July 20, 2010 [ Updated July 22, 2010 ]
Hair of the Dog is nestled in a narrow storefront along the hip Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis. I have been down here so many times, have friends that live literally across the street, and have even been in (late, hammered), and had absolutely no idea that this place is a serious beer bar. The owner loves Belgians and has a nice selection of Belgian bottles. Will, the guy who took me to the place and showed me how legit it is, got the place to carry some cool stuff. It has probably the largest selection of Cantillon and other lambics/sours of any St. Louis bar. The selection of stouts is also seriously impressive; we got a GD Espresso Oak Aged Yeti and a Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus. They have a special Schlafly brew (Fudd) and two other Schlafly taps at all time, including one that is normally out of season but kept in kegs by the owner. Also 3 New Belgium taps (Eric’s Ale!), and a few standard bar taps. The bar is narrow and super long, with foosball, bubble hockey, and other bar games, a decent amount of TVs, and a TON of smoke (until the STL smoking ban begins 1/1/11). Plenty of Washington Ave. d-bags come in here while bar/club hopping, so the crowd is pretty mixed. St. Louis’ best-kept beer secret.