Beer Blogging Outsourced

I didn't have much to say about Seven closing even though the owner, Bill George, specifically cited the smoking ban and the Power and Light as reasons for its closing. I never, not once, desired to go to Seven and won't miss it, but it's not my favorite thing to see a local place go by the wayside. What I did find interesting was this little nugget in the great Charles Ferruza's writeup of the closing:

"And because Seven is located in a historic building," George added, "we couldn't add an outdoor deck or patio to accommodate smokers. That was hard, because we had built up a very steady nightclub clientele."

This is an angle I hadn't thought of, historic businesses in historic buildings actually have a bigger burden because of the smoking ban. While new businesses and strip mall bars are given a very significant advantage in drawing in the smokers, the lifeblood of a bar's business, the older bars in established historical buildings just have to hope for the best. So what we'll get over the next 10 years is soulless new development and the shuttering of many street level restaurants and bars in the urban core. But, people who don't visit the urban core get to save a few bucks on dry cleaning, so I guess we'll take the good with the bad.

As I mentioned I had no desire to go to Seven because I'm not a club type person. Apparently neither is JJS in KCK, but that didn't stop him from going to Mint at Martini Corner. When I read the following passage all I could think of was the scene in "Fever Pitch" where Jimmy Fallon's friends had to dance for Yankee tickets (and not be subjected to Royals games):

I reached the infrequently-visited intersection of “buzzed enough” and “wide freaking awake enough”, and the dancing began. It started innocuously enough, but quickly spiraled into bigger movements until I was pretty much covering the entire expanse of the raised seating area we were in. I wasn’t being a total spaz (hey, I can move a little when called upon), but I certainly wasn’t dancing seriously by any stretch of the imagination.

Read the whole thing.

Finally, Beer Girl posts a Boulevard/Flying Saucer PSA about a Boulevard tasting event at the Flying Saucer on Monday March 9.

The event will be hosted by Steven Pauwels, brewmaster at Boulevard. Five beers from Boulevard’s Smokestack Series will be paired with specially selected artisan cheeses and a dessert. Featured pairings include the Long Strange Tripel with a St. André Tripel Crème; the Smokestack Saison with a Great Pyrenees Goat with green peppercorns; the Double-Wide I.P.A. with Blue Stilton; the Smokestack Imperial Stout as a stand-alone feature; the Sixth Glass Quadrupel with chocolate truffles; and one special “mystery” beer from Boulevard.

It might be worth it for the special "mystery" beer. I won't be going because I'm going to have a big beer drinking weekend right before the event. I can't go three days in a row.

Mediocrity and Douchebaggery

I know, I know, I'm a day or two late with this, but Famous Dave's is officially coming back to the P&L. We had a couple of nice discussions here about what we would like to see in that spot. But, as per usual, the Power and Light district shoots for mediocrity and no imagination. I can't say I'm surprised.

On the bright side, it is now easier for me to use my Famous Dave's gift card.

For more mediocrity and douchebaggery visit the P&L on St. Patricks Day:

Tuesday, March 17

Shamrocks & Shenanigans

St. Patrick’s Day in Downtown Kansas City is the newest addition to one of Kansas City ’s favorite traditions! Come down to see an AMAZING line up of live entertainment and music.

The party kicks off at 6 a.m. with KEGS & EGGS at McFadden’s, with 96.5 the BUZZ broadcasting live.

The NON-STOP festivities continue throughout the day as 96.5 The Buzz presents SHAMROCKS & SHENANIGANS, a FREE day-long Irish and rock music festival. Check out the full line up below.

SHAMROCKS & SHENANIGANS LINE UP

Show begins at 11 AM

FLANNIGAN’S RIGHT HOOK

KELLY

DEAD CONFEDERATE

SILVERSUN PICKUPS

THE VON BONDIES

RATTLE AND HUM

KC Live! is HOME to two of Kansas City ’s biggest and BEST Irish bars: McFadden’s and Raglan Road Irish Pub. Grab some Irish fare at Raglan Road and check out the crazy games and contests at McFadden’s, or enjoy green beer and great music at KC Live! Shamrocks and Shenanigans, the newest St. Patrick’s Day tradition at KC Live! in the Power & Light District!

