Any good beer in Kansas City?

[Kalleh1]

I will be in Kansas City, MO, next week for a conference, staying at the Westin Crown Center at 1 Pershing Road. I see from Chazwicke's link to cask conditioned beers that the 75th Street Brewery has cask conditioned beer, correct? Any other places that serve good beer? I particularly like bottle conditioned and cask conditioned beers. Thanks!

BTW, there aren't many posts in this section. Don't you in the mountains and plains drink much beer?;)

[brewmonkey]

75th is the only place in the area that has a cask going. You should check out Boulevard's products, they are all over town as well if you get the chance go hit the brewery and get a tour. www.blvdbeer.com

If you would like to, PM me and I will give you my phone number. I spent 5 years brewing in a pub in this area and would be glad to help you locate the good spots.

[DreamWeaver]

Well, If I was planning a trip to KC in the near future, I know who I'd ask.

He'll be along any minute now.....;)




BM, you must have beat me by about 5 seconds!

[Kalleh1]

Aha, brewmonkey must be the man! Thanks, BM (not such a great nickname, huh?;) ), and I will PM you.

Now, why aren't there more people here from your area of the country? Your section seems so bare compared to, for example, the midwest section. I think it is fascinating that the midwest section has twice as many posts (830) as any other section. The next 2 are the UK (476) and the mid-atlantic (451). I wonder what that means, if anything.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by Kalleh1
BTW, there aren't many posts in this section. Don't you in the mountains and plains drink much beer?;)

Others can either agree or disagree but this area with exception maybe of Colorado is a beer wasteland. I have posted previously about a visit to Wisconsin where I was amazed at the variety available.

I always have to laugh when I look at the distribution for brewers like Stone and see that they distribute to Colorado and places East of of Nebraska but they never care to stop here.

[Beaver]

Originally posted by Jeff
Others can either agree or disagree but this area with exception maybe of Colorado is a beer wasteland. I have posted previously about a visit to Wisconsin where I was amazed at the variety available.

I always have to laugh when I look at the distribution for brewers like Stone and see that they distribute to Colorado and places East of of Nebraska but they never care to stop here.

No maybes about it...Colorado rocks! :)

[fretlessman71]

Agreed! This has to be a beer OASIS. :D

[chazwicke]

Kalleh It looks like you are probaly the most well traveled poster on this board. You' re meeting up with everyone. I've got to do more traveling in the States again. It has been a number of years since I did brewery / pub tours of the left coast and Colorado. I've enjoyed meeting up with the other posters I have met so far. Is the idea for a convention still out there?

[Beaver]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Kalleh It looks like you are probaly the most well traveled poster on this board. You' re meeting up with everyone. I've got to do more traveling in the States again. It has been a number of years since I did brewery / pub tours of the left coast and Colorado. I've enjoyed meeting up with the other posters I have met so far. Is the idea for a convention still out there?

Great American Beer Fest is coming up in Denver...hint, hint.

[Kalleh1]

Kalleh It looks like you are probaly the most well traveled poster on this board. You' re meeting up with everyone.
Yes, I do travel a lot with my job, and I only recently figured out that I can ask here about good beer places. So many trips have ended in bad beer merely because I had no idea where to go. And, let's face it, concierges may know about good wine, but they don't know about good beer!

Soon it will be California, and I see from Chazwicke's list of U.S cask places that there are a lot of good places there. Thanks for that list, Chaz! (Steve sent it to me).

Is the idea for a convention still out there?

I think a convention is a great idea! Beaver, when is the Colorado beer festival? That would be a nice venue since Colorade is somewhat centrally located.

[fretlessman71]

More than happy to help out here.....

http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/index.htm

Sept. 30 - Oct. 2 in Denver @ CO Conv. Cntr.

[Kalleh1]

Oh Darn! I will be in New Mexico then at a conference!

How about the rest of you, though? I definitely think you should have a convention of beer drinkers!

[Beaver]

Crap. I didn't realize it was that weekend. I'm going to be in Albuquerque (sp?) that weekend for the hot air balloon festival. D'oh!

[chazwicke]

Kalleh, Is that where you are going too? Albuquerquie?

[Kalleh1]

Oh, I got mixed up. I am going to Orlando then, and Albuquerque in November. Actually, starting in September, I will be in San Francisco, Georgia (near Savannah), Orlando, Washington DC, Albuquerque, and Fort Myers, FL.

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by Beaver
Crap. I didn't realize it was that weekend. I'm going to be in Albuquerque (sp?) that weekend for the hot air balloon festival. D'oh!

I have a friend in Longmont that goes every year! Wonder if you know him... JG ring a bell? I know you're not from around here, but it's worth a shot...

[Beaver]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
I have a friend in Longmont that goes every year! Wonder if you know him... JG ring a bell? I know you're not from around here, but it's worth a shot...

Nope. I don't think I know anyone in Longmont.

[Kalleh1]

Well, here I am in Kansas City! I tried to reach brewmonkey, but he must have been brewing or something.

So, I went to the 75th Brewery, and their cask conditined beer was Possum Trot Brown Ale. It was good, even though that isn't my favorite style of beer. Interestingly, "Possum Trot" is the original nickname of Kansas City.

However, their Good Hope IPA on tap was delicious!

Their food was also good, and while I had ribs, I was tempted to get the "brewben" simply for the name!

[brewmonkey]

Check your PM's.

[Jeff]

I had a sampler from 75th and was pretty impressed with everything. I didn't realize they had any cask ales or I definately would have tried that. BTW, the chicken fried steak is excellent too.

[Kalleh1]

You should check out Boulevard's products

I had a Boulevard pale ale tonight; it's on tap at my hotel. Now, that is a good beer!

I had no idea that Kansas City was such a beer mecca!

[brewmonkey]

There are several breweries in and around KC that are worth checking out. Some have distro and some do not. The best place to go to try as many of the beers in the area is Barley's on Midland Dr in Shawnee. Barley's also used to have a brewery in Topeka but the closed it down. Incidently Barley's is owned by KC Hopps which also owns both 75th ST's. (Waldo & Lawrence)

Area breweries worth checking out IMHO are McCoy's in Westport, Free State in Lawrence, The Blind Tiger in Topeka, 75th Street (both locations) & Ameristar Casino's Brewery. They are no specific order of opinion but they are all great places. There are other breweries running but they do not make it onto my list of places worth visiting right now.

We used to have about 15 breweries in KC but as the fad died out those who did not have a solid plan went bye-bye. Former breweries include Mill Creek in Westport (right across from McCoys'), Hops! in Independence, Rock Bottom in Overland Park, Zymers, Sports Page, Overland Brewing Company, Weston Brewing Company, Flying Monkey (they now are contracted. They lost their brewery to a flood), Emmerson Biggins (Lawrence), Bayou State Brewery. 75th ST had another brewery in Lee's Summit a few years back that I cannot recall the name of right now.

There were a few others I am having trouble recalling. Some of the above were in the same location after another brewery went under.