A Visit to Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City
The Boulevard Brewing Company campus is what I’m now referring to as Craft Beer Heaven. Walking through the doors of the massive Tours and Recreation building, it’s overwhelming, in a good way. You’ve got the amazing gift shop, the beer hall upstairs, complete with a separate bar serving test beers - and that’s all before you kick off the tour. A visit to Boulevard is definitely a complete experience.
I will admit that I haven’t always had the fuzziest feeling when it came to Boulevard. The brewery existed in my mind a bit like a Leinenkugels. They’re bigger, more regional, they’ve got a solid line up, but they’ve been around for awhile and aren’t as exciting as the shiny new breweries popping up across the Midwest. After this visit, I will gladly swallow my pride and say that I was wrong.
The space at Boulevard is very impressive. The aesthetic is 100. The layout is nice and open and invites you to explore. Floor one includes fun little exhibits about the history of beer and Boulevard itself. And the gift shop. Man, do I love a good gift shop. I very much regret not buying this t-shirt, these tea towels and this candle. The stuff is cute, ok?
Next, you walk up stairs to a huge beer hall, with so much natural light and seating. I want to say there were about 16 beers on tap at the main bar, 6 test beers at the experimental bar. It’s a well-rounded line up, which is the fastest way to earn my respect as a beer drinker. Obviously had to grab a beer before our tour.
I loved the tour. Remember when I mentioned the campus earlier? I was not kidding. The tour takes you to the old taproom, over to the production and event building and back to the tours and recreation building. Hearing about Boulevard’s humble beginnings while walking through their amazing set up today is powerful. The best part of the tour is that you end it with a couple tasters in a totally different bar space, which as far as I could tell was used just for tours that day.
Oh, I should say that I was down in Kansas City in the first place to visit friends. My boyfriend Mike has a couple college friends who live down in KC, so we and another couple spent the weekend visiting. We had two definites on our to do list: Boulevard and BBQ. We accomplished both. :) Also, shout out to my girl Allayne, who hooked us up with tour tickets on a busy day at a busy time!
We loved our visit so much, that we went back the next day to bring Allayne a thank you gift of Minnesota beers… and to have another pint or two. If you are anywhere even near Kansas City at any point in your life, make a trip to Boulevard. You won’t regret it.