The name of this thing alone, makes me want to find someone with a popped collar and kick them in the balls.

The Beer Roster

In honor of the upcoming baseball season I decided to come up with an everyday lineup and rotation of beers. I think in order for it to make sense you have to think of the lineup as beers that I would always like to have on hand at all times and the rotation as beers that I like to have only when I'm in the mood for them. Mainly though it's just a list of my favorite non-seasonal beers.

For fun, I've also taken the time to equate each beer to a Royal past or present. I didn't make an all-star Royal team, just Royals I've enjoyed or just match up with the beer. No, there is not George Brett in the list because we don't have access to some of the best beers in the country around here (though you can help bring a couple of great ones to the area by joining my Facebook group, Bring Dogfish Head to Missouri).

Batting Order
CF – Boulevard Wheat (Willie Wilson) – Boulevard Wheat fills a specific niche in my lineup, thirst quencher, much like Willie Wilson was all about speed. Neither brings much pop, but they're both very good at what they do. Willie ran like the wind (and is probably my second favorite baseball player ever, behind Mark Grace) and Wheat just tastes good and quenches thirst. It's a great beer to start your evening just like Willie was a great start to the Royals lineup.

SS – Boulevard Pale Ale (Mike Aviles) – Much like a shortstop in baseball, a good pale ale is very important to an overall lineup. Boulevard Pale Ale is the backbone of the team, it's not necessarily the best beer around but it does several things well. It pairs well with meals, quenches thirst, brings a lot of flavor and just work in every situation. I think Mike Aviles fits this description, he's an extremely valuable cog of the Royals lineup and is probably the only Royals shortstop in history that has had that description.

1B – Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout (John Mayberry) – Now we're to the power part of the lineup and my favorite beer that brings the power is Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout. I don't think in today's game John Mayberry would carry the name Big John, but he's my favorite Royal to bring the power.

LF – Boulevard Long Strange Trippel (Jose Guillen) – The cleanup hitter is the Long Strange Trippel, my favorite of the Boulevard Smokestack series. I think anybody who pulls out his own ingrown toenail equates well to a beer called Long Strange Trippel.

C – Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye (Mike McFarlane) – For a catcher you need something a little off the beaten path so I have a rye beer to fill that niche. I love rye beers and I couldn't leave the Hop Rod Rye out of my lineup. I always considered McFarlane to be a little weird because he had kind of a strange batting stance. Just as an aside my favorite McFarlane moment came in a game where he was catching Kevin Appier (who for non-Royal fans, was on his own planet much of the time, he was affectionately called “Chainsaw Bob” by teammates). Anyway, McFarlane went out to the mound to talk to Appier and took Ape's hat off and tucked the tag in and put it back on Ape while telling him whatever he went out there to tell him. It just struck me while watching, that Appier wouldn't even be wearing his uniform if it weren't for McFarlane.

3B – Great Divide Titan IPA (Kevin Seitzer) – I know everyone wants to see George Brett here, but until we can get some Dogfish Head here, I can't have George Brett in my lineup. So I'm going with the unheralded Kevin Seitzer who I think in today's game would be heralded (because of the new focus on OBP). The Great Divide Titan IPA is also unheralded, but I think it's one of the finest IPA's available and I'm happy to have it in my lineup.

RF – Breckenridge 471 IPA (Clint Hurdle) – Now that this beer is in sixers, I've added it to my lineup. It's a real nice IPA which isn't quite as good or versatile as the Great Divide Titan but is still very good. Clint Hurdle is a good comp to the Breckenridge because he didn't play much for the Royals, but when he did he was pretty good, though I've never seen anyone more disinterested in playing RF than Hurdle was.

