Jeff Hardesty wanted to run a farmhouse brewery in the heartland of rural Missouri. These days, though, he’s making hazy IPAs on a 3-barrel system in the basement of a St. Louis suburb bar and restaurant and couldn’t be happier.
Hardesty is the brewer and partner of Narrow Gauge Brewing, the 1,700-square-foot space that was once a banquet hall under the bar area of Cugino’s Italian Bar and Grill. Don’t let the name of the restaurant fool you. It’s a serious craft-beer bar, a mainstay of the area’s beer scene, regularly hosting dinners, brewers, and releases of some rare and in-demand beers.
The partners of the restaurant—Dave Beckham, Dave Beckham Jr. and Ben Goldkamp—had long ago realized the draw of craft beer and how it could regularly bring existing customers back while attracting new ones with each new keg tapped. A few years ago, they decided that adding their own brewery operation could only benefit the business. Through a series of happenstance meetings with Hardesty at area beer events, they began conversations about the possibility of starting something. That became a reality in 2016.