Kansas City Food Blog

​Pull your tractor into the barn (or your Civic into your garage) and get ready to celebrate this year's crop. Boulevard Brewery's Harvest Dance Wheat Wine Style Ale (750 ml bottle, $10.76 with tax at Royal Liquors on 103rd and State Line) is now on shelves. 

The latest entry in the Smokestack Series lets you know what to expect from the moment you begin to pour, thanks to a hint of banana. It is a heady beer, one that would threaten to overflow your glass if you were pouring too quickly.

This is clearly a wheat beer -- kind of a steroid-y, older brother of the traditional wheat bottle -- which means it is very drinkable and yet has a stronger but pleasing finish. The bottle suggests "a long, dry oaky finish," and it delivers. The slight bite at the end makes me want to pair this with beer with chicken souvlaki or something that has been cooked slow and low. 

​Ten local bartenders put their cocktail knowledge and mixology skills to the test this Sunday on-stage at the Uptown Theater during the third annual Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition.

"We're working really hard to showcase bartending as a serious profession and elevate bartenders in Kansas City to that level," says Ryan Maybee, the event organizer and partner in Manifesto.

The group of 10 finalists was selected based on an original cocktail, with the ingredients ranging from ginger beer to a ponzu citris marinade. Among the contestants are 2008 GKCBC winner Chris Conaster of Justus Drugstore, Missy Koonce of The Piano Room and Shawn Moriarty of the R Bar & Restaurant.

"There was a lot of culinary influence. A lot more bartenders are taking their cues from chefs in the kitchen, rather than just using spirits and liqueurs," says Maybee.

The doors open at 6 p.m. and the competition starts half an hour later. First, the judges will be introduced -- this year's panel features spirits writer David Wondrich, author of Imbibe and one of the preeminent cocktail historians in America. 

​The Missouri Wine and Grape Board has a few suggestions for in-state wines you can select when looking for the right complement to your holiday meal. I've added a specific bottle to each recommendation  -- all of which are solid, if not world-beating wines.

With the first course or even by itself, the MWGB recommends a sparkling wine such as the semi-sweet white Vignole from Stone Hill Winery. 

​In honor of the first keg tapped at Ponak's Mexican Kitchen twenty years ago today, Boulevard is throwing a 20th anniversary party at the Southwest Boulevard staple. The session runs from 5 to 8 tonight and there is sure to be plenty of Pale Ale -- the first beer to be on tap at Ponak's.

Happy anniversary, Boulevard.

The list of meat-based cocktails grew a bit fatter last week, as the team behind the McNuggetini decided to collaborate on a Ham Daiquiri.

It's nice to know that creators Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstark weren't just offering a pithy joke at the end of their first video and have delivered on the promise of a ham-inspired cocktail.

"I'm going to go on record that this is a bad idea .... the ham is blended," warns Hardstark at the beginning of the video. Of course, this only makes you want to see what happens next. 

​Winter is upon us and in case you have a fireplace that isn't working, you should have a good brown ale to keep you warm. Today's battle is a slugfest between a domestic craft brewer, Goose Island of Chicago, and an English import, Samuel Smith. Both breweries are well-regarded and offer Nut Brown Ales. So, in a side-by-side pour, Fat City decided to see which ale came out on top.

​Goose Island Nut Brown Ale. This ale checks in at 5.2 percent alcohol. It pours a very dark brown and smells of malt and coffee.

The taste is nutty with a hint of caramel -- a bit heavier up front, followed by a finish that had the slight bitterness of hops. I also get a burnt taste that, while not the dominant note, is strong enough to make me take notice in this medium-bodied ale.

Drinkers of Newcastle Brown Ale might want to slide this beer into the rotation. Those who like the smell and feel of roasted nuts or coffee beans would be drawn to it.
 

​If a few drinks make you animated, just imagine what a few drinks based on animation might do.

The Simpsons Archive Web site has noted the appearance of actual Duff Beer on shelves in Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium. Duff is the fictional beer brand, not seen on store shelves for close to a decade following 20th Century Fox's successful lawsuits in 1996 and 2001 to have Duff Beer pulled from the market.

Here's Hop Talk's video review of the beer, which is apparently brewed in Belgium.

The review suggests that the stout "doesn't taste bad, sometimes things can be gimmicky, but that actually tastes quite nice."

Whether it's a viral ad campaign or just another case of copyright infringement remains to be seen.

​The Boston Beer Company is a great barometer for what's happening with the craft beer market, so the announcement of the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection is great news for beer fans.

