CIB Brewery arrives in KC

You may have noticed some interesting waxed, large format bottles popping up in stores and bars around town that feature semi-erotic cartoon women on the label. Though the combination of wax and sexytime graphics might seem like something that should be at Cirilla's instead of a liquor store, these bottles are actually the product of a Midwest brewery making their distribution debut in Kansas City.

CIB (aka Chefs in Black) Brewery, which opened in December 2011, might sound like a familiar name. Though this is the first time their packaged products have been available in Kansas City for purchase, they were present at last year's Parkville Microfest, where I dubbed them 'Most Adventurous Brewery' in my post-festival review. And adventurous they certainly are. As the nanobrewery states, they are a farmhouse style brewery that uses "proprietary yeast blends including Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and other wild yeasts." According to their website, all of these wild yeasts are harvested and cultured at the brewery in Carson, Iowa.

Cartoon Boobs
Through Parkville Microfest and beer hauls from Omaha, I've had the chance to try a number of CIB beers, and the results have ben mixed. I think one of the problems may be that they apply style names to their beers that ultimately become somewhat useless once wild yeast takes a hold of the beer and does its thing. For example, one of their beers, DethHanger, is referred to as a quadruple brown. However, it's not a quad, but also not really a brown. It ends up being an odd marriage of slight tartness, booze and smoke (they actually use the phrase 'meat drippings' to describe the flavor).

The first three CIB beers that are available for purchase in the KC area are the DethHanger, Morningwood Breakfast Stout and Yola's Artisan Ale (an "Imperial Amber"). I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from trying CIB, but I would suggest that when going into their beer, completely ignoring the style names and keeping an open mind. They are attempting some really unique stuff (as some people in this town might say, they really take some chances), and while they may have a miss here and there, they can in fact produce a hit. The barrel-aged wild ale they brewed for the Omaha Barley's Angels chapter was great.

Look for CIB Brewery's beers, which are being distributed by North Kansas City, in stores and bars on the Missouri side. They won't be hard to miss, just keep an eye out for a giant set of cartoon boobs.

You can find CIB Brewery on both Facebook and Twitter.

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