Boulevard Brewing Company

Boulevard Brewing Company
Location	Kansas City, Missouri
Owner(s)	Boulevard Brewing Company
Year opened	1989
Annual production	149,008 US barrels (2010)
Active beers
Name Type Pilsner Pilsner Pale Ale Pale ale Unfiltered Wheat American wheat beer Lunar Ale American dark wheat beer Bully! Porter Porter Dry Stout Stout Single-Wide IPA India Pale Ale Amber Ale Amber Ale
Seasonal beers
Name Type Irish Ale Irish ale Boss Tom's Golden Bock Maibock Zōn Belgian witbier Bob's '47 Oktoberfest Nutcracker Ale Winter Warmer
Other beers
Smokestack Series Name Type The Sixth Glass Quadrupel Double-Wide IPA India Pale Ale Long Strange Tripel Tripel Saison Saison Saison-Brett Saison Bourbon Barrel Quad Quadrupel Imperial Stout American Double/Imperial Stout Two Jokers Double-Wit Witbier Tank 7 Saison Seeyoulator Doppelbock Doppelbock Harvest Dance Wheatwine Collaboration No. 1 Imperial Pilsner Rye-on-Rye Rye Ale Dark Truth Stout Stout 21st Anniversary Fresh Hop Pale Ale Imperial Pale Ale Chocolate Ale Specialty

Boulevard Brewing Company is an independent regional craft brewery located in Kansas City, Missouri. The Brewers Association currently ranks Boulevard as the 10th largest craft brewery, and the 17th largest active brewery in the United States. The sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev made Boulevard the largest independent American brewery in the state of Missouri. Boulevard's beers are available in 20 Midwest and Great Plains states.

History

Boulevard's story began in 1988 when founder John McDonald started construction of the brewery in a turn-of-the-century brick building on Kansas City’s historic Southwest Boulevard. A vintage Bavarian brewhouse was installed, and the first batches of beer were produced in the fall of 1989.

Based on the historic example set by the local and regional breweries that were once common throughout the United States prior to Prohibition, the brewery has a focus on providing locally-brewed beer for the Kansas City region. The brewery's first half-barrel was delivered personally by McDonald in his pickup truck to Ponak's Mexican Kitchen, located nearby. The brewery is now the largest craft brewer in the Midwest, with capacity reaching an estimated 600,000 barrels from an expansion project completed in 2006. Boulevard's beer is available throughout Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Indiana, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Alaska and parts of Illinois, Colorado, Alabama, Idaho, Minnesota, Utah, and Texas. In 2010, Boulevard sold 149,008 barrels of beer.

Expansion

Boulevard underwent expansions in 1999 and 2003. In March 2005, Boulevard broke ground on a $20 million expansion project that increases brewing production capacity by an estimated 600,000 barrels/year. The new brewing and packaging building was constructed adjacent to the existing plant.

Designed by 360 Architecture, the new addition is 68,500 square feet (6,360 m²) and includes a two-story state-of-the-art brewhouse and a kegging/bottling facility with a skylit atrium. The third floor, in addition to housing Boulevard Brewery offices, has two large hospitality rooms, with a terrace overlooking downtown Kansas City. A glass skywalk links both pedestrian circulation and beer piping between the old and new brewhouses.

The completed expansion facilitates the brewing of Boulevard's Unfiltered Wheat Beer and Pale Ale beers, which together comprise more than 80 percent of Boulevard's sales. Unfiltered Wheat Beer is the best-selling beer of its style in the Midwest.

Introduced in late 2007, the "Smokestack Series" joined Boulevard's family of beers with year-round, seasonal, and limited edition lines of artisanal selections packaged in 750 ml bottles. These bold, complex varieties were inspired by Belgian Trappist beer, and share several characteristics including their higher alcohol content. Year-round Smokestack beers include Double-Wide I.P.A, Long Strange Tripel, The Sixth Glass quadrupel, "Dark Truth Stout", and Tank 7, a farmhouse ale. Additional Smokestack beers have been released, including some limited release and some that are available year round.

In mid-2009, the company introduced Boulevard Pilsner to its core brand family. The brew is a nod to the full-bodied pilsners of Kansas City's historic breweries of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Boulevard offers free 45 minute tours from Wednesday to Sunday where visitors may sample their brews.

External links

• Boulevard Brewing Company