Boulevard beer in aluminum, new breweries and more from the year in beer
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Can do. That was the mantra adopted by Boulevard Brewing Co. in 2015. John McDonald, the founder of Kansas City’s biggest brewery, broke the aluminum news in The Pitch a year ago November. By April, the first six-packs of a new IPA, Heavy Lifting, had started showing up in liquor stores. Twelve-ounce cans of Unfiltered Wheat, Pop-Up IPA and Ginger-Lemon Radler followed, with more planned for 2016.
Boulevard wasn’t the only local brewery to get into the canning business. Cinder Block Brewery released a limited run of its core beers in four-packs of 16-ounce cans, with plans for more in the future.
GOING BIG
In Manhattan, Tallgrass Brewing Co. moved into a 60,000-square-foot production facility and opened the Tallgrass Tap House in that college community’s downtown. Unfortunately, Kansas’ biggest suds maker announced that it would discontinue five beers in February 2016: Ethos IPA, Velvet Rooster Belgian-Style Tripel, 16-Bit Double Pale Ale, Halcyon Unfiltered Wheat and Ginger Peach Saison. Snuffing out the rooster? Damn.
Tallgrass announced three new beers for its 2016 16-ounce-can lineup: Top Rope IPA, Songbird Saison and Half-Pipe Tart Pale Ale. Also on the way are four new Explorer Series specialty brews: the Grizz imperial IPA, Sweet Tooth salted caramel Belgian dark strong ale, Biere de Mars and Raspberry Jam Berliner weisse.
NEW BREWERIES
Kansas City’s brewery boom continued with several openings: Crossroads Arts District neighbors Border Brewing Co., in February, and Double Shift Brewing Co., in July. Outside that area: Red Crow Brewing Co. in Spring Hill, Kansas; and Crane Brewing Co., in Raytown.
Crane started distributing to liquor stores and bars on the Kansas side of the state line in December. Missouri is still waiting, due to bureaucratic red tape.
Stockyards Brewing Co. signed a lease in May on the iconic former Golden Ox restaurant building in the West Bottoms, and construction is ongoing. Stockyards owner Greg Bland has assembled a team that includes Micah Weichert, brewmaster at Gordon Biersch, to help launch his brewery.
In March, The Pitch broke the story that longtime McCoy’s brewer Keith Thompson would team up with Room 39’s Ted Habiger and Rich Kasyjanski to open Brewery Emperial at 1829 Oak, on the same block as Grinders. Construction work is under way.
“The Crossroads has always been a goal for me,” Habiger told The Pitch. “I’ve been looking down here for four years for a possible place to do something else.”
“It was just time for me to do a brewery,” Thompson added.
Jeff “Stretch” Rumaner expanded his Grinders empire to Leavenworth, Kansas, taking over the High Noon Saloon. Grinders High Noon opened in late October. At last word, the brewery side of the business is still being sorted out.
HEAVY MEDAL
The Great American Beer Festival in Denver turned into a gold rush for local breweries. McCoy’s Public House and Free State Brewing Co. won gold at the United States’ biggest beer festival and brewery competition.
Lawrence’s Free State Brewing claimed the gold medal in the Herb and Spice Beer category, for Garden Party, a light lager with cucumber, juniper berries and basil. Garden Party was part of a new line of Free State beers, the Front Porch Series.
McCoy’s took gold for Ursa Minor, an imperial brown ale with notes of chocolate and biscuit, in the Other Strong Beer category. And KC Bier Co. celebrated its first anniversary with a silver medal for its Weizenbock, in the German-Style Wheat Ale category.
ON THE BOULEVARD
This was the year that Boulevard gave us two Love Child beers (Nos. 5 and 6), another Crown Town Ale (this time celebrating the Royals’ World Series victory), a draft-only Deep Dive Wet-Hopped Ale, and the Calling IPA (which is so good that we named it the Best New Boulevard Beer in The Pitch‘s 2015 Best of Kansas City issue).
