April 22, 2012 [ Updated May 13, 2012 ]
We visited 4Hands during the food truck event this past Saturday. I was pleased with the oatmeal stout and the Saison, but I really fell in love with the rehabbed space. The view of the brewing area was very open and it appears that they have plenty of room to expand. They are located in the industrial area between downtown and Soulard on 8th St. that became a dead end when I-55 was built in the ’60s. The food truck event was great and I hope that it becomes a regular occurrence. A real plus is that they offer options from other local brewpubs, and at least one nationally distributed brewery; last Saturday, they poured Schlafly’s barley wine, Civil Life’s brown, and Bell’s cherry stout.The icing on the cake is that you can park there and stroll over to Busch Stadium for a Cardinals’ game and they’ll validate your parking in exchange for two beers...win-win-win.

February 27, 2012 [ Updated March 3, 2012 ]
Saturday mid-afternoon and this place was buzzing. Neat space, complete with reclaimed stuff from the renovate dbuilding used to furnish it -- the big central table from the original door is cool. The bartender seemed kinda like a prick, frankly. But he answered questions and gave us what we wanted. The beers here were solid, if mostly unextraordinary. For 10 samples, we shelled out $17+ tip which seemed awful high, too, especially since that included 4 doubles (6 different beers). In the end, I enjoyed my hour here, and will likely return. But they need to loosen up the vibe and the price point a bit. Brewery #576.

January 21, 2012
Went on a slow Saturday afternoon January 2012. A few folks were in enjoying their beers and I was impressed with the view of the brewery upon entering the building. They have installed glass around the bar so you can see the whole facility, nice idea. Staff was very friendly and even took time to explain the furniture and the process they went through to get the pieces that are in the tasting room. A very cool new brewery in St. Louis, look forward to visiting again.

January 14, 2012
4 Hands is yet another new brewery in St. Louis. This one is tucked in a pocket between Downtown and Soulard in an old industrial building. It looks like they have a ton of room to grow in the building. The tasting room faces 8th Street, a dead-end street on which Lohr Distributing has some real estate. The room has a lot of recycled building materials as tables and the bar and so forth, which gives it a great lived-in feel for a brand new place. The staff was short while we were there because they were around town launching on taps all over the City. The two guys there were cool, though. Their first 4 beers were on tap along with Deschutes Black Butte (brand new in MO) as a guest. 3 empty taps rounded out the 8, and some new stuff is fermenting as I write. They also already have some barrels filled and visible from the windows between the tasting room and brewery. Another awesome new brewer. I love this place already and can’t wait to return when they have more beer.