St. Louis is a hub of breweries, each with its own unique charm. Civil Life Brewing Co.
may hover a little under the radar, but it’s one such establishment that continues to evolve in subtle ways, staying true to its roots but always reaching into new territory to keep guests coming back. Dylan Mosley, Mike Bianco and Jake Hafner co-founded the brewery in 2011, which Hafner owns; thanks to their combined efforts, Civil Life just keeps growing better with age. A stalwart in the local beer world, Civil Life has adapted to accommodate the changing habits of guests while at the same time maneuvering through changes in the craft beer market over the last few years.
“You go back to 2011 through 2015 ...
there was this huge excitement around the [craft beer] industry. Everybody was getting in, and it was a great time to be part of it, no doubt,” Hafner says. But shifts in the bar scene – from the rise in nonalcoholic beverages to the craft cocktail revolution – post-pandemic drinking and dining habits have been tricky to navigate.
Hafner adds: “Younger people in 2020 turned 21 and didn’t [necessarily] go to a bar. They also didn’t think about going to bars and restaurants for jobs. And so, you’ve got a few years of just trying to get people back.
I think people through the pandemic also turned inward a bit, so their networks aren’t as big, and people just don’t go out as much as they used to.” To stay ahead of the game, Civil Life has quietly revamped most of.