The limited-edition brews are aged in barrels that go back to when the makers of Sam Adams first began experimenting with the process 16 years ago. Barrel aging -- a burgeoning trend in craft brewing -- offers brewers the opportunity to infuse a richness of flavor such as fruit or smoky overtones, depending on the wood used for the barrel and what else is added to the mixture.
 

​America gets blamed for a lot of things, and now we can add to the list 7-Eleven's decision to produce wine. 7-Eleven and 7-Eleven Japan will stock stores with Yosemite Road Chardonnay and Carbernet Sauvignon. The two vintages, produced by The Wine Group, retail for $3.99 in the United States ($4.99 in Florida). From the release:

The winning vintners created a Chardonnay, described as fresh and zesty with notes of apricot, peach and honey, and a full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon with juicy plum overtones. Both are well balanced, offered at an affordable price and can be enjoyed anytime of the year.

You've already tasted some of The Wine Group's products -- in fact, they probably got you through college. The San Francisco-based company is the third largest wine producer in the world and owns the Franzia brand of boxed wine (among its other brands are Mondavi Woodbridge and Sutter Home). It made a splash last year with its Recession Red, also priced at $3.99 a bottle.

​I never knew how much ice could matter until I was given the choice of crushed or cubed. After that, my eyes were opened to the possibility that the solid in my drink mattered as much as the liquid.

Bartenders have apparently come to the same conclusion, and a simple thing like an ice machine is starting to seem passe. The Mixoloseum has a guide to ice tools unlike anything I've read, which suggests that artisan ice is the next big trend and you can start experimenting at home to get ahead of the curve.

The first tool on the list is an ice tapper (I've also heard it called an ice cracker), used to crack cubes into smaller pieces. This is useful when you need to cool a drink quickly -- think about how crushed ice works on soda. If you don't have a tapper, the back of a bar spoon (or metal serving spoon) would be just as effective.

​Just as dogs are hairy reflections of their owners, a new theory suggests that the beer you drink (or don't drink) may be a window into your personality.

Advertising Age reports that Mindset Media, a market research firm that specializes in psychographics (the study of people's attitudes and behavior in relation to their purchasing decisions) interviewed more than 2,600 people in August and September in an attempt to learn what someone's choice of beer might say about them:

For instance, people who prefer domestic beers over craft beers or imports are generally middle of the road in their politics. They're not nearly as conservative as people who don't drink beer at all, but not as liberal as people who prefer more exotic beer.

Advertising Age profiles drinkers of six beers -- Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, Corona, Heineken and Blue Moon -- and comments on craft beer drinkers and those who abstain from beer. 

​A great dive bar obeys a number of principles, walking a fine line between a standing health code violation and the place you want to be on any given night. It's time to elucidate some of those principles in this space, so you can know if your favorite spot can be classified as a dive. 

A dive bar always has a shot and a beer special, but that never includes top shelf liquor or beer on tap.

A dive bar is never a place you go to eat, but always has one food item that you look forward to eating after a few drinks -- be this a packaged snack or a square pizza.

A dive bar always possesses a leisure activity, which is either never in use or not working exactly right -- such as a pool table that leans or trivia machine that eats your quarters.

​Over the past several months, Bombay Sapphire has spoken to more than 1,000 bartenders in a search for what will be the "Hottest Trends in Cocktail Culture for 2010." Apparently, vegetables and vinegar will be leading a trend towards savory drinks.

But Bombay still recognized a sweet drink from one of Kansas City's bartenders -- Noah Robinson of the M&S Grill. His entry in the search for the country's most interesting bartender was the Jade Elixir, a combination of citrus, honey dew, gin and coconut foam.

The continued use of produce is part of what New York Times spirits writer Jonathan Miles calls the "farm to bar" movement, where seasonal fruits and vegetables are being used to update classic drinks like the Bloody Mary.

"It feels right to see cocktail trends edging towards the more adventurous and the savory. Fresh, local produce -- especially vegetables -- now plays as important a role as the liquor," says Giles Woodyer, brand managing director for Bombay Sapphire.

The other surprise trend noticed by Bombay was the varied use of vinegar in cocktails. If you still prefer a sweet drink, the recipe for Robinson's Jade Elixir is after the jump.

​Tequila and milk is the scariest drink I know. But it turns out there are a surprising number of booze options to guests this Halloween.

The newest to market is The Kraken Black Spiced Rum, inspired by the legendary monsters of the deep (likely giant squids) off the coast of Norway that were said to snatch and sink whole ships. At 94 proof, this will put "beast in your belly."

It joins Vampyre Vodka, which the Beverage Warehouse notes was "developed in England for the distinguished vodka drinker with a sense of adventure." The 80-proof liquor comes in red and white.

