Double Secret Beer Dinner

So many beer dinners around town all the time, but most don't pique my interest. If I'm going to plop down $50-$100 for a dinner, I tend to either want great food or rare beers. Most beer dinners don't quite reach that plateau. But Beer Kitchen is having one April 17th that meets my criteria.

Boulevard will be serving 2 Boulevard special beers that are not available for sale anywhere, the Hoppy Wheat which I had at the Wil Jenny's beer dinner and liked a lot and one I've not heard about yet called Love Child #2.

Belgian-style sour - 10%; "big sour red ale, aged in a single barrel for four years. Aromas of sour cherries and oak with a pleasant sour flavor and medium funk"

The other 3 beers served during the meal are Boss Tom's, Single Wide and Sixth Glass. The Sixth Glass will actually be a beer float. You can check out the menu at Beer KC, the blog of Beer Kitchen, The Foundry and McCoy's.


This beer dinner costs $50 including tax and gratuity. To get a reservation stop by either Beer Kitchen, The Foundry or McCoy's or call (816)389-4180 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (816)389-4180      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. The beer dinner will have guest speaker Boulevard brewer Jeremy Danner.

Opening Day

It's the best day of the year today, baseball opening day. Will this be the season the Royals turn a corner, who will be this year's surprise team, who will be the breakout star of this year, will Alfonso Soriano actually self combust, how many times will Cardinals fans be called the best fans in baseball yet be bandwagon jerks, which movie star with A-Rod bag this year (my guess is Natalie Portman)?

The Royals game starts at 3 and many of you are surely going. I'm sure that those that are will be tailgating with the official KC Beer Blog Tailgate Beer, Tallgrass Oasis which is perfect for any kind of weather even the rain we're supposed to get during the game. If you're not going out to the K what are you drinking?

I'm going to be drinking some Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' or Mike Moustakas, Tallgrass Halcyon Wheat, which is a nice beer to have around and maybe some Boulevard Pilsner or Christian Colon.

Not only is it baseball opening day, but it's the NIT Championship game tonight. I know it's not a big deal, but my beloved Wichita State Shockers are in it playing Alabama. Despite the seedings, I think the Shockers should be the favorite, they've absolutely destroyed teams in the NIT. The Shocks beat Nebraska into submission by 20 or so, beat a tough Virginia Tech team that probably should have been in the NCAA tourney at Virginia Tech, beat College of Charleston quite soundly (though the score doesn't really reflect that the Shocks had a 25 point lead, a C of C kid started dropping 30 footers). Then to top it all off the Shocks absolutely embarrassed Washington State 75-44. Wichita State absolutely did not deserve an NCAA bid and I kind of hoped they'd turn down the NIT because they were such a disappointment this year. But, this pretty meaningless NIT run has shown me what I knew all along, that the Shockers had a great team this year, just one that underachieved. So, no matter how it turns out, I'll be popping open a Boulevard Saison-Brett to enjoy the game.

It's great to have the daily companionship of baseball games, setting fantasy lineups and catching the ends of games on the MLB network. This is the best day of the year, drink like it.

Hoppotamus Maximus

Gordon-Biersch has done it, they've created the most rare beer in the world, Hoppotamus Maximus. Well, that's not entirely true, the most rare beer in the world is the beer I'm thinking of in my head and will never brew. Take that rare beer cravers. The video below explains the rarity that is Hoppotamus Maximus.

The Freak

Hypocrisy abounds for me for anticipating Odell Friek as much as I have. But, raspberries do that to me. For those that don't know Odell Friek is a sour wild ale with raspberries and the dreaded cherries and aged in oak barrels. Raspberry trumps all, though, in my beer drinking. I bought a sixer of Shock Top Raspberry Wheat the first time I saw it and even looked forward to drinking it. Imagine my excitement for a raspberry beer from Odell, a brewery I really enjoy, even if Avant Peche didn't quite hit for me.

Limited supplies of Friek are available today on the Missouri side, Royal Liquor, Gomer's, Lukas, the usual suspects are your best options. The Friek will be available in Kansas next week.

Skinny Goose

Last week I was watching Good Morning America, watching may be a strong word, GMA was on the television and I was doing something on the laptop. Bethenny from one of those Housewives shows was the guest and she was talking about her Skinny Girl line of liquors. I paid some attention to this because coincidentally Stella had brought home a bottle of Skinny Girl Margarita the night before. I'd heard of the brand but didn't know it had anything to do with Bethenny. When she was asked why she sold it she said the "skinny" liquor thing was getting stolen left and right and in order to for her brand to come out on top she had to sell to someone big and she found the biggest baddest liquor company and sold to them. I thought to myself and actually mentioned to Stella yesterday that her move made perfect sense but wouldn't happen in the beer world because it wouldn't be "cool" for right or wrong.

So imagine my surprise when I heard the news that Goose Island was selling to AB InBev. My Twitter feed was filled with anger, disappointment and with the exception of Mike from StL Hops everyone was proclaiming they were done with Goose Island. I don't get this. I don't drink beer because it comes from a small brewery or because the brewery's family owned. I drink it because it tastes good. When that changes for a certain beer, I'll quit drinking it. When Goose Island Sofie no longer dances on my tongue exciting my taste buds, I'll quit drinking it.

What this merger or acquisition will do, however, is allow Goose Island to brew more beer. Maybe now Night Stalker won't be so hard to find. Maybe they can unretire Nut Brown Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Maybe they can brew even more great Belgian beers which haven't been beermagined yet, I mean, after all, they're part of a Belgian company now, may as well dance with the one that brung ya.

So while you're hand washing your 8 different kinds of beer glasses and drinking a beer you traded for on the Internet maybe you can look at the bright side of this. Good beer will be available to more people. You don't have to drink it anymore if it doesn't make you feel cool anymore. Maybe, just maybe, this will bring more people to better beer which can only benefit those breweries you think are still cool. Like Bethenny the owners of Goose just wanted to reach more people. This was the best way for them. As long as Sofie still tastes good, I'll keep drinking it.

Heart of Juju

They haven't shut Kurtz down yet, his remarkable ginger beer, Good Juju, is back in KC. It was worth the trip down the river to get it the first time. But, you don't have to do that, Good Juju is now available at any liquor store in KC worth going to. You'll never believe how good a beer brewed with ginger can be, but it's all part of Kurtz's madness.

Tour de Brew

Warm weather is just around the corner and gas prices are going nowhere but up. What better time to dig that old bike out of your garage, get the tires aired up, the chain greased up, helmet decobwebbed and get on that bike for a little ride. Maybe you can make a little habit of riding over to the grocery for an item or two or going to the liquor store to pick up a sixer (backpack may be required). Maybe you can get your confidence up enough where you can ride your bike to work a couple of times a week.

