I am an addict! I got the first step, but who needs the other 11?!

I have caught a bug. I am getting addicted to beer events. Whether that is going to a beer festival, a beer tasting, or especially a beer dinner I want to go to more. A while back I went to a dinner at Port Fonda in Westport down the street from McCoy's and Harpo's. Having read the menu I got really excited. Boulevard Brewing and Port Fonda paired a few beers with Mexican style dishes. I heard about this dinner through the interwebs and wanted to jump on it as quick as I could. I also saw an opportunity to spend some great time with my father doing something we both enjoy, drinking good beer and eating good food. While neither of us had been to Port Fonda or the food truck it had been before it became a restaurant, we figured it would be at least decent because the good people at Boulevard were pairing their beer with it.

I showed up a little early to Port Fonda and sat at the bar. This place is a smaller venue but still very nice. The bar tenders and wait staff are really nice and helpful. The bar itself even had margaritas on tap and had mezcal flights. I will more than likely want to come back to the restaurant some time soon.

My dad arrived and we enjoyed a beer before the festivities started. I had a Tank 7 and he had an Irish Ale (Of course we raised a glass in celebration of quality time). After that we walked back to the area where people are gathering for the dinner. We started meeting a couple of really cool people. This was aided by the proximity of those around us because we were snugly seated at the table.

After the group settled, the Boulevard guys and the owner/chef from Port Fonda came out welcoming us and letting us know what they had in store for us. (The picture to the left is courtesy of Chef Explore KC) Before I jump in though I want to share an observation I had right before the first course was set down. Jeremy Danner, Steven Pauwels, and David Colgan all sat down and when the first beer of 80 Acre was set down, they reached for the glass and as if by reflex they brought the glass to their nose and sniffed. I found this interesting because while some might take a sniff of their beer every now and then, these guys were enhancing the flavor of the beer by smelling a beer that they have consumed a lot of over the years and they did this by muscle memory having done this for years and years. But then came the first course:

• 1st course: 80-Acre Hoppy Wheat Beer paired with frito mixto (mixed fried tripe, seafood, vegetables, chiles with roasted serrano mayo) 
• The Frito Mixto is a made with Tripe (Beef Stomach) gave me pause but I took a stab at it and rest of the plate. With the Serrano Mayo this plate had a kick but was a pretty good appetizer.
• The 80-Arce Hoppy Wheat cut the heat of the appetizer. This is a good beer as transition between wheat beers and IPAs. The dry hop of the beer is refreshing and I learned that it is made with two varieties of hops, Cascade and Nelson.
• 2nd course: Saison-Brett paired with tostada de moronga (wood-oven roasted blood sausage and clams with blood orange and roasted beet salad) 
• The tostada was really interesting and got me out of my comfort zone with the blood sausage and beets and I was happy for it! They were good.
• Saison-Brett is a Smokestack limited release that also happens to be Jeremy's favorite. This is a very good beer that exemplifies how a very positive use for Brettanomyces, a variety of yeast usually causing off or bad flavors in a beer. If I were you I would keep an eye out for this beer in late May/early June.
• 3rd course: Pop-Up I.P.A. paired with vuelve la vida (seafood and chorizo stew) 
• The vuelve la vida or return to life stew was really good with all sorts of seafood in it. Crab and mussels cooked in the shell. Shrimp, scallops, and chorizo thrown in a nice broth. Spicy but real good. The couple we sat next to used the term, "Amazeballs!" So you know, there's that.
• Pop-Up IPA is a session beer and IPA. This means that it will have the lighter body and lower ABV of a session beer, and the pleasantly bitter profile of an IPA. This a real good beer that complemented the stew well.
• 4th course: Long Strange Tripel paired with chicharrones (belly-on pork chicharrones with tomatillo, poached egg and hollandaise) 
• I don't know what it is about Eggs-Benedict-like food that I really like and this was no exception. The Hollandaise was very creamy and I couldn't get enough of the pork.
• Long Strange Tripel is always very good and I really like how this beer starts sweet and ends dry. You wouldn't know you are drinking a 9.2% beer. Definitely go get this beer as a year round Smokestack.
• 5th course: Imperial Stout paired with donas de requeson (ricotta doughnuts with spiced hot chocolate sauce)
• The doughnuts we got were covered in chocolate sauce and they were very delicious! One of the people we sat next to literally said, "I don't know what words are anymore! Uhhhhhh...." The doughnuts just melted in your mouth and I was left wanting more.
• Boulevards Imperial Stout is really good with a sweet vanilla flavor combined with the char and roasted malt flavors bring a good espresso note to the beer. Very well paired with the chocolaty goodness that was the doughnuts.

