Kansas City

[motobrewer]

Going there next week - looking for some interesting beers or some decent meads to bring back. any tips?



also....who's got the best BBQ??

 

[frailn]

Look for Boulevard Brewery Smokestack Series - sold just about everywhere beer is sold in KC. I really like the Sixth Glass and Tank 7.

Barbeque - I like Jack Stack and the Wood Yard.

Also, check out Beer Kitchen in Westport. They have a very nice selection of beers that are hard to find.

 

[Corman2005]

I would also check out a company called Free State Brewery. They are in Lawrence, Kansas about 45 minutes away from Kansas City. Their Copperhead Pale Ale is delicious.

As for BBQ, my favorite is a place called Smoke House.

 

[remilard]

Going there next week - looking for some interesting beers or some decent meads to bring back. any tips?



also....who's got the best BBQ??

Kansas and Missouri have different stuff, obvious but notable.

Gomer's Lee's Summit is the best bottle shop. Royal (State Line), Gomer's Kansas, Gomer's Midtown and Lukas (either) are good too.

Overall Flying Saucer has the best draught selection but I greatly prefer Foundry, Waldo Pizza, and Swagger, all of which have better atmosphere and food.

Beer Kitchen is across from Foundry (same ownership), the bottle selection is good but nothing you can't get at a bottle shop. The draught selection is limited, but good.

McCoy's is a good brewpub next to Foundry (again, same ownership). Free State is an outstanding brewpub 40 minutes away in Lawrence, KS.

As for mead, look for Pirtle and Redstone (assuming you don't get Redstone at home).

Best BBQ is like a religious question. I like Smoking Guns, LCs and Woodyard. Depending on whether or not you think you'll like the KC BBQ experience, Jack Stack has decent BBQ and does not offer the BBQ experience. Most of the places people recommend are good even if we have our disagreements. There is a lot of crap BBQ in KC though so don't just go walking into random places.

 

[motobrewer]

yeah, sorry, I'll be in MO, near the Downtown Airport. Gomer's Lee's Summit seems a bit outside my reach...

thanks for the info though!

oh, also....what exactly is the "KC BBQ experience?"

 

[remilard]

yeah, sorry, I'll be in MO, near the Downtown Airport. Gomer's Lee's Summit seems a bit outside my reach...

thanks for the info though!

oh, also....what exactly is the "KC BBQ experience?"

KC BBQ experience is ordering at the counter, limited drink options, a process for ordering (varies by location) and people are impatient if you don't know it. Not every place does it exactly like this, but most of the famous places do.

Jack Stack is table service, similar beer/wine/cocktails to what you would expect from a national chain, etc. They also serve a decent amount of non-bbq stuff. For where you are, Smoking Guns is going to be closest. Jack Stack in the Freight House building is pretty close too. LC's wouldn't be too bad if you have a car. It is kinda out by the Stadiums. Arthur Bryant's is also close but they can be hit or miss and if you go around lunch of dinner time the line can be very long. It is the most famous though.

Not sure about North Side bottle shops (or anything) though it does tend to be a beer wasteland. I would think your best chance is to go south a few miles to Gomer's Midtown for a bottle shop. If you are into sours or northern European stuff (Mikeller, De Molen) etc, you might want to figure out how to get to Lee's Summit. Otherwise for US craft stuff, Midtown should be just as good. Not sure if your visit times well with a major/rare release but Midtown sells all of that stuff as presale so you won't luck into anything rare there. I'm talking about stuff that sells out everywhere in a day or two though, so very good chance there won't be anything like that anyway.

I would skip the Boulevard Tour, honestly. There is an outside shot of getting Nutsack (the squeezings from the hop bags used to dryhop nutcracker) or something cool like that but the Tour itself is not that interesting to a homebrewer, I think.

 

[Brek81]

i would greatly reccomend oklahoma joes bbq, its worth the wait.

McCoys is pretty enjoyable for dinner as well.

 

[DannPM]

Jack Stack is my favorite and less than a mile down the street!

Boulevard White IPA is still around after another round of brewing (it is limited release) and it is absolutely amazing!

 

[NFARSACE]

Going there next week - looking for some interesting beers or some decent meads to bring back. any tips?



also....who's got the best BBQ??

All-Star Pizza has 30 beers on tap including freestate, boulevard, southern tier, stone etc. Very good place and the taps are always rotating ...microbrews. 10 minutes north of the downtown airport.

 

[remilard]

Jack Stack is my favorite and less than a mile down the street!

Is it really that close? Maybe I am confused on where the downtown airport is exactly, though I drive by it when I go to the real airport.

If it is that close, it's closer than Smoking Gun's by a little bit. I should also point out Smoking Gun's has or had horrible hours. I think they are open evenings since they were on TV but definitely check. Jack Stack is an 11-1 7 days a week kinda place so no problems there.

If you do Jack Stack, may as well hit Grunauer's Wunderbar next door. Pretty good selection of draught continental beers. At that point you are also pretty close to Flying Saucer. The garage directly across the street from Flying Saucer's entrance is free if there is no event at the Sprint Center. Free parking won't be an issue at any of the other places mentioned.

 

[phenry]

From being in KC once I can agree with remilard that the Flying Saucer and the Foundry are both really good places to go.

 

[DannPM]

Whoops I meant my street not the street. It's far as hell from kci.

 

[SevenFields]

I cant beleive no one mentioned Oklahoma Joes for BBQ!!! Hands down the best. There is a reason that there is always a line of people waiting to get some BBQ

 

[motobrewer]

thanks for all the tips. i'm sure I'll be able to get to Gomer's midtown.

what time do they close?

 

[motobrewer]

i went to gomer's midtown and they had about 3 meads, and none were local.

i got two 750ml boulevard beers, a wheat wine and a quad.

 

[marmonduke]

oklahoma joes or Jack Stack are my recommendations for BBQ

 

[jamesmp]

If it's not too late, Tallgrass is based out of Manhattan (Kansas) and they can some interesting stuff, so far Buffalo Sweat is my favorite but there's lots of room for other opinions.

 

[mbarrows]

As far as BBQ, Oklahoma Joe's is one of the best! Get the Z-man and be prepared to wait, however, the line goes fast. If you want to stock up on some BBQ sauce there is a great selection at the BBQ store next to the resuturant that is not in one that is in the gas station. I usually fly back with a case when I visit for Christmas. I am still working on a gallon of The Slabs sauce from last year!

LC's is also a great pork sandwich.

The Arthur Bryant's on Broadway (I think, it has been a while since I have lived there. I know it starts with a B, might be Brooklyn) is one of the originals, worth the trip as well.

Jack Stack's beans are great, but the wait is sometimes is not worth it.

However, as far as beer, Boulevard's Smokestack series is usually good!
Matt