Capital Brewery

Bernie Brewer, Bucky the Badger, Bob Ueker, Harvey's Wallbangers, The Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Lambeau Field, Brett Favre (before retirement, the last 2 years never happened), Moose Haas, The Dells, Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee (the only American city to ever elect 4 socialist mayors), Laverne & Shirley and Gorman Thomas. These are all reasons I'm a giant fan of the great state of Wisconsin. Now Kansas City has one more reason to love the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, Capital Brewery has started distribution to KS and MO.

I happened upon Capital Brewery when I went to the store last month to pick up some beers to have on hand for my son's 3rd birthday party. Capital's two brews available in KS (UPDATE: There are more than these 2 Capital beers available in KC), Supper Club and Fest (summer seasonal) fit the bill, they were new and relatively cheap at $7.99/sixer. I'd never had any of Capital's beers before and I was pleasantly surprised with each of them when I had them the night before the party. I liked them enough that I went downstairs and raided my secret stash of random beers that I've accumulated and didn't really like to obscure Capital Brewery's good stuff from my guests.

Fest, which is a marzen, probably my favorite German style of beer, is a nice refreshing beer, perfect for the summer. It has a fruitier taste than most marzen style beers but has the malty sweetness you're looking for in a good marzen. If I were to damn it with faint praise, I would say it's one of my favorite summer seasonals. But, it's better than that. It's a solid beer that I've bought a couple of times since then and I'll genuinely be upset when the summer's over.

Supper Club is an American Pale Lager and I generally don't care for lagers. But Supper Club is pretty good. It's about the same level as the pretty wonderful Boulevard Pilsner without the retro labeling. But the back story of Supper Club harkens back to a time of the regional breweries where every town had it's own beer. Supper Club would be Madison's compared to Kansas City's Muehlbach beer. If you're looking for something a little different on a hot day you should give Capital's Supper Club a shot.

Those are the only 2 beers I've seen from Capital in town, but I'm looking for more. Even though they mostly brew German styles, it's a good brewery and I've enjoyed the 2 beers I've had. I'm looking for something perhaps a little more substantial than Fest or Supper Club, but, being that it's 100 degrees outside, maybe Capital knows what it's doing.