Since my start at The Chopping Block, I have become much more accustomed to trying new food. It becomes a hobby when everyday there is a new flavored popcorn or appetizer for the store tasting. So in lieu of trying new things, I decided to dive into the world of craft beer on my trip to Kansas City this past week.
I asked my friend if we could go to a brewery and without hesitation we were driving down Southwest Boulevard to Boulevard Brewing Company. It was founded in 1989 and is the largest specialty brewery in the Midwest. They offer free 45-minute tours of the facility daily.
The tour starts our with visiting the first brew house which is almost a hundred years old and has been brewing delicious beer for boulevard for many years. We then walked across the lot to watch them pour wheat into two story tanks that hold 200,000 pints of beer. That is a six-pack a day for almost 100 years, as our tour guide put into perspective for us.
We then walked up to the second floor where we looked down through the glass windows at the packaging machine. Boulevard has done nothing but expand in the past ten years. They started with a machine that only allowed them to package 80 bottles a minute. This machine needed parental supervision because it had a tendency to shoot the bottle caps straight through the bottles. Now they have a state of the art, 5 million dollar, packaging machine that packages 250 beers a minute with little manpower. It also does not have temper tantrums.
At the end of the tour, our guide passed out a bottle cap to each of us, which was redeemable for two 4oz samples at the bar. He explained some of the beers including that medal winning unfiltered wheat beer. I knew I had picked the best brewery to start my craft beer adventure after he said, “The unfiltered wheat beer is like the introduction to craft beer after you are done getting drunk off of natty lite. All of a sudden you’re like, I can taste this!”
Down at the bar we redeemed our bottle caps for a taste of the Tank 7 and The Calling IPA. Both were delicious and Boulevard will definitely be on my list of beer to consume more regularly.
The experience at Boulevard reminded me of the experience guests have at The Chopping Block. We want you to go home and cook. Boulevard wants you to go home amd drink beer. Both will bring your family and friends together to enjoy something delicious.
To help you try something new, we now offer a different style of cooking class. Our new 45 minute demonstration cooking classes are offered during your lunch break or on your way home from work through the Merchandise Mart. We also have regular wine classes and wine tastings. Take a look at our March calendar to sign up for a class!