That's kind of the goal of BikeWalkKC and it's a goal I can get behind. In furtherance of this goal, BikeWalkKC is sponsoring its first annual Tour de Brew. The Tour de Brew is a little bike ride exploring the history of the great Kansas City brewing tradition. You can sign up for rides of either 15, 30 or 62 miles each with its own benefits. All rides will start and end at McCoy's Public House in Westport but necessarily will extend only so far. The 15 mile ride will take you through some of the historic locations throughout downtown and midtown. The 30 mile ride will extend into Waldo. And the 62 mile ride will extend out to Martin City and into "the lovely streets of southern Johnson County". I can almost hear the scorn and condescension now that many of the hard core cyclists willing to go 62 miles are going to heap upon southern JoCo as they ride through. And why not, there won't be any SoJoCo'ers on the ride, they're too busy paying their own and KC's taxes.

The reward for your ride is free beer from McCoy's and Boulevard at the end and maybe some snacks from McCoy's, Whole Foods and Spin Pizza along the way. The beer will be limited and not worth the $35 - $40 you're going to pay for the ride. But, it will be enough to reward you for a fine day's work. From my previous experience on a ride like this, those beers and food are worth at least $100, so you're really coming out ahead on the deal. Plus, unlike my previous experience, you can learn some of KC's rich brewing history.

Any schmo on a bike can ride 15 miles, this thing ain't timed, so you really have no reason, if you're at all interested in KC's beer history, to not ride in this thing. It should be a good time, bike people are typically beer people. After all, you have to replenish your body in some way after a good calorie burning ride. The most fun way is to have a good beer or three, bicyclists know this. I know Nate's with me on this.

The Tour de Brew is on May 22, the weather should be nice. If you register by May 8 the ride costs $35 and you get a t-shirt. After May 8 the price goes up to $40. Register here for the ride and if you don't want to ride you can always volunteer here. More details to come, you can follow more news from the Tour de Brew here.

Beer for the Weekend - Avery Maharaja

The Maharaja is back in town and this is the weekend to take him for a spin. This is one of my favorite beers to come around every year. As I wrote 2 years ago:

The Maharaja, aside from the hallucinations, is a great beer and without a doubt my favorite double IPA. Double IPA's tend to have a syrupy sweetness to balance out the hops but the Maharaja sweetness is refreshing. Everything about the Maharaja from the initial slap of the hops to the the sweetness in your throat should be the benchmark for a double IPA. It's like drinking 3 different beers at the same time as the tip of your tongue has a different taste experience than the back of the tongue and your throat (that's what Linda Lovelace said).

I might want to step back from saying it's my favorite DIPA, I wasn't much of a fan of DIPA's 2 years ago. But, it's still one of my favorites and definitely worth the $7.99 or so you'll pay for it. Pick some up at your favorite package store, it should be pretty widely available. If you want sure things check Rimann in Lenexa and Royal Liquor on State Line. If you want another sure thing, drink a whole bottle, it'll knock you out with flavor and alcohol. Rest in peace Maharaja, long live the Maharaja.

2011 Longshot

Sam Adams Longshot sixers are now available in KC. For those that don't know, the Longshot series comes from a homebrew competition sponsored by Sam Adams. The top 3 winners each get their shot to brew their beer commercially and sell it under the Sam Adams banner in the Longshot six packs. I've not been wowed many times, but the beers are always interesting and well worth trying. You may find one you like, I really loved the Double IPA a couple of years ago (and killed Billy Mays in the process, I think he died a month or so after this post).

This year's six pack includes Friar Hop Ale, Blackened Hops and Honey B's Lavender Wheat. The Longshot always has one beer that really makes me want the six pack and this year's beer is the Friar Hop Ale.

Richard Roper’s Friar Hop Ale combines his love of hops with his affinity for spicy Belgian ales. To develop his recipe, Roper created a hybrid of two styles, uniting the big hoppy taste of an IPA with the spicy, fruity flavor of a Belgian. The toasty caramel sweetness from the malt and Belgian candi sugar mimics a Belgian ale, while the big citrus hop notes of an IPA balance the style. A spicy yeast fermentation and hints of orange and coriander round out the brew. Richard’s Friar Hop Ale is a refreshing beer that can be enjoyed any time of year.

 Blackened Hops also kind of strikes my fancy and Honey B's Lavender Wheat seems worth a try but I typically don't like honey beers. Wort Hog has much more information on the Longshot beers and info on entering your own homebrew in the competition for next year's six pack.

The Longshot six pack is available on both sides of the state line and shouldn't be too hard to find.

Gents Showdown - Odell vs. Left Hand

For me Gents started on the ride over to McCoy's where Gents Yuengling, KBS and I struggled to name 3 members on NKOTBSB. I got Donnie Wahlberg which I think is acceptable to know, Yuengling somehow named someone that was in N'Sync. Amazingly this conversation lasted five minutes. Later in the evening a discussion ensued about the different levels of sex offenders. So it goes with Gents.

We had 15 people for this second round showdown of Left Hand vs. Odell. The usual suspects were there with a couple newbies including the new Stone Brewing Regional Rep and Mission resident Nate.

The Scores
Left Hand Haystack Wheat 10 - Odell Easy Street Wheat 4 (Nate was on the phone and didn't vote)
Odell 5 Barrel Pale Ale 10  - Left Hand Jackman's Pale Ale 5
Odell Levity Amber Ale 8 - Left Hand Sawtooth 7
Odell IPA 13 - Left Hand 400 lb. Monkey 2
Left Hand Milk Stout 11 - Odell Cutthroat Porter 4

I'm a little surprised the 400 lb. Monkey didn't do better because it and the Milk Stout are the only 2 beers in the showdown that I buy every once in a while. The rest are good, but nothing special and nothing I drank last night leads me to believe anything different. That's not quite right because Easy Street Wheat was pretty awful. I don't remember it being that bad. It lost pretty badly to really old Haystack Wheat which isn't even made anymore.

Odell Myrcenary 13 - Left Hand Twin Sisters 2

In the battle of big beers Myrcenary was the big winner, but it was pretty close for me. Both beers are pretty fabulous. Odell ends up winning in our scoring system 5 - 2 and gets to move on to the finals to battle the winner of Bell's vs. Schlafly..

The carnage we leave behind

With the showdown over the fun began. We opened up some Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, World Wide Stout and the beer I've been looking forward to since I first heard of it, Fort. Fort did not disappoint, it was like raspberry viagra for me. We opened up Boulevard Imperial Stout and Old Clarence. Old Clarence is a barrel aged Bully! Porter that Boulevard bottled just for employees and such. We opened up some Oskar Blues Ten Fidy, One Hit Wonder and Old Chub. We even opened up some Miller Lite to test out the vortex bottles, Nate from Stone especially liked that. We had other beers like Doodle Dubbel, Brother Levonian and Tallgrass Halcyon. There was a lot and the evening was spectactular.

Thank you to the fine folks at McCoy's for hosting us once again. All photos courtesy of R. Patrick Images (more here).

