The little bar that sits on the corner of Morganford and Connecticut Streets, just a few blocks south of Tower Grove Park, has come a long way since it was called Ron's Mighty Pub. Approaching its ninth year as the Amsterdam Tavern, owned by Jeff Lyell and brothers Matt and Rob Stelzer, the Amsterdam is one of the most popular bars in Saint Louis - And for soccer fans, it's one of the most popular bars in the Midwest.

Without question, the Amsterdam Tavern owes a lot of its success to the bartenders who have befriended its patrons. You can always count on running into a friend there, and often times that friend is on the other side of the bar. We recently sat down with Lyell who, in addition to being part owner, slings drinks at the bar several times a week. We chatted about the local craft beer scene and the Amsterdam's very evident relationship with a lot of the breweries in town...

You guys do a lot of collaborations with local breweries - You've done a couple with Civil Life, one with 4 Hands, one with Six Mile Bridge - Out of all the collaborations, what's been your personal favorite?

Oh, it's always the GOOOALden Ale with Civil Life. We brew it for the big soccer tournaments in the summer and everyone loves it. It's a light, crisp blond ale and really easy to drink. It's lower in alcohol content so you can drink a bunch of it while sitting around and watching the matches, and it doesn't get you too drunk.

That one, and another standout is the Six Mile Bridge Coffee Stout, which did great this winter - although we didn't have much of a winter. It's a collaboration with Blueprint Coffee and it was something totally different for us. We had never done a stout with anyone before, and we wanted something for the winter so that worked out great.

You guys have had a ton of success over the years. What do you think is the secret to that?

We have distinctively different crowds that come in here, but they're all regulars. We have regulars that come in for happy hour. We have folks that come in for soccer on Saturday and Sunday mornings and a lot of these groups, they don't ever mingle. But you know, we don't turn over bartenders very often. This is a fun place to work. We like for the bar staff to have a good time, because then the customers are having a good time as well. And it's like everyone is a friend here. You can come in during the morning for soccer and there can be 100 people here who mostly know one another, and if you're new, it's not hard to talk to one of them and then all of the sudden you're one of the regulars. It only takes coming in a time or two before that happens.

Having regular customers is what keeps you going when you're not watching soccer, or don't have Blues playoff hockey, or the World Cup. It's having that base of 20, 30, 40 people who rotate in on different days of the week. Those are the ones who really drive success.

So, you're part owner and also a bartender. As one of the folks in charge, what kind of atmosphere do you look to create among the employees of the bar?



The bar kind of does it itself. You know, during happy hour for example - It's a bunch of people sitting around, talking, listening to good music, and that's it- Maybe we have a game on in the background. But really, we just try to foster the type of environment where everyone comes in and talks to one another and meets people. Now Saturday and Sunday mornings on the other hand, we might open at like 6:00 AM. We try and pump people up, get everyone excited. That's when we do our tap takeovers and things like that. We'll do it at 6:00 in the morning and you come in, and there are already a ton of people here excited for it. Or we'll have the folks at Jameson (whiskey) come in at like 9:00 AM and hand out 50 shots. We look for the party atmosphere for those big events. So that's what we do - We want folks to go a little crazy and have fun. But like I said, happy hour here is just a chill, laid back atmosphere. You come in and will probably end up talking to whomever is next to you. If you want to just chill out and do nothing, you can do that too. We have Wi-Fi and you can just sit around and relax. And then, during the week, you know, we used to be the type of place where people would come in late at night, doing shots and stay until one in the morning. But that crowd just doesn't really live here anymore. We see a lot of the calmer crowd now - folks who like to come in and have a nice craft beer and sit in an atmosphere that isn't so rowdy. We have a giant beer garden where you can go throw some bags, stuff like that. So yeah, the atmosphere kind of takes care of itself.

So you mentioned people are drinking more craft beer these days. I remember when you first opened you only had four taps, right?

Yeah- The first 4 beers we had were Guinness, Blue Moon, Boulevard Wheat and Smithwicks. Now we have 21 , including the four outside. Crazy to think about that.

Styles of beer that people enjoy can be kind of trendy - Have you noticed any specific trends in what people are looking for at the bar?

Definitely. It's moving towards sours, tart beers, things like that. I mean, people aren't asking for a ton of those here yet, but it's heading in that direction. IPAs are still a big go to as well. But you know, we're the type of bar who can get away with keeping a lot of the old standards around as well. We sell more Carlsberg than almost anyone. We sell a lot of Guinness and a lot of those old import beers that our customers, especially the soccer fans, love for us to keep on tap. So it's fun. We can go crazy with a lot of the fun stuff that the local breweries are putting out, but we also move a lot of the macro imports, too. They taste good and they're classics.

Speaking of the tart beers though- I went to Urban Chestnut today and had a beer that we're going to feature all summer here at the Amsterdam called Ku'damm. It's a tart wheat beer. While drinking one, they came up to me and offered to put a syrup in it and I was thinking- no way I'm going to like this if you're putting a bunch of fruity syrup in the beer. And then we put a mixed berry and passion fruit syrup in it and I ended up having two of them! Maybe I'm on my way to being a sour beer guy, who knows?

You're on the other side of the bar here at the Amsterdam but when you're not here, who's your favorite bartender to get a beer from?

Well, he doesn't bar tend much anymore- Maybe once a week- But Doc at the silver ballroom. Him across the bar, and me just sitting there playing pinball until I have to go home to the wife and kids. That's my favorite spot. I've been going there since they opened and Doc is one of the nicest guys in the world. All the bartenders there though- Amanda, Ian, Blade, Owen, Peggy- They're all the best. Now days I have to hit and run quickly. I'll have like an hour to spend, I get a few games of pinball in, have a couple beers. and that's it. But that's my favorite spot in town.

Last Question - You seem to love your job, but if you weren't doing the Amsterdam Tavern, what would you be doing with your life?

Honestly, I would love to be an announcer for the Kansas City Royals. Although, with the season they're having this year I don't think I could clean up the language enough. I'd be suspended already.

Visit Lyell at the Amsterdam Tavern soon - He'll have the game on and a cold one ready for you.

They're located at the intersection of Morganford and Connecticut in the heart of Tower Grove South.

http://amsterdamtavern.com/