I really like meeting new people and this dinner at Port Fonda allowed me to do that. I got to meet great people that we sat next to. I learned about places like The Rieger Hotel & Exchange, the Grunauer, and the soon to open Bridger's Bottle Shop in Westport. We also discussed the difference between a beer dork or nerd and being a beer snob. They are great people and I hope to see them around sometime. After the dinner the brewers made themselves available to everyone to answer questions and for photo ops. I got to meet Jeremy, David, and Steven from Boulevard, and Steven introduced me to Steve Bradt and Seth Sanchez, brewers from Free State Brewery in Lawrence, KS. If I noticed one thing from each of these great guys was that passion was the recurring theme in conversation. They have a passion for making and drinking great beer, but beyond that they have a tremendous passion for showing others their craft and the fruits of their labor. These guys were even encouraging my passion for craft beer. This passion is growing in me with every day that goes by and with every beer I drink.

The good food, great beer, and wonderful people are reasons why I am becoming addicted to beer events all around the city.

It's Friday night. Do you know where your beer came from?

A lot of the time when I am telling a story of my experience getting a beer I usually start with walking down the aisle of a liquor store or looking at a tap handle from across a bar. That is the start of that story for me but it is not the start of the story for the beer that I choose. The journey of a beer begins with a brewer combining four basic ingredients in such a way that creates a sweet nectar that inspired men to write their passion. My favorite is when Benjamin Franklin said, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Beer is wonderful and I love the variety of flavors the ingredients can bring. But how does the beer get from the brewery to the glass in my hand? The beer is bottled and kegged by the brewery and then what?

Immediately following Prohibition a lot of states enacted laws to enforce a three tier system of producers (brewers), distributors, and retailers. This separation protects consumers and helps small businesses, not to mention local small distribution companies. That being said beer distribution can be a complicated and restrictive to both brewers and retailers. A brewer can't simply sell their craft directly to a consumer, nor can the sell directly to a retailer.

A distributor makes its portfolio of beers, liquors, and wines base on what it feels the market it serves demands. However, if you didn't know a distributor had to be involved, usually you wouldn't know they exist. A lot of the time a brewer has to establish itself with a distributor AND then has to further market its beer to consumers and the partnership with the distributor doesn't help them out. At least this has been my perception. Recently this perception has changed, Central States Beverage has made itself known in a very positive way for a lot of the brands in it's portfolio.

Through social media, partnerships with retailers, brewers, and even sports teams, Central States has really created excitement and awareness for the products distributed by them. Everything from Boulevard, Mother's, Santa Fe, and Stone Brewing to Miller Lite and Coors Light. They have partnered with Sporting KC, Bier Station, 96.5 FM, and many others. Their social media people have created almost cult followings for beers causing people to go on passionate hunts for specific beer. Through give aways, contests, and public engaging rhetoric, Central States has gotten involved with the supply on whole new level. No wonder they have been recently received Craft Beer Distributor Achievement Award in 2013 by the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) and the Brewers Association (BA). They have aspirations for the higher title of Craft Beer Distributor of the Year Award in 2014, and they can pull it off.

I think Central States Beverage is doing it right.

If you like winning contests, getting free cool things, or finding out about beer in the Kansas City area follow Central States!

Central States Twitter

Central States Facebook

Happy Valentine's Day! Let's all get Chocolate Wasted!

If you felt you missed out on the Chocolate Ale from Boulevard, don't despair! I have been on the look out for a few other beers that C and I will be enjoying this Valentine's Day.

