Brewery Review - Boulevard Brewery

Typically, I like to highlight beers and breweries available in Wisconsin, but sometimes during my travels I come across a place that just needs to be highlighted.  While we cannot get Boulevard Brewing beers in Wisconsin a short drive south into Illinois and you will find your fill!  If you make your way into Kansas City make a stop at Boulevard, you won’t be sorry!

Before I get to my experience at the brewery I feel obligated to share some information.  1.) Yes, Boulevard is now owned by Duvel. 2.) Jeremy Danner is sometimes known as the face of the brewery and I do follow him on Twitter. 3.) If you tried getting to the brewery tour only to be shut out a few years back give it another try.  They have expanded hours and a tap room if you can’t get into a tour right away!!

During a long layover in Kansas City I was able to talk a friend into going to Boulevard Brewing to see if we can get a tour in before our next flight out.  The brewery is roughly 30 minutes from the airport.  We got there at just in time for the 10:30 am tour time on a Monday morning just to get shut out because it was full!  Really??  Monday morning tour is full?? Because a tour typically takes about an hour we wouldn’t have enough time for the 11:00am tour so we walked the grounds until the tap room opened.  This place is simply amazing!!  It’s large bar and seating area situated on the second floor of the building gives you amazing views of downtown KC. They have food available for purchase and an extremely large tap selection including their mainstays and experimental taproom only beers.  Full pints and flights are available!  In my personal opinion this is EXACTLY what a taproom at a brewery should be like. 

Below the taproom is the gift shop.  You can get just about anything you could ever want from Boulevard in this gift shop including the ability to purchase beer.  I am a sucker for specific swag (stickers and keychain bottle openers) which they had readily available. I also snagged a patch and some glassware for friends.  And no, I didn’t get beer on this trip because they wouldn’t let me get through TSA security with it.  But wait…. There’s more.

I was fortunate to have another trip to Kansas City without the restriction of getting back on a plane right away so I took advantage and headed right to the brewery. I got there after 10:30am so I wanted for the 11:00am tour. On that tour we had 7 people, a very small group which made for a more intimate tour. I later found out that the 10:30am tour was sold out.  So that is yet ANOTHER Monday morning tour sold out. Don’t these people work?? (I guess what I am saying here is to avoid the Monday 10:30am tour).  While not getting into specifics of the tour itself, it was definitely worth it.  Yes, we heard about the beer making process but most importantly we got some history and background into the brewery and the owners.  We got to see the old taproom (which was also very awesome to see) along with a special event room that had access to the brewery tanks and the corporate office area that has a view of the canning/bottling line.

While I was there I thought I would so something that many people may find dumb but I had a lot of fun with. I started a game called #areyoumydanner where I took pictures of the different staff at the brewery and posted them on twitter with that hashtag.  Everyone I told about the game at the brewery thought it was hilarious and fitting since he has a large presence on twitter.  Go check it out to see who I captured in those pictures! Not on Twitter? Sorry, cannot help you with that one.

I posted a good chunk of my pictures in an album online so that I don’t blow up this blog with too many pictures. You can view them here.

Overall I am just going to throw it out there that a visit to Boulevard Brewery is a must.  The visitor center is really a gorgeous area and the staff are so friendly.  The taproom is literally a dream come true and the gift shop is utterly dangerous because you’ll want to spend all your money there.  If you go, let me know what you think!!

A few items to not locally.  Third Space Brewing is set to open on September 16^th!!  Central Water Black Gold will be released on October 8^th but if you want it you need to enter the lottery. Go visit their website for details.

Until next time friends!!  Drink a good adjunct barrel aged stout for me!!