loved the idea of brewing and selling beer.

As the enterprise grew, Schlafly Beer became more than simply another beverage option; as a company, it became involved in its community – a role Schlafly seems to like as much as that of brewer. "I like what we're doing in the community. We've saved a neighborhood, started new cultural activities and added something to the image of St. Louis," he said.

The pleasure of reading Schlafly's memoir is the range he displays – the range of interests, of knowledge, of language. A great deal of wit is infused throughout, as well as a frankness that enlivens what might otherwise be a pedestrian book-length advertisement for his business. And, as he declared in the text itself, "I wrote every word myself – none of it was ghost written."

It is rare to get a look inside an endeavor like this, particularly one that is more informative than self-serving. Schlafly's candor and humor raise this above mere boast and provide the reader with a personal glimpse at a part of St. Louis' recent history. The fact that Schlafly writes well and possesses a sense of story makes "A New Religion in Mecca" a treat.