Smokehouse to Brewhouse Across St. Louis, Wayne at the Wheel
A local drives your group between St. Louis smokehouses and breweries, picking stops around what you like to eat and drink.
This is a private car day built on two things St. Louis takes seriously: smoked meat and beer. Wayne drives your group between smokehouses and breweries and fills in the story between stops. In the listing's words, the drive covers how German immigrants turned St. Louis into the beer capital of America.
The listing names nine stops, and their stop times alone add up to six hours, the top of a day sold as four to six, before any time in the car. Treat the list as a menu. Travelers keep describing the same pattern: Wayne asked what they liked, then changed the plan to fit.
Only your group rides, and the booking is for adults 21 and over, two to six people. The per-person rate steps down at three travelers and again at five. Food and drinks sit outside that price.
Private Tour of St. Louis's Iconic BBQ Joints & BreweriesA private car and guide for four to six hours, with pickup in the St. Louis metro. Food and drinks are bought at each stop.www.viator.comThe Three Smokehouses on the List
Pappy's Smokehouse on Olive Street in Midtown opened in 2008. It is known for dry-rubbed ribs slow smoked over apple or cherry wood, with the sauce on the side. Pappy's closes on Tuesdays, shuts at 4 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays, and warns that it may sell out early. The operator says the tour traditionally starts at 10:30 AM to manage waits at popular places.
Bogart's Smokehouse sits in Soulard and opened in 2011. Its menu runs to apricot-glazed ribs, tri-tip and pastrami. Sugarfire Smoke House is the third smokehouse on the list. Its founders write that they opened in a strip mall, wedged between a copy center and a pet store.
From the Anheuser-Busch Biergarten to the Taprooms
The beer half runs from the Anheuser-Busch brewery on Lynch Street to the craft taprooms that came after it. The brewery's Biergarten is open every day from 11 AM to 6 PM. For its own guided tours, the brewery strongly recommends reserving online and takes walk-ins if space remains. Its current closure list names November 8 and December 1 and 2.
Schlafly says its Tap Room on Locust Street, opened on December 26, 1991, was the first brewery opened in St. Louis since Prohibition. The newer names include 4 Hands in LaSalle Park, Civil Life on Holt Avenue, Urban Chestnut's Grove bierhall, and Side Project in Maplewood. The listing marks Side Project as optional, aimed at barrel-aged and sour beer drinkers.
Your Tastes and the Day of the Week Set the Route
Wayne picks stops after he hears what your group eats and drinks. A September 2026 reviewer wrote that "The beer stops were planned to meet our tastes." Another came with her daughter, did not drink beer, and wrote that he "adjusted the tour to fit our liking." One August 2026 group pivoted to gelato to close out the day.
Each stop keeps its own hours, so the day of the week changes what is possible. Besides Pappy's Tuesday closing, Bogart's posts hours only for Tuesday through Saturday. Civil Life's brewpub is closed on Mondays and opens at 3 PM Tuesday through Thursday. Side Project's brewery tasting room is closed on Tuesdays and opens at 4 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. With the usual 10:30 AM start, those afternoon openings fall late in the day. Wayne also takes photos at the stops, and one guest wrote that he sent them afterward.
Pickup, Paying at Each Stop, and the Fine Print
Pickup can be at your hotel or the airport, or at a meeting place and time you set in the St. Louis metro. If you choose a meeting place, the operator suggests an area outside downtown to avoid high parking fees and traffic delays. The listing has the day ending back where it began.
- Food, beer, lunch and dinner are paid by your group at each stop.
- Extra Anheuser-Busch brewery tours are bought separately.
- Free cancellation ends 24 hours before the start; after that the booking is non-refundable.
- Booking closes four hours before the start, and confirmation is instant.
- The booking page lists service animals as allowed and rates the day suitable for all fitness levels. It does not mark the tour as wheelchair accessible, and the operator's own page for this tour says plainly that it is not wheelchair accessible or stroller accessible.
A 2025 reviewer summed up the right approach: "Come hungry and leave happy." Tell Wayne at booking which beers your group already likes, and the day starts from there.