Free complimentary copy August 14, 2015 • Volume 2, No. 42
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Crane Brewing hosts first craft brew festival in Raytown
By Diane Krizek Crane Brewing Company will co-host the Festival of the Lost Township, a unique craft beer festival to benefit the children’s programs of Raytown Three Trails
Kiwanis. The event will take place on Sept. 5 at the Green Space, located at 62st Street and Raytown Road. The festival will include a number of unique craft beers from the Midwest. Musical entertainment will be provided by Favorite Daze, a local modern rock band, and food trucks from the metro area will be on site. A VIP tent will host eight special beers and top Kansas City area chefs will put their culinary talents
toward beer pairings: James Beard Award Winning Chef Celina Tio (Julian’s and Belfry/Collection) Jason Crain (Charisse), Howard Hanna (Rieger and CaVa), Chef Ryan Brazeal (Novel) and more. VIP attendees will also get a full hour of tasting all of the craft beers before general admission is open. Attendees will receive a souvenir sample tasting glass. Home brewers will have a tent to offer samples of their brews: David Burrows (Porter), Alex Workman, Patrick Davis (Lemon Hefeweizen), James Price (Blond Ale, Gueuze, Roggenbier), Brian Bixby (Herbs 4 the Bees, Honey Basil Ale, Watermelon Bubble Yum, Watermelon Withier) and Brian Smith (DIPA). More
than 25 beer distributors, including Kansas City’s own Boulevard Brewing Co., will also be at the festival giving away samples. A People’s Choice Award will be presented to the home brewer who gets the most votes from festival attendees. The winner will receive a Jockey Box Conversion Kit which will turn any cooler into a pub. Special guests will present for
an exclusive meet and greet in the VIP tent but will be available later to attendees on the festival grounds. They are: 1. Chris Meyer and Michael Crane, Crane Brewing founders 2. Neil Witte, Cicerone for Beer 3. Jonathan Bender, Recommended Daily and Author “Cookies and Beer” 4. Master Chef Celina Tio, Julian’s and Belfry/Collections Admission for the festival is $35 general admission ($40 at the door) and $100 for the VIP tent. Only 250 VIP tickets will be sold. Tickets are available at the festival’s website, FestivalOfTheLostTownship.org and at the Raytown Hy-Vee, located at 9400 E 350 Highway.
Baseball Hall of Fame campaign leads Minnesota teen across country By Kris Collins For the past six years Colin McCann, a 19-year-old college student from Minnesota, has been on a mission to get Yankees standout Roger Maris inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Last month, his quest brought inquiries to Raytown, where Maris’ family once lived. The Maris-mania began for McCann when he was in the eighth grade after his parents bought him the biographical film about Maris, “61*.” “I had never paid too much attention to the Hall of Fame or anything like that,” McCann said. “But when I learned from the movie that he wasn’t in the Hall of Fame, I was stunned.” Maris played seven seasons with the Yankees and also had successful stints with the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City (now Oakland) Athletics, and the St. Louis Cardinals. He
was the MLB’s single-season home run record-holder for 37 years and still holds the record for most home runs hit in a single season by an American League player with 61 in the 1961 season. After learning Maris was not in the Hall of Fame, McCann took to the Internet to make a Facebook page in support of Maris’ induction. “I still believe that someone who’s held a home run record for over 50 years belongs in the Hall of Fame,” McCann said. “But I’m trying now because of my admiration for him. From all the comments from people who’ve signed my petition, they all agree with me that someone of both Maris’ athletic ability and Maris’ persona deserves this. “I have talked to so many of his fans, and after seeing Maris’ gravesite and scanning notes left by people, and his museum in Fargo, North Dakota, I’m doing it for all these people.” The Facebook page support is
the fuel for a petition for Maris’ induction McCann also runs. The petition currently has 742 signatures. His goal is 3,000 by 2017 when the ballot for inductions comes out. Over the past nine months, McCann has reached out to several newspapers to spread the word about his campaign, to former teammates of Maris’ and his family members to garner their support.“ Three of the most notable names are Billy Crystal, director of “61*,” and Bob Costas, a notable Maris advocate —he did his eulogy on ESPN after he died in 1985 — and Roger’s long-time friend Andy Strasberg,” McCann said. “That’s my next goal: to get in touch with Billy Crystal, Bob Costas, and the Maris family. As for Strasberg, I messaged him on Facebook a couple of days ago. I’m just waiting to hear back from him.” McCann said he has his eyes on the 2018 induction, but he won’t quit if he isn’t successful in twoand-a-half year.
Photo courtesy of Colin McCann Colin McCann poses next to Roger Maris’ gravesite in Fargo, North Dakota. McCann stopped by on the way home from vacation. “Whenever he gets in, I’ll be there,” McCann said. “Whether that be 2018, 2021, 2024, or any other year.”
McCann’s Facebook page in support of Maris’ induction is called, “Roger Maris belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
Crane Brewing Company aiming for October opening By Kris Collins With the coming opening of Crane Brewing Company, coowners Michael Crane and Chris Meyers, along with partners Jason Louk, Steve Hood, Randy Strange and Aaron Bryant, will have turned what was formerly a weekend or basement hobby into a craft beer brewery. Meyers, who is also the company’s vice-president, said the brewery has been one-and-a-half years in the making. Crane Brewing Company, located at 6515 Railroad St. in Raytown, still requires some work before it opens in mid-October. He said the process to get the proper federal and state licenses can be a waiting game. “It has been a slow process, but everyday things are getting done and the building is moving forward,” Meyers said. The brewery will house a barrelstorage room, which will double as an event space (until it fills up with barrels), and a tasting room. “It means a lot to us and we think it means a lot to Raytowners because, like I said, it means people have to come here to get the beer, that way it’s something people will come down and visit,” Meyers said.
“We’re hoping to take advantage of the stadiums being so close.” The tasting room, though not constructed yet, with its bar and table tops cut from a honey locust tree will be a visual testament to the brewery’s beer. “The kind of styles of beer we do — the farmhouse ales, saisons — they’re more rustic,” Meyers said, noting the gravel drive that leads to the brewery plays into that theme. Meyers said he hopes and plans for the tasting room to be open in April. Before all that happens, the brewery will be co-hosting a beer festival Sept. 5, the Festival of the Lost Township. Although Crane Brewing Company won’t have a spread of beers at the festival, they’ve teamed up with Kansas City-based Torn Label Brewing Company to come up with an “Omega-saison” for the event. “They’re known for their hoppy, Alpha pale ale and we’re obviously known for our saison, so they did kind of a dry-hopped saison, just kind of a really good mesh between the two of us,” Meyers said. “They’ll be serving that beer at our festival. Other than that, we won’t probably have any of our beer there.” The Omega-saison was brewed in collaboration with Torn Label
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Photo by Kris Collins Crane Brewing Company owners Michael Crane, left, and Chris Meyers stand in their brewery, expected to open in October. and Hood and Strange, both brewers at Crane Brewing Company. The event will also include live music, myriad other breweries, distilleries, celebrity chefs, food trucks and other Raytown businesses. Until the opening in October, Meyers and Crane will have their hands full working with brewers on
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their recipes with their new equipment. “There’s going to be a lot of tricks in our system that we’ll learn and change the way we do things,” Meyers said. “Craft breweries intrigued me in general. People don’t understand that you don’t trademark, you don’t patent, you don’t
do anything to protect your recipe because I could literally take my recipe and give it to Boulevard and they could try and brew it and it wouldn’t taste the same.” Initially, Crane Brewing Company will offer five beers, four that will be produced regularly
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