​You won't be getting happy-faced cardboard boxes filled with cases of wine any time soon, because apparently Amazon.com has decided to end its dalliance with wine delivery. After launching a trial program in March 2008, the online retailer has shelved AmazonWine. 

The news sent wine blogs into a tizzy about how the promise of widespread access to small-scale wineries never materialized. Vinography contends that financial difficulties at Amazon's potential fulfillment partner, New Vine Logistics, hurt prospects for a wide roll-out. Dr. Vino suggests that is was the two-punch combination of restrictive shipping regulations and a flagging economy that doomed the Amazon's foray into wine sales:

The intractable logjam was the interstate shipping laws that govern interstate wine shipping.... Given the economics of shipping wine, the company may have been targeting higher-priced bottles. In that regard, the economic backdrop didn't help the plan as high-end wine sales have softened in the past year.

There's not a lot of culinary overlap between toddlers and cougars -- but perhaps McNuggetinis can fill that void. The Huffington Post (via Eat Me Daily) linked to what it termed "comedic news": an instructional guide from Georgia Hardstark and Alie Ward on how to make the cocktail from three McDonald's menu items and vanilla vodka. 

"We've invented a drink that combines dinner, dessert and booze," says Hardstark in the beginning of the video, which is somewhere between an etiquette guide and Funny or Die parody. Those with jaws wired shut or who have successfully completed the payment plan on their Magic Bullet should pay attention.

The beginning of the drink seems reasonable: It's a chocolate shake mixed with vanilla vodka in a shaker. 

"This is kind of like a White Russian on Angel Dust. It's pretty strong," says Ward.

​Forget the clinic. It's flu season and that means it's time to belly up to the bar to take your medicinals.

Medicinals -- the all-encompassing name for spirits and spirit-based drinks that are thought of as curatives and health tonics. Eat.Drink.Think has a recipe for a bourbon or rye whiskey cocktail that will either put you to sleep or have you on your feet. The heated drink also includes honey and lemon, which helps to soothe sore throats as well as inspires a pleasant warming feeling of the footie-pajama variety.

Medicinals -- most people would simply call them a Hot Toddy -- can also help to cut down on congestion. And since variations of the drink have been around for a number of years -- the story is on one our sister blog site's the LA Weekly's Squid Ink - the Hot Toddy can be anything from a straightforward curative to designer cocktail in the hands of different mixologists.

​Wine stores can be intimidating to the casual wine drinker. But Food and Wine has a surprisingly practical list of tips for being a smarter wine shopper.

The tips discuss how wine stores are laid out, the ways to crib advice from store employees, and how to discover bargains or freebies. Most are common sense, but a few are practical bits of advice that are good to keep in mind. For example: Dust on a bottle in the bargain rack is a good red flag. 

In addition to the advice from Food and Wine, I'd throw in a few more suggestions. The first of which is, don't be afraid to state your budget clearly to the person helping you. If they know that you want to spend only $10, it's going to make the shopping experience more pleasant and a lot faster. Plus, you won't feel obligated to buy something more expensive because you're taking their time.

First, a confession: Last year, my friends and I were among the last standing staggering at Beer Fest, sucking down samples of specialty brews even as the cleaning crew was shooing us off the premises.

Photos by Nicole Reinertson

​But this year was different. 

Beer Fest is an annual fundraiser for the Kansas City Free Health Clinic and the AIDS Service Foundation. For several hours each fall the top floor of a parking garage at The Legends shopping district transforms into a brew-swilling heaven where several thousand beer fans belly up to folding tables stocked with more than 300 types of suds.

Just as in 2008, the place was packed with dudes sporting pretzel necklaces and women teetering drunkenly in their high-heeled boots on a chilly Saturday afternoon. For the first two hours, the atmosphere was festive as the golden booze flowed freely.

Alas, the tap ran dry far too soon.

By 3:30 p.m., it was already slim pickings. When I ambled over to the Breckenridge Brewery table to try their Agave Wheat, there was no sign of the Colorado company. By 4 p.m., a full hour before the end of the event, the sample tables were virtually bare.

But, unlike the other beer purveyors, Boulevard Brewing Co. showed up with a truck full of kegs. A long line formed in front of the Kansas City crew, and they kept our glasses full long after all the other options had expired. Luckily, the local hero saved the not-nearly-drunk-enough day.

Click here (or on the photo) for a slideshow of the event.

​Over the next few weeks, there are plenty of opportunities to dip your toe into a bit of booze. 

It's short notice, but worth re-arranging your schedule for a scotch tasting tonight at Anthony's Restaurant & Lounge. The Balvenie and Glenfiddich tasting begins at 6 p.m. and costs $30 to sample five different malts. 

