OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Discourse Brewing owner Matt Britton says that he saw a need for a brewery in Johnson County.
“Overland Park only has two breweries, currently for 200,000 people. There’s a great opportunity for us to grow into Overland Park and grow that market,” Britton said.
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They’ve been open for a few months and have just released a new beer called ‘I’m from Kansas.’ The pale ale is made from ingredients only sourced from the Sunflower State. “All Kansas Hops, All Kansas malt, Kansas water and then the yeast was born and bred in Kansas too. There is a little grassiness to it but there’s a lemongrass flavor that’s a really interesting flavor,” Britton said.
However, getting that beer to the rest of the state is proving to be a challenge. Matt said that Kansas statutes are preventing him from putting ‘I’m From Kansas’ and his other beers on shelves and taps in the neighborhood.
“We are behind the times in Kansas. There’s just no way for expansion, all we have is what we have right now.”
The state only allows for the beer to be either sold on the brewery’s property or to a distributor for resale. If Discourse Brewing wanted to open a separate taproom, they would have to buy their own beer from their distributor at a marked up price and lose thousands of dollars.
Amanda Luiso, Matt’s wife and co-owner of the brewery said that it’s an example of why so many local breweries are on the east side of the state line. Until they opened four months ago, Amanda said that Overland Park, which is the second largest city in the state of Kansas, was only home to a single brewery.
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“Kansas City is underserved as far as breweries compared to most major cities,” she said.
Britton, as well as other local brewers, have been meeting with legislators in Topeka to help amend this law. They have met with state representative Sean Tarwater to hopefully get the statute amended this legislative session.
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