The usual problem I have with a lot of "chocolate" beers is that they have more of a burnt malt flavor that you are supposed to detect a slight chocolate note out of.  Here are some of the other chocolate style beers we will be enjoying today.

• Southern Tier Choklat Stout
• Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence
• Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco
• Woodchuck Hard Cider Cellar Series Chocolate (C is excited for this one)
• Shocktop Chocolate Wheat
• And I will probably stop on the way home to see if I can't find another one.
• Southern Tier Creme Brulee Milk Stout (Not a chocolate beer but a good desert beer)

Here are a couple to stay away from:

• O'Fallon Cherry Chocolate Beer
• Sam Adam's Chocolate Bock
• Not a bad beer but only available that I have seen in a variety pack

Have a safe and fun Valentine's Day! Let me know what you do for yours!

Founder's Backwoods Bastard

One cold night I pop the cap on another bastard beer from Founder's Brewing Company. This one is Backwoods Bastard. This winter seasonal release comes out around November and I was looking for something different. Well I found it. At 10.2%, Backwoods Bastard is sold in four packs and is one to pick up to drink over a few winter nights.

When I poured the beer into glass, it was a very dark red brown color, like a chocolate diamond with a hint of red. The head of the beer was foamy and thick but eventually subsided. As I drank the beer the head left lines with each drink, forming a ladder down the glass. I could smell the bourbon as I took my first sniff and I even caught a little smokiness reminding me of a campfire.

Backwoods bastard has a potent bourbon flavor with some hints of oakiness to it, fitting as it was aged in oak bourbon barrels. I was able to get a little vanilla and caramel with each sip especially as it warmed up. When I first tasted the beer, it was a fresh out of the fridge and I got a punch in the face with the booziness, but as the beer warmed up that definitely mellowed and rounded out. This is a full bodied beer that reminded me of cream soda. I suggest that you drink this beer after letting it sit out of the refrigerator for a little while.

I really like this beer and I would suggest it for you on during your next Thanksgiving weekend.

I give this beer a 7.5 out 10.

For more from Founder's, here is their Breakfast Stout.

Being nice pays off!

Awhile back I went looking for some specific beers at a few area stores. I was out a Lukas Liquor near 135th and State Line. I wanted two specific beers (Stone's Enjoy by 2.14.14 and Santa Fe's limited release Single Barrel Sour Ale), and I wasn't quite sure where they would be. I looked around a bit, but then I asked a guy stocking the shelves. This guy may or may not have fit a stereotype that I hold but that is beside the point. The guy set down what he was doing, and talked to me for a moment while he thought of where the beer could be. He thought he might be out of the Sour Ale and knew that Stone's beer was only distributed to the Kansas side of State Line. He told me to hang on for a minute. The man went into the back and not only found his last bottle of the Sour Ale, but also came back with another beer I might like. (That beer was then featured at Bier Station in the East Waldo area.) He also gave me some suggestions to where Enjoy by could be found. You might be saying that this is just regular customer service and he was doing what he should have done. This is true, but the extra mile he went while we talked in getting to know me and talking about our passion for beer showed me that he knew his stuff.

I frequent a local liquor store, Gomer's in Lee's Summit enough to be known as a regular and they know the kind of beer I usually look for. Now before you go all judging me for be regular at a liquor store, they have weekly wine and beer tastings that afford me the opportunity to chat with the owners and employees. It also helps that my parents have a dog the store has become attached to. Either way I have made some friends with them and they love talk about beer with me. We will talk about flavor profiles, to age a beer or not. I have even been able to help them find new beers. If they know a unique or rare beer is coming in, they will hold it back for me.

Moral of the story is being nice and personable with people, and they will go the extra mile for you because they want not because they have to.

I am just saying...

Boulevard Chocolate Ale... Enjoy it! But don't be that guy!

Boulevard's widely acclaimed and publicized Chocolate Ale is being released this week. The beer will be on tap in the Kansas City area starting today! Boulevard has promised just under half of their entire production of this beer to be kept in the Kansas City area. This might be because previous year's releases went to other markets and sat around unsold, while there was extreme shortage around here. OR the reason could be that Boulevard loves us and wants to treat their home market. You decide... Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, bottles of the Chocolate Ale will not be in stores until Wednesday at the earliest. It was supposed to come out tomorrow.