Lagunitas Feeds Us

As we were sitting down last night for our first beer at Gents last night I got a phone call. I normally wouldn't take a call while at Gents, but this one, from a person who knows things and likes to share them with me was not to wait. I'm glad I took it because the news was good.

We will be getting 2 new Lagunitas brands in KC, Imperial Stout and Kronik Censored Rich Copper Ale. While I'm a little disappointed we're not getting Maximus and Pils, but excited we get 2 new beers to drink.

I'm most excited about this because we did this. You went out and requested Lagunitas at every liquor store you went to. They listened and now Lagunitas can be found in nearly every liquor store in town. We would not be getting these 2 new beers if we hadn't expanded the demand for Lagunitas in town. We still aren't done until the hoppy wonderfulness of Maximus and Pils touches my lips. But, this is a good sign.

Censored and Imperial Stout just got label approval and should be in stores soon. Wilco Tango Foxtrot is hitting stores this week so pick some up as well as the rest of the Gnarlywine that's still out there. I'm a little sad to see Gnarlywine go, it's become one of my favorite Lagunitas beers. If you love the Cappuccino Stout, it's on tap at The Riot Room and Swagger right now. I had 3 pints at $3 each at Swagger on Saturday night and they were wonderful.

Good job KC.

Ovila Dubbel

The first of Sierra Nevada's Ovila Abbey Ales is hitting KC today, a dubbel. This is, to my knowledge, Sierra Nevada's first foray into Belgian style beers. They will have 2 more in the Ovila series this year, a Saison and a Quadrupel. I love all these styles of beer and I'm interested to taste what Sierra Nevada does with them.

So far, Royal Liquors and Gomer's South has these in stock, but they should be everywhere in the next couple of days. It shouldn't be that difficult to get your hands on one if you're so inclined.

Halcyon Days

Tallgrass has a new wheat beer available in KC now, Halcyon Wheat. Before my newfound love of Oasis and Tallgrass IPA, I would have let this release go by without caring. But, now that I have a couple of Tallgrass beers I like, I'm willing to give this new beer a shot. Will it be worthwhile when I can already drinkn Boulevard Wheat and get my wheat beer fix. Will it stack up in any way to Little Sumpin' Sumpin', the greatest wheat beer in the history of mankind? I'm not counting on it. But, Halcyon Wheat six pack cans may be perfect for an afternoon outside in the July heat.

Beer Haiku

Hot day in the house

Need a beer to combat heat

Boulevard Pilsner

Beer for the Weekend - Le Terroir

New Belgium Le Terroir, a sour wood aged beer, has hit KC. Sour and wood aged gives Le Terroir a really high score on the official International Board of BGBM Values BGBM meter. It barely registers on my personal BGBM since it's 100% barrel aged and not 46% resulting in a very low (E) in my BGBM meter. Also, wood aged is no longer rare so the (u) or uniqueness of style is in a drastic freefall. But, sour and wood aged together certainly make it pretty unique and well worth a try for the well conditioned beer geek.

Le Terroir may also be a good beer for the KU fan in your life as the beer's sourness will pair wonderfully with KU's sourness after another early exit in the NCAA tourney (think UNLV).

Gomer's Midtown and Royal State Line have it in limited quantities. You may have to ask for it and it may very well be worth your while.

Strange Brew

Usually when I complain about something on here nothing really happens. I just complain and get my thoughts out to make myself feel better, maybe share a bad experience. But, no one ever contacts me to try to make things right. That's usually the case, but not with Tallgrass.

I don't know how many of you read the comments section, you really should, but within a couple of hours of posting the picture of my sediment laden beer glass, Jeff from Tallgrass commented with an explanation.

Hop stems would be my guess from the looks of it. Oasis is unfiltered and whole-leaf dry hopped for two days in four big cheese cloth bags in the brite tank prior to canning/kegging. We leave about 1-2 barrels in the tank at the end to avoid this, but it looks like some got through. Unfiltered plus brite tank dryhopping equals nice beer but at a risk of this happening. What is the code on bottom edge of the can?

I responded with the code and it turned out it was an expired can of Oasis. I then emailed with Barb who also commented. I have a fresh 4 pack of Oasis on the way and I'm completely satisfied with my experience.

Brewing beer is a complex process, sometimes something gets through that shouldn't, especially in an unfiltered beer. If you drink enough beer, you'll get a bad one, more so with a newer, smaller brewery. I know of a case this week where someone got a bad Boulevard Imperial Stout. It happens. But, how a brewery or restaurant responds says quite a bit about how they view quality (I still haven't forgotten the McCoy's waiter in this story). Tallgrass has passed that test.

My only recommendation would be for Tallgrass to make the best by date an actual date rather than a code so I know if it's expired or not.

If you get something wrong with your beer, don't hesitate to call or email the brewery, they'll probably try to make it right, just don't go all McKenzie brothers on them.

Waldo Vertical

Take a cab, ride the Max, heck it's nice out, ride your bike or, gasp, walk to Waldo Pizza and hook yourself up with a Boulevard Imperial Stout vertical. Waldo Pizza has opened up the cellar and pulled out some 2009 Boulevard Imperial Stout from the cellar making a vertical possible. Get yourself a pizza, the 2009 and 2011 Imperial Stouts and prepare to get crunk drinking just about the best beer produced by Boulevard in the process.

Imperial Stout doesn't get you excited? Well, they're also pulling out Boulevard Long Strange Tripel '09, Grand Teton Howling Wolf Weizenbock '09, Redhook Trebelhook Barleywine '09, Left Hand Oaked Imperial Stout '09 and Hofstetten Granitbock '09. In any case, these are some interesting aged beers that may very well be worth your time.

Oasis Sludge

This is what last night's Tallgrass Oasis left behind. Can you see what look like little shreds of rubber in the bottom of the glass? I first noticed it when I spilled a little on the counter when I was trying to fit all 16 ounces in my 16 ounce Lagunitas Mason Jar, but I gave Tallgrass the benefit of the doubt and assumed I spilled onto some cupcake crumbs. But cupcake crumbs don't explain the little shreds of rubber or whatever in my jar this morning.

Was this a bad can or is this stuff floating in every can? I've never seen it before and I've drank quite a bit of Oasis lately.

Pliny the Elder - The Song

I rather enjoyed this little song about one fabulous beer, Pliny the Elder (via the Brookston Beer Bulletin)

DIPA Flights

Not interested in Boulevard Imperial Stout, Founders KBS or the wide array of Firestone Walker beers hitting town today? Or just want to drink in a bar? Or do it all? The Foundry in Westport is serving up a great flight of Double IPA's tonight starting at 4 that may be worth your time.

we're offering 4-beer flights of some of the biggest, hoppiest beers we've had come through our bars: Bell's Hopslam (the highest rated DIPA available in Missouri; 10% ABV), Founders Double Trouble (9.4% ABV; 86 IBUs), Bear Republic's very limited, draft-only Apex (7.5% ABV; 100+ IBUs) and McCoy's own Citra DIPA brewed with honey and finished with champagne yeast (11% ABV; 90+ IBUs).

