FOOD & DRINK
Belden Momentum BACK TO THE LAB AGAIN WITH KC BIER CO.’S SECRET WEAPON By Justin Burnell
Elizabeth Belden stands amid the gleaming cylindro-conical fermentation tanks at KC Bier Co. The last date they were chemically cleaned is written in blue ink on a whiteboard. Nearby, an industrial centrifuge whirs out the last bits of sediment from
“My hope for KC is that we can be a unified beer community, instead of thinking each thing we release is digging in to make something just for ourselves.” an IPL, KC Bier Co.’s German take on an IPA. Barley, the brewhouse dog, barks at me and shoves his head between Belden’s knees. Belden tells me he just wants attention. The dog keeps barking, but Belden ignores him to point at a pipe. She traces its path from one tank to another, then up the wall and across the ceiling to show me how everything in the brewhouse is connected. Over the mid-range thrum of machines and the boiler, she yells, “Everything’s really manual here. If something’s not flowing the way you think it should, just follow the hose.”
Brewer’s Process A sweet-sour earthy smell permeates the space at KC Bier Co. When Belden hands me a glass of fresh, not-yet-filtered IPL, I can smell the same notes in the beer. Belden didn’t plan to be here when she sat in her University of Missouri—Kansas City dorm room, staring at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. She wasn’t happy with the medical program, nor the six-year study path ahead. Her classes didn’t capture her like she thought they should. So she just started spamming the emails of anyone she could find at the school who worked in
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THE PITCH | May 2022 | THEPITCHKC.COM