If you can't make it to Anthony's, consider stopping by JP Wine Bar for its Friday night tasting between 6 and 8 p.m. It's free for wine club members and $10 for the rest of us. The selections are highlighted by a Domaine de Couron "Cuvee Marie Dubois" Syrah Cotes du Rhone 2005.

​Whether you believe in ghosts or not, Halloween-inspired cocktails might just be the thing to lift your spirits.

The place to start -- and perhaps end -- is cocktails made with candy-corn infused vodka. It would appear to have a light orange hue like that of orange drink, and what I can only imagine to be an unparalleled sweetness. But it only takes three hours to infuse the vodka, which suggests that you could make a batch the morning of your party.

Kindly don't sacrifice high-end vodka in pursuit of this cocktail, however intrigued you might be by any drink that calls for a garnish of candy corn.
 

​The good news for the world of beer drinkers is that new brews are always popping up on store shelves. The bad news is they might not be an improvement over what you're currently drinking.

Anheuser-Busch recently rolled out two new additions to the family with Budweiser Select 55 and Bud Light Golden Wheat. Budweiser Select 55 was the only one of three potential 55-calorie brews test marketed this summer that was actually released. The reviews are all across the board (it was universally panned on Beer Advocate), but most people seem to wonder if the market really needed another low-calorie competitor to Michelob Ultra. The market should have that answer shortly.

The voices at Beer Advocate were only slightly more sold on Bud Light Golden Wheat -- it gets a barely passing C+ as an aggregate score. Although the average drinker might find this a nice alternative to Bud Light. 

​Anybody can get drunk, but can you get whiskey friskey or blotto? Discover the difference in Paul Dickson's recently released Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary.

Dickson, the Guinness World Record Holder for collecting the most synonyms for any word in the English language, offers up his knowledge via an illustrated compendium of at least 2,964 terms that all roughly translate to "drunk."

The Los Angeles Times took a look inside the booze guidebook, which combines lists, illustrated synonyms and historical or pop culture references when they're applicable:

The book, which includes long stretches of unadorned lists of synonyms -- from deformed to dipped in the wassail bowl, from Count Drunkula to cross-eyed -- is illustrated by Brian Rea in a series of sketches with an appropriately sideways sensibility. The image on the cover is of a plain bar stool, tipping over.

​
A cardboard box containing a 12-pack of Boulevard Wheat was returned to the Boulevard Brewery on Wednesday. That wouldn't be breaking news except the cardboard box Eric Henry brought to the brewery was a sealed 12-pack of Boulevard's earliest beer.

"My office is pretty close to Boulevard and they're a real admirable company. I just thought they might be interested in having it," says Henry, co-owner of the City Cement Concrete Construction Company at 65 Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, Kansas. 

He remembers buying what would have been some of the first Boulevard Wheat sold in the city at a liquor store on the corner of 43rd and State Line. It was just before Christmas -- the box is stamped with the words "first run, December 21, 1990."

He decided to store the 12-pack in his basement, keeping it dry through two moves by storing it between the floor joists above the rock foundation of his basement. As to why he never opened it, Henry can't say exactly.

"I'm not a collector, I'm a pack-rat. I have a small house, so I have to be careful about what I hold on to." 

But after Henry saw an article on Boulevard in the Kansas City Business Journal, he felt compelled to let the company know what he'd hung on to for 19 years.


 

​Wine in Brookside, our winner this year for Best Wine Tastings, celebrates its first anniversary next week. The folks there hope lots of customers will join in the celebration at 112 W. 63rd Street. 

The week's events kick off with a wine sale on Monday, October 12 -- five percent off everything in the store. Tuesday is a special wine and food pairing for $100 per person. At Friday's wine tasting, customers can enjoy a birthday cake from Andre's and Foo's custard. And a big birthday sale is planned for Saturday. The weekly special is 15 percent of all sparkling wines.

The center rack at Wine is the place to find deals with a number of bottles for under $15.

​

​Sloshspot recently offered up a list of 13 alcoholic beverages you can make at home. While some sound like they should be avoided at all costs, others are tempting if only for the challenge of producing something drinkable.

The easiest and potentially smoothest (outside of beer) might be hard cider. It's apple season and that means you've got plenty of raw materials to get it right. This guide on Instructables will walk you through the process. If you start now, you should have figured out how to have a proper cider for Thanksgiving and an excellent cider by Christmas.  

Another to consider is mead, which isn't usually available outside of Renaissance Festivals, because the line between a bad batch and a good batch is not that hard to traverse. If you're set up to brew beer, you can brew mead. Essentially all you're going to need is honey, a package of yeast and time.  