Regardless of how you feel about the beer, this is a limited release beer. I believe there are, or at least should be a code among craft beer drinkers.

Here are a couple starter suggestions for the code:

1. When you hear of good beer on limited release, let others know.
• This may be counterproductive if you think about potentially not getting the beer you want.
• But think about it this way:
• Helping others always makes you feel good
• Maybe one day they help you find a beer
• Who knows they could buy you that beer
2. No matter what, DON'T BE THAT GUY!!!
   
   
• This guy is a jerk and probably has a big truck because he might be compensating for something
• The resale of alcohol without a license is illegal, so I wouldn't advise it
• Excuse my language but anyone that would do this is a money grubbing asshole and I wouldn't want to be friends with that person anyway

Now if you are looking for the beer on tap:

Waldo Pizza

Waldo

Lee's Summit

Rock & Run Brewery
Liberty

Do Drop Inn
Lee's Summit

Flying Saucer
Power & Light District

75th Street Brewery
Waldo

The Bell
Liberty

Martin City Brewery
Martin City

I am sure there is more but that is all I have heard of so far. I will update once I have found more.

I will also add a section for places selling the Chocolate Ale in bottles.

Please help me in compiling this list! Contact me if you know of a place that is selling the beer.

I am Pro-Choice! ... I mean just read below...

When I started drinking beer, more than a sip of my father's beer as a preteen, I usually bought my beer from a gas station down the street from my college dorm. I had to sneak the beer down the hall to my room as it was contraband. I hid the beer in the freezer. More importantly than sneaking around, the Stones, short for Keystone Light, or the Natties, Natural Light, were stowed in the freezer of my dorm frig so that they got super cold. A few hours later, I usually threw them in a backpack to take to the party of the evening. When I cracked the first cold one, it would be SO cold that I wasn't able to taste the beer because my taste buds would be numb. By the time the rest of had them warmed up, I had consumed enough alcohol to not care what it actually tasted like. My theory is that this is the strategy of these beers and their manufacturers. This is stated as much in their slogans; you know Rocky Mountain Freshness or cold activated cans. Now during these – we will call them my Light Days – during the Light Days, I was not concerned with the flavor, style, ingredients, hop profile, or least of all the brewer that made the beer. What I was concerned about was the effect of the beer on my disposition and the social lubrication it provided. Actually, I was more concerned with meeting people, most often of the opposite sex. What I was drinking was irrelevant, because the ladies were most likely drinking the same thing or not interested in beer.

Why Was My College Beer Choice Important?

Some say that beer is an acquired taste. During my Light Days, I couldn't taste what I was drinking, so I guess you could say I acquired a taste for water. At that point I didn't know there were other options. My choices were then and are important, because even though I didn't know it the Craft Beer industry was providing ever increasing array of choices in quality beer. When I bought beer during the Light Days, I walked past the cooler doors with non-big beer in them. I always associated those doors with the sugary adult wine-cooler drinks. Since I didn't want to get iced (bro), I grabbed a 30 rack and called it a good start. A couple of years later (but not soon enough) I began to realize that my drinking partner in a can was not the best beer experience out there. In a post-apocalyptic dystopian future we are going to be stuck eating Twinkees, Spam, and drinking light beer. As those options are all depressing and flavorless, why subject yourself to that when we in the present day. Where as a society, we have options with flavor and character like a porterhouse steak paired with a loaded baked potato and a bourbon quad or Imperial stout.

When Did I Have My Epiphany?

One summer afternoon, I remember having dinner with friends and someone brought some weird beer over. We were short on the light stuff, so I took a dive. I thought I was helping others out by allowing them to keep drinking what they were used to. I picked the bottle up with a weird little camper on the label. I opened a locally made beer from Boulevard Brewery, a Single Wide IPA. Yes, an India Pale Ale was my first beer that wasn't made by a big beer company. The beer poured a dark caramel color and with a creamier head than I was used to. I took a sip. I was immediately thrown off by its bitterness and almost had a moment from Can't Hardly Wait.

