Char Bar Smoked Meats and Amusements

Char Bar is coming along, and we are looking forward to our tentative mid-October opening date. James Westphal and Mark Kelpe, are at it again with our newest concept. Taking over the old Beaumont Club space, we’ve completely demo’d and are rebuilding the 10,000 square foot facility, in addition to the 4,000 square foot out door area, adding a state of the art kitchen, 2 bars (one inside and one out), bocce ball court, and a perfect outdoor dining space.

True to BeerKC style, we are offering a locally crafted and sourced menu of smoked meat dishes, classic BBQ sides, and of course we remembered our vegetarian friends with a great variety of veggie friendly dishes. Our BBQ partner, Mitch Benjamin has lent his meat smoking expertise to our chefs, and we have just finished our menu tasting.

In addition to a great food menu, Char Bar will offer a wide variety of craft beers, yard beers, bourbon infusions, and craft cocktails. 

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Get camping with Sierra Nevada and friends at Foundry

Today will be your next chance to drink a few of the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp collaboration brews, when The Foundry taps Maillard's Odyssey, There and Back, and Chico King. Maillard's Odyssey is an imperial dark ale brewed with Bell's Brewing, There and Back is an extra special bitter brewed with Wisconsin's New Glarus, and Chico King is a pale ale that Sierra Nevada brewed with Indiana's Three Floyds. Great beers all of them, and one of the last chances to try them in Kansas City!

Then this weekend celebrate the back to school season with an ice cream social. The Foundry will have five homemade beer ice creams available for $2 a scoop, so whether you're commiserating with classmates over the start of the year or enjoying your kids being out of the house, we'll have you covered. The party starts at 6 pm on Sunday, August 24th.

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp comes to Beer KC

Beer KC is your spot to try some beers in Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp series! Your first chance will be tonight, when Beer Kitchen will be tapping Maillard's Odyssey, a Sierra Nevada/Bell's collaboration. This is an Imperial Dark Ale, named after a process that occurs in brewing -

Maillard reaction—the “browning” of sugars and amino acids—that creates the wonderful caramelized toffee-like and roasted flavors so abundant in this beer.

This will be tapped at 4 pm TODAY! Maillard's Odyssey has a 99 on RateBeer, so it'll be going fast. It won't be the only special beer tapped today, however. Beer Kitchen will also be putting on Bell's Third Coast Ale - a fantastic old ale - and Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest - a fresh-hopped IPA, featuring New Zealand hops. Full and half pours will be available of each of the beer.

The next opportunity to try some Beer Camp offerings will come next week, when The Foundry taps Maillard's Odyssey alongside the New Glarus collaborated There and Back, an English bitter, and the Three Floyds Chico King, a pale ale. New Glarus and Three Floyds are two legendary Midwestern breweries with very limited distribution (as in barely gets out of their states of Wisconsin and Indiana, respectively). They'll be on tap at Foundry on Wednesday, August 20th at 4 pm. Be there. To sweeten the deal, the excellent Sierra Nevada Torpedo (extra IPA) will also be tapped.

Tomatoes everywhere!

Monday brought friends back to Beer Kitchen, as the folks from Kurlbaum Farms joined us for the Summer Beer Dinner -

The food was spectacular, the beers expertly paired. Sweet and acidic tomatoes with tart, sour, hoppy, and everything in between.

It started with an amuse-bouche of a Bloody Mary, the way all good meals should start. This had some heat to it, too. Perfect.

All meals should probably contain this dish, too. Tomato-glazed bacon, with a ricotta and tomato jar. And toast. Toast is always good. Jolly Pumpkin's Calabaza Blanca was great here. Light but funky, able to share the stage with the food, and nothing overwhelmed.

Ahi tartare "benedict" with a Nightshade tomato bearnaise. mmm, yes. Monk's Cafe is less funky and more sour, and almost served as a wine here. And the tuna dish wasn't fishy in the slightest, instead rich and tasty.

It's important for summer dishes to keep things cool, so these are two cool dishes back-to-back. A chilled avocado soup with tomato "croutons." This was like eating guacamole with a spoon. Something we've all done. Pivo Pils from Firestone Walker was perfect, a light and hoppy pilsner that would be lovely alongside this chilled soup on a patio.

Now the main dish, heritage farms pig in a box with sticky rice and a tomato usu glaze, with Cambridge Brewing's Sgt. Pepper saison. Tender pork in an Asian-inspired dish, with a big sprig of cilantro, perfect sticky rice, and a great sweet tomato sauce. The peppery saison was another good summer beer, easy to drink and a fantastic compliment to the food. 

It's hard to believe, but there's tomato in the dessert! A marshmallow ice cream sandwich sounds decadent by itself, but when it's paired with a Deschutes Obsidian Stout Diesel (a "beer cocktail," stout mixed with root beer. If you ever see Beer KC's Beer Director Randyl out and about, buy her a diesel. They're her favorite!) it goes up to the next level. A great end to a great meal. I'm already looking forward to the next visit from Kurlbaum!