Don't miss out on these 10 new KC breweries coming in 2018
We are truly in the middle of the beer renaissance in Kansas City. For many years, it was a pretty epic event when a new brewery opened in KC because it was such a rare occurrence. It's still a pretty monumental event, but nowhere near as rare as it used to be. In 2017, there were SEVEN brewery openings. And just when you think that might be an anomaly, you can look forward to 2018, where TEN breweries are planned to open, two of which are already open.
We now have 31 breweries in the KC Metro + Lawrence, and if all goes to plan, we will have almost 40 by the end of 2018. (But isn't the bubble about to burst?? No--remember that Denver has 95 breweries in their Metro + Boulder. We've got a long way to go before our market is "saturated," whatever that means.)
Between 1995 and 2013, Kansas City hovered between 8 and 10 breweries operating at any given time. Lots of breweries opened with dreams of riches, poor business models, and even worse beer--and lots of those breweries lasted less than a couple years.
All that changed in 2013 when a new class of breweries started opening--breweries with a passion for beer and the community rather than trying to make a quick buck. Green Room Burgers and Beer was the first of this new wave and since they started brewing in 2013, there have consistently been 3-4 new breweries opened each year until 2017 when that number doubled.
As of today, 24 new breweries have been opened in KC since the beginning of 2013, and NONE of the new breweries have closed. That, to me, is astounding, considering around 90% of new restaurants fail in the first 5 years. Only two breweries have closed since 2012, but those closings were from older breweries that had it a long time coming.
This rate of growth almost exactly mirrors the national trend. Nationally, we're up to over 6000 breweries, which is more than triple the number in 2012, with the rate of openings vastly outnumbering closings. Nationally, nearly 1000 breweries opened in the US in 2017, with about 170 breweries closing their doors for good.
Here's the down-low on all of the new brewery openings last year and planned for this year. FYI, if you want to try a lot of these breweries all at once--many of them will be at the Parkville Microbrew Fest coming up this weekend!
Opened in 2017:
Opened already in 2018:
Opening in 2018:
We now have 31 breweries in the KC Metro + Lawrence, and if all goes to plan, we will have almost 40 by the end of 2018. (But isn't the bubble about to burst?? No--remember that Denver has 95 breweries in their Metro + Boulder. We've got a long way to go before our market is "saturated," whatever that means.)
Between 1995 and 2013, Kansas City hovered between 8 and 10 breweries operating at any given time. Lots of breweries opened with dreams of riches, poor business models, and even worse beer--and lots of those breweries lasted less than a couple years.
All that changed in 2013 when a new class of breweries started opening--breweries with a passion for beer and the community rather than trying to make a quick buck. Green Room Burgers and Beer was the first of this new wave and since they started brewing in 2013, there have consistently been 3-4 new breweries opened each year until 2017 when that number doubled.
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| Breweries in KC--Openings, Closings, and Number Operating by Year |
As of today, 24 new breweries have been opened in KC since the beginning of 2013, and NONE of the new breweries have closed. That, to me, is astounding, considering around 90% of new restaurants fail in the first 5 years. Only two breweries have closed since 2012, but those closings were from older breweries that had it a long time coming.
This rate of growth almost exactly mirrors the national trend. Nationally, we're up to over 6000 breweries, which is more than triple the number in 2012, with the rate of openings vastly outnumbering closings. Nationally, nearly 1000 breweries opened in the US in 2017, with about 170 breweries closing their doors for good.
Here's the down-low on all of the new brewery openings last year and planned for this year. FYI, if you want to try a lot of these breweries all at once--many of them will be at the Parkville Microbrew Fest coming up this weekend!
Opened in 2017:
BKS Artisan Ales - Brookside
Brewery Emperial - Crossroads
Brewlab - Downtown Overland Park
Colony Handcrafted Ales - North Kansas City
Fringe Beerworks - Lee's Summit
Lawrence Beer Co - Lawrence
Smoke Brewing Company - Lee's Summit
KC Cider Co - St. Joseph
(Ok so KC Cider Co doesn't technically count in our list since they're outside the KC Metro, but they get a mention nonetheless!)