2B – Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Frank White) – In my mind, the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the closes thing to a hall of famer that we have access to in an everyday session beer. This is perfect for Frank White, the closes thing to a hall of famer the Royals have in their past of everyday players.

Pitchers bat in the beer league.

Util – Miller Lite (Mark Teahan) – I know what you're thinking, why is Miller Lite on this list. You know why? Because not everyone's a beer geek/connoisseur and you don't always have access to one of the beers above. So when I got to the golf course, a tailgate or a party where I can't bring my own beer, I look for a Miller Lite. I think Mark Teahan is a perfect utility player as well, you wouldn't want to use him every day, but as a fill in for something useful, Teahan works nicely.

Rotation
#1 – Boulevard Bully! Porter (Zach Greinke) – While porters are one of my favorite styles of beer, I don't always want one so Bully! Porter is a pitcher instead of everyday player. But Bully! Porter is a great beer and my #1 beer in my rotation as I go for it more than any other. Because porters are kind of odd being dark but not heavy, I thought Greinke was a good comparable. He's quite odd, a friend of mine thinks he's a little autistic, but he's a very good starter.

#2 – Boulevard Single Wide IPA (Gil Meche) – Because I have a couple of IPA's that I like a little bit better, the Single Wide is in the rotation. It brings a good fastball (the hoppiness) and rounds it out nicely with a little bit of fruit flavor that makes it great. Gil Meche has a good fastball that is made devastating by a quality sinker.

#3 – Goose Island Nut Brown Ale (Mark Gubicza) – Gubicza is a quality #3 starter from Royals past. The Goose Island Nut Brown is also a quality #3 beer. You're never disappointed to have it and does a lot of things well.

#4 – Schlafly No. 15 (Kyle Davies) – This makes the rotation because it's a really good beer, but it's a little odd which makes it a #4. I don't know quite how to characterize the No. 15 I just know I like it. Only time will tell if it moves up in the rotation or down and out. I think this characterizes Kyle Davies for the Royals. I don't think anybody expected too much from Davies, but he showed some promise last year. Now they may be able to count on him or he could regress, you just don't know. I think the #4 starter for any team is much like this, they have talent but haven't quite gotten established and can go either way once the league gets used to them.

#5 – Sierra Nevada Torpedo (Luke Hochevar) – The Torpedo was a much anticipated beer for me, much the way that Hochevar was much anticipated for the Royals. Unfortunately, neither one has established itself and is in danger of losing its job. I like several IPA's much more than I like the Torpedo and I don't know if I'll continue buying it.

CL – Boulevard Saison-Brett (Dan Quisenberry) – I don't really know what a closer does in the beer lineup but I love the Saison-Brett and didn't have a defined role for it. I equate it to the Quiz because it has an odd ingredient (the brett) like the Quiz had an odd delivery (the submarine) and odd demeanor. I also think the Saison-Brett is much talked about kind of like a closer.

Top minor leaguers
Breckenridge Avalanche(Carlos Febles) – This beer used to be in my everyday lineup and may have even been the shortstop, but it fits better as a second baseman. Febles kind of fits this profile, although it's a bit of a stretch to put him at shortstop. He was well regarded and then injuries kind of sidelined him. The Avalanche kind of got sidelined because of my discovery of beer styles I enjoy more than ambers.

New Belgium Giddy Up (Tom Poquette) – This is kind of an outfield type with no real power and only one skill, you don't want this beer playing everyday but for a week you don't mind him picking up a few AB's.

Flying Dog Gonzo Porter – (Kevin Appier) – Again with the weirdness of the porter style. This beer has more of a fastball (more ABV) than the Bully! Porter and is probably better it's just more expensive and a little tough to get.

Boulevard Dry Stout (Larry Gura) – A good beer that has many comparable beers that are better. It's a fine stout, there's just other stouts I like more and buy more. The Dry Stout is kind of unheralded as well like Larry Gura. You were always pretty happy with Larry Gura pitching but I think, at the end of the day, you wish you had someone who could break 90 on the gun.

