I have never been very good about keeping my mouth shut when I probably should. I chew on my own toes quite often from putting my foot in my mouth. I use social media to say things that might well be left unsaid, or said in a different way. Sometimes I don’t express myself clearly or completely. I fully acknowledge those things. On the other hand, it also indicates that I am not shy about expressing my opinion.
So, because I have an opinion to express, I have dusted off my blog. (As I am being self-reflective, I should be writing more. I will. I promise. Maybe.)
Yesterday was the 5th Anniversary of the Flying Saucer Kansas City. Every year, the KC Saucer has a celebration on or near their anniversary. This year, it fell on the exact anniversary of the opening. Jillian Murphy served me the very first day, so obviously I remember the opening well. Of course, I was very excited when wandering through the un-finished Power & Light District I saw the windows installed for a Flying Saucer. I had been to the Flying Saucer in Fort Worth, and I loved the place. I had sent a half-joking e-mail to the good folks at the Flying Saucer corporate office imploring them to open a KC location. Then it finally opened. I had to be there.
Five years ago the beer scene in Kansas City was terrible. Perhaps that is overstating it, but it was not good. Charlie Hooper’s had perhaps the best beer selection in Kansas City, and mostly I was happy to have a Bell’s Two Hearted. Sure, in Kansas I could go to Barley’s Brewhouse, which is misnamed because it’s not a brewhouse. They have a fair number of taps, but five years ago, they had a ton of American adjunct lagers and a few imports. New Belgium, Sam Adams and Boulevard dominated the rest of the taps as I recall. The Yardhouse had also opened in the Legends, and they have a fair selection, but it really wasn’t substantially better than Barley’s, and they had no bottles.
75th Street Brewery, McCoy’s, and a brewpub in the River Market pretty much completes the KC beer scene c. 2008. Oh, yes, there was a brewpub in Parkville. I liked that place. (Unfortunately, Kansas City lacks brewpubs, as two of those four have closed and only Gordon Biersch and Granite City have taken their place. I need to win the lottery.)
When the Saucer opened, they did not (and still don’t) have any American mass produced lagers on the tap wall. There is no Bud, no Coors Light, no Miller Lite. They could make money on such beers, but choose not to. For that I am thankful.
Instead, the Saucer opened and tried to obtain as many rare and distinct beers that they could. It was at the Saucer I fell in love with sour beers, with traditional lambics, with double IPAs, with brett beers, among others. The Saucer afforded people in KC with opportunities to sample, quaff, drink, consider, argue about, discuss, and love a variety of different beers. It provided a gateway for many people to expand their beer palates, to learn about beer. The training the staff went through was terrific; I loved being able to talk to the servers, bartenders, and managers about beer. They are informed, they are passionate.
I don’t know if it is coincidental or if there is some sort of causal relationship, but with the opening of the Saucer came many, many new beers and breweries into Missouri (and to Kansas, for that matter). The expansion of the beers in the KC market in the last five years is amazing.
On Thursdays, when the Saucer first opened, it was “Mystery Beer” day. I quite enjoyed Mystery Beer, when I could order a beer for three bucks and get some sort of bottle. I got bottles that were pretty terrible, I got bottles that were pretty good, I got big bottles, I got small bottles. Beers were lagers, IPAs, wheats, stouts, and so on. It was a fun day at the Saucer.
With the increase in the number of breweries and beers in Kansas City, the Saucer changed its Thursday special from Mystery Beer to Rare Beer night. Now, Matt Gardner (the GM) finds a rare beer to offer the Kansas City market, a beer that isn’t normally available on draft. That seems easy enough, right? Try doing that 52 times a year. It’s a hell of a challenge to find a keg of something that is unique that often. But, the Saucer makes an effort to provide KC with rare and unique beers.
Along with that expansion of beers into the Kansas City area, there has been an expansion of bars in which to get a good beer. Bier Station, Beer Kitchen, The Foundry, The Riot Room, Waldo Pizza’s Tap Room, Anton’s, All Star Pizza, and others have made serious efforts to provide Kansas City with outstanding and rare beers.
With that, the Flying Saucer has become a victim of its own success.
Let me explain. One of the wonderful aspects of the anniversary party is that Matt tries to hoard beers and provide a selection of unique and rare beers to members of the Flying Saucer’s UFO club. The Saucer has a lineup of select beers they release once per hour during the course of the day. There are both firkins and regular draft beers that they release.
This year, the lineup included:
Perennial Imperial Milk Stout firkin
Mother’s Lil Helper IPA firkin
Green Flash Hop Odyssey Imperial Red Rye
Widmer Brothers Kill Devil
4 Hands Bona Fide Imperial Stout firkin
Evil Twin Yin
Empyrean Dark Side Vanilla Porter firkin with lactose and chocolate
Founders Doom
Firestone Walker Double DBA
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
With the exposition out of the way, now the explanation. People complained about the beer selection. For example, Waldo’s Tap Room had Kill Devil previously. Bier Station had already tapped Doom. OH NO! Those are fantastic beers and maybe I would have to have them twice? The horror, the horror. Yes, that’s sarcasm (stolen straight from Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County). Someone else had the Goose Island somewhere. Another dismissed the FW Double DBA. I drank them all. Well, not all nine. I had four: the FW Double DBA, the Doom, the Goose Island, and the Bona Fide.
People complained that the Saucer is living off their own success. People complained the Saucer just isn’t trying as hard as it used to. People complain. I think they complain because they like to complain.
I disagree with the complaints.
The way that I look at it, I am thankful for the Saucer. The Saucer (at least in part) has turned the KC beer scene upside down in five years. From being thankful that our friends at Boulevard initiated the wonderful Smokestack Series, we’re now complete and total rare beer whores and are never satisfied unless it’s the first time we’ve had a beer. If we can’t put a new beer in Untappd, we aren’t happy. It’s true. Well, I won’t say the entire KC beer community, but it seems it’s a damn lot of us. Or maybe people just like to complain. I like to think the Saucer has spoiled us and transformed us so much that we have upped our expectations to an unreasonable place.
Instead of complaining about the beer selection, be happy about what they do have. Enjoy the variety, enjoy the firkins, enjoy the local rarities and the rarities from California and Michigan and Nebraska. When you’re at Bier Station enjoying a delicious Doom, be thankful for the Saucer, because it sure seems to me that the Saucer paved the way for that tavern. When you’re at the Waldo Tap Room enjoying a Kill Devil, be thankful that the Saucer opened the door and spurred competition. When you’re at Ugly Joe’s drinking a Southern Tier 2xIPA from a big plastic cup, be thankful there are other options besides a Boulevard Pale Ale or Wheat (not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you—it’s just that Boulevard was the ONLY craft beer option in Kansas City in non-beer bars from 1989 until the Saucer opened).
Matt finds 52 rare beers a year. Some are better than others. Sure. That’s going to happen. He tries to find another ten for the anniversary party. The Saucer always gets the beers we want over and over (I want another Bell’s Hopslam firkin. Stat.). The Saucer will have rare beers on glassware night at times. Christmas/holiday rare beers are hoarded for the Christmas Party.
The success of the Saucer has spurred competition. The Saucer has helped transform the Kansas City beer community and palates. The Saucer has taught us about beer. The Saucer has helped us love good beer. The Saucer has led to good beer being in a variety of places in Kansas City.
Sure, maybe the Anniversary Party beer list wasn’t completely unique and rare, but it was a damn fine selection of damn fine beers. And for that, I am thankful
Happy Birthday Flying Saucer KC. I love ya and hope you have many more.
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