They're expected to be sold through these flights by 7, so get there early. This is the only place I know of with Bear Republic Apex so if you're a Bear Republic fan you shouldn't miss it.

KBS Today

Beer geeks rejoice, those who don't care much for whiskey barrel aged beers can go about their business. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS), Breakfast Stout aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels is in Missouri side stores today (Update: by Missouri side stores, I mean St. Louis, it should be in KC later this week Update 2: It's here, Royal on State Line has it). This is going to be a very expensive day today for the serious beer drinker. Since KBS is more than 46% aged in whiskey barrels I will skip it, but y'all can go and have your fun.

Again, help out your fellow beer travelers by calling out in comments, my Twitter feed (@bullevard) or the KC Beer Blog Facebook page, where you're finding it, buying limits and how much it costs. Founders is only sold on the Missouri side of the line.

Firestone Walker Now Available

The first of four breweries expanding distributorship to Missouri this year, Firestone Walker, is hitting store shelves today. Nectar Hemp and Nectar IPA sixers should be around $8.50, Double Jack IPA 22oz should be around $7, Walker Reserve 22 oz. $5.19, Abacus 22 oz. $13.99 and Anniversary #14 22 oz. around $18 (all prices based on what The Wine and Cheese Place in St. Louis is charging).

Some Firestone Walker beers went on tap last night at The Flying Saucer and Beer Kitchen. They're well worth checking out. Depending on KC's support for Firestone Walker we could see even more of their beers released in the market. Again, Firestone Walker is only available in Missouri, if your store doesn't carry it, ask for it.

Imperial Stout Day

Today's the day for Boulevard Imperial Stout to be rereleased into the KC wild. This magnificent beast, last seen in 2009, is an endangered species with a very limited supply. You can posess one with a $12-$15 donation to your local package or grocery store. Boulevard Imperial Stout will give you a stout that is 54% ale, and 46% barrel aged ale. I've developed a new rule based on my aversion to barrel aged beers and the wonderful taste of Boulevard Imperial Stout, 46% barrel aged mixed with 54% regular, is the perfect mix. Any beer that is more than 46% barrel aged may still be shunned by me.

Boulevard Imperial Stout should definitely not be shunned. While it won't get the mainstream fanfare and desperation that Chocolate Ale brought to town, Imperial Stout in the wild is more deserving of the hype. Plus, it even has chocolate flavors but paired with a little bit of a whiskey burn countered with some sweetness that makes the whole endeavor worthwhile. This beast is dangerous at 11% ABV, any bottles you get should probably be shared.

Get your Boulevard Imperial Stout today or as soon as possible, because it won't last long. You'll be rewarded with a wonderful drinking experience. Help out your fellow beer travelers by calling out in comments where you got yours and the price or heading over to OnTapKC and logging said info there. You can also follow me on Twitter (@bullevard) or become a fan of KC Beer Blog on Facebook. I'll try to keep all of these updated throughout the day so you can find your very own wild beast Boulevard Imperial Stout.

Disclosure: I received a free bottle of Boulevard Imperial Stout from a source interested in selling more Boulevard Imperial Stout. This freebie did not influence my review, the wonderful taste did. But, you can be the judge of that.

Bear Republic in Crisis, Bargains Ensue

California's going broke, they need to make money as quickly as possible. Because of this, California has given Tipsy's in Mission quite a great deal on it's state owned brewery*. All Bear Republic bombers are $2.99. That's right $2.99, not $4, not $5, not the regular $6, $2.99. I know of no better deals at this time. Racer 5 IPA, Hop Rod Rye,  Big Bear Black Stout and Peter Brown Tribute Ale are all marked down to sell through. Hop Rod Rye and Racer 5 are 2 great beers, well worth the $6 I'm used to paying, a downright steal at $3. Thank you California prison guards for allowing me to get these great bargains.

*Bear Republic is not owned by the state of California. This sale has absolutely nothing to do with the debt crisis in California.

Roadside Surprise

When I was 18 one of my friends was going away to college. The year before when he went away the first time we'd had a hotel party where 10-15 of us got a crappy hotel room, drank til we dropped and slept there for the night. We reprised that party for his second year. At this time, we had a friend who was a relative baby, a 16 year old, we'll call him Sully. We had corrupted Sully in every way, we taught him to drink that summer shattering his innocence. Thing was, though, Sully was a hilarious drunk. There was the time he wanted to have actual sex with the tailpipe of a truck (he fondled the wheel well instead) and I have the obligatory photo of Sully passed out with with my exposed appendage an inch from his mouth.

On this night, though, I was obsessed with this book I had "100 Drinking Games". So we spent the evening playing stupid drinking games. The one that really set us on the path to a fabulous drunk was a game called Beer Hunter. I don't remember the specifics of the game, but it was basically Russian roulette with shaken cheap MBL beer cans and our kind of crazy friend yelling in Vietnamese an inch from our face. We were beer soaked and drunk. Many things happened that night that changed a lot of our friendships, but Sully really took things to another level.

The room was a double with 2 queen size beds. I think about 7 of us slept in the room and apparently Sully didn't have anywhere to sleep. I remember waking up, still quite drunk, and hearing the water in the bathroom tub run for a couple minutes then stop. 10 minutes later it would run again and stop. This went on for about an hour before I felt the strength to get out of bed and see what was going on in the bathtub. There was Sully, fully clothed laying in the bathtub filled with water, empty beer cans and plastic ice bags. That's where he decided to sleep and since he didn't have a blanket, he thought filling the tub with hot water would keep him warm. When it got too cold, he simply ran some more hot water.

We all laughed about Sully while we hurriedly packed up whatever we had and fought over who had to take the key (it was an actual key in those days) back to the office to get the deposit back. Since we pretty much trashed the room, we thought this situation was fraught with peril. We settled on making Sully do it. Sully who was completely soaked.

Later in the day I found out from Sully the pertinent information for this post. After dropping off the key and getting the deposit, Sully wasn't feeling good so he stopped at McDonald's for orange juice and a milkshake. After drinking both on the way home Sully stopped on the highway (on I-135 just south of the Harry street bridge), still soaking wet, got out of his car and threw up all over the shoulder as passersby must have gawked at this soaking wet kid puking all over.

I thought of this when I was drinking Shock Top Raspberry Wheat as I tried to identify the taste that was prevalent throughout. Shock Top Raspberry Wheat is mostly a mildly enjoyable raspberry beer, but it doesn't have much raspberry flavor. The raspberry seems to be flavored with what I imagine is Sully's soaking wet puke breath from a night of Milwaukee's Best Light, an orange juice and McDonald's vanilla milkshake. I'll still drink my remaining 4 but mostly out of nostalgia for Sully, not for any love of the Shock Top Raspberry Wheat.

