Tap List | Friction Beer Co. Opens Its Doors in Shawnee Growing Shawnee Beer District

It’s official. The much anticipated Friction Beer Co., located in the former Hartman Hardware building in downtown Shawnee, opened its doors to the public on Saturday, June 24.

The new brewery at 11018 Johnson Drive joins an emerging Johnson County beer district. It’s within a block of both Transport Brewery and Servaes Brewing Co.

Initially, Friction will be open four days a week. The brewery will be open 4-10 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Saturday hours will be noon until 10 p.m. And it will be open from noon until 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Those days and hours could change once the brewery gets into a good groove. As of right now, the brewery is offering full and half pours of beers and is happy to pour you a small taster so long as you ask.

Friction’s opening line up of beers includes:

• Dr. Feelgood, a 4.6% ABV strawberry blond
• My Aim Is True, a 5.2% ABV milk stout
• Policy of Truth, a 5.2% ABV coffee milk stout
• Normal Town, a 6.8% ABV IPA

Friction already has new beers fermenting for release soon. They’re also currently pouring a guest beer from 805 Brewing in addition to their own.

Non-beer drinkers will have options at Friction. On the alcoholic side, they’ll be offering canned cocktails, wine and a fine selection of bourbons. Sodas are available for non-drinkers. Although Friction doesn’t currently offer any non-alcoholic beers, it’s working on low-alcohol beers.

Aside from pre-packaged snacks, Friction does not plan to serve food. But the downtown Shawnee area has plenty of choices and the brewery is more than okay with you bringing outside food in. In fact, Friction has partnered with the recently opened Mother Clucker, a hot chicken joint. Customers who order Mother Clucker while at Friction will receive a special discount.

The brewery eventually plans on opening up its second floor, which will feature a beer hall, event space and patio. There is no timetable on when that part will open, but it will not be this year.

In any case, we’re happy to hear that the doors are finally open at Friction.

Beer Releases

River Bluff Brewing — 201 Main St., Kansas City, Missouri — has added a new exclusive beer to its tap list. KC Currant was brewed in honor of the KC Current soccer team that will be taking up residence in the River Market area soon. The beer is a 4.7% ABV fruited sour that was spiced with clove before red currant puree was added. The Belgian yeast strain adds a little spice as well. KC Currant is refreshingly tart on the front end with some lingering sweetness on the finish.

Rochester Brewing and Roasting Co. — 100 S. Main St., Parkville, Missouri — created a beer for its Parkville location called Parkville Pub Ale. The 5.4% ABV beer is a classic English-style extra special bitter. Parkville Pub Ale pours a deep amber with lots of biscuit and toast notes from a robust malt profile. The assertive hop bitterness doesn’t linger too long, making this beer a refreshing choice for the summer.

Alma Mader Brewery — 2635 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri — has a new addition to its rotating New England IPA series Future Fables. While El Dorado hops are featured in every version, this one has Strata hops as a secondary addition. The softness in the palette is reminiscent of mango lassi with additional flavors and aromas of strawberry-kiwi and pear. It has an ABV of 7%.

Double Shift Brewing — 412 E. 18th St., Kansas City, Missouri — released a fresh new beer this past Friday. Dubbed Toxic Rae-lationships, this pineapple rhubarb pie sour comes in at a devilish 6.66% ABV. The flavor of this beer truly mimics the dessert. It has sweetness from the pineapple, tartness from the rhubarb and flavors that mimic the crust from vanilla, cinnamon and the malt. According to Double Shift, it “pairs perfectly with small town gossip at grandma’s house.”

Diametric Brewing Co. — 949 N.E. Columbus, Lee’s Summit, Missouri — brewed and released a new beer in cans and on draft. Coastal Crispy is a unique throwback to the olden days when, believe it or not, hazy IPAs didn’t exist. Coastal Crispy is a cold IPA that toes the line between a classic West Coast IPA and a lager. The 7.7% ABV beer uses Summit, Chinook, Citra and Amarillo hops to get that aggressive West Coast bitterness before finishing clean and crisp.

East Forty Brewing — 1201 W. Main St., Blue Springs, Missouri — put out a new lager that’s similar to a Japanese rice lager. While Jacomo Lager is dubbed as a traditional lager, it uses a 50/50 blend of pilsner malt and jasmine rice. The German noble hops add a sharp yet crisp flavor to the beer without being too bitter. The clean fermenting lager yeast helps give this 4.7% ABV beer the classic lager qualities you’d expect.

Transport Brewery — 11113 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — just released a brand new New England-style IPA using the 2023 Pink Boots Society hop blend. Progress In Motion comes in at 7.1% ABV and features plenty of hops and haze. The name is meant to show support for the LGBTQ+ community to ensure everyone is treated as equals.  

Beer Events

Friday, June 30

Servaes Brewing Co. — 10921 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — is rounding out Pride Month with one last event to bring it home. Servaes will be hosting a fundraiser for KC Transformations. They’ll be donating $2 for every full pour purchased throughout the duration of their taproom being open. KC Transformations is an organization dedicated to supporting the trans community, particularly those of color and youth, in building leadership skills within the Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas region. 

Saturday, July 1

Servaes Brewing Co. — 10921 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — is kicking the Fourth of July weekend off with a bang. The brewery will be releasing a new beer of its own while also hosting a small tap takeover featuring beers from Weldwerks out of Colorado. In addition to the beer releases, they’ll be hosting a special trivia for kids at 2 p.m. If you’re hungry you can grab food from the Point & Flat BBQ food truck that will be on site starting at 1 p.m.

Sunday, July 2

East Forty Brewing — 1201 W. Main St., Blue Springs, Missouri — is throwing a new type of food battle. You’ve likely heard of and probably been to plenty of chili cook-offs. Easty Forty is switching things up and throwing a mac & cheese cook-off because nothing says America like some good old-fashioned cheese-covered pasta. There will be a blind tasting that starts at 12:30 p.m. where you then vote for your favorite dish. The creators with the most votes will win a prize. Interested participants should go to this link to register.

Alex Andujar is a former beer sales rep turned personal trainer. When he’s not training clients you can find him trying new beers at many of Kansas City’s great local breweries.