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Boulevard also announced big changes for 2016, including the retirement of its award-winning ZON Belgian-Style Witbier. Don’t fret, though. The 2016 calendar is full of new releases, including two versions of Rye-on-Rye — notably, Rye-on-Rye-on-Rye.
“The idea is to take Rye-on-Rye out of the Templeton Rye barrels it’s been aging in and put it in fresh Templeton Rye barrels — so kind of a double aging, in a sense,” ambassador brewer Jeremy Danner told The Pitch. “It won’t be blended with fresh beer at all. It’ll be 100 percent barrel-aged. It’ll be boozy but cool.”
Boulevard will also get an updated look in 2016, with a revamped logo and packaging. And it’s tripling the size of its distribution center with a move to a new 182,000-square-foot warehouse space on 87th Street in the Three Trails Industrial Park.
IN LOCAL STORES AND ON TAP
Cinder Block, Torn Label, Martin City Brewing Co. and Crane Brewing started distributing beers.
Cinder Block started furnishing bars with beer in February and opened a patio and event space in July at its North Kansas City location.
Torn Label began putting out beer in Missouri in January and in Kansas in March; opened a tasting room in early July; and released its first bottled beer, KC P’Rye’d rye ale, in August.
Martin City Brewing started distributing 750 ml bottles of Quid Feci, a tart cherry saison; Coming Undone, a complex Flanders red-style beer; Dream Quest golden brett; and Colour Out of Space brett stout.
Big Rip released more bottled brews, including Twins Cherry Cheesecake (just one reason that we gave the award for Best Dessert Beers to Big Rip in our Best of Kansas City issue), for sale in its taproom. It’s dessert in a bottle.
COLLABORATIONS
Boulevard proved that it plays well with others, working with Florida’s Cigar City Brewing on Collaboration No. 5 Tropical Pale Ale, with Sporting Kansas City on Sporting Saison (on draft at Sporting Park), with St. Louis’ Side Project Cellar on Show-Me Sour and with the Chipotle Cultivate Festival on Cultivate Farmhouse Ale.
Also in the spirit of togetherness, Torn Label teamed up with Crane for Omega Saison and also partnered with the gang at Screenland theaters for the release of Ravager White IPA, to coincide with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Waldo bottle shop Bier Station joined forces with Martin City Brewing for its first beer release, Station to Station Berliner Weisse.
Chef Celina Tio collaborated with the Michigan-based Jolly Pumpkin on Forgotten Tales of the Last Gypsy Blender, Series 1, Volume 1. Jolly Pumpkin’s Ron Jeffries was so pleased with the oak-aged sour saison, brewed with mango and tamarind and some rye, that he decided to make it a national release.
Chef Josh Eans collaborated with St. Louis’ 4 Hands Brewery on Preserved Lemon Gose, a salty and tart but refreshing beer.
OTHER NEWS
Rock & Run Brewery celebrated its second anniversary in Liberty. Green Room marked its third anniversary but lost brewer Chris Flenker to Iowa’s Toppling Goliath Brewing. The brewpub rallied, bringing on Kalim Kazmi and Noah Kent.
Root Sellers, makers of Pedal Hard Ginger Beer and Row Hard Root Beer, announced that it had bought Columbia, Missouri’s Rock Bridge Brewing Co. in April.
Whole Foods opened an Olathe store in April with a taproom devoted to local beers. Yard House opened a taphouse in the Power & Light District in April. The old .390 Club at Kauffman Stadium was transformed into Craft & Draft, featuring more than 75 craft beers, just in time for opening day of this magical Royals season. (I’ve been — it’s fantastic.)
In May, the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council made it easier for nanobreweries to open in business districts.
By the end of the year, the Barley Bus was offering weekend rides to local breweries.
Finally, in one of the coolest moments of 2015, the Kansas City beer community, namely the members of Beer Tasting Kansas City and the Screenland crew, rallied behind Dan Simmons, whose wife unexpectedly died in November. The outpouring of support was touching, and I hope that these groups continue their good deeds in 2016.