Boulevard Chocolate Ale

I was fairly certain I'd never get to taste this legendary beer, now that I live in Seattle. I was shocked today, when I walked into West Seattle's Beer Junction and saw a huge display of this prized Boulevard beer in the middle of the store. I asked the attendant how they got their hands on this "hot item," and he said that he really didn't know. He did tell me, however, that he knew that the KC-area ran out of the beer "in like 24-hours." I also spied three more cases stacked off in the corner!

I'm not going to open it yet. Would like to wait for an evening I can share it with friends. So the magic will have to wait...

Deschutes May

It's been no secret that Deschutes has been eyeing Missouri dropping cryptic hints that they'll be here soon. Well they will, late April, early May soon. No word on distributor agreements or anything, but my KCBB tipsters (TKC rubbed off on me yesterday) are saying that Deschutes is targeting Missouri with a small lineup of Deschutes beers. My guess is they'll be the session beer sixers like Mirror Pond, Inversion IPA and Black Butte Porter. This is great news as they're all great beers. The more we buy, the more they'll bring.

Bull's Radio Day

I got an email from the producer, Andrea, for the KCUR show "Central Standard" on Tuesday, asking if I would like to be on a show about KC bloggers. I decided to do it after a couple of emails and finding out that Celeste from Average Jane was going to be there too. I didn't want to do the show without knowing someone. I talked to Andrea on the phone Wednesday afternoon which kind of set up the interview. The discussion of Chocolate Ale was because of our conversation on Wednesday.

I got to the station about 30 minutes before and met Jabulani Lefall, the show's host. He was quite intrigued by my Cleveland Indians jersey and kept asking questions to get me to say why I was wearing an Indians jersey. I'm an Indians fan because I gave up on the Royals and at the time the Indians had Wichita State alums Casey Blake and Eric Wedge. Upon learning that I went to Wichita State, Lefall mentioned that he hit a home run off Darren Dreifort, a Wichita State superstar pitcher. Not many college baseball players can say they hit a home run off Dreifort and I'm pretty sure Lefall was lying. Celeste, May, Brent, Lefall and I sat around for a while longer discussing beer and other topics. Then Tony rolled in looking a little like he had just woken up under a bridge. Like Joe Tone wrote in the Pitch, Tony is kind of soft spoken, rather engaging and a pretty nice guy. After meeting Tony and kind of liking him, I can only conclude one thing about his blog, impotence.

We went through a run-through of the format, where we were to sit in the studio, how to work the cough button and adjust our volume. After that, the show started and the 4 of us slated to be on at 10:30 were sent back to the conference room where we listened to the first half of the show with Tony and worked on the Twitters.

Then it was show time, we were hurried into the studio to sit down, get settled and get the mic in the right place. About this time, my brain turned off and I started answering questions. I didn't really mean to throw Weston Brewing under the bus and had no intention of drinking Sam Adams Noble Pils in the late afternoon, I hate crowds, not people and I got a little too focused on Lagunitas. I was much happier with my answer the second time around saying that we want the KC Beer Blog to be an introduction to some great craft beers in a light and fun way which is kind of the mission statement of the blog. My 2 word answer to the last part meant virtually nothing because the first thing that popped into my head was "boner party" and I'm kicking myself for not saying "lemon party".

Overall, it was a good time. I could have done better, stammered less, plugged a little more. But, I was pretty happy with how it actually sounded and you could barely tell that my brain had switched off before I started talking. My biggest problem was with the format of the thing, I felt hurried the entire time I was talking and I was a bit uncomfortable with the question-answer format rather than a more conversational approach. Mostly, that uncomfortability is my fault, but I'm going to place it firmly on Lefall's shoulders. I thought the others did a fine job as well but I was only half paying attention because of the format of the show, I knew I wasn't supposed to talk while they were. If we would have been the full hour, I think it may have felt less stiff.

I felt pretty awful about my performance until I actually listened to it later in the afternoon. My voice sounded fine, my content was a little light, but I got a couple of points across. Definitely room for improvement, but this was my first radio appearance and it wasn't a complete disaster. I'll chalk it up to a win. If you missed it you can hear the whole thing here.

Doodle at the Y

Y-Liquors in Liberty (246 S. 291) is having a Doodle Brewing tasting from 6-9 tonight. This is a great opportunity to give Doodle Dubbel a shot and meet Nick Vaughn, the man behind the Doodle. I really enjoyed the Dubbel and have found myself wishing I had more.

Night Stalker Hits Kansas

The Kansas side of the state line is getting hit by the Night Stalker today. This Night Stalker's not a strangler or something, just Goose Island's heavily hopped Imperial Stout. It's notoriously hard to find like any Night Stalker worth his salt. But, six Kansas stores are getting it today; Tipsy's, Rimann, Gomer's, Lukas and 2 others I haven't identified yet (please leave in comments where you found it). Night Stalker will probably be sold out around town sometime tonight so you'd better get moving if you want some.

Down on the Farm

I have some beers that I don't like to ever not have in my downstairs refrigerator. Sometimes, there's 10 beers on this list sometimes only 3. These aren't seasonal beers or big beers, just ordinary sixers that you can probably find at any decent liquor store in town. They're not the beer of the moment, like any that might get a post on it's release date. Those beers are reserved for the upstairs refrigerator. Those beers are the stars, the everyday beers are a little like beer prospects, called upon when the upstairs stars aren't getting it done.

2012 is going to be a pretty bleak year for the Kansas City Royals. I think more articles are being written about the Royals prospects than about the major league team. If you doubt me, name the starting SS, 4 members of the starting rotation and the starting RF. All those guys are placeholders for the prospects or the players the prospects will get traded for. Since the major league team doesn't matter that much this year, it might be fun to acquaint ourselves with the prospects by comparing them to my beer prospects.

The Prospects

Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' - Mike Moustakas 3B
My favorite beer paired with the #1 prospect. Moustakas is a big time power hitter who could be unlike any Royal ever. Steve Balboni holds the franchise record with 36 home runs in a season, Moustakas could definitely break that record and more than once. Little Sumpin' Sumpin' (which just got back to town for good this week) is a hoppy wheat beer with pop that you wouldn't expect from a wheat beer. Moustakas is a Royal with unlike any other, Little Sumpin' Sumpin' is a wheat beer unlike any other.

Great Divide Hoss - Eric Hosmer 1B
Hoss goes with Hos. Hosmer is a gigantic prototypical first baseman who's going to hit for average with quite a bit of pop. Hoss is a full flavor lager with a bit of Rye spice thrown in. Hoss is a prototypical lager in the sense that it's eminently drinkable, several at a time. But, like Hosmer, has that little bit of extra something to make it great.