Boulevard Sixth Glass (Steve Balboni) – The Sixth Glass brings the power in its ABV but it's more of a special occasion drink to share with others. Since it's the record holder (highest ABV in Boulevard's lineup) it equates well with Balboni who hold the Royals record for HR's in a season.

I'm not sure what any of this means and much like a real baseball team, a lot of pieces are subject to change based on new products and varying tastes. I'd be interested to know what's in other lineups in various locales. I'll bet California and New York have excellent lineups, Utah would probably be pretty poor. I'm sure you, our dear readers, if you've gotten this far will find many nits to pick and you may very well be right. I'm sure the 5 of you who actually read all of this will burn me up in comments. Who is the Amos Otis, Craig Paquette, Joe Vitiello and Danny Tartabulls in the Kansas City beer scene? I don't know, but it might be fun to talk about.

The Rotation

On the way home from work I made a stop at Tipsy's for my weekend beer supply. I knew I was going to get a sixer of Boulevard Single Wide IPA but didn't know what the second sixer was going to be. After perusing the selection for a minute I decided upon the Schlafly No. 15. I had promised to add the No. 15 to the rotation and I've made good on that promise. As I was checking out the clerk said to the other clerk "you notice this combination coming up a lot?". He had, they're apparently selling alot of the two beers.

Since the first time I tasted the Single Wide on tap at Harry's I was kind of lukewarm to it. Then when I had it again a couple of weeks later I liked it a little better. When it came out in sixers a couple of weeks ago I fell in love. I think it tastes better out of the bottle (and poured into a glass of course, I'm not some sort of savage) and I've heard others espouse the same view. Now, the Single Wide IPA is a prominent member of the rotation, maybe like a #3 starter in baseball. The Schlafly No. 15 is my #4 starter. Sam Adams Cherry Wheat is Eduardo Villacis in this analogy.

Firkin Hopslam

The Flying Saucer will be tapping a firkin of Hopslam on March 4th at 7 PM. I'll wait to let that sink in.

That's right a cask Hopslam. Hopslam is the wonderful hopful Imperial IPA from Bell's brewery. I had a pint recently at the Flying Saucer and absolutely adored it. It might be the best Imperial IPA I've had, and I've had a few. It comes in a little pricey at $6/pint or $16/sixer but it's well worth it for one glass of a first class seasonal. I can only imagine how great it is out of a firkin.

I'll be there, will you?

Thanks to Gary Briggs for the heads up.

Urthel Trippel

After a long weekend of cleaning and hosting a birthday party, I decided to give myself a treat Sunday night. I popped open an Urthel Hibernus Quentum Trippel to drink while we watched "Swing Vote" on DVD.

Since Wes started this blog I'll bet I've had 5 beers that were foreign and I don't think I've written about one of them except Stella Artois. I don't ever even look at the foreign beer section in the liquor store. It just doesn't interest me, probably because I have trouble remembering the names. But, I just think that American microbrews are more interesting and I enjoy being able to remember the names. But, since I got a whole bunch of foreign beers for free, I can take the time to drink them, uninteresting or not.

My newly minted 4 year old girls were busy playing Barbie swimming pool while I poured and pictured the Urthel. It looked like slightly more golden Boulevard Wheat when poured and had that wonderful belgian aroma of spicyness and yeast. The taste was just what you're looking for in a trippel. While I enjoy Boulevard's Long Strange Trippel more, the Urthel is strong competition and might even be a little better for some flavor seekers.

As far as "Swing Vote" goes, I kind of enjoyed it. I know that I shouldn't have and I know that it's popular to make fun of Kevin Costner. But I like Costner and I like movies that show politicians for the scum that they actually are (yes, all of them). While the premise of the movie is a little far fetched, I think the message that politicians have no real morals, they only seek to win elections is sound and fun to explore.

Of course that could be the 9% alcohol in a 25 oz. bottle talking. I don't mind saying that the alcohol, while barely noticeable in the taste, did it's work in my head. By the time that Dennis Hopper decided to sell immigrants down the river, I was pretty loaded. And by the time that Kevin Costner came to the faulty conclusion that the best way to make a difference is to vote, I didn't care too much to argue that voting doesn't really matter. I was ready for bed.

While we were getting ready for bed I noticed how my girls had left their Barbies by the pool. One Barbie had her ponytail floating in the pool with the other laying kind of underneath her. Ken was sitting in the lifeguard tower with his pant unbuttoned admiring the view with his pants unbuttoned. I can only imagine the action that Ken got to wear those Barbies out like that. That's a movie I'd like to see while drinking another Urthel Trippel.

Exit Dave Enter Dave

Joyce Smith of the KC Star is reporting that the deal to replace Famous Dave's with Old Chicago in the Power and Light district might not happen after all. It seems that the Flying Saucer might have complained a little bit about having a restaurant concept that is in direct competition with them.

When I wrote about this last month I speculated that having a Rock Bottom Brewery in that location might be the best thing for the beer world. And that the competition would actually be beneficial for Gordon-Biersch and the Flying Saucer.

The P&L could be a destination for beer geeks. It's already a pretty good spot to pick up some good beers. You can get a nice dinner and brewpub beer at Gordon-Biersch and then spend the rest of the evening at the Saucer enjoying every beer style imaginable. With 2 breweries and a great beer bar, the P&L could have a real identity other than white douche capital of KC. Then if all went well with 2 brewpubs, maybe Schlafly or Upstream or some other good brewpub from the midwest, would want to locate in the neighborhood. A cluster of brewpubs, this is what dreams are made of.

I stand by this idea. But, apparently, being part of the Power and Light makes businesses think they are above competition of like concepts. But I would argue that, with the possible exception of the Flying Saucer, all the bars and restaurants are competing for the same group of white single douchebags in their twenties with no brains and money to spend on Bud Light.

If that is the Power and Light's idea of a destination night out, I'll pass. I'd like to think that the Power and Light would strive to be a little more than a Gonorrhea delivery system with no real redeeming services like good food and quality drink.

That being said, I'm pretty indifferent to whether the space goes back to a Famous Dave's or turns into an Old Chicago. Either one will be a top 5 place to go in the district. I don't think it's going to matter too much, because the novelty of the Power and Light is wearing off. Either they're going to have to offer quality dining and drinking establishments or they're going to turn into Navy Pier (which couldn't suck more).

Since I am a KCMO taxpayer, I'm pretty upset that I have to drive on steel grates every day while these P&L businesses offer product that I find stupid, overpriced and unattractive. In the meantime, these businesses actively seek to make the rest of KC worse by not allowing festival liquor licenses and lobbying against Westport and the River Market. All the while they are getting tax breaks and special laws that benefit them. How long are we going to let these people get away with it?

This P&L thing is turning into a real budget boondoggle for the city. And we're not helping anything by continuing to go down there and spend our money just because we have concert tickets. I suggest going for a drink in the River Market or the Crossroads before your concert until crapholes like McFaddens, Vinino and any other Cordish company concepts are closed and other bars and restaurants take over.

Torpedoes Away

I just got a call from Gomer's Midtown. Sierra Nevada Torpedo is now in the store. So any enterprising dude/dudette who wants to can now get a sixer of Torpedo and a sixer of Single Wide and compare and contrast 2 highly anticipated IPA's.

If I Could Turn Back Time

Not to quote Cher or anything but if I could turn back time, I would have hidden a little piece of my bounty a little better. I had brought some 12 oz. beers up to the upstairs fridge on Friday night so I could drink them at my leisure without having to go downstairs. But, one small hitch happened to that plan; we were having people over for my daughters' birthday party on Saturday.

My heart sank when I saw my father in law drinking the Great Divide Saint Bridgets Porter that I was saving. We bought plenty of Boulevard and New Belgium beers for everyone so I didn't give my treasure beers a second thought until I saw him drinking it.

I didn't realize just how grave my error was until I finally cracked open a St Bridgets. Porters are one of my favorite styles of beer and are not brewed by most breweries. I was certainly looking forward to a great style from a great brewery, Great Divide. I was not disappointed.

It poured out coal black with a small light tan head. It looked gorgeous. It had a nice chocolatey coffee nose with a hint of hops thrown in. The taste was of an excellent porter (really no one who makes one makes a bad one in my book) with chocolate, bready and coffee tastes. It had a good amount of carbonation and had a great medium bodied mouthfeel. I can't say anything bad about this beer other than I wish I had more.

On a related note, one of my guests, let's call him Keystone Light, grabbed a Bully Porter and proclaimed to everyone that he hadn't had on of these in a long time. Someone inquired what it was and he said it was a stout. I told him it wasn't a stout, it was a porter and he said that it's about the same thing. I was aghast. It means the beer geek's work is never done and we must explain that a porter gets its color from the black malt used whereas a stout gets its color from roasted malt and barley. Sometimes this beer thing is like explaining NPR to someone who watches 10 hours of Speed channel daily.

Single Wide Sixers

Boulevard's new IPA, the Single Wide IPA, is going to be available in six packs tomorrow. As always, check in Missouri first, I know Gomer's Midtown is expecting it tomorrow. When you see it, as we do around here, call out the location and price in the comments.

I'm interested in tasting it in bottles. I really liked it on tap the second time I tried it, the first time I wasn't much in the mood for an IPA.

Weston Leapin' Leprechaun

I've long since given up on Weston Brewing putting out any kind of good products. So I'm leaving the review to Jason Preu and his mad rhymin' skills with the poem "Indeed, indeed I cannot tell". If you're not into poetry you can check out Chimpo's review, the Liver Sacrifice. As for me, I'm going to be concentrating on quality over local.

Pink Slip

This is a fabulous rejected Bud Light commercial. While I don't recommend the product, I do recommend more commercials like this.

Surprise No. 15

Because of the nice weather Saturday, Stella, the kids and I spent a little too much time at the playground. Therefore, I didn't have time to make a liquor store run before Stella left for the evening. With no real time to get to the liquor store again until right around Superbowl time it was imperative that someone get me some beer. So Stella took on the challenge and went to the liquor store while she was out.

Why is any of that important. Because it taught me a valuable lesson about beer shopping. I had developed a scotoma or blind spot for Schlafly No. 15. It has just never seemed to be the right beer for me when I see it at the store. The packaging is kind of vague about what kind of beer it is, stating something about it being an amber ale (very nearly my least favorite ale). But Stella thought it sounded alright and picked up a sixer. Sometimes, it's good to get another pair of eyes on the beer selection at a liquor store.

When she got back home about 9:30 I popped one of the No. 15 open and poured it into my pint glass. I was taken aback at the look of it. It was like a cloudy tomato beer only not as red, perhaps a tomato Boulevard Wheat. It had a banany hefeweizen smell to it. At this point I was quite intrigued by it. The taste had a bit of spiciness with some fruit flavors like pear and apple. And it had kind of a grainy medium heavy mouthfeel to it. I completely enjoyed it.

I don't even know how to categorize this beer, it was fruity with wheat but kind of heavy and describes itself as an amber. I guess it's Schlafly's version of a Lunar Ale. The six pack was gone before the Superbowl started the next day (Stella loved it too). I'm damning with faint praise here, but No. 15 is my new favorite Schlafly beer, taking the mantle from the Saison. Unlike the Saison, I'm going to add this one to the purchase rotation.

River Market Brewery is Closed

River Market Brewery has ceased operations. I think we can blame this one on subpar service and product (though I predicted the smoking ban would kill it). It was a truly bad place for the past couple of years, but was good for a period early this century.

Next up for the space? I don't know, but I've heard whispers of a little brewery named Schlafly.

Scarier than the Blair Witch

Because we respected him so much, in college we called him Sir Rumpy. But I'm a little scared that this concoction has been invented. Equal parts Rumple Minze and Bacard 151, the rapture follows.