Kauffman Stadium
Team: Kansas City Royals
Affiliate: N/A
Ballpark Basics: A cookie cutter ballpark that is anything but.
Key Stats:
Parking: Plentiful (and available for pre-purchase on the Ballpark app)
Seats in the Shade: The seats behind home plate and down the third base line are the first to be in the shade for afternoon games.
Kauffman Stadium was built in 1973, the dark days when most ballparks were built as concrete cookie cutter multi-use stadiums that housed both the baseball and football teams. Located eight miles outside of downtown Kansas City right off of Interstate 1-70 and surrounded by large parking lots that they share with Arrowhead Stadium, the NFL home of the Kansas City Chiefs.
While all of these are typically aspects we do not look for in a ballpark, Kauffman Stadium has done a great job of updating to make it a classic. Gone are the days the cramped concourses. Now there are nice wide concourses that open up to the field so you don’t miss any of the action. The concourse also goes all the way around the field and gives you an opportunity to see the outfield fountains up close.
The fountains and the scoreboard are two aspects that received a glow up and Kauffman Stadium is much better for it. Even in a suburban setting, the combination of the fountains and the large scoreboard in the shape of the Royals logo gives Kauffman Stadium one of the most recognizable backdrops in all of baseball.
Kansas City is known for its barbeque and the Royals do a great idea of highlighting the culinary treat. There are multiple barbeque options including Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, KCQ, a stand that showcases a rotating set of local barbecue operators, and Brisket-Acho if you are interested in having your barbecue in a nacho setting.
Barbecue is not the only local highlight at Kauffman Stadium. Boulevard Brewing is the official craft beer of the Kansas City Royals and it is not hard to find throughout the park. Quirk, Boulevard’s seltzer option also has a strong presence around the ballpark. Best Spot for Beer: While almost every concession stand has at least a couple of options from Boulevard, the Boulevard Craft and Draft section has multiple options from Boulevard as well as numerous options from other local Kansas City breweries.
Best Spot for Beer:
The Boulevard Craft and Draft is located down the left field line on the second level and is a great area for a group to watch the game. Another aspect that the team did well is creating multiple locations for groups to enjoy the game. There are multiple sections through the outfield concourse to watch the game with a group, including the Miller Lite Deck, the Fountain Deck and the Price Chopper Patio.
In some aspects, Kauffman Stadium is a relic: a suburban ballpark built off of the freeway surrounded by a sea of asphalt. However, through multiple renovations the Royals have done an amazing job of creating a unique ballpark that is a must visit.
Boulevard Brewing Kansas City
Rating: Home Run
Basics: An original that’s more macro than micro these days, and still riding a wave of success.
Key Stats:
Dogs: Limited to when their Parklet is open, no dogs on tours or in the Beer Hall.
Good for Groups: Absolutely.
Food: Standard bar fare like burgers and beer cheese pretzels.
Like most cities these days, Kansas City gave us many breweries to choose from. We did our due diligence, trying several including Alma Mader (see below). Each had some solid pours to choose from and their own vibe, but we kept hearing that Boulevard was where it was at, so we had to wander in and check it out for ourselves.
The campus is huge, but they’ve been open since 1989 so they’ve had lots of time to grow. The main building open to visitors is a multi-story built of brick and big city-view windows. The first floor houses a swag shop so big it really is more of a store, a tasting room/private event space and an actual museum to peruse about 40 years of memorabilia. Up to the second floor you’ll find the Beer Hall with tons of seating, multiple bars, a big patio complete with third bar and shuffleboard, a photo booth, and at least in our case, the most people we’d seen in one place in Kansas City.
Brew Breakdown:
Be sure to check out both inside bars because they’ve got 30 taps and one of the bars has up to 4 experimental taps available; along with seltzers, craft cocktails, n/a options and more.
Tropic Slam (4.2 ABV/12 IBU) – Orangey golden. Smells like Five Alive ® and tastes like a Mai Tai. Citrusy and mimosa like, it’s all juice and no hops. Very sweet but possibly perfect for poolside and summer heat.
Pale Ale Standard (4.5 ABV/30 IBU) – Very orange in color, almost like an orange hard candy. Lots of carbonation but not sugary sweet, in fact it’s an easy sipper, slightly malted with a bready finish.
Space Camper “Terror From The Deep” (8 ABV/35 IBU) – Poured yellow and opaque with a ring of lacing. Very little in the way of scent, just light citrus notes. A very dank taste that was even somewhat gritty. Thick and very hopped.
Berry Noir (4.2 ABV/10 IBU) – Cranberry juice color with a similar slight sting at the end. Tart and delicious blueberry and blackberry ale that was strongly fruited but still light and surrounded by bright pink lacing. We were bummed that the store was out of this to-go, but found it later in another shop and stocked up.
On the experimental bar side, two of the four options were red and white sangria beers. We couldn’t decide between the two, so we had both.
Red Sangria (4.2 ABV/10 IBU) – Sweeter and not as harsh as the white. Purple berry color, Sparkly berry taste to start but ends with a marshmallowy sugar finish. Fine, but the white was better.
White Sangria (4.2 ABV/10 IBU) – Bright, clear yellow in color that’s both tart and bright at the same time, like a lemonade bomb pop but is sharper and less sweet than the first. Smells of florals, lemon and white grape. The sour hopped esters that are prevalent in many beers of this style are more pronounced in the white vs the red. Now available in cans as the “Fancy Livin’ Sour”.
2534 Madison Avenue
Kansas City, MO 64108