Ska Modus Hoperandi - Tim Collins Relief Pitcher
Tim Collins is a little left handed strikeout machine. I can envision a future where he enters games to his own super rocking song like Mariano Rivera and Joakim Soria. He'll be the 7th or 8th inning guy you go to when you need to, in the words of Roger Dorn, "strike this motherf***er out", and striking guys out will be his modus operandi. His picture on the jumbotron should be one of the Modus Hoperandi skeletons with a Royals uniform on. Modus Hoperandi seems like a small beer to me because it's in cans, but it's got a great hops fastball that's gonna get you out [of your thirst].

Lagunitas New Dogtown Pale Ale - John Lamb Starting Pitcher
Lamb has kind of a boring name, but he has a great fastball and excellent control. Plus he's from Laguna Hills which sounds an awful lot like Lagunitas. New Dogtown Pale Ale also has excellent control in that it is well balanced but also brings the heat with it's ABV. Neither Lamb nor New Dogtown sound all that exciting, but Lamb will be a star worthy of New Dogtown.

Boulevard Pilsner - Christian Colon SS/2B
Shortstop or second base is the question with Colon. No matter which one, he's a leader in the making and promises to help anchor the middle of the Royals defense for years to come. Pilsner has the same sort of questions, is it a cheap alternative to craft beer or an expensive alternative to macro beers. The answer doesn't matter as Pilsner is the backbone of summer beer drinking and will be for years to come.

Tallgrass Oasis - Wil Myers OF
The same questions dogged Wil Myers as they do with Christian Colon only they were whether he was a catcher or outfielder. The Royals decided to move him to the outfield because his bat demands advancement up the ladder. He may be the best hitter of the bunch now that he doesn't have to worry about squatting for half the game. Oasis has questions about it's position too, is it a DIPA or ESB? It doesn't matter (it's a Double IPA) it's a great beer and it's bat has to play. Also, like Myers, it's a lot of beer in a big package as it comes in 16 oz. cans.

Boulevard Tank 7 - Mike Montgomery Starting Pitcher
Mike Montgomery and Tank 7 both have it all. Montgomery's got the whole package of great fastball, great curveball and great changeup all from the left side. Millions of dollars have been made from any one of those 4 qualities let alone all 4. Tank 7 also has it all, lightness, complexity, sweetness and hoppiness. In 3 years Tank 7 and Mike Montgomery will own KC.

Now if only the Royals could come up with a Chocolate Ale they'll win multiple World Series this decade (maybe Jeff Francoer is the Chocolate Ale). These 7 guys should all be fixtures in KC by the end of 2013. But, the 7 beers are in stock at all times in my downstairs refrigerator or I get a little shaky. This list is not set in stone, it will change fairly regularly. It bears almost no resemblance to my list 2 years ago (also Royal themed).

Bull on the Radio

I'm going to be a guest on the Central Standard show on KC's local taxpayer subsidized radio station KCUR 89.3 tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 10. If you're unable to listen on the radio, you can listen to KCUR streaming here. The show is going to be about blogging in general but I'm hoping to sprinkle in some beer topics. After hearing my voice I give each of you about 5 minutes before you can't take it anymore and turn off the show.

Little Sumpin' Sumpin'

Lukas in Martin City has theirs, does your store?

Oh glory days, Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' is making its permanent reappearance in KC this afternoon. Little Sumpin' Sumpin' is now a year round beer for Lagunitas so it's always going to be around finally taking the spot of my favorite beer from the now departed Schlafly No. 15.

If your local store doesn't carry Little Sumpin' Sumpin', ask for it. Tell them they must carry it. This is very important, Lagunitas needs us. We still don't get Maximus or Pils which I'm very interested in getting in KC. Also, the summer seasonal bomber from Lagunitas is going to be something called Little Sumpin' Stoopid, which combines 2 great beers, Little Sumpin' Sumpin' and Hop Stoopid. I can't imagine Little Sumpin' Stoopid being anything less than stellar. In order to get a large allotment of Sumpin' Stoopid a lot of Lagunitas needs to sold in as many stores in the KC area as possible. So if you don't see any Lagunitas at your favorite store, ask for it, Lagunitas needs us.

Tailgate Beer

It's almost that time of year, the teams are playing in Arizona and Florida, everyone but the Royals has a shot to win the World Series. In just a couple of weeks it will be opening day, the fountains will run blue and the losing will begin. But, that doesn't matter too much, hope is on the way. What is important is baseball will be here. Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Carl Crawford and some more of the biggest stars in the game will make their way to the K. So the question is what are you going to drink in the parking lot while you get your grill on?

A couple of ground rules here, I don't like the idea of bottles in a parking lot. Drunks break bottles, glass in a parking lot can cause a flat tire or worse. With a good number of children going to baseball games, it's not a great idea to make them walk all over broken glass in the parking lot just to get into the stadium. So canned beer it must be. Also, the beer of choice has to work for the hot summer months and the cold April and September games. Lastly, the beer has got to be good, easy to store and transport and offer minimal trash. In my eyes, there's nothing worse than walking out of a baseball game to walk to your car and seeing beer cans laying all over the ground.

Chocolate Snafu

It appears based on a comment from yesterday's post and the note on Beer Kitchen's Facebook page today, that last night's Chocolate Ale tapping didn't go off without a hitch, though they did sell through a keg in 5 minutes.

For everyone that was unable to try the Chocolate Ale yesterday I understand there was a bit of frustration. However, we have 3 more kegs that we will be tapping the next 3 consecutive days. To make things fair, starting at 5pm we will hand out tickets to the first 65 people each day. When we tap the keg @ 6pm those 65 people will be guaranteed a snifter of the Chocolate nectar that they may purchase at that point. We are trying to expose as many people as possible to this ever elusive beer.

As an interested observer, I'd like to see that ticket time start at 5:30 instead of 5:00. 5:00 seems like they're trying to get you to spend a full hour in the bar, not that I would blame them, and is a little more difficult for 9-5ers to get there. But, it's the Beer Kitchen's world this week, we're just living in it.

Chocolate Kitchen

I'm sure those Chocolate Hunters in the audience already know this, but, Beer Kitchen is tapping a keg of Boulevard Chocolate Ale at 6 PM every night through Thursday. It will go fast so you need to be have your buns in a seat in the Beer Kitchen before the keg is tapped each night. It's not like there's not fine beers, burgers and fries at the Beer Kitchen to keep you entertained until the six o'clock hour hits. Plus, it will be happy hour before six with $2 sliders and buckets of fries. This could be your last chance to try the super chocolatey draft version as I've heard they will tweak the recipe next year to make it a little closer in taste to the bottled version (and the bottled version will be tweaked to get a little closer to the draft version, meeting somewhere in the middle).

