So here we are… in Kansas City and we have the day to explore. As much as we love beer, we also enjoy seeing what food and activities a city has to offer. It was a cold, covid existing Monday so I’d say there wasn’t much. I should add that it snowed that morning! Luckily this city doesn’t shut down like the southern states. It was definitely unexpected, however, that didn’t stop us, we set out on our exploration.
We started with a slow ride to check out the city. No GPS location, just cruising to see what the different areas offered. Through a Google search (and a yelp check) we found The Bite. Good food with some interesting options. It could probably be instagram worthy but I’m not big on photographing my food… so there’s that. Looking back on their IG they just won best lunch spot. I be knowin…
After food we get back to cruising and my beer tank flashed empty. I ask my wife to look for a close brewery and not 2 seconds after I asked, I look up and we’re outside of Boulevard Brewing Co. Boulevard wasn’t necessarily on my radar cause I can get it in Nashville but we were right there. My spirit knew I was ready for beer, it just needed me to acknowledge it.
Boulevard had some great beer but their saisons Tank 7, most popular saison in the good ol US of A, and the Saison-Brett were fire so we copped a couple bottles. The brett saison had to be one of them because of my new found love for brett beers. Saisons have typically been hit or miss but I am learning the characteristics that I like. Less malty, more bitter or sour, but I’m always down to try it to see if it’s my jam or not.
After Boulevard got back to exploring.
I recently took an art class and learned about the giant shuttlecocks outside of Nelson Atkins Museum; I was geeked to realize they were close by. The museum was free and also had an African art exhibit, which easily made it the move. Also it was a shelter from the cold so there’s that.
After getting some culture, it was time for more beer. We made the trek over to Crane Brewing. The space was so cute and would be a cool hang spot… stupid covid. We enjoyed a flight and took in the scenery. The standouts are the farmhouse IPA, which had major hop bitterness with the fruitiness notes of a saison, and their Beet Weiss. Yes, beets. The Beet Weiss was unexpectedly tasty. The beets give that earthiness that they are known for but flavor is light enough to make it rather refreshing. We were able to chat with the beertender who was really cool, so before leaving we gave the beertender a local Nashville BIB. In return, she hooked us up with a Beet Weiss to go. Recently crushed it. Still good.
The next day we headed out to OKC. On the route I notified my wife, who was driving, that I needed a potty break. We were about an hour out so I said I’d hold it but the next blue highway sign we passed had a brewery on it. All of a sudden I couldn’t hold it anymore. We pull up at Radius Brewing and this might’ve been the first brewery with a decent amount of people, but they were honoring social distance rules so it wasn’t bad. We order their flight which was really cool! The owner came out after seeing my post that I was there and offered a sample of their unreleased pumpkin beer. He hadn’t named it and asked if he had suggestions. After chatting, we suggested ‘You’re Welcome ‘ because people always ask him to make a pumpkin beer and this one was good AF. I don’t think he went with the name but it was fun to come up with one! I don’t know if/when I’d be in Emporia, Kansas again but I’d suggest you try it if you’re in the area!
Remember that snow i mentioned earlier? Well it was an ice storm in OKC. After making another stop at Norton’s Brewing, whose Wichita location was pretty cool but their beers left a lot to be desired, we got a message from our airbnb host suggesting we stay put if we could… we couldn’t since we were an hour out and at a brewery. The storm had passed but the ice was still around. Power out, trees down, businesses closed. We checked to see if the roadtrip breweries were still open, only Prairie Artisan ales was. We chose to stop before the airbnb cause we weren’t going to come back out. Prairie was operating like ice wasn’t on the trees outside, thankfully.
The OKC taproom has a modern esthetic with the clean lines. It kinda matched their beer. Well done, modern style beers with a little flare. Prairie has always been a solid stout maker and didn’t disappoint with their Barrel Aged Basic Becky, a barrel aged pumpkin stout, but their Pumpkin Kerfuffle, a sour, was a come from behind winner for me.
After finishing the brews we headed back to the airbnb but on the way we receive a message that a tree fell and the power was out. After unsuccessfully looking for a hotel, we decided to make the push to continue the trip… Tomorrow we awake in Dallas.