Tap List | The Countdown To Boulevardia Begins Beer, Music and More
Published May 24th, 2022 at 1:30 PM
Time is running short to make plans to attend one of the city’s biggest beer events, Boulevardia, put on by none other than Boulevard Brewing Co.
Historically taking place in the West Bottoms, the festival moved to Crown Center for the first time last year. The site worked so well that Boulevardia will return to Crown Center this year June 17-18.
For those who haven’t attended, the festival has three main components — the Taps & Tastes beer festival, live music featuring local and national acts, and the Makers Market showcasing local vendors.
As always, this year’s Taps & Tastes beer festival features breweries from across the country. You’ll see popular local breweries such as City Barrel, Pathlight Brewing and BKS Artisan Ales. But there will also be several popular national breweries like Bell’s from Kalamazoo, Michigan; Toppling Goliath from Decorah, Iowa; Bierstadt Lagerhaus from Denver, Colorado; and many more.
In terms of music, Friday’s headliners include Nathanial Rateliff & The Night Sweats and The Phantastics. You’ll also have the opportunity to see popular local bands turned nationally touring acts like Hembree and Radkey. Saturday’s highlights include Dashboard Confessional and Dayglow.
To help kick the festivities off, Boulevard will be joining forces with Bierstadt Lagerhaus on Friday, June 17, for a four-course beer dinner. The dinner will be held at The American, which overlooks the festival site.
Tickets for the dinner as well as the rest of Boulevardia can be purchased here.
Beer Releases
Pathlight Brewing — 11200 W. 75th St., Shawnee, Kansas — has a devilish new beer available at their taproom. Brewed in collaboration with their friends from Sandhills Brewing, Lucifugus is a 6.5% ABV American wild ale. The two breweries blended their yeast strains to give this sour characteristics unique to each brewery. You’ll get tart lemon flavors from the Sandhills strain with saison-like funk from the Pathlight strain.
Transport Brewery — 11113 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — recently released a big Belgian quad called Evermore. This 11% ABV ale was brewed with Jamye and Cody Naramore, the winners of the 2022 Kansas City Biermeisters Competition. You’ll get lots of dark fruit notes such as plum, fig and prune with low hop bitterness.
Servaes Brewing Co. — 10921 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — brewed a beer specifically for the Moonlight Market event series held in downtown Shawnee. The series of beers brewed for the event will be known as In The Moonlight and will be a 5% ABV sour blonde ale. The first variant is Raspberry Whip, which is brewed with raspberry puree and vanilla.
City Barrel — 1740 Holmes St., Kansas City, Missouri — is getting in on the latest trend of cold IPAs. Their newest beer Unexpected Appearance is one of them. Coming in at a modest 6.3% ABV, this IPA was dry hopped with Strata and Mosaic and fermented with a lager yeast.
Crane Brewing Co. — 6515 Railroad St., Raytown, Missouri — has a new beer that’s roaringly delicious. Dinosaur Renaissance is 6% ABV sour IPA with blueberry, pear, apple juice and vanilla. Proceeds from the sale of Dinosaur Renaissance will be donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters KC.
3 Trails Brewing Co. — 111 N Main St., Independence, Missouri — released a brand new hazy IPA called Bicycle Daze. At a sessionable 5% ABV, the beer has tons of flavor including notes of berry and passion fruit. It’s the perfect beer to hydrate with after a nice long bike ride.
Strange Days Brewing — 316 Oak St., Kansas City, Missouri — has a new beer that may as well be a liquid jolly rancher. Fakie to Heelflip Melon may sound like it’s a skateboard trick, but it’s actually the name of their latest beer. It’s a 6.2% ABV watermelon and key lime gose. It uses fresh watermelon, slushie syrup, sea salt, and pureed key lime to achieve said jolly rancher-like flavor.
Beer Events
Friday, May 27
Cinder Block Brewery — 110 E. 18th Ave., North Kansas City, Missouri — planned a party to kick off Memorial Day weekend. They’ll be doing the Pool Saison Pop Up Party to celebrate their brand newest beer, Pool Saison. To make sure your stomachs don’t go hungry, they recruited Longboards to the party to sell their wraps and bowls. Caleb Blacksher will be providing live music for the party starting at 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 28
Torn Label Brewing Co. — 1708 Campbell St., Kansas City, Missouri — is getting ready to celebrate the return of one of their beers. The High Tai and Pig Roast will be Polynesian themed event hosted on their outside deck. High Tai is a tropical themed sour IPA brewed with cherry juice, lime zest and orange peel. Of course there will be pork along with vegan and pescatarian options. They’ll have a cornhole tournament starting at 1 p.m. with DJ Jabberock providing tunes all afternoon.
Crane Brewing Co. — 6515 Railroad St., Raytown, Missouri — wants you to get your feet moving with their event, the Maysharona Dance Party. The evening will feature dance worthy tunes from the 1970s and 1980s. To make the party even more authentic, they’ll have a DJ and disco ball. Everyone who dresses up will not only receive half off their first pour of beer, but will be entered in to win the grand prize. If that’s not enough for you, Crane will also be using the night to release their Raytona Beach Sour!
East Forty Brewing — 1201 W. Main St., Blue Springs, Missouri — and Trinity Wellness are back with another Yoga & Brew class. The one-hour class is open to everyone from beginner to pro. This particular class will feature the Vinyasas yoga flow meant to awaken your strength, energy and flexibility. Each $15 ticket comes with one free pint. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available for those who don’t want to drink.
Sunday, May 29
Limitless Brewing — 9765 Widmer Road, Lenexa, Kansas — is celebrating a construction milestone for the newer, bigger brewery they’re having built. The new building will officially have the slab done and they want to celebrate with their Slabs on the Slab event. The premise is simple. You bring a lawn chair and beers and Limitless will bring slabs of ribs to share with everyone. This event does take place at the site of their new brewery so you’ll technically be one of the first to step foot in it!
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.