Doodle Dubbel Indubitably Delicious

Since Royal Liquor on 103rd was able to secure a case or two of the elusive Doodle Dubbel (elusive to those scared of the northland like myself) I was able to purchase a bottle over the weekend. I was pretty impressed that it was only $5.49 for a 22 oz. bottle, pretty close in price to Lagunitas on the low end and Boulevard Smokestacks on the high end. That's a pretty good price for a Belgian style beer.

I poured the first of what I hope to be many Doodle Dubbels Saturday night to enjoy with dinner. After getting up from the table to pour kid drinks, get napkins, get salt or whatever else I had to get up for the 5 times before I started in on dinner (if you have kids you understand). By the time I reached out for a drink Stella said that it was really good. In one of my trips away from the dinner table she had snagged a sip. After my first sip I agreed, the Dubbel is really good. It's a little more muted in flavor than other dubbels I've had, it's almost like a bloop double down the line that falls between the SS, 3B and LF rather than a hard double off the wall (forgive me, I'm ready for baseball season). But, the Doodle Dubbel gets you to second base with the flavors of raisin and fig and some malt sweetness, it's just not overwhelming like you'd wish it were. Doodle Dubbel is not quite spot on, but for the price it's not a disappointment. Best of all, even though it just misses being as full flavored as I had hoped, it's very drinkable and tasty. And at around 7% ABV, you can definitely drink a couple of them in a night.


Doodle Dubbel is not very widely available in KC, with only some unknown stores in the northland, Grand Slam Liquors downtown and Royal Liquors on 103rd carrying it. If you're in a Missouri liquor store that doesn't have it, ask for it. If they don't know how to get it refer them to the Doodle website. Nick Vaughn is self distributing so they have to contact him to get some. The Doodle Dubbel needs to gain a dubbel foothold because Boulevard has been tooling around with a dubbel for some time now and they're bound to release it at some point.  So give Doodle a chance so they can print enough labels to get their name spelled right on the label (Boulevard makes label mistakes too, notice the Chocolate and Dark Truth are both #14 of the Smokestack Series).

Brew Minions

The fine folks over at Ska Brewing did what the rest of the beery world wanted to do and did a nice parody of "Brew Masters". Never has a show been so rife with parodiable material than "Brew Masters". Sam Calagione shows he's a good sport though and actively makes fun of himself in this "Brew Minions" parody. If you like the show or Ska Brewing or like a little bit of fun it's well worth the 20 minutes.

Carve it in Stone

Stone has finally signed the paperwork or whatever happens when breweries choose a distributor. So now it's official, Stone will be on KC store shelves in late April. Stone is planning on announcing several kickoff events for the Missouri release so stay tuned.

Speaking of release parties, Firestone Walker will be having a kickoff party March 13 at Beer Kitchen for their Nectar beers. Finger foods with beer pairings will be served. Get your tickets now by calling Beer Kitchen for reservations 816-389-4180.

Difficult Peche

Have you ever been talking to someone about books and they say their favorite book was Moby Dick or Finnegan's Wake or something by Faulkner, Kant or Sartre?  Those people are lying, while those books are indeed great, you burn a lot of brain calories trying to read them. It's just not enjoyable, I'd much rather have a Steinbeck, Hemingway or Phillip Roth novel. They're easy to read and just as good, the verbosity of the others take away from their greatness.

Odell Avant Peche reminded me of this as I was drinking it last night. I had been looking forward to the Avant Peche since I first heard about it and I was lucky enough to snag a bottle at Royal this week. It wasn't quite what I expected, it was much more Sound and the Fury than East of Eden. The not quite ripe peach flavor brought a sourness that made me grind my teeth all through drinking the bottle. The peach flavor seemed off just a bit but blended well with the roastiness of the porter. It took me a full glass of it to realize that I actually liked it.

My problem with it, though, was I burning taste calories drinking it. I almost had to tune everything else out to drink it, just like you have to do with a difficult book. It felt more like studying than enjoying a beer. I even had to take a study break in the middle and drink a Schlafly Kolsch before I could finish the bottle. I feel safe in saying that Avant Peche is a masterwork but not one I'm probably going to reread. And I'm not going to be the kind of jerk that calls Avant Peche my favorite beer. I'll take American Pastoral over Moby Dick any day of the week.

Texas in Your Mouth

I'm a bit of a picky eater, beer dinners don't often appeal to me because one or two courses sound awful to me. The objection usually starts with the use of mushrooms which creep me out, but plenty of other foods turn me off enough to not care what the other courses are. The Wil Jenny's beer dinner Stella and I attended last night had no foods to turn me off. Plus, everything on the menu for the evening sounded wonderful. And as an added bonus, Wil Jenny's was pouring out of market beers so it really was to be a good dinner to try some new things.

It all started with a little free for all with the 7 or 8 Texas beers being poured. We went up, requested which beer we wanted to try and got a fairly substantial pour of 3 or 4 ounces. 512 Brewing sent up a couple of kegs so Stella and I started off with the 512 Wit and 512 Pecan Porter. The Pecan Porter was as good as it sounds. The pecan flavor really complemented the porter flavor well. It was my favorite new beer of the night. The Wit was good, lots of flavor, but not a style that does much for me. Next up were the St. Arnold beers, Elissa and Amber. Elissa was an IPA and was just okay, I didn't go back for more. Stella really liked the Amber and I had to agree, it was a pretty good Amber. I also tried the Rahr Ugly Pug, a black lager. Not much to it, I like the name more than the beer. Then I had my other favorite, the Real Ale 4 Firemen, a blonde ale. When we go to Texas I usually buy a sixer of the Firemen to have around to counter that Texas heat.

While we were drinking the Texas beers, servers would come out with some appetizer trays. After a couple of beers we were really thankful for the food coming out. Other people were too, because the servers were swarmed the first couple of times they came out. The first thing we tried and was the most available was a breaded and fried asparagus with a lemon dill sauce. I absolutely loved the fried asparagus, I probably had 10 of them over the course of the appetizer hour. The beef brisket meatball with bleu cheese sauce was fantastic. The poor servers tasked with the meatball tray were risking their well being by walking out of the door from the kitchen to the hungry horde. I had 3 or 4 of the meatballs and enjoyed every bite. Stella and I have a little disagreement about whether they were breaded or not. I don't think they were, but she insists that they were. In any case, they were delicious and I think they would make a fantastic meatball sandwich. The cheddar stuffed pretzels with Pale Ale Mustard were great as well, but I had one that wasn't stuffed (still was good) and I wished I could have gotten a little more mustard on mine. The pretzels weren't that plentiful, I think only 3 trays came out and we wanted more. By the end of the evening though, I was glad I didn't have an extra one.

