Good News Preaches the Gospel of Good Brews – Riverfront Times

Beer and religion have a complicated history. Some faiths frown upon or even forbid the consumption of any intoxicants, while Catholic monks have been practitioners and keepers of sacred brewing techniques for centuries. The Paulaner monks of 18th-century Germany substituted their Dopplebock for solid food during their Lenten fasts. Even devout Protestant Arthur Guinness saw the virtue in brew, making his now-world-famous dry Irish stout as a low-ABV alternative to the whiskey that had soaked his community in sinful drunkenness.

No matter what deity you worship or which spiritual path you walk, it’s hard to argue that beer isn’t the perfect social lubricant for the type of fellowship that most congregations strive for. This idea is the rock upon which Good News Brewing was built in 2017. And in just six years, the company has expanded exponentially, broadcasting its message and providing St. Charles County tipplers with their daily liquid bread from O’Fallon to Defiance to Augusta to St. Charles’ historic Frenchtown neighborhood.

While Good News isn’t proselytizing a specific creed or even religion itself — just craft beer, camaraderie and wood-fired pizza — its roots are unequivocally Christian. It began in 2014, when Matt Fair joined a weekly Bible study hosted by Dan Tripp. While Fair was a mechanic by trade and Tripp an elementary-school assistant principal, the two shared a passion for homebrewing that eventually led to them collaborating in Fair’s basement.

One of the books the study group discussed was by pastor and missional author Hugh Halter called Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth. The tome talks about taking God’s teachings out of the physical church and into the community to connect with people on a human level in a fun and even celebratory atmosphere. Fair and Tripp started a monthly beer and pizza night, inviting people — friends and strangers — to sip homebrews and talk. Eventually, they decided to hire a head brewer and turn water to beer for everyone in their hometown of O’Fallon, opening Good News Brewing (multiple locations including 111 North Main Street, O’Fallon; 636-294-7050; goodnewsbrewing.com) to the public in the summer of 2017.

Good News spread quickly. First, in the fall of 2018, they opened a second O’Fallon location, Alpha & Omega Roasting Company (which served Good News beer for breakfast up until six months ago, but now slings specialty cocktails). Demand for their beer was so great, Fair and Tripp had to move beyond their single-barrel homebrew system (which they still use for small-batch experiments) and contract with now-defunct Missouri Beer Co. until 2019, when they expanded again, this time into a space large enough for a seven-barrel brew system in Defiance, just off the Katy Trail.

To the owners, growth was never measured in liquid units but rather by the number of people who could come into their physical locations. “Beer is really just the tool,” says Justin Guldalian, who first met Fair through church friends and came aboard as Good News’ head brewer in August 2021. “We use the beer to reach out and connect to people. That’s the impetus behind the whole thing.”

And it’s not just about connecting individuals over a pint. Good News has been active in collaborating with community organizations including the O’Fallon Fire Department, local businesses such as Local 636 apparel manufacturers, and even loosely defined civic gatherings such as the 113,000-member Facebook group The End is Near, So Let’s Drink Beer that brought quarantined beer chuggers together through their computers during the pandemic.

Good News was also a place where thirsty patrons could drown their COVID-19 sorrows in person. You might say that’s because St. Charles County had much looser restrictions (and, some would argue, a looser grip on the reality of the situation). It could also have had something to do with the spacious open-air dining areas at each Good News location. In Defiance and Augusta, where Fair and Tripp bought and renovated the old Augusta Brew Haus in September 2020 — at the height of the pandemic, when most breweries were hanging on for dear life — it may also have helped to be close to the Katy Trail, where many people (and dogs) from around the region came to socially distance.

But it might also have had something to do with the upbeat attitude of Good News itself. “They were so positive the whole time,” says Sarah Guldalian, founder and CEO of Top Notch Brand Company, which does marketing for Good News. “Things were so difficult across all industries, even in church. Here you come to Good News, and there’s kids and dogs and gluten-free offerings. They’re trying to include everybody and want everyone to have a positive experience. I think we were all hungry for that.”

The owners seem bullish on the future, too. In the fall of last year, they opened their fourth taproom in St. Charles, adjacent to the Frenchtown Heritage Museum, creating a unique “Brewseum” concept. Along the way, Good News has come out with four-packs of its top-selling Belgian White, Perfect Storm Pale Ale and 636 Hazy IPA, among others, to be bought in St. Charles and Lincoln counties.

But ultimately, what Good News is preaching can’t be canned.

“They just want to spread out as much as possible and that’s not through distribution coming from one central hub, it’s really to have an actual footprint,” says Justin Guldalian. “They’re always looking at where can we go next?”

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