NO ONE DRINK THE BEER!! THE BEER HAS GONE BAD!!

But I gave the beer another chance; another sip. That sip became a swig, and then I started to grow accustom to the flavors. Because I persevered, I started to understand what flavor in beer was all about. This beer was not what I had been used to at all. This beer, while more than a full percent higher ABV (alcohol by volume) than the beers I previously drank, had more body to it. As I let the beer soak in, both figuratively and literally, I began to realize this beer was most likely not intended to bypass my taste buds and be chugged. I felt this beer was intended to smack my taste buds but in a way that made me want more. This beer shoved me out of my rut. From this first beer, I tried and loved other Boulevard beers such as Unfiltered Wheat, Pale Ale, Boss Tom, Bob's 47, Lunar Ale, and many more all before they came out with their Smokestack Series. With each new beer I tried my eyes were consistently opened to a wider understand of what craft beer is as a whole. These first few beers were like my first kiss and first... date and shows you why I will always have a soft spot for Boulevard. This revelation showed me what craft beer really was. Craft beer is about the experience. As the saying goes variety is the spice of life. I wanted to experience more, so I branched out to numerous other brewers from around the country and world finding new experiences in a bottle that either push the envelope in some way like a high IBU (International Bitterness Units), or expanding my palate for both my nose and tongue with pungent aromas of an IPA and strong flavors of a sour ale.


Cultural Movement Starts With Culture

Regardless of to which specific renaissance you refer, whether it is after the Middle Ages, the renaissance during the rule of Charlemagne, or the cultural growth of the Harlem Renaissance, each time period has a quintessential component, cultural movement. By cultural movement I mean a drastic change or change that is non sequitur to the status quo. This current Craft Beer Renaissance is not about market share or production numbers (even though both are steadily increasing), our movement is about passion and art. I can say "our" because as soon as you realize your passion for beer and everything that comes with it, you are a part of that cultural movement. Over the years I have met quite a few craft brewers, at every level. Home brewers, brew pub owners, and even regional to national brewers. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them has a passion for their craft, their art, and helping everyone around them find enjoyment in the fruits of their labor. If beer is an art form, I have found that even at the most basic level I can paint a picture I can enjoy. I have now been dabbling in home brewing for a couple of years, learning about the basics of a craft with a myriad of choices and options that are made by professionals and can be made at home. I have found that most brewers start as a person who just wants to have a better beer or a different option than the norm. They quickly have to learn how to be business people, but even then they put their own stamp on what it means to be in business. With the ubiquitous presence of social media and the culture of the craft brew industry, it is easy to see how a brewer's passion is a viral contagion infecting the community around them. This infectious mind frame leads to great beer, great times, a better community through philanthropy and good will.

Why do I exercise my choice?

Another symptom of that infectious mind frame is seeking more and different beers from an increasingly growing number of brewers. This causes a market segment to grow faster than brewers can supply it. The US has 2,722 craft breweries operating with a growth rate of 340 new breweries per year. The US will surpass the previous peak of breweries (3,286 in 1870) in less the two years! Even if each brewery did just one beer that was different from anyone else and came up with a new beer every year, I could drink a beer a day and not repeat a beer for the rest of my life. Normally I would say "Challenge Accepted!" but there are so many good beers that I will eagerly enjoy again and again. And this is not even including the possibilities of home brew!

With all of this information about the craft beer industry, why do I make the choices I make? Why am I passionate about craft beer and the variety that accompanies it? Is it the excitement to find the new breweries like Prairie from Oklahoma? Or is it proving myself worthy of Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale? These are all among the many reasons I go find beer, but I choose variety in beer to enhance the experience around the pint. It is the gentle ribbing of my friends who still haven't broaden their horizons beyond that special way to spell light. It is experiencing a beer pairing dinner with passionate brewers and chefs at a local venue. But most of all it is sharing a pint or more with the man who taught me what it means to be a man. Having a laugh with my whole family over the reactions to new beers or someone 'churching' - sneaking a sip from (blame my sister for the family inside joke) - someone else's beer at the dinner table. This is why I enjoy the variety of the US Craft Beer market during this amazing Renaissance. This is why I am pro-choice.