Four Inane Questions with Martin City Brewing Company’s Matt Moore

When Matt Moore ventured into the land of craft beer in 2014, it happened by chance. 

Sorry, it happened with Chance, rather. 

Turns out Moore’s sailing buddy Chance Adams was quick to buy a building with him and go into a fledgling business together. “I said, ‘Let’s build a microbrewery,” says Moore. “Chance’s response was a quick and simple, ‘Done.’”

To hear Moore tell the tale, Martin City Brewing Company was started because “like so many other craft beer drinkers in Kansas City, I was thirsty for something new,” he says. “I wanted beer that was bigger, bolder, and preferably local. And I knew I wasn’t alone.”

Thanks to KC’s enthusiastic beer community, it wasn’t long until Moore et al. had a full-blown brewing operation, with canning and distribution throughout Kansas City and beyond. His empire has grown exponentially over the years with multiple expansion efforts throughout the metro. (Lenexa and Lee’s Summit, you’re up next!) When asked for a mantra, Moore kept it simple. “Keep drinking local,” he tells us.

We caught up with the beer-rific brewmeister over a few pints to pepper him with our line of haphazard questioning. His answers got better as the beer flight progressed.

The Pitch: What’s the funniest comeback (or one-liner) you’ve ever had?  

Matt Moore: “Your mom!” Lots of late 90s movie quotes are coming to mind, but that would be plagiarizing.   

What sportsball game caused you to scream and/or lose your ever-lovin’ mind the most? 

My sportsball brain was molded in the 90s, so the many great Chiefs teams that never made it all the way are what come to mind. My father was the biggest Chiefs fan I knew, and he lost his voice every Sunday. It was a wake-up call in the early 2000s that this was outside of my control. I probably need to have an avenue to dealing with losses by professional teams. Life is bigger than this. Easy to say now that I’ve lived through back-to-back World Series runs and back-to-back Super Bowl runs! Dad was also around for both of those.

‘Fess up—what’s the best bar/brewpub joke you’ve ever heard? 

Two guys in a bar getting drunk and one of the guy’s pukes on his own shirt.

“What am I going to do? My wife is going to kill me,” he says.

The guy says don’t worry about it, tell her somebody at the bar did it. To prove it, he stuffs $10 in his pocket for the cleaning. BRILLIANT! He goes home and his wife is going ballistic. 

“Some guy at the bar puked on me! Check my pocket, he left me $10 for the cleaning.”

She reaches into his pocket and pulls out a $20 and looks at him.

“Yeah, $10 was for the shirt; he also shit in my pants.”

What’s the record number of pints you’ve consumed in a day? I want deets. 

Two pints of Ben & Jerry’s in one day. Cinnamon roll ice cream is nuts good. Also, I’m mostly lactose intolerant, so there’s that.

I know you probably want beer pints. Well, there have been long days in my 20s and early 30s so to say I’ve gotten through a case would be appropriate. But be responsible if you’re having a day like that.