Schlafly Beer will host the 21th annual Stout & Oyster Festival on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21 at the historic Schlafly Tap Room (2100 Locust). The not-to-miss event is the largest festival of its kind in the Midwest, and the original, independent craft brewery in St. Louis flies in over 80,000 oysters overnight from both coasts. Schlafly even works directly with many of the oyster farmers who also attend the festival as the “star shuckers.” In total, 25 shuckers from around the country and Canada will be on-site to shuck oysters all weekend long. This year, Schlafly will feature more than 15 stouts, some exclusively for the festival, with several flavors paying homage to St. Louis.
A new decade of Schlafly’s popular event brings more stouts, star shuckers, live music from seven entertainers and an unforgettable atmosphere. The talented Schlafly brewing team will once again offer the signature Stout Sampler (see below) with rotating specialty stouts throughout the weekend. New St. Louis-inspired flavors will be poured such as: the St. Louis Smokehouse Stout, St. Louis Riplet Stout, Maplewood Coffee Stout, brewed with La Cosecha Coffee Roasters coffee, and St. Charles Coffee Stout, made with Course Coffee Roasters coffee. Other featured brews include the fiery Tabasco Stout, the perfect pairing for oysters, to sweet and decadent flavors like the S’Mores Stout and Chocolate Orange Stout.
Schlafly will also offer a special Oyster Stout that is brewed and canned in celebration of the 2020 Stout & Oyster Festival. This year’s Oyster Stout can features a “by-the-numbers” label with an image of the United States with the miles logged for the oysters to reach their destination at the Schlafly Tap Room (below) as well as additional festival stats.
Three East Coast and three West Coast varieties of raw oysters will be available both inside and outside of the Schlafly Tap Room with raw bars upstairs in the Club Room as well as outside in the “Shuckerdome.” East Coast raw oyster varieties are Blue Point, Beavertail and Sunrise, and West Coast raw oysters are Compass Point, Dabob Bay and Sunset Beach varieties. Fried Oysters, Oysters Rockefeller, Roasted Oysters and Oyster Chowder will be available on the festival grounds as well as the new Pretzel and Brat Kabobs. For those interested in food options outside of oysters, Schlafly Tap Room will also offer their full menu in the restaurant.
Beyond the food and drink, Schlafly’s Stout and Oyster Festival is a homecoming for the shuckers and festival regulars. Founding Brewer Stephen Hale explains, “Some of our shuckers have been coming to the festival for over 20 years. They look forward to reuniting with one another as well as the guests. For many of our festival-goers, they come back every year to see their favorite shuckers.” Rawle Jefferds of Penn Cove Shellfish, LLC., one of the festival’s suppliers of West Coast oysters, has been coming to the event for 20 years. “I love it. It’s something that I look forward to every year. I get to hang out with my friends and showcase the oysters from my farm with pride to the amazing people of St. Louis.”
Live music and the grand finale of the East Coast vs. West Coast vs. Mid-Coast Shuck Off provides entertainment for attendees. The Shuck Off features three shuckers from each coast (East Coast, West Coast and No Coast) going head-to-head in a relay-style race to shuck, slurp and then chug a stout. The fastest time crowns the winner.
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