They come in peace. And they have beer.
Let's give a warm welcome to Flying Saucer Draught Emporium (900 Spruce Street; 314-932-1456), which landed in St. Louis this week. The St. Louis location is the seventeenth in the franchise, which restaurateur Shannon Wynne founded in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1995.
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Flying Saucer is renowned for its insane (that's the actual technical term) beer selection -- 80 taps and 150 bottles -- but the St. Louis iteration is different because of our city's variety of craft beers. Gut Check spoke to Flying Saucer's assistant beer director Sam Wynne, who is also pretty excited about the St. Louis location. St. Louis Flying Saucer has twenty local beers on tap -- more than most other Saucer locations.
"It's the first time where we've rolled in and found such a blossoming local beer scene," Wynne says.
But the folks behind the counter aren't only concerned with the beer selection. They want to make sure all the bartenders and staffers know enough about each beer to make recommendations and talk about them.
"Anyone can drill 80 holes in a wall and lay down a draught system," Wynne says. "I think one of the things that set us apart fifteen years ago was the training. Now there are other places that are putting more effort into training their staff and educating them, and we like to feel like we were the beginning of that movement."
