Friday, December 26, 2008

The Great Kansas City Beer Blogger Summit II


Well, I guess if three of us getting together can be called a summit, then so be it. Quality trumped the lack of quantity, however, and we had a great time.

Unfortunately, trying to round up six people at holiday time is like herding cats. Absent: Muddy Mo came up sick today; Bull had family obligations to deal with; I'm still not convinced that Wes actually exists; and, despite my pursuit of a meeting with her for a year and a half now, Beergirl and I are apparently cursed to never have a beer together. She ended up having a funeral to deal with today, and what the hell are you gonna do about that? (Sara, please tell your hubby I am so sorry.) Man, we have rotten luck getting together. Oh well, maybe next summer.

Present: me, Bad Ben, and the newcomer to our group, Oregon Amy. Plus Ben's wife Vickie (sp?) and Amy's husband John, who homebrews. We settled in to a fun evening of talking about beer (natch), brewing (mostly between John and Ben, as I still haven't taking the brewing plunge) and running (Ben, when he's not brewing or drinking, is an ultramarathoner).

Additionally, we were joined by Mags (my designated driver, among other things), the beer-loving Jarigues, and Mags' and Erin's high school friend Wanda.

Our meeting place again was 75th Street Brewery, which I can't recommend highly enough. What a great little place. Located in southern KC, they have tasty food (although I must mock them for their menu item of "Tex-Mex Fondue" — what we Texans would call "queso"), and even tastier beer.

The Christmas ale was nice, albeit not what I expected. I was thinking malty and heavy, but instead got spicy. Their IPA was quite fine — the hops were restrained, just the right balanced note, a refreshing change from how over-the-top some IPAs can be. The stout was a silky-smooth nitro number which the wife particularly approved of. They had something called a "wheat wine," a variation on barleywine, which was a bit sour for my taste, as was their bourbon barrel brown — not bad, but more than I could handle for a whole glass.

I capped off the evening by distributing bottles of Saint Arnold Christmas Ale and Real Ale Fireman's Four, which I hope my Texas beer-deprived KC friends will enjoy.

Okay guys, I've given up hope that we can actually get all of us together at once, but maybe I can see more than half of you next summer? I'm already planning a trip for mid-June.

In the picture, l-r: John, Oregon Amy, me, Bad Ben, Vickie.

(Okay, I'm ready for some of you guys to come visit me in Austin now!)

5 comments:

Po said...

This will do you proud--
My stepfather-in-law arrived here with a sixer of Boulevard IPA proudly in tow. "Have you heard of this?" he innocently asked as he presented it as my Christmas gift.

I raised a wrist to my chin and let my sleeve absorb a dewdrop of saliva that had formed there.

Anonymous said...

Got to your blog from Beergirls. Nice site. Too bad you missed one of our KC Bloggers/home brewers unveiling his recipe at 75th St by just a tad. http://www.gonemild.com/2008/12/tapping-keg.html

Lee said...

Thanks Nuke!

JJSKCK said...

Sorry to miss this, and for a Minnesota December of all things. At least Duluth has good beer (Fitger's Brewhouse, if you're ever at the terminus of U.S. Interstate 35). I would recommend visiting in June, though.

Hope you had a great holiday!

Anonymous said...

I used to make my home beer when I lived in another location. My kids gave me a new beer making kit. However, I don't know of a good location to get some good hard water. Where I used to live (By Geuda Springs, KS) I used to go out to one of the springs and get water. It made some of my best beer I have ever made. Anyways, anyone know of a similar water source?