The worst of the lot is clearly Hard Welch's -- a drink made by fermenting the well-known grape juice brand. If you're set on making it, here's a recipe and step-by-step instructions that call for white grape juice, which would technically make it white wine. It doesn't seem like something you'd want to serve guests.  

We've all made mistakes while drinking, but those mistakes shouldn't start with the decision to make a drink that is likely to taste awful.

[Image via Flickr: drab makyo]   

​It's a classic image: Two men in suits having cocktails over lunch. It's the lifestyle currently celebrated on Mad Men and seemingly yearned for by all the Mad Men viewers.

And yet the liquid lunch appears to have gone the same direction as the 1960's: wistfully remembered and only seen on television.

Outside of Christmas parties, the idea of a beer turning into three beers happens with less frequency than in the past. And the reason isn't exactly clear. The Guardian's Money Blog asks:

"So has the mood changed? Is it less socially acceptable than it was, or are we all just too busy?"

It's not often that people have a beer with lunch these days. Sometimes a glass of wine or beer might be offered to a visiting client, but most workplaces seem to frown upon a couple of drinks if it's a company outing. In large part, that's because most bosses are thinking about getting back into the office rather than brainstorming over some Jager Bombs.

It's probably no coincidence that journalists enjoyed a great tradition of liquid lunches, too. The Franchise, the seminal late-'90s story of Time magazine's founding of Sports Illustrated, paints a picture of a magazine that never ran dry thanks to a working day spent in saloons. Writer Dan Jenkins captures the allure of the liquid lunch perfectly: 

"I don't think any of us got drunk -- we just got brilliant. More good story ideas came out of the bar than anywhere."

We'll drink to that.

[Image via Flickr: mooganic]

​You've probably had to cut corners in your home bar and there is nothing sadder than an empty wine rack. So in the interest of letting you shop smarter while still having the kind of bar that is ready should you suddenly discover your house has become a party, here's a quick guide to three wines that will help you through the rough times while making it look like you're living easy.

Your dinner wine should come from Burgundy. As the weather gets cooler and you move towards heartier meals, there are both deep and light red and white wines from Burgundy that are surprisingly affordable. It also has one of the widest range of prices, so, whether you're hosting your father-in-law or a regular Tuesday gathering, make sure to get some advice from the in-store staff. 

​Behind the bar, Café Europa cocktail guru Susan Avery -- profiled in this week's Best Of issue ("The Mixmaster") -- balances classic style with curiosity and restless invention. But she's no snob. When we asked what to put in our liquor store shopping cart to start a good home bar, she offered some down-to-earth advice.
 
All right, then -- how about scotch?
 
Something good and all-purpose, Avery says; she recommends keeping a bottle of Dewar's on hand. You'll need club soda for guests who don't sip neat.
 
Blended whiskey? Avery suggests Seagram's VO.

Bourbon? Maker's Mark.
 
Gin? Bombay Sapphire.
 
Tequila? She doesn't name a brand but reminds you to have Cointreau and limes (or, if you must, lime juice) on hand if you're going to reveal your tequila stash.
 
Rum? Bacardi Silver. ("If someone wants a mojito," Avery says, "she can bring her own mint.")
 
What about vodka, the lifeblood of Avery's excellent martinis? Grey Goose, perhaps?
 
"I don't like it at all," she says, laughing. She prefers Svedka, the quintuple-distilled Swedish brand she uses for her infusions. She also likes potato vodkas, such as the Polish brand Chopin.
 
Your company probably won't stay friendly if you don't feed them. And Avery -- like her husband, fellow industry veteran Lazer Avery, who tends bar at Blue Stem -- actually prefers wine to liquor. So start your bar stocking, she says, with good everyday table wines: a Sauvignon Blanc, a Cabernet, a Merlot. Don't be afraid to buy big, as in 1.5-liter bottles of your favorites.
 
Oh, and one more thing: "Always have Champagne or a sparkling wine in the refrigerator, in case someone has something to celebrate," she says.
 
Great tip: remembering that drinking can signal optimism.
 
(Photo by Angela C. Bond)

​On Monday, the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in the Power & Light District hosted a beer tasting with selections from the Founders Brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This year, Founders will roll out approximately 23,000 barrels of beer aged in gypsum mines (by contrast, Boulevard Brewery will produce about 141,000 barrels) for distribution in 14  states. Michael Bell, Founders' director of sales, called his products "big, complex, unique, oddball" craft beers. Click here for a slideshow that will make you feel like you were sampling them alongside Pitch Clubs Editor Berry Anderson.