During the Texas beer and appetizer hour, Boulevard Brewmaster Steven Pauwels showed up and helped pour the beers. When I went up and talked to him, he noticed that I wore the sweater that he wore to our January Gents KC meeting and he regretted not wearing his. I purposely wore it hoping we could be twins for the evening, but my plan was foiled by Pauwels trying to dress all Texasy. One of the other highlights of the appetizer hour involved the rattlesnake table display at the bar. It seemed to be a smoked rattlesnake body coiled up, about to strike. As I was standing in the middle of the room I looked over to the bar tables and saw Pauwels bend down to smell the rattlesnake and recoil back as if it smelled awful. It never occurred to me to smell it which, I guess, is reason #1243 why I'm not a Belgian brewmaster, I don't take the time to smell rattlesnake carcasses.

Trio of oysters

We were guided by the Wil Jenny's manager to find our seats so we could be served our first course. Wil Jenny's chef Royal Cheuvrant came out and described his idea for the evening "trying to put Texas in your mouth". If this were a Gents KC meeting, Texas would have meant something else entirely, but Chef Royal only meant the great food of Texas. Our first course was to be, unknown to me, a classic pairing of stout and oysters. Since this was a Boulevard event we were served Boulevard Dry Stout and a trio of oysters, a raw one, a fried one and a grilled one. The raw oyster was simply fabulous and tasted almost smoked, it was my favorite of the three. Most surprisingly, it was Stella's favorite of the three and she was very leery of raw oysters before she tried it. The fried oyster just tasted like something that was fried, not very distinctive. The grilled oyster had bacon on it and the bacon kind of took over. If I was Tom Colicchio judging on Top Chef, I would say that the oyster wasn't the star in the grilled and fried versions. Overall though, it was a great first course and really went great with the Dry Stout. Pauwels explained after that stout and oysters is a classic pairing because the salt from the oyster fills the void of the flavors that a stout has.

I should note that Pauwels and Boulevard salesman Damon McCracken* sat across the table from Stella and I. I'm pretty convinced that Pauwels sat across from Stella in an effort to woo her with his Belgian accent, but his slicky Euro style didn't work. The conversation turned to Chocolate Ale and just how shocking that whole week was for Boulevard and KC. They thought they brewed too much Chocolate Ale and thought it would be on shelves into the summer. They had no idea it would sell like it did. I think they're going to make more next year to try and meet the demand and also try to find the middle ground between the draft version and bottle version which were dramatically different.

*When you meet a Boulevard employee for the first time, you probably shouldn't say, upon hearing his/her name, "I've had one of your Nutcrackers before" 9referring to the employee's name on a bottle of Nutcracker. It turns out that sounds awkward and kinda creepy. Not that this happened, it's just a warning for you, the dear reader. 

Rattlesnake and rabbit sausage

The next course was what I was really looking forward to, rattlesnake and rabbit sausage paired with Single Wide IPA. Chef Royal explained that heat and IPA go great together so the sausage had a jalapeno jam on burnt toast with it. Unfortunately the jalapeno jam was much more sweet than hot so the pairing didn't work out that great. But, with the exception of the sausage being a little cold, the dish tasted wonderful. At our table, decorum was abandoned and we just picked up the sausage covered toasts and ate them like one would eat bruschetta. Chef Royal mentioned that you get surprisingly little meat from a $130 rattlesnake so my guess is this would be an expensive thing to have around all the time. But, I do so want more of it.

Braised pork belly

Next up was pasilla chili braised pork belly (the cut of pork from whence bacon comes) paired with Boulevard Amber. Pauwels explained that Amber pairs well with anything with a crust or sear because of the bready malt that is used in Amber. I'd love nothing more than to call Pauwel a filthy Flemish fibber, but, in this case, he wasn't fibbing. The seared and braised pork belly paired wonderfully with the Amber. I really enjoy the Boulevard Amber, but I've never enjoyed it more than I did after swallowing a bite of the extremely flavorful, tender and fatty (but the good kind) pork belly. Would I have enjoyed the pork belly without the Amber? Yes, it was my favorite food of the night. But, the Amber made it even better than that.

Buffalo loin

The chance to try the Boulevard Hoppy Unfiltered Wheat was the last factor in the decision to even post about this beer dinner in the first place. Boulevard is pretty good about getting their experimental brews out into the community, but since I can't drink it in my house, I don't often get to drink them. So I was pretty excited to try the Hoppy Unfiltered Wheat. Pauwels explained, after a hamfisted attempt to describe baseball and American football, that Hoppy Unfiltered Wheat was the brainchild of Boulevard cellarman Alex Rodriguez, whom they creatively call A-Rod. No mystery to this one, it's Unfiltered Wheat with a bunch of Cascade hops thrown in. It was paired with a maple black peppercorn buffalo tenderloin served with some bacon, corn and sharp cheddar grits. Again, a hoppy beer mixed with a spicy dish (black peppercorn). I'm a pretty big fan of buffalo meat so I was looking forward to this. Stella got the endpiece of the tenderloin which was a tad too done for her, but she absolutely loved the grits which is going to turn out bad for me because I didn't care too much for them. Like so many of my food issues, the texture of the grits kind of threw me off and I found that grits are aptly named, I'll bet Jason Kendall loves them. The grits flavor was great though. I really enjoyed my buffalo which was nicely medium rare. None of us got much of the maple flavor. It was just a little bit bland.

The Hoppy Unfiltered Wheat was very good though. It smelled a little like a Lagunitas Pale Ale, but tasted like Tank 7 with an Unfiltered Wheat base to me. While Pauwels was talking about A-Rod's creation, he was looking for a way to show A-Rod his appreciation based on our, the assembled diners' reaction to the Hoppy Unfiltered Wheat. I'm but just one of the diners, but I think the appropriate thing for Steven to do is to feed A-Rod popcorn today.

For dessert, we were served fried peach pies with butter pecan ice cream paired with Boulevard Long Strange Trippel. Do I even need to describe just how wonderful this creation was? It was a good as you think it could be. Or almost as good, as peaches aren't really in season right now and the peach flavor didn't pop as much as it would in peach season. But, that's a pretty minor criticism. Long Strange Trippel went wonderfully with the dessert, as it always does and Stella is now a fan of Long Strange Trippel (I don't think I ever shared any with her).

The meal left us completely stuffed and quite happy overall. I whisked Stella away while Pauwels was out talking to the rest of the diners so that he wouldn't have one last chance to woo her. Watching "Top Chef" when we got home was a bit of a mistake because most of the food on the show didn't look as good as it normally does. This was my second chance to try Chef Royal's food with beer pairings and both times I came away incredibly impressed. Maybe one day, we'll actually eat a regular meal at Wil Jenny's, Chef Royal has definitely shown me that I love his food. Also, if you find out a beer dinner with Steven Pauwels immediately reserve your spot, you'll have a great time, he's one of the funboys.

Full Disclosure: Stella and I were guests of Wil Jenny's and did not pay the $45 price for the dinner. The freebie did not influence my review of the food, beer or evening in any way, but you can be the judge of that.

For more pictures from the beer dinner, go to the KC Beer Blog Facebook page and go ahead